Red Dead Redemption: Red Harlow's in the House.

After a healthy amount of press coverage, Rockstar’s Red Dead Redemption DLC “Legends and Outlaws” is upon us.  For those of you that are still playing the hell out of the insanely fun, occasionally funky multiplayer game, you’re in for a real treat.  Rockstar has put together a pretty well-rounded multiplayer package that will add a good chunk of play time to the online offering, while also bringing back some old faces for those of you, like me, who were bummed out that there was not enough Red Dead Revolver characters.

Available for: Xbox 360/ Playstation 3
Price: $9.99 (PSN) / 800 Microsoft Points (XBL)

The Legends and Outlaws pack is a multiplayer focused  “map” pack with slew of extras tossed in.  It comes hot on the heels of a recent multiplayer patch which smoothed out some of the game’s online modes, fixing various glitches and network hiccups and implementing some “anti-griefing” measures.  Read Dead Redemption has had very strong support from Rockstar with free multiplayer challenges and cooperative missions added (“Out Laws to the End” DLC), as well as various issues with the online mode which have been meticulously ironed out (for the most part).   In addition to this DLC, Rockstar has already announced a few more DLC packs, “Liars and Cheats”, “Free Roam” and “Undead Nightmare” which, once released, will add various activities like poker, Liars Dice, horse racing, ghost towns, weapons, animals and associated challenges/achievements, which will situate Red Dead Redemption’s already robust online multiplayer mode as a proverbial grab-bag of cohesive game modes and single/multiplayer activities.

Legends and Outlaws expands the size of the multiplayer world by adding 9 extra sections to the already large (and ominously empty feeling) online world.  Certain sections in the single player mode that are not available in the multiplayer mode are included here, and behave just like the other sections of the world in that they expand the terrain and behave as a hub for starting multiplayer games and activities.  There are 9 new sections included with the DLC, all of which support various game types and range from large, open landscapes to the more intricate town areas with various hiding spots.

In addition to the new map sections, the DLC includes 8 new multiplayer skins, all of which are updated versions of popular characters from Red Dead Revolver.

From Rockstar’s site:  Red Harlow

“With his family slaughtered by bandits and left for dead when he was a young boy, Red Harlow now prowls the open frontier as a bounty hunter, bringing justice to wicked bandits, while desperate to unravel the identity of his family’s killers.”

Red is back, and honestly, I liked the quiet ass kicking spaghetti western vibe he oozed in Red Dead Revolver, I was hoping to run into the character in game as some sort of Easter egg, but good enough.

From Rockstar’s Site: Jack Swift

“Jack Swift is an English gentleman and trick shooting ace who heads out West to join the circus as a sharpshooter, with his dual revolvers “The Showstoppers” in tow.”

Red Dead Revolver let you play as multiple characters, each with different play styles.  In Jack’s case, he was a trick shooter who carried 2 guns at once.  It was different enough to make it really fun and seriously, look at that sweet ass ‘stache…  Were this a Paper Mario game I’d give him discounts on badges and whatnot. 

From Rockstar’s site: Annie Stoakes

“In the rugged Western frontier, staking your claim means being prepared for more than just hard work.   Cattle rancher Annie Stoakes knows this, which is why in addition to working a small plot of land outside of Brimstone, she’s a crack shot with “Faith” – her affectionately named repeater rifle.”

Dammit, This is what I mean…  She named her rifle Faith.  I like the Characters in Red Dead Revolver more.  There, I said it.  It’s the little things, Rockstar…

From Rockstar’s site: Shadow Wolf

“An Indian scout and member of the Red Wolf Tribe, Shadow Wolf is also Red Harlow’s cousin, and like Red, must face his own challenges in the Wild West and either find his place amongst his tribe, or outside it.”

In Red Dead Revolver Shadow Wolf used a Bow and Arrow and again, the game played differently.  The constant changing of characters in RDR actually worked, all of them were fun and they all came together at the end for a climactic finish.

From Rockstar: Buffalo Soldier

“A soldier in the U.S. Army, Buffalo was captured by the ruthless Mexican General Javier Diego and forced to work in the gold mine at Bear Mountain.   In Red Dead Revolver, he meets Red Harlow after Red is also captured by Diego, and together they both escape with the help of Shadow Wolf.”

Another playable character in Red Dead Revolver.  All the characters had special powers like Dead Eye, only they were catered to them.  In the multiplayer modes, each character in the game had different super moves, like a freaking fighting game.  There was  normal stuff like rapid pistol fanning to cool stuff like super multiple knife throwing, to silly stuff like the ultimate stop -> drop -> roll -> shoot technique.  Red Dead Revolver’s multiplayer was hot shit AND you didn’t get stuck on doors…

And the Bad guys….

From Rockstar: Mr. Kelley

“The 3-time champion of the annual Brimstone Battle Royale dueling competition, the well-dressed Mr. Kelley is known throughout Brimstone for his prowess both at the poker table and with a six shooter.”

I’ll get this out of the way: Red Dead Revolver took all the cool and silly stuff from spaghetti westerns and tossed them in  a blender, you can find homages to lots of great (and silly) western films, Mr. Kelly is part of the Quick and the Dead stuff, and it was good.  There was a big gun dueling tournament that you played throughout the main game, and Mr. Kelly was supposed to be the best.  He was a bad ass, till I blasted a trench through his brain bucket.  Seriously, on very hard mode, it was one of the few times a game actually made me feel like a bona fide bad ass.   BONA FIDE!

From Rockstar: Ugly Chris

“Not much is known about the leader of the Ugly Gang.   One of the most ruthless men in the West, his gang is known to invade towns with weak lawmen and plunder whatever is of value.”

One of the gang leaders from the first game.  A bounty you accept early in the game.  I am sure there is a group of people who, like me,  that are convinced Red Dead Revolver was one of the best titles released in that generation, not because it was this big budget title, or because it got everything right.  Revolver was just really fun and well designed both technically and aesthetically, what it did it did well, a great blend of 3D action and,  a fun story, skill based game play,  interesting boss fights and item collecting.  Also, one of the best game soundtracks ever.  For realsies, look it up.  Skins for characters like Ugly Chris, (EVERY character in the game had a name by the way) this kind of fan service is for us…  All 3 of us.

From Rockstar: Pig Josh

“A rotund demolition expert with more than a few swine-like traits, Pig Josh enjoys traveling from town to town along with his “troupe”, demonstrating his talents with dynamite.”

One of the boss fights in Red Dead Revolver, Pig Josh is part of a traveling sideshow that causes trouble in the original game.  You track him down and fight him in a deserted town and shoot up his clown midgets.  Yeah, clown midgets.

Last but not least, the DLC adds a new hatchet weapon which also behaves like the throwing knife, only stronger.  It has its own achievements and can also be used in the single player game.

And here is the trailer in the event you haven’t had a chance to see it.  Good presentation, overall.

If you like the online portion of Red Dead Redemption, this DLC seems like a no-brainer.  It adds a lot of area to explore and play in and gives you more skins to run around as.  And remember, themed posses are always awesome…