Xbox Gaming in South Africa

Red Dead Redemption's single-player adventure has been one of the highlights of 2010 so far, but it's easy to forget that the wild west adventure also had a robust multiplayer side. Unlike with Grand Theft Auto 4, Rockstar has shown their intent to support RDR with plenty of multiplayer downloadable content, with the first of four newly announced DLC packs, the Legends and Killers Pack, arriving on Xbox LIVE last week.

The Legends and Killers Pack includes a range of new multiplayer content for fans, such as new character skins, map locations, a new projectile weapon, and the now obligatory addition of new Achievements to boost your Gamerscore. Fans of Red Dead Revolver, the first game in the series, will be pleased to see that some of those skins include recognizable characters, such as Red Harlow, Jack Swift, and Mr. Kelley. Of course, character skins are a superfluous addition to the actual game, and unless you’re a diehard fan of Red Dead Revolver, it will only serve as a short lived distraction.

Something that does, however, serve a (deadly) purpose in-game is the new tomahawk projectile weapon, which is available in both offline and online modes, with a range of new challenges attached to it. In practice it works exactly the same as the throwing knife and takes up a slot as a projectile weapon on the weapon select wheel. Online it’s a far more useful weapon due to its stealthy nature; rather than giving away your location as is the case with a gun, you can use the tomahawk and remain undetected, and makes for some challenging, erm, challenges, such as trying to kill a player with a tomahawk while they’re in the middle of a jump. If you found yourself addicted to Red Dead Redemption’s weapon and wilderness challenges, then you’ll be right at home with these newly introduced weapon challenges.

The real meat of this DLC comes in the form of the nine new multiplayer maps focused on the competitive online game types. It’s a sizable number of new maps to play on and most of them are well constructed from a gameplay point of view.

A personal favourite in my time online was a map set in the streets of Blackwater that sees you battling it out in narrow alleys and large open parks and roads with several sniping vantage points scattered throughout the map. It’s perfect for Free For All game types and manages to maintain the tension and pace throughout.

A Grab The Bag match on the Manzanita Trading Post map showed off just how deadly a well placed Gatling gun emplacement can be with several choke points in the level leading to numerous deaths. Luckily there’s a multitude of ways to sneak past, but at the risk of taking longer than your opponents. The forest setting also makes spotting enemies a tougher proposition, especially if they make effective use of cover.

Fort Mercer on the other hand uses corridors and levels to keep gameplay tight, and I enjoyed the slower pace of the Gang and Free For All matches which relied more on effective use of cover and well timed dashes to avoid enemy fire. It's a similar theme in Thieves’ Landing with a mixture of Blackwater’s alleyways with Manzanita’s choke points. The alleys are great for close quarters combat, but the bridges between the various areas of the map are a sniper's delight, so even bad shots like me can get a couple of lucky kills.

Hennigan’s Stead opts for a much more open layout, with wide expanses meaning that you’ll often have to make use of your horse for travelling. Both Hinnigan's Stead and the new Tall Trees map depend on coordinated strategies in team games because of their open nature.

The other three maps of Punto Orgullo, Rio Bravo and Escalera show off the more mountainous regions of Red Dead Redemption’s game world. They're maps that are far more reliant on knowing them inside out, with pathways and choke points that can be used to your advantage.

On top of the new maps there are also several new game modes introduced for current maps, with Diez Coronas playing host to Grab The Bag; Pacific Union Railroad Camp getting Gang Shootout and Shootout; and Tumbleweed introducing Gold Rush and Hold Your Own.

At this point you’re probably asking yourself whether it’s worth spending 800 MS points on multiplayer DLC, and in answer I’d have to do some fence sitting and say it’s up to how you view Red Dead Redemption. If you only came for the epic single-player narrative and dabbled briefly in the online side of the game you’ll find nothing here to excite you other than perhaps the tomahawk weapon and challenges. However, if you found yourself entranced by the wonders of free roaming the online wild west, then you’ll be over the moon with a huge glut of new maps to explore and fight on. From that standpoint it’s a great bargain when you realise that you’ll be more than doubling your current maps with this one DLC pack.

Pros:

• Large number of new maps
• New tomahawk challenges
• Tip of the hat to Red Dead Revolver

Cons:

• Strictly for fans of the multiplayer mode
• Subject to the odd bout of lag for locals

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