Back home in Oxford, when I was a wee scamp, I can recall how I’d run back home after school to catch what the BBC called Rawhide Theatre.  I was enthralled by the sight of Gary Cooper as he stepped out into the street in High Noon and even more impressed with Clint Eastwood as he whipped aside his dusty poncho to reveal his guns in The Good, The Bad and the Ugly.  So you can imagine how exciting it was to hear about Red Dead Revolver--a western that was originally to be released by Capcom but passed on to Rockstar Games.  It’s time to slap leather and draw your guns because only the quick survive, eh Blondie.

Red Dead Revolver draws its inspiration from the spaghetti western films of Sergio Leone, particularly the ones that starred Clint Eastwood as that nameless stranger you can’t help but cheer on.  This stranger, however, has a name.  You’ll be playing Red--a bounty hunter who lost his parents at an early age by marauding bandits and, as a result, grows up to despise injustice and corruption.  He dedicates his life collecting the bounty on outlaws he comes across and, thanks to his quick gun, is very successful at it.  The story in the game’s Story mode follows Red--as well as a few others, but we’ll get to that a bit later--as he uncovers a political corruption in the Governor’s office.

While the story sounds good enough, it takes a backseat to the game’s third-person action.  The game starts the tale from the beginning and, as a young Red, we get a feel of how your characters control.  As Red helps his father out against the bandits, gamers go through a tutorial that teaches the basic shooting elements.  Red can run, jump and punch but this is a gunslinger game so it is all about gunfights.  In order to bring your enemy down, Red must draw his gun from his holster with the L1 button, hold it and then fire with the R1 button.  This sounds easy enough, but after you draw you must also position a shooting reticule over your moving target.  You can target specific body parts but body and headshots are what you should really be looking for if you want to kill your enemy.  The game also features a Max Payne-styled Bullet Time feature known as Dead Eye.  It’s a tricky maneuver to master but the game does allow you to practice it during the few tutorials.

Since Red is a gunfighter, there are often moments when the game shifts to an old-fashioned duel that pits you against a challenging gunslinger.  Duels are somewhat complicated to master since they require you to perform a short series of control movements.  With the right analog stick, you have to move the stick down for your hand to reach the butt of your pistol then up so you can draw the holstered weapon.  Then you have to align the reticule over your opponent until the reticule itself turns a bright red before you fire.  This takes a lot of practice, believe me, but mastering the skill of the quick draw just adds more action to the game.  Both the Dead Eye feature and the Duels work well but they would have been so much better had the character moved less rigidly.  Using Max Payne as an example, Max targeting might take some getting use to but at least he moves smoothly and interacts with is environment.  Red, on the other hand, is only limited to sticking his back to the wall Solid Snake-style.

Major flaw aside, Red Dead Revolver spices up the action by allowing gamers to play as Annie Stokes, Shadow Wolf, Diego, Swift Jack and Buffalo Soldier.  Aside from their difference in appearance, each character is skilled with unique attacks and weapons.  Annie would put Annie Oakley to shame with her rifle and Shadow Wolf is both sneaky and deadly with his flaming arrows.  Along with the fact that Red can ride and shoot and do heroic stunts like fight against bad guys on a stagecoach, the game certainly offers many action-packed sequences that work in the game’s favor.  Add the extras you get to unlock (such as weapon upgrades you can purchase) and Multiplayer modes packed with an abundance of options (up to four players can take each another on in Bounty Hunter, Sundown and High Noon) and you have a game with a lot to offer.

The game’s graphics might not win any prizes considering the fact that much of what we see in this game certainly lacks that visual punch that most of the recent Rockstar games seems to offer.  While the locales found here do a good job of bringing the old West to life, it would have been a lot better if the game used more detail.  The character models themselves, though, are what really needed the help.  Characters look okay during cut scenes but plain looking during the game’s action.  Facial details are not the best either.

What the game doesn’t do visually, it achieves something far better . . . offer convincing voices, sound effects and a score that will bring back memories of Clint’s early Italian classics like For A Few Dollars More.  The voices work nicely for characters like Red and Shadow Wolf and the dialogue isn’t bad at all.  Bad guys tend to repeat similar phrases during a level but it never really gets too annoying.  The music is homage to Sergio Leone and it tends to play in all the appropriate moments.  Combined with some excellent sound effects, the sound just works.

Red Dead Revolver isn’t as quick in the draw as we’d like it to be but its action-packed moments are surprisingly thrilling.  The game’s controls and visuals could have used some extra attention but it’s hard to not appreciate its finer moments, its plentiful extras and a too-hard-to-put-down multiplayer mode.  If you love a good Western give this one a shot.  If you’re not, this one still makes a great weekend rental. 

Gameplay: 7.0
Classic showdowns make Duels something of a rare treat . . . although they require quite a sufficient amount of practice to get right.  Still, this is one action fueled game with enough levels that mix up the action by putting Red in various neat situations (the train level is one of the best) and by introducing five different playable characters.  I only wish the character’s movements weren’t so stiff to the point of making most actions something of a not-so-smooth task.

Graphics: 7.0
Not what you might call a visual stunner, Red Dead Revolver’s graphics are average at best.  Character models aren’t bad to look at but the facial details and character movement needed a lot of work.  Thankfully the locations look pretty good.

Sound: 8.0
One of the highlights of this game happens to be its score and you have to love the spaghetti western vibe.  The voice acting is decent but the sound effects are delightful enough that you’ll swear you’re watching the more intense moments of The Wild Bunch when the lead really starts flying.

Difficulty: Medium
The game isn’t incredibly difficult but you’ll find a large amount of levels that will definitely add more challenge.  The mere fact that you have to go through an entire level to save the game makes the harder levels a bit frustrating--especially if those levels contain Duels against champion gunslingers.  The Quick Draw Competition, for example, puts you up against the best of the best so there were times where I had to replay the level more than twice.

Concept: 7.5
Red Dead Revolver also rewards gamers at the completion of each level in Story mode . . . and these rewards are rich with practically dozens of extras.  Aside from unlocking weapon upgrades, gamers will also get to unlock extras for the game’s multiplayer mode such as extra characters and extra features.  There are also two card games--Stud and Texas Hold ‘Em and an extra mode called Bounty Hunter that allows gamers to play a timed version of Story mode.

Multiplayer: 8.0
The game also includes a multiplayer mode fit for up to four other players (using the PS2 Multitap).  There’s Bounty Hunter (first to collect the bounty limit wins), Sundown (the player who earns enough kills wins) and High Noon (duel against friends to see who is the fastest).  These modes are wildly entertaining but my only complaint is that the Xbox gets an extra multiplayer mode. 

Overall: 7.2
There’s just too much to like about Red Dead Revolver even though it isn’t the most perfect action game.  It’s faults do not quite damage the game’s basic appeal and while the controls could have used some much needed polish, there’s just enough fun to make this a really good time in the Wild West.  Don’t ignore this one; it makes a great weekend rental.