Red Dead Redonkulous
I’ve spent the majority of this weekend playing Rockstar’s latest outing Red Dead Redemption, and it’s been nothing short of amazing. The interface is pretty much identical to that of GTA4, and so is much of the sandbox style of gameplay, but the setting and mood of Redemption is what sets it apart from it’s cousin.
Immediately, you’re catapulted into the captivating western landscape of New Austin. You’re John Marston, a retired outlaw who has been forced back to his old ways after he is threatened with the death of his family if he doesn’t kill all of his old riding buddies. You ride through the excruciatingly detailed hills, valleys, canyons and plains to complete mission after mission, slowly getting closer to your goal of killing those who were once your friends. But, you can throw all of that by the wayside and take part in all of the side quests, if you like, and spend even more time.
The replayability of this game is already apparent, even though I’m not even close to finishing the main campaign. You can hunt and skin animals for money, since pretty much every animal can be shot. You can save a prostitute from being shanked to death by a drunk old man. You can even pick flowers. Yes, seriously. Picking herbs and flowers for profit. I’m not even scratching the surface, though. There are so many things to do, you’ll be spending way more than the estimated twenty hours to finish the main storyline.
I’ve spent a huge amount of time just riding around, soaking in the sights. The graphics in this game are incredible. No detail was left untouched. From the massive red mesas in northern Mexico to the way the grass moves and the dirt clods fly when riding your horse, this game is absolutely stunning. It’s like being the star in a Clint Eastwood film.
All of this praise aside, there are a few flaws in the game. First off are the horses themselves. I always remember in the westerns that the outlaws always had to get fresh horses in order to outrun the marshal. Just to test the longevity of the horses in Redemption, I’ve stayed on the same horse for as long as possible. I’m pretty sure I’ve probably spent a week in game time on the same horse, riding at full speed constantly, and my horse is still as good as the first time I rode on it. Kind of unrealistic. Also, you can be riding at top speed and run head on into a rock, and nothing would happen. It almost seems like Rockstar forgot that horses are living things. All that happens is that the horse stops, changes direction, and keeps going. Just like many other things in the wild west, running your horse into a rock face should have consequences. If cyborg horses don’t exist now, they sure as hell didn’t exist in 1911.
Overall, the horse issues are nothing when put up against a game so deep and rich in both story and gameplay. I’ll definitely be playing this for many months into the future. Me and my cyborg horse will be friends forever.
My First Month on Mac
I’m currently typing this on my Linux-based netbook, but my home desktop experience is now mostly a Mac affair. I’ve really enjoyed it so far, so I thought I would talk about what programs have really made me happy with the whole experience.
First off, the entire setup process was super easy. With Windows and Linux, I’m used to at least two days of interface and program installation and tweaking. I simply plugged my mini in, turned it on, did my “mac dance” ritual during the opening video, went through the initial setup, and I was done in no more than ten minutes.
It also goes without saying how cool it is that they give you gobs of software for free with iLife. Even though the programs are not anything really special, they’re very useful and fun to use. I can’t wait to play with Garageband to eventually make a podcast.
With the money I saved by buying the mini on sale, I also purchased iWork. I haven’t really played with Numbers, but Keynote and Pages are great. It take a while to get used to the interface, but once you do it’s a pretty powerful office suite. Still no comparison to Microsoft Office, but still pretty darn good. It’s also nice that Helvetica is the default font is Pages. Now every paper I write looks like a Target ad.
I’ve also added some freeware I’ve always heard about to my Mac. Some good, and some not-so-great. First, I’ve always heard folks raving about Quicksilver, a application launcher that you use via the keyboard. This was almost my first freeware download on the Mac, and I found it fairly disappointing. I just find it quicker to get to my frequently used programs via the dock. I guess I just think more visually. I’ve never been really into keyboard shortcuts.
For NaNoWriMo, which I’m currently failing miseribly at, I tried several different programs. I finally settled on WriteRoom, since it has zero distractions from my writing. All it is is a black screen with green text. You simply type. Really cool. Only thing is that it’s a 30-day demo, with the full program costing $24.95. I understand paying for software that’s as good as this, but $24.95? For a black screen with green text? Give me a break. I probably won’t be purchasing this after the demo is over.
As for music players, it’s been kind of difficult. I’ve always hated iTunes, for either Windows or Mac, because of the almost communist nature of how it wants to control every aspect of your library and music player. So, I decided on trying Songbird. Songbird was pretty good for an open source program based off of Firefox, but it’s tragically lacking in podcasting support, and it also grabbed my entire music library and renamed every last file. Turns out automatic library management is turned on by default. Awesome idea, Songbird team! Good thing I had a backup! I have now switched back to iTunes for the moment, but I hope for something better to come along soon that allows for adding my music library that resides on my Linux server without fucking it up.
Other than those programs, I’ve also installed Celtx for future screenwriting, and the obligatory Firefox install.
Overall, my experience so far has been great. I feel that once I put more memory in this guy, it’ll be even better.
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