Originals

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[Continued] Page 3

4) Red Dead Redemption

For me, Red Dead Redemption is the game that proved Rockstar Games was more than a one trick pony. In the years following the success of Grand Theft Auto III, the company's other wares seemed far too similar to their flagship title, either more car driving (Midnight Club), hyper-violence (Manhunt) or less ambitious versions of the sandbox experience (Bully, The Warriors).

It's kind of like GTA with a b-movie license...

That's why I was blown away upon seeing that Red Dead Redemption was more than Grand Theft Auto with cowboy hats. Instead, Rockstar had taken a largely forgettable PS2-era action franchise and used it as the basis for a true Western epic. Though the game retained some of that textbook Rockstar humor, it was definitely a much more mature outing than their other titles, and it was awesome to see an cowboy game able to sell amongst a sea of Modern Warfare clones and tired RPG epics.  

Really I just want to buy a variety of attractive cowboy hats for my character...

Point is that the MMO genre is similarly littered with games that all seem based in tired genres: fantasy, science-fiction, superheroes, etc. Red Dead Redemption proved that cowboy games work, and while every developer fights over who has the best spaceflight mechanics, I'd much rather be riding my trusty horse through the Old West. It would be truly awesome to be able to put together your own posse of bandits or lawmen, even taking out bounties on truly despised rivals. Here's hoping Rockstar sees the potential of RDR Online so we can start saddling up!