Red Dead Redemption

This add on/extension is probably the best expansion/DLC of a game I have ever played.
The fact that this game is Red Dead Redemption's offspring takes nothing away from a game that could have made it in the gaming world even if the original game hadn't been made. In other words whilst this game will get those of us who played the original game virtually jumping in our seats every time a familiar face from the original game comes along, you don't have to be a red dead veteran to enjoy playing this game and you certainly aren't missing out on any story or plot in the game if you haven't played red dead before. In fact this game is so good you will probably want to buy the original anyway!

So what of the game itself you ask. Well the story picks up with John Marston (that's you) finally enjoying life with his family...but that wouldn't make much of a game would it now. So without giving too much away you have to now find a cure for your family who of course have become "infected" themselves. After a few minutes of playing you soon realise that there a heck of a lot more undead/infected than your pistol and shotgun can handle (which is all the weapons you get to start off with).
And this for me is one of the best points of the game; to kill or not to kill? Every group of undead/infected you come across will get you asking yourself do I really have enough ammunition to take these guys on and still have enough for what might be waiting for me around the corner? Whilst ammunition is tight at the beginning of the game, there are enough undead corpses to loot (once you have scored a head-shot on them of course, ammunition from crates you find from saving towns, and ammunition from completing missions and rescuing fellow survivors.

There is also a fantastic range of weapons to be found and earned throughout the game;
head-shots aren't enough? try the blunderbuss to explode your enemies apart
like a bit of long range accuracy? try the sniper rifle
Like to get up close and personal? have a go with the sawn off shotgun
or perhaps its undead carnage on a mass scale your after? why not take the forts cannon for spin

This game caters for every gun totting hero's desires.
Or perhaps its speed that your after, the wind in your hair, sun on your back, and burning undead under the hooves of 'war': your very own horse of the apocalypse! In fact there are four horses of the apocalypse to find out there in the wild west, assuming you can wrangle them with your trusty lasso of course. Big foot even makes an appearance and there are rumours of a unicorn running wild through the land...but can you find him?!

Apart from these massively fun features, the games campaign or story mode is solid and makes for great playing, utilises cut scenes in all the right places. This should take about 6-8 hours to complete but longer if you enjoy freeing towns and rescuing fellow survivors along your travels.

The multi player in this game is rock solid as well, so why not try holding back the undead hordes for as long as you can with your chums. Or go in for a bit of horse racing or gambling.

Please note this is a DLC and does not contain the original game red dead redemption.

Buy. Play. Enjoy.

This is a review I wrote for Undead Nightmare I downloaded from the PSN and is mainly focusing on the single player player content. The disc version features all previous multiplayer DLC Rockstar released for Red Dead Redemption hence the price difference in the review.

If you've been living under a rock this past year chances are you missed Rockstar's critically acclaimed open world wild west game Red Dead Redemption. Over the past few months Rockstar have been heavily supporting the game with multiplayer (yawn) DLC. The latest DLC, however, added in something that I find worth buying - more single player content.

The fact that you get a short but fun new campaign mode for £8 is a deal breaker itself but Rockstar decided to cram in a few extas just for the sake of it. Arriving just in time for Halloween, Undead Nightmare is set after John Marston has saved his family and headed back to his quiet life on his ranch. Everything seems perfect until Uncle arrives home one stormy night, bloody and acting wild, biting John's wife and infecting her with the same virus that is driving everyone crazy for human flesh and his son soon follows.

Yes, Undead Nightmare is a wild west zombie apocalypse. Its up to John to venture out across the open world in search of a cure. You'll visit all the previous towns you did in the original story only now all the towns are under attack from the zombie hordes. This means there are no businesses, so don't be expecting to buy any ammo or knock back a few drinks in the local saloon. This is a fight for survival meaning all shops are gone with their proprietors dead or long gone.

Old characters appear you will remember from the original story, and the cut-scenes return with their wonderful voice actors and well written script. It should take you about 5 - 7 hours to complete the story, depending on if you stop to do the side missions or help those in need around you. Instead of 'Stranger' missions you now get 'Survivor' missions where you can help people out with various tasks and bounties have been replaced with missing person missions. The random encounters can be quite fun. Finding a small camp where a guy has his zombie wife tied up while they both indulged in some cannibalism was quite a site and you can't help but raise an eyebrow at watching someone shoot a loved one that has turned, only to watch them turn the gun on themselves. But that just means more ammo for you.

On the point of ammo, when you venture from your ranch with nothing more then a shotgun and a pistol, it is quite daunting. The only way to find ammo is to loot the bodies of the undead you put down, which can only be killed by a head shot. This greatly adds to the dread of survival as you wonder if you have the ammo to survive another encounter with a zombie horde and I was very much involved. Sadly you'll find an abundance of ammo and guns quickly, taking away any fear you once had. Combat become repetitive once you find you can use your dead eye aim to take out a group zombies without even breaking a sweat.

Overall the missions are fun and creative in the zombie apocalypse scenario. You can ride around and save every town, which is worth doing for those that need their trophy's/achievements. There is also a new gun, the blunderbuss, which fires body parts of the undead and four new horses of the apocalypse to break in. Bigfoot finally appears after years of rumours of him being sighted in San Andreas and there is even a Unicorn to find.

The combat is repetitive, there's an interesting story that adds in a nice blend of survival horror and Rockstars comedy and nice handful of stuff you can do, including a new multiplayer mode where you can team up with your chums and hold off the zombie horde. All this for £8 or 800 MS points. What's not to love here?

If you liked RDR then you will like Undead Nightmare. An alternative story line where you can't just fill zombies with bullets because you can't buy them! For that new weapons are introduced. Story could be a little longer but not all games get a addon like this. New multiplayer mode is introduced: Zombie overrun were you have to kill waves of zombies with the help of friends. You you can't beat them, join them. If you don't have RDR nor RDR:UN, get the new GOTY edition!