Red Dead Revolver

• 1. Introduction

  ›

  Red Dead Revolver is a 2004 action-adventure game for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox, and it ends with its hero turning down a pile of gold. Bounty hunter Red Harlow spends the entire story chasing the men who murdered his parents. Then a grateful sheriff offers him the payment he is owed. Red tells the sheriff to hand it to two other people instead, and says it was never about the money. So what was it about? The answer starts with a pair of matching guns and a hidden fortune on a mountain. It also involves a troubled production whose outcome was far from certain. This documentary follows both threads, and the Western they produced.

  2660

• 2. Dead Eye and Duels

  ›

  Slow motion is the signature trick of Red Dead Revolver, a targeting system called Dead Eye. When a player triggers it, time crawls, and the crosshairs can mark one or several precise spots on an enemy's body. Once the marking ends, the character fires at every marked spot in very quick succession, dealing heavy damage. The mechanic debuted in this game and was later carried into other Red Dead games.

  Duels borrow the same system, and each one unfolds in four stages. First comes grabbing, where the player steers the character's hand toward the weapon. Second is drawing, in which the right analog stick moves back up to pull the gun from its holster.

  The third stage is acquiring locks. Here the same stick slides the crosshairs across the opponent's body to place several targets. The fourth is shooting. The slow-motion effect ends, and the character fires bullets rapidly and automatically at the marked spots.

  Dead Eye is only one tool in a larger arsenal that stretches from handguns to dynamite.

  239402513

• 3. Brimstone and Beyond

  ›

  Handguns, rifles and shotguns fill the weapon list, alongside throwables such as hunting knives, molotov cocktails and dynamite. Players buy new weapons at the end of each level, and most levels close with a boss fight. Every boss has a bounty on their head, and the player collects it after the kill. A rating system scores each level on goals such as completion time and weapon accuracy. High scores unlock rewards, including new weapons and characters for multiplayer.

  Between missions, the linear storyline pauses in the small town of Brimstone. The game has no open world, yet players can wander the town freely and talk to NPCs.

  Red is not the only person players control. Some levels hand the reins to English trick-shooter Jack Swift, rancher Annie Stoakes, and Renegade Army General Javier Diego. Others feature Red's Native American cousin Shadow Wolf, and an African American soldier known only as the Buffalo Soldier. Each has a signature weapon. Red carries his revolver, Jack uses twin pistols, and Shadow Wolf relies on a bow and arrow.

  The local multiplayer mode seats one to four people, joined by one to three AI-controlled bots. Its three modes are mostly free-for-all battles where the last man standing wins. Most maps and character models are recycled from the campaign, with only a few made exclusively for multiplayer. There was no true online play, but the Xbox Live "Live Aware" feature supported the game. Today it works through Insignia, a replacement online server for the Xbox.

  23394025

• 4. Two Revolvers and a Scar

  ›

  Bear Mountain, in the 1870s, is where prospectors Nate Harlow and Griff strike gold. To celebrate, each man crafts a revolver, and the two guns come out identical. Later the Renegade Army captures Griff, and he buys his life by offering to show corrupt General Javier Diego where the gold lies. Diego sends his right-hand man, Colonel Daren, to kill Nate and his family so the secret stays buried. Daren and hired guns murder Nate and his Native American wife, Falling Star. Their teenage son Red escapes after using his father's revolver to shoot off Daren's left arm. The heat of that gun burns a scorpion-shaped scar into the boy's hand.

  Twelve years later, Red is a ruthless bounty hunter. He drags a slain gang led by Bloody Tom into the town of Widows Patch for the reward. There, Ugly Chris and his men, who control the town, ambush him. Red kills them with help from Sheriff O'Grady, who is wounded in the shootout. Red carries him to Brimstone, the nearest town with a doctor, and foils a train robbery on the way. In Brimstone, Sheriff Bartlett offers him bounties on vicious local outlaws. During one job, Red befriends Jack Swift, who then shoots his own treacherous former employer.

  Red's payment is delayed, because the wagon train carrying it has not arrived. At the Brimstone Bank, he overhears rancher Annie Stoakes mention the gold that cost his parents their lives. Her ranch has just been burned on the orders of Governor Griffon, who wanted to punish her for refusing to sell her land. Red offers Annie his bounty money in exchange for information on Bear Mountain, which Griffon partly owns. Later, in a saloon, Red kills thugs who talk of Colonel Daren but will not say more. Bartlett arrests him, then releases him on learning he is Nate Harlow's son and explains how Red's parents died.

  Red sets out to kill Diego, but Daren captures him after he destroys one of their supply trains. Forced to mine gold as a slave, Red befriends a fellow prisoner known only as the Buffalo Soldier. Red's cousin Shadow Wolf frees them both. Red and Shadow Wolf storm Diego's camp and kill Daren, though Shadow Wolf is mortally wounded. Diego flees by armored train, and Red chases him down and kills him. Meanwhile the Buffalo Soldier goes to Brimstone to ask Governor Griffon for help. Griffon reveals his alliance with Diego and has him imprisoned.

