Red Dead Revolver

Red Dead Revolver is a third-person shooter and action-adventure game with a linear storyline. Players can fight enemies using handguns, rifles, shotguns, and throwable weapons such as hunting knives, molotov cocktails, and dynamite. New weapons can be purchased at the end of each level. Levels usually end with a boss fight, and each boss has a bounty on their head that is collected once they are killed. Each level uses a rating system that rewards players with unlockable content, such as new weapons or characters for the game's multiplayer component, depending on how well they completed specific objectives, such as the time taken to finish the level or weapon accuracy.

Though the game lacks an open-world, players may freely explore the small town of Brimstone between levels, where they can interact with NPCs. Throughout the storyline, players mainly assume the role of bounty hunter Red Harlow, but some levels offer control over other characters, such as English trick-shootist Jack Swift, rancher Annie Stoakes, Mexican Army General Diego, Red's Native American cousin Shadow Wolf, and an African American U.S. soldier known only as the "Buffalo Soldier." Each playable character has a unique signature weapon, such as Red's father's revolver, Jack's twin pistols, and Shadow Wolf's bow and arrow.

A game mechanic also featured in the other Red Dead games is "Dead Eye", a targeting system that temporarily puts the player into bullet time to place one or multiple precise shots on an enemy's body. When the targeting sequence ends, the player character automatically fires to all marked locations in extremely quick succession, dealing high amounts of damage. Dead Eye is also utilized in the game's duels, which consist of four stages:

• Grabbing – the player controls the character's hand and must direct it towards the weapon;
• Drawing – the player moves the right analog stick back up to remove the weapon from its holster;
• Acquiring locks – the right analog stick is used to move the crosshairs over the opponent's body and place several targets. Depending on how critical the point is, the targets may be yellow (meaning low damage), dark red (moderate damage), or light red (high damage);
• Shooting – once the bullet time effect ends, the player character automatically fires bullets in rapid succession. If not enough damage is dealt to the enemy, they will survive and shoot the player. Should the player survive as well, they may attempt to finish off the opponent using normal shooting.

The game includes a local multiplayer component, which can be played by either one or two players, alongside two AI-controlled bots. There is only one game mode, namely free-for-all battles, where the goal is to be the last man standing. The multiplayer component utilizes most maps and character models from the single-player campaign, with only a few exclusive ones.

In 1868, prospectors Nate Harlow (Kurt Rhoads) and Griff (Bert Pence) find gold in an area called Bear Mountain and celebrate by crafting two identical revolvers. Griff is later captured by the Mexican Army and sentenced to death, but convinces General Diego (Robert Jimenez) to spare him by offering him half of the gold in Bear Mountain. Diego later sends his right-hand man, Colonel Daren (Dennis Ostermaier), to kill Nate in order to conceal the gold's location. Daren and his men murder Nate and his wife, Falling Star (Messeret Stroman), but their teenage son, Red (Jason Fuchs), escapes after shooting off Daren's left arm with his father's revolver.

Twelve years later, Red (Robert Bogue) has become a ruthless bounty hunter. After killing an outlaw gang led by "Bloody Tom" (Christian Tanno), he takes their bodies to the town of Widows Patch for the bounty on their heads, only to be attacked by a rival gang led by "Ugly Chris" (Erick Devine). With local Sheriff O'Grady's (Stephen Schnetzer) assistance, Red kills them, but O'Grady is wounded, so Red takes him to Brimstone, the nearest town with a doctor, foiling a train robbery on the way there. In Brimstone, Red meets local Sheriff Bartlett (Gene Jones), who asks him to deal with several outlaw gangs terrorizing the area. During his mission, Red encounters and befriends English trick-shootist Jack Swift (Gregg Martin), who later leaves to pursue his own vendetta against one of the gang leaders. After eliminating all bounties, Red returns to Bartlett to claim his money, only to learn the wagon bringing in gold hasn't arrived yet. At the Brimstone Bank, Red meets local rancher Annie Stoakes (Carrie Keranen), who is about to lose her farm to Governor Griffon. Learning that Griffon owns part of Bear Mountain, which Red's family was killed over, he seeks out Annie to learn more about it, only to witness her farm being destroyed by Griffon's men. In exchange for his bounty money, Annie tells Red what she knows about Bear Mountain.

While asking around for the gold wagon's whereabouts at a saloon, Red starts a fight with some thugs, resulting in his arrest, though Bartlett swiftly releases him after learning he is Nate Harlow's son, and reveals that his father's killers, General Diego and Colonel Daren, are still alive and court bound. Red finds and destroys Diego's gold wagon, but is captured by Daren and forced to work at Bear Mountain as a slave. While imprisoned, Red befriends a U.S. soldier known only as "Buffalo Soldier" (Benton Greene), before the pair are rescued by Red's Native American cousin Shadow Wolf (Chaske Spencer). After escaping from the mines, Red and Shadow Wolf attack Diego's fortress and kill Daren, though Shadow Wolf is mortally wounded. Red later tracks down and kills Diego as well. Meanwhile, Buffalo Soldier travels to Brimstone to seek Governor Griffon's help, only for the governor to reveal his affiliation with Diego and have Buffalo imprisoned once again.

