Red Dead Revolver is a game that was once cancelled by the publishing giants Capcom - but Rockstar saw the potential and snapped it up. Was it a good move? Let's see.
You play as a rugged lone guy called Red. When Red witnesses his parents murder in a raid on their home, he becomes a lone traveller. That is until he comes across a man getting bothered by some thugs - Red then finds out that dealing with these guys can make him some easy money and he becomes a bounty hunter for the local sheriff. The game captures the old Western film atmosphere perfectly, with great characters and gameplay that fits well with the theme. The style is mostly shooting, but it's done so well (and presented so stylishly) that it doesn't get boring.
The game controls like a first person shooter with the left analog stick for movement and the right for looking/aiming. The controls are nicely done and not frustrating like some third person shooters can be. L1 draws your weapon and R1 fires it. Red has some nice moves at his disposal; dives, ducking behind objects, kicks, punches and the coolest move of all "Dead Eye" which slows down the play while you put targets on your enemies. Then once you've set your targets, Red releases a flurry of bullets!
The levels are great. It's usually a matter of shooting your way though different locales such as small towns, canyons and forts, but they'll also mix things up with levels set on trains (with you jumping from carriage to carriage), horse riding and even on the back of a wagon defending it. At the end of most levels you'll fight a boss, these can be difficult for some, but once you work out how to hurt them (with some you have to shoot them at certain times e.g. when stunned) they become easy enough to defeat. And in some levels you'll have to use one of the coolest features; a gunfight duel. And they came up with a cool way to do it: You pull down on the right analog stick to grab your weapon and push up to draw it from the holster (all of this is in slow motion), then you have to move your changing crosshair over your target and press fire (you can have up to six 'hit' marks on a target) then watch the bullets get sprayed before your target even pulls the trigger (or, if you do it badly you'll die). You also get a cool slow-mo death when you kill your enemy in duel mode. Early duels are easy because they're 1v1, but they get harder with some 1v3's later on (which is nice).
You're not restricted to just playing as Red either. Some missions you'll play as other characters that Red meets and who are involved in the story. The characters are a varied bunch and it takes away what could have become samey-ness. There are a lot of weapons to play with too, all authentic to the time period such as revolvers, dynamite, rifles and knives. Rockstar have added some nice touches to the game like the way you unlock features. Levels, characters and pages of your journal are unlocked by buying items in the shop with your bounty money. Another cool feature is the loading screens - before each level you'll have a screen of the character you'll be playing as while the level loads and the screen for a Red level has him spinning his gun with some real style…
RDR also features a decent multiplayer mode with up to 4 players being able to join in. If you haven't got a multitap don't worry because the 2-player is pretty good, you'll play as any characters unlocked in the single player game and in a host of cool levels based on the main story mode ones.
Graphically this is a treat for PS2 players, brilliant looking levels, all varied, curvy, old looking and authentic. Things get a bit blurry in the bigger levels like the bustling town and canyon but you hardly notice it. There are some great looking shadows that cast on the scenery and add to the western atmosphere. The characters look good with some first-class animation and some comical facial expressions. The swirling dust effects and grainy cut scenes give it the old style look. And to top it all, the frame rate stays totally smooth all the time.
The sound excels in this game, with some of the best music I've heard on PS2. The tunes are so cool that if Quentin Tarantino made a Western they would surely be in the film. The gunfire, slow mo noise, the voice samples, grunts, aarghs and oofs all sound spot on as well.
For me, Red Dead Revolver was enjoyable from start to finish, offering great gameplay, style, looks and a great story of revenge and glory. I bet Capcom wish they'd kept this instead of some of their old non-sellers like Megaman, though I'm sure Rockstar brought plenty of their individual style to the game. I hope they make another Red Dead game.
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