  Brimstone's yearly quick-draw competition, hosted by Griffon and Bartlett, becomes the turning point. Red, Annie and Jack all take part. Griffon rigs the contest so Red will be killed, but Red defeats every opponent. Furious, Griffon draws his own revolver, and Red notices it is identical to his father's. He realizes the governor is really Griff, his father's treacherous partner. Griffon flees and orders his henchman, Mr. Kelley, to kill Red. After dealing with Kelley, Red storms the mansion with Annie, Jack and Bartlett. Jack sacrifices himself to buy Red time, and Red kills Griffon in a duel. Annie finds and frees the Buffalo Soldier. Red leaves carrying Griffon's revolver.

  266094

• 5. From S.W.A.T. to Rockstar

  ›

  Capcom provided the money and oversight when Angel Studios began work on the game in 2000. The link came from the two companies' earlier partnership on a Resident Evil 2 port for the Nintendo 64. Capcom's Yoshiki Okamoto then pitched Angel Studios an original idea called S.W.A.T. At his recommendation it turned into a Western, and the acronym was recast as "Spaghetti Western Action Team". One report says the inspiration arrived when Okamoto watched the film Blindman. He had earlier worked on Capcom's 1985 arcade shoot 'em up Gun.Smoke. Artist Akira Yasuda, also known as Akiman, moved to the United States to design the characters.

  Capcom announced the game in March 2002. Production went badly, partly because of cultural differences between the two companies, and the game remained unplayable.

  In November 2002, Take-Two Interactive, the parent company of Rockstar Games, announced that it had bought Angel Studios. The studio moved under the Rockstar Games label and was renamed Rockstar San Diego. Rockstar executives then reviewed its projects to decide which were worth keeping. Dan Houser, creative director at Rockstar Games, remarked that the game "looked very good". It caught the review team's eye even in that broken state.

  The unplayable build missed both the 2002 European Computer Trade Show and the 2003 Electronic Entertainment Expo. Okamoto left Capcom, and the company cancelled the title in August 2003. That December, Rockstar Games acquired the rights. It let Rockstar San Diego finish what became the first installment of the Red Dead series.

  The finished game reached North America on the 4th of May 2004, and PAL regions on the 11th of June. The PlayStation 2 version arrived on PlayStation 4 on the 11th of October 2016. The Xbox version became playable on Xbox One through backward compatibility on the 15th of November 2021.

  58101112

• 6. A Borrowed Soundtrack

  ›

  Luis Bacalov's score for the film His Name Was King supplies the main title theme. Rather than commission new songs, the game licensed music from authentic spaghetti westerns.

  Ennio Morricone's work appears through A Sky Full of Stars for a Roof. Other tracks come from A Bullet for the General, Django, Prepare a Coffin, Minnesota Clay, Have a Good Funeral, My Friend... Sartana Will Pay, and many more films.

  The choice earned recognition. GameSpot nominated the game for its 2004 "Best Licensed Music" award, though the prize went to Battlefield: Vietnam.

  24482

• 7. Mixed Reviews

  ›

  Metacritic, which aggregates reviews, rated Red Dead Revolver "mixed or average". Japan saw the game late, since Capcom ported and published it there in 2004, almost a year after cancelling it. Famitsu scored that release 31 out of 40.

  The Times gave four stars out of five and praised "a strong, coherent storyline". Its reviewer called the game "the mother of all shooting practice games". Maxim also gave four stars out of five. Its writer enjoyed that "Show-offs can even stealthily duck behind cover and shoot at foes' feet to make 'em jig like Michael Flatley sans Ritalin."

  Entertainment Weekly gave a C, writing that the game "feels like a rootin'-tootin' Disneyland ride" rather than a gritty Sergio Leone film. Kevin Gifford of 1Up.com gave a C+. He wrote that "The atmosphere in Red Dead is the real thing". He also told readers: "If you can forgive all of its faults, you'll enjoy the few hours you spend in Red's world."

  The verdicts were split, but the audience was real, and sales figures were still to come.

  4546293043

• 8. Sales and Sequels

  ›

  According to the market research firm The NPD Group, Red Dead Revolver sold 140,000 units during June 2004. Lifetime sales reached 920,000 by July 2010. That same year the game earned a place in the book 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die.

  Rockstar gave the first glimpse of a sequel in 2005, with a teaser shown at a Sony press conference. The successor, Red Dead Redemption, was officially announced in 2009 for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. After a few delayed release dates, it came out on the 18th of May 2010 in North America. Europe and Australia followed on the 21st of May. Critics acclaimed it, and many reviewers praised its gameplay and technical gains over its predecessor.

  Rockstar confirmed Red Dead Redemption 2 in October 2016. It was released on the 26th of October 2018 for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. A Windows version followed on the 5th of November 2019.

  5051495357