Later, Red, Annie, and Jack participate in Brimstone's yearly quick-draw competition, hosted by Griffon and Bartlett. After Red defeats all his opponents, Griffon disqualifies Annie and Jack, leaving only Red and four time champion Mr. Kelley (Joseph Melendez) to compete. Following Kelley's defeat, an enraged Griffon pulls out his revolver to kill Red, who notices it is identical to his, and deduces Griffon's identity as Griff and an accomplice in his father's murder. As Griffon makes his escape, he orders a still-living Kelley to kill Red. After killing Kelley, Red storms Griffon's mansion alongside Annie, Jack, and Bartlett, and confronts the governor on the rooftop. During the battle, Jack dies while buying Red enough time to kill Griffon in a duel, and Annie finds and rescues Buffalo Soldier. His family finally avenged, Red thanks his allies for their help, and is offered the gold that he is owed by Bartlett, who thanks him for all the good he has done for Brimstone. Honoring his promise to Annie, Red tells the sheriff to give the gold to her and Buffalo Soldier, and leaves with Griffon's revolver, stating that "It never was about the money."

The project originally stemmed from Angel Studios and Capcom's partnership on the Resident Evil 2 port for the Nintendo 64. Capcom's Yoshiki Okamoto then approached Angel Studios with the idea for an original intellectual property entitled S.W.A.T. It later adopted a Western theme at Okamoto's recommendation, redefining the acronym as "Spaghetti Western Action Team".[6] It was intended to be a spiritual successor to Capcom's Gun.Smoke, a 1985 arcade shoot 'em up originally designed by Yoshiki Okamoto.[5] Angel Studios began work on the game with Capcom's oversight and funding in 2000, and the latter announced the game in March 2002.[7][8] Its development was troubled, partially due to cultural differences between the two companies, and the game remained unplayable.[6]

In November 2002, Take-Two Interactive, parent company of Rockstar Games, announced that they had acquired Angel Studios, with it being moved to the Rockstar Games label and being renamed Rockstar San Diego.[9][10] Following the purchase, Rockstar Games executives reviewed projects in development at the studio, so to sort out what was worth keeping.[11] Dan Houser, creative director at Rockstar Games, remarked that the game "looked very good" and caught the review team's eyes, despite it being in an unplayable state.[11] The troubled development led to that unplayable state of the game, with it missing both the 2002 European Computer Trade Show and the 2003 Electronic Entertainment Expo,[12][13] Okamoto then left Capcom,[6] which eventually cancelled the title in August 2003.[14] However, Rockstar Games acquired the rights to Red Dead Revolver the following December,[15][16] and let Rockstar San Diego go on to develop what would become the first installment in the acclaimed Red Dead series.[11]

Red Dead Revolver received "average" reviews according to the review aggregation website Metacritic.[17][18] In Japan, where the game was ported and published by Capcom on May 25, 2005, almost two years after the company had cancelled the title, Famitsu gave it a score of 31 out of 40.[22][23]

The Times gave it four stars out of five, saying that it "has a strong, coherent storyline that whisks Red from novice gunslinger to competent bounty hunter in what proves to be the mother of all shooting practice games."[37] Maxim similarly gave it four stars out of five, saying that "Show-offs can even stealthily duck behind cover and shoot at foes' feet to make 'em jig like Michael Flatley sans Ritalin."[38] However, Entertainment Weekly gave it a C and said that "The game misses its mark: Instead of the gritty, scrub-brush humor of a Sergio Leone pic, Revolver feels like a rootin'-tootin' Disneyland ride."[36]

It was nominated for GameSpot's 2004 "Best Licensed Music" award, which went to Battlefield: Vietnam.[39] In 2010, the game was included as one of the titles in the book 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die.[40]

The first glimpse at a sequel was in 2005 when Rockstar showed a teaser at a Sony press conference. The successor to Red Dead Revolver, Red Dead Redemption, was officially announced for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in 2009.[43][44] After a few delays in release dates,[45][46] it was finally released on May 18, 2010 in North America, and on May 21, 2010 in Europe and Australia to critical acclaim, with many reviewers praising the game's gameplay and technical improvements over its predecessor.[47]

Red Dead Redemption 2 was confirmed by Rockstar in October 2016, and was released on October 26, 2018 for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.[48] It was released for Microsoft Windows on November 5, 2019.[49]

• Official website