Halloween-themed DLC hits Red Dead Redemption
by Joel Smart (Sports Editor)
Red Dead Redemption, a Wild West adventure, was released by Grand Theft Auto-famed developers Rockstar Games in May 2010 to critical acclaim. The game has been celebrated for its incredible landscapes, engaging storyline and even the hilarious glitches that have attracted thousands of views on YouTube. This Halloween, though, people are not playing the game for any of those reasons; they’re playing for the zombies. The $9.99 Downloadable content pack Undead Nightmare hit on October 26, featuring a divergent alternate storyline for the game in which a zombie plague overtakes the Old West. It would be silly if it wasn’t so damn terrifying.
In Undead Nightmare, players can expect numerous missions and challenges in the new single player adventure, as well as two new multiplayer modes. The DLC also includes four new weapons, three new outfits, eight new characters, various zombie animals populating the world, a new area to explore as well as new events and mechanics worked into the game. The zombie pack will have the hidden creature Bigfoot as well as the Four Horses of the Apocalypse. These secret characters can be found, and in the case of the horses, broken and ridden. One of the horses has infinite stamina, while another bursts everything it touches into flames.
The new weapons include a torch, which doubles as a light source, Holy water that is thrown like a grenade but explodes with a powerful blue fire, zombie bait that attracts zombies and detonates when they make contact with it and a gun that shoots chunks of zombie meat called the blunderbuss. Unfortunately, zombies killed with the blunderbuss are so thoroughly destroyed that they can’t be recycled into more blunderbuss ammo. As fun as the other weapons seem, the torch might actually wind up the most useful of the new weapon choices, especially considering it can be used to light coffins on fire.
The art style of the new characters and zombie animals is an entertaining addition to the game. There is something uniquely terrifying about witnessing a zombie bear or a zombie cougar. Zombie horses look pretty rad as well. Zombie Rabbits are capable of taking players down as well, perhaps as a subtle gesture to Monty Python. Also unexpected but welcome are the zombie cows inhabiting the countryside.
Perhaps even more fun than the new single player story will be the new multiplayer mode Undead Overrun in which players must work together to survive against endless, increasingly more intense, waves of infected zombies. The other multiplayer mode is called Land Grab and plays like a large-scale game of king-of-the-hill.
This isn’t the first DLC for game, but it is easily the most elaborate. In June, Outlaws to the End was released, opening up six multiplayer co-op missions as well as other challenges and features, for free. Then, in August, a somewhat lacking Legends and Killers was released for 10 bucks, adding a few new playable areas, new multiplayer characters and a new weapon, the tomahawk. In September, the much-improved Liars and Cheats was released, featuring multiplayer poker, horse races, hideouts, multiplayer modes, weapons and more. Now, with Undead Nightmare, the Red Dead Redemption experience really gains a whole new dimension that owners of the game should not miss.
For those who don’t have the game, the three most recent DLC packs will also be available for 30 bucks in a stand-alone retail release.
