GTA IV vs Red Dead Redemption

Rockstar are incredible. Don't try and be cool by denying it, (nearly) every game they have released has been amazing. They revolutionised gaming and introduced 3D worlds, and for that they deserve uttermost praise. However, which pinnacle of Rockstar's creative genius is the best. Grand Theft Auto IV, one of the most critically acclaimed games of all time, or Red Dead Redemption, the wannabe cowboys wet dream? Both are beautiful experiences, but which one rides off into the sunset with the prestigious prize of best sandbox game? Lets find out.............

Protagonists

          Niko Bellic                                                     John Marston















    
OK, this is a controversial one. I would like to remind people that this is only my opinion, with my explanations why. I personally find Niko Bellic better here, more interesting and a cooler guy. Im not saying that Mr Marston is a boring character, oh no, but in games I prefer the angrier people, look at Kratos! I also prefer putting a little bit of me into the character and with Niko I feel you can make him more you than Marston. Both have contradicting aims in their stories, but both are a pure master-class in character design, showing a wonderful and believable array of emotions. But, in my eyes, GTA IV takes the early lead here.


               GTA IV 1               Red Dead Redemption 0

Settings

                         
                  Liberty City                                  West America (3 states)





This one is slightly easier. When GTA IV finally arrived in 2007 we were all blown away by how alive it felt, streets bustled and there was a certain buzz. However, last year, Liberty City looked like a dead cat compared to Red Dead. The feeling as you rode around the beautiful vistas is truly outstanding. Although it is very barren compared to the metropolis Liberty City, America seems to be so much more alive. The random encounters create an every changing world and being attacked by a wild cougar really added to the authenticity. After playing GTA IV after Red Dead, it made me realise just how much love Rockstar poured into Red Dead. The best game world ever.


          GTA IV 1               Red Dead Redemption 1

Stuff

Stuff, the true nature of an open world game. When I say 'stuff' I actually mean all the extra time wasting activites that you can get up to besides the narrative. Both games have a huge amount of activities that you can spend hours on, whether it be poker or snooker. GTA's city setting means it can offer up past times such as bowling, darts, or even going to a cheeky strip club for a while (I lost sooo much money), but Red Dead's wild west setting offers poker, shoot outs and flower picking (YAY!). The winner of this round though is Red Dead, just though. I had great fun playing snooker with Little Jacob on GTA, but after spending over an hour on one game of poker, I think that this round has to go to Red Dead!


                 GTA IV 1               Red Dead Redemption 2

Sound

      Booming Radios                                             Classic Western tunes



The man under Red Dead's name is artist Jose Gonzalez, and he is responsible for Far Away, the song that plays during the Mexico crossing. There, could finish it here. Red Dead Redemptions music is once again loving reminiscent of the classic Western films. Strange, floating sounds that offer as much to the experience as Mr Marston himself. Whilst Red Dead wins hand down, GTA's radio stations are brilliant too, offering the very best of the best from each genre. Some of the chat shows are hilarious, one chats about a 6 year old boy that has been lost in a mall for 4 years. However, Jean Michelle Jarre is just pipped to the line by Jose Gonzalez, its just so damn emotional!




          GTA IV 1               Red Dead Redemption 3

Enjoyment

Whilst both games have some of the best stories in gaming, both are just generally enjoyable games. For example, Heavy Rain was a really good game, but it wasn't exactly 'fun'. With that in mind, I think the final round should go to GTA IV. Red Dead is fun, very fun. Running around with the old guns and hog tying random people is awesome, but the general aura around Red Dead is a little more serious. This is probably due to the settings, as GTA allows helicopter rides and RPG killing sprees. I spent much more time playing GTA IV after I finished the main story than I did with Red Dead. The physics engine with the cars is pure comedy gold. Both are great games, but GTA is just a little more 'fun'.


      GTA IV 2                 Red Dead Redemption 3

Verdict

Here we are then. After playing GTA IV after Red Dead, it is clear to see what Rockstar have done. All of the baselines for Red Dead are ever present in GTA, the world is good, but not great, the time wasting activities are fun, but slightly tedious and the actual story is a little flat. However, Red Dead Redemption takes this template and adds to it. Many people were calling Red Dead 'GTA with horses', but they were wrong. The template was there, but Rockstar built around it, carving out a unique game that stands alone. Both are astonishing games and I love both, but there has to be one winner, and that winner is Red Dead Redemption. ITS SO GOD DAMN MEMORABLE!

Winner

                                                                                                        

Are the classics really better?

More than any other type of entertainment, gaming has been the one that is seen to have developed and evolved the most over the past decade or so. Much like technology, as time advances, so do the games. Its not always like it in films though and music though, look at Twilight and N-Dubz. So whilst we all sit down with a beaming smile on our faces due to the latest blockbuster game that implements some crazy tech, gaming develops and changes into something new, something better.

However, I, young Mr James disagree here. If you are friends with me on the Facebook then you will know that I have recently started playing Tony Hawks Pro Skater 2. I downloaded it onto my iPod not that long ago and after destroying the single player, I decided to put this masterpiece into my PS3. I was blown away. Over 10 years after its original release, Tony Hawks Pro Skater 2 still amazed me. Its just so perfect. There is no stupid faffing around with online deathmatches or stupid peripheral that gets you wearing a space suit or something, no, THPS2 is pure, balls out gaming bliss. Whilst the majority of games now are more focused on having gorgeous graphics and a silky frame rate, back in 2000 the made do with what they had, which was basically nothing! I know that their are still brilliant games that care about gameplay, look at Portal or Fallout, but some games nowadays only really care about looking good (COUGH BLOODY COUGH KILLZONE 3).

