BitSnark

Forming the finale of what seems to be a stellar Q1 for mega-publisher 2K Games, Rockstar’s Red Dead Redemption, the sequel to 2004’s Red Dead Revolver, will hit the US on the 27th of April 2010, with a European release to follow on April 29th.

In the company of fellow big hitting Q1 2010 sequels Bioshock 2, Mafia 2 and Max Payne 3, Red Dead Redemption should still find its own niche; promising to combine the engine and tech behind GTA IV, with a gritty Wild West scenario to create the first real open-world Western title with the potential of actually being halfway decent.

There aren’t enough Western titles on the market and even less that can be considered anything other than mediocre. Red Dead Redemption though is slowly building hope inside me that the traditional Rockstar sardonic wit and savvy storytelling, combined with the peerless sandbox building tools that we witnessed in GTA IV will usher in at last the first AAA quality game that the neglected Western genre so badly needs.