You've read the review, now let Wired give you a helping hand and a few pieces of advice before saddling up and riding off into the dusty and dangerous deserts of Red Dead Redemption's Wild West.
Wild outbreaks of plague, bandits looting your stage coach and the unrelenting heat of the arid wasteland. Industrialising America on the turn of the 20th century might make for a fantastic video game backdrop, but its a tough place to survive.
Stick with Bonnie MacFarlane
We know you're so excited about the prospect of dashing off, getting in firefights and hunting for lost loot, but Bonnie's opening agricultural tasks will give you some important lessons for your coming adventures. She'll teach you how to properly ride a horse (see: Pack some apples) and hand over Redemption's best tool; the lasso.
This little piece of rope will allow you to wrangle wild stallions (allowing you to quickly upgrade your horse without shelling out in the general store) and grab bounties alive (see: Wanted, Dead or Alive), making it a very useful tool to have in your arsenal.
Wanted: Dead or Alive. Preferably AliveEvery now and again, a sheriff will pin up a wanted poster in town, signified by a skull icon on your map. You can rip it down and head off to collect the reward, be it killing the sucker or returning him alive.
You'll always get a far greater cash reward for bringing back these jabronis still kicking, than if you plug them at their hideouts. Certain outfits can be unlocked too if you bring back gang members alive.
Make life easier by shooting them once in the leg (they'll fall down, and can't run away very fast), and then rope them with the lasso. Get in close, and hogtie them. Now you'll have to load the bandit onto your horse and high tail it back to town. Just look out for outlaws along the road.
Guns don't kill people. Wolves do.I'm not ashamed to admit it: my first death in Red Dead Redemption wasn't at the hands of bloodthirsty bandits or gun toting Mexicans -- it was a pack of wild wolves who tore through my horse like wet paper before turning their toothy attention to me.
Picking rare flowers in the middle of the night to complete some hair brained challenge might seem like a good idea on paper, but when you're ambushed by wolves, coyotes, cougars, bears or rattlesnakes, you'll think twice.
Keep your wits about you.
Pack some apples.Horses work a little differently than cars, strangely enough. You'll need to repeatedly kick them to work up some speed, but be too rough and they'll kick you off. You can tell if you're about to be forcefully de-saddled either by watching the stamina bar, hearing your horse neigh or by feeling the controller vibrate.
Its always handy to buy some apples from the general store. One tasty Granny Smith and your horse will regain his stamina, meaning you can run at full gallop, for greater distances. That extra few seconds of speed might not seem like much, until the wolves start chasing you.
Make some cashYou'll definitely want some extra cash to buy better weapons, improved horses and places to kip around the map. Unlike GTA, though, you won't come into an influx of money without popping off to do some side missions.
You can rob people by aiming a gun at them, but make sure you buy (and equip) the bandanna before pulling off heists. This handy piece of gear will stop the law recognising you so your fame and honour won't be affected by your nefarious deeds.
You can make quite a bit of cash through hunting the prairie's wild animals. Find a location with high-paying animals (wolf pelts go for about 10 bucks a pop) and throw out some bait. Then hide, and wait for the animals to appear. Check the map for little X marks, which point out carcasses you can skin.
Fast travelJumping on your horse and riding across the sprawling desert is certainly a relaxing way to enjoy the game, but it won't satisfy some impatient gamers. Not to worry; you can zip across to destinations you've previously visited with fast travel.
There are two ways to achieve this. If you're in a town, visit the friendly stagecoach driver to hop around New Austin. If you're out in the wilderness, pop out your campfire to save your game, change your outfit or travel around the map.
Got any hot tips, or burning questions? Leave them in the comments.
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