Casually ollieing into a stair grind into a manual into a nosegrab 360 is still brilliant. The controls are so simple but deep, R1 isn't shoot and the levels are beautifully designed. THPS is a game that no matter what your skill level, whether it be Tony Hawk veteran or complete noob, it made you feel like a god. Few games are this accessible now days. Think Rust or Rainbow Road get you thinking tactically? Try nailing a run on Marseilles skate park! But, although the game has much better gameplay due to the concentration being fully on creating the best experience, the developers at Neversoft crammed their game with so many extras that it puts anything these days to shame. From Spider Man to the classic Horse mode, every aspect of it is amazing, not beautiful or polished, but fun.

I may be being biased as it holds many memories for me, but after playing Tony Hawks, I'm starting to think, have we really moved on as much as we think? Story has been a major turning point in gaming, steering games away from a random run around to a story driven engrossing narrative. I do enjoy the deep game, I love them, but occasionally I like to let loose of all intelligence, leave the mind bending twists behind and play games for the real reason we play them, for fun. Sadly, the Tony Hawks franchise has gone into a very large decline, but the second instalment has partially changed my views on gaming as a whole. I still want to remind you guys that I dont hate modern games now, I love them, hence me having a blog about them, but it just surprised me how a game from 10 years ago can still compete against the latest blockbuster. Fancy facial animation that 'picks up every single detail to the nearest millimetre'? Give me a board, an abandoned hanger and a legendary skater any day!

Why 2011 is already the best year in gaming

We all predicted that this year the games industry would grow and grow, releasing quality release after quality release and we would all be treated to the best year in gaming ever. But, in my opinion (not that it really matters), 2011 has already shown its self to be one of, if not the greatest year in gaming history. And before all you oldies start shouting at screaming at me for being ignorant or just god damn stupid, I urge you to hear me out.

In December of each passing year we all like to look back at what the previous 12 months bought to us. Thousands upon thousands of features are posted each with a list of the top 10 or so games that really shook them and were just simply brilliant. However, sometimes, a year should be judged on what happened in that year, how much it affected the future and why it was unique. In terms of an impact year, I personally would claim that 2001 would be the most 'achieving' year, if I can use that phrase, due to the release of GTA III, the Citizen Kane of gaming. 

However, 2011 has already shown us what a beast this year will be. Only a mere 5 months in and we have already witnessed great gaming experiences such as the terrifying Dead Space 2, the adorable but deep LittleBigPlanet 2, the brutal and brash Killzone 3 and my personal favourite, the astonishing Portal 2. The year is already seeping with quality and most people would be able to create a GOTY list already, only 5 months in! Usually, the start of each year is a little less quiet compared to the November release surge, but each month we have seen at least one top quality 9/10 game that oozes quality be rleased. Furthermore, the list for later this year continues on and on, with awesome releases such as Skyrim, Uncharted 3 and Dead Island. The list of top notch games is constantly growing, so much so that us poor ol' gamers are having to meticulously plan our monthly budgets in hope of purchasing our latest and most anticipated games. Top 10 GOTY lists? May have to be extend to Top 20's this year.

'Wait James!' I hear you painfully cry. 'You are contradicting yourself if I may say so myself!'. And yes, that is true. I do believe that to give a year the title of 'best year ever', you do need more than a constant flow of incredible games, and this brings me onto my next point. 2011 has already bombarded us with more original ideas than 2010 and 2009 combined. There is no denying that the gaming circuit is starting to become overcrowded with the modern day FPS's with unoriginal design and CoD copied gameplay. Many gamers consider this to be a virus, so it feels great to see a few developers fighting back this infection and clawing back the originality that games once bought. My first example of a game trying new things would be the much hated Mindjack. I know it was slated at release but I don't care, at least it tried to bring something new to the table without sticking to the boring formula that we see each and every day now. Next is WWE All Stars, yes its a wrestling game but THQ somehow managed to inject some originality into the every rotting genre with its oversized bronzed up wrestlers and colourful and crazy moves. 

However, the best example of new innovations and breaking the mould this year has to be to the balls-out Bulletstorm. People Can Fly studios were not at all afraid to try a different approach to things and it worked beautifully. The never ending combos and freedom to kill how you wanted to kill surprised every one of us and it will remain as one of the all time dark horses. Before Bulletstorms release, a CoD parody was released named Duty Calls. It was fantastic and one of the funniest videos this year. Bulletstorm didn't back down from the big daddies and hopefully, more developers will see this as a sign that they don't have to follow the boring same old formula. This has resulted in 2011 becoming the year that stood up to gaming and kicked its shins, stole its money than ran away chuckling to itself. Innovation and originality is what we all want to see, and 2011 has brought it in great quantities 

So, 2011 best year ever? I cant truly say, but from what the previous 5 months have shown us, I bloody well think that 2011 will deliver more than we predicted. The endless string of quality titles being released later this year will make this year a gamers wet dream. Hopefully we will see some truly innovative games being released alongside the bust'n sequels. Only 7 more months until we can see if my prediction is right, but who cares? No one. This makes this whole article completely void and pointless. There we go, forget everything you just read. Idiots.

Kick to the heart! And you're to blame.......
You give games, a bad name......