The Joy of Posse

Work here at the GameOn office is stressful. There are reviews and previews to be written, research to be done and hours spent discussing which female game character has the best, um, personality. Not to mention the frequent arguments and shouting matches over review scores, which console is best and, most importantly, who has the best Team Fortress 2 hat collection. So, when a quiet moment does arise it is often difficult to know what to do to unwind.

When you are reviewing a game you are often faced with strict deadlines and the pressure of exploring each aspect of a title to create a comprehensive and detailed assessment. This means that once a game is done and dusted, it is straight onto the next with little time to go back and savour anything particularly memorable. One such game was the excellent Red Dead Redemption and its expansion Undead Nightmare, which knocked our socks off and remains one of the best sandbox experiences of all time. In a quiet moment a few weeks ago, I found myself with some time off and decided to explore the online modes in more detail. This was a choice that proved to be the best decision I’d made since I stopped trying to build that working Aperture Science Handheld Portal Device out of corrugated cardboard and a washing-up liquid bottle.

Anyhow, I decided to test out the free roam mode, which was a highlight of my original time with the title. The server was pretty sparsely populated with most people seeming to do their own thing, which I was perfectly happy to go along with. Riding around was just as much fun as single player and trying to knife a bear while riding a donkey proved to be entertaining, stupid and challenging. Then, suddenly, out of the trees rode two mounted cowboys who proceeded to gun down the bear in a hail of bullets before coming to a stop a few metres away.

This was quite an entrance and I sat there on my feeble ass (quite literally), fully expecting to be gunned down and tea-bagged by these two human players. A few seconds passed and the scene was starting to develop into a Mexican stand-off worthy of a John Woo film. It would have been great if one of the tumbleweeds had blown by, but that would probably have made the moment perfect. Out of the blue, a message popped up, asking my character to join their posse with both these cowboys’ characters sitting emotionless watching my every move.

In my experience most other human players on console games have tended to fall into several distinct categories. The silent, no microphone group who never listen to anything you say or actively attempty to annoy you by ignoring it. The incredibly irritating, prepubescent Call of Duty players who should have been at school rather than camping, with names like “L33TSNIPA” and “XxXxX-YER-MUM-XxXxX”. Finally, the type who would invite you to a game and then proceed to quit a few seconds after you joined. So, I must admit I was hesitant to accept but decided to give it a chance. What followed were a few hours of pure insanity, fun and trying to blow up a cougar with dynamite. If that isn’t the definition of awesome, then I don’t know what is.

The first surprise was that both players not only had microphones and used them, but they were friendly and over the age of 12. One of them donated me a horse to replace my rather embarrassing donkey, which was promptly dispatched with a tomahawk to the head, and we rode off together in search of fame and glory. I’ve played a lot of multiplayer games over the years, both co-operative and competitive, but Red Dead Redemption offers something different. While it is similar to Grand Theft Auto IV it just feels much more original and fun. The three of us roamed around the game world together trying out the craziest and most enjoyable things we could think off. Could we push an NPC into a river without them trying to kill us? Could we complete a gang hideout with only the combat knife? Was it possible to survive for an hour against the law without using your weapons?

After a while we decided to just explore the landscape, helping one another to complete the various ambient challenges in the game world. Whether it was shooting birds, hunting big game or collecting various items it was much more fun to do as a group and the time just flew by. It’s a testament to Rockstar that they can create a game world that is constantly engaging, interesting and offers new and exciting areas to uncover. The gameplay remained engaging, enjoyable and diverse allowing all three members of our posse to be kept busy with single and group goals. Perhaps most importantly Red Dead Redemption online manages to enhance the main game mode and not feel tagged-on or superfluous.

This was all gameplay that could have been done in the normal single player mode, but with a few new friends it was so much more fun. The gang hideouts are especially good, as they not only earned you XP to level up, but were also a great way to try out some crazy combat tricks. Despite me having only met these two mysterious strangers barely a few hours previously, it was turning into one of the best gaming sessions that I had enjoyed for a long time and helped to give me faith in console gamers. When I checked the clock, I’d been playing for hours; I was quite hungry and probably should have rung and cancelled an important appointment. It was a sad moment when I said goodbye to my fellow posse members as we disbanded and they genuinely rode off into the sunset.

If you’ve got a few hours spare, a copy of Red Dead Redemption, then I can heartily recommend getting a few friends together and trying it out again if you’ve left it on the shelf for a few months. You may be lucky and bump into the two legends that I met and I one day hope to come across them in the wilds of New Mexico for a second time. Until then it’s back to review scores, game debates and trying to get a Defiant Spartan hat.