Gun Smoke did it, RDR reminded us!

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Cowboys, cowboys, cowboys, the name alone instantly makes you think "Movie, Books, Songs, Games, Legends, Stories, Bad Ass" but realistically it's all about Western lore. Most of you who may read this may remember small shreds of shows like Bonanza, Gun Smoke, Lone Ranger and even that dreaded cartoon Bravestarr. Gaming is always a powerful platform to convey a story or topic, even before the days of CG and scripts for games, one of my preferred character leads were cowboys and my 3rd favorite setting was the wild west/country. Red Dead Redemption finally gave the lore a good place in today's gaming era, and maybe the best in gaming history but without those that came first, would RDR still be here? Lest we forget the first game in the series never was, but alas it was and we can only be thankful for that.

Let's talk Red Dead Redemption and it's serious side and it's "LOL" side. Let's talk about the games that came before it and what they brought to the table. Finally let's talk about a few other honorable mentions that I did not choose to go into detail about, not to say they may not be covered in the DLC later! Game on!

Red Dead Redemption
XBOX 360, Playstation 3

Red Dead Redemption was being hyped as the next big thing from Rockstar, a company known for it's great open world titles laced in bullshit and drama, from hot coffee, claims of under paid/overworked staff even down to Jack "Jackass" Thompson talking shit. Following up the saved by Rockstar Red Dead Revolver, it was a surprise to fans that Rockstar was going to take this into a HTA direction (Horse Theft Auto) but not a shock to Rockstar loyals. Movie caliber trailers, word of mouth from critics, and the overall "omg it's Rockstar" push led RDR to get a following all of it's own before release, and finally the day would come when the game would reach our hands. (or as in my case, some of us got it a week early..TY unnamed gamestore :D)
John Marston from the get go of the game strikes you as a character that seems in many ways a lost heart looking for something, but at the same time has a face that says "don't fuck with me" a combination that any family person would know is lethal and a lethal man(character) he is.
Spending a few minutes with John you can't help but notice that even plain dirt and grass seems to be alive in the game world, not to mention how even some of the generic npc's seem not so "cookie cutter" however it's after an hour or two that you forget you are playing a game and just want to keep seeing more of how John is trying to make his situation work. Shaking out of the story line and plot you may ask yourself "what now? the hell do I do in this world?" and that my friends is the tip of the iceberg!. Open world gaming is something that is really free and captivating to those with imagination or and while yes there is a story to it, RDR feels so free  even more so than GTA or a Saints Row game in the sense that it's a simple man, a horse, some guns and your imagination vs a man, nuclear caliber weapons and a whole car dealership.
Taking to the online reigns of the game bumps things up a whole new notch, be it in a private session with some good friends or if you dare go up a bit more and try a friendly free roam session with other anon gamers where no one can kill you... or hey maybe you are the best dead eye pistolero (gunslinger) out there, so why not go hardcore were precision aiming, and no noobs need apply! Players can choose to follow icons and markers to sub games within the map which offer some variation to king of the hill, domination or even just good ol' death matches or you can just go out there and create you own games! Sounds pretty much "rule" based minus the make you own games part right? Nope! Such an ambitious game is bound to have some flaws and those can actually be a game of it's own if you know how to make a stage coach pop out of thin air after triggering the bug or if you know what rock to stand on to avoid being punched you can have some nice shoot the shit type of fun!
Red Dead Redemption is as serious as a game gets when it comes to story, design, and attachment to a character yes, but in the end it's really a simple canvas for you to have your own fun and make your own way. Many will argue you can say the same for other open world/sandbox type games but something about this world just seems so much more organic and free. Personally I just like the random glitch where I'll be set on fire and run around in said condition for about 20 minutes much to the laughter of my co-op partner and anyone else within range of the action! JUST SAYING!

Gun Smoke
Arcade, N.E.S

First off let's get one thing clear this was your standard Arcade to N.E.S port in which back in those days, most developers/publishers tried to make up for some of the technical shortcomings on the N.E.S by either giving the game longer levels/more levels or beefing up the mechanics some more. Gun Smoke was a vertical shooter in which you basically had to keep up with enemies while using 3 way gun fire (angle left, angle right and straight up center)and remained so in the N.E.S port, the only changes being some cosmetic changes to the bosses, a reduced number of said bosses and if I recall right, fewer levels. Changes to game play were present in the n.e.s version like having to buy/find a wanted poster to be able to face a level boss, a shop, added weapons and the use of ammo for said new weapons. Gun Smoke was fairly challenging and with the N.E.S port since the only had 2 action buttons, to shoot straight up/center you would need to push both buttons together something that in a panic moment or for the less agile would be killer. Mechanics were great for the time and to be honest still hold up today, very fun, not too twitchy and seems so honestly smooth which in those days controls were often enough somewhat iffy! Maybe this was capcom's early early start up towards Red Dead Revolver and while I know Gun Smoke was one of their most loved titles, I gotta wonder why they ditched Red Dead Revolver and passed it on to Rockstar, what if Capcom had kept the franchise? What if.....

The Lone Ranger
N.E.S (NA only)

Konami could always make a solid N.E.S title out of most any license and somehow they always felt like an older Konami title. Lone Ranger always gave me a slight Metal Gear Vibe while not all Metal Gear (well some of the 'in town" portions gave me that vibe) but was a solid action/adventure title, focusing on simple action, some very obvious "questing" and the very generic npcs which such dialogue along the lines of "someone in this town his a reliable tip, you should talk to everyone" but the game was fun. Combat/action was not totally perfect but it was good, not too hard but not a total cake walk. Konami was always known as a developer/publisher who could push some good visual and audio flair out of the old N.E.S and this game was not their best tile to showcase that but both visual and audio flair were well above the rest of the N.E.S pack in most cases. Simple, decent story/plot and a name most who most of us growing up had heard of this, this game was a silver bullet all of it's own! Tonto included!

Last I will just say a few quick words on a few other honorable mentions and one which I am not sure why or how the hell it's still around today.....

Wild Guns
SNES

A steampunkish take on the wild west, Wild Guns was a fixed camera take on shooters ala games like the Arcade Cabal or one could even say NAM 1975. Fast paced, somewhat challenging and very vibrant and with a good audio blast to it, Wild Guns was a highly overlooked title. Got a wii? Check it out on the VC, or better yet, hunt down the cart and a buddy! You won't regret it, however one of you may argue about who gets to be the lady or the man :P


Tinstar
SNES

Tin Star was another somewhat overlooked title even though it was given that 1st party Nintendo Push. Tin Star was an on rails shooter (think lethal enforcers, resident evil chronicles etc) in which the levels were split up into a practice type scene, a faster paced portion, a one on one shoot out and a bonus part which had to be unlocked within a level but hell if I remember how o_O. The art style in this game was great if not fantastic! Cartoony and a less serious steampunk take on the wild west, if the game had cows in it it would remind me of cowboys of moo mesa. Great title, and hell it even supported the Super Scope 6 and too boot the even less popular SNES Mouse!

Mad Dog McCree
Arcade, 3DO, CD-i, DOS, Mac OS, Sega CD, Windows, Wii, ios

No just no, while I know some of you enjoy these types of games, this is a sub genre of "FMV games" that nearly killed the idea of using video in the first place. How the hell this has kept some sort of popularity or niche audience is beyond me. Go away! BLEH!







Expect dlc soon covering this title...

As always the closer!
Name this bitching 80s game and it's RAD 80s hair packing female character in this pic!