A while ago I played Red Dead Redemption and, though I admittedly spent more time playing poker and wandering around the wilderness looking for stuff than playing the actual missions, I thought it was one of the better games I had played in a long time. However, far more important, I felt it was one of the best stories that any video game has ever tried to tell with a main character that was very well fleshed out. Possibly the best fleshed out video game character ever.
Why do I say this? John Marston, a former outlaw, forced to hunt his old old gang members to be reunited with his family, was more than just a 3D polygonal thing for me to drive around in a video game. From the very beginning of the game, the personality of John, a very tough man with a softer side that shone through from time to time, was very clear. John was a hard man, vicious when he had to be, but honest and loyal, turning down the offers from prostitutes with a polite but firm, "I'm a married man, ma'am". He wasn't hunting his old friends for any reason but because he had no choice. John would do anything for his family, that was made quite clear.
As the game progressed, John grew beyond the basic shell of a character he started with. He was a hard man, but he had motivations beyond the "save my family" standard, and he made friendships and relationships with the strangest of bedfellows work through a combination of his unerring blunt honesty and his harsh and demanding attitude. He worked with the ranch owner that saved his life (who clearly grew sweet on him over time), grave robbers, snake oil salesmen, sheriffs, marshals, corrupt government officials, and more, never changing in his determination to save his family. As I played the game I grew not only to like John, but to respect him. He was never shy about his past, but had clearly worked hard to become something more. Now he was fighting, tooth and nail, to be sure he could have that back.
Eventually the game did end, and I had played poker and looked for stupid freaking weeds for long enough, so I bid the game adieu and moved on to other frontiers. Still, I was sad to put the game down. I really liked the game, especially the story, and it's hard to not want more of that.
Time passed, then I heard about this new Red Dead Redemption, Undead Nightmare thing, I thought, "Oh cool! Zombies and Red Dead! Could be fun!" And in as much as that, I was dead on. But there was something surprising for me.
Playing the game, hearing John's voice, seeing him interact with his family, brought back a rush of feelings. I realized that, in seeing this video game character, a written fake person, that I had quite literally missed him. That seeing him again, hearing him talk and interact with his family and others, truly brought out a feeling of seeing an old friend again. I'm dead serious, after putting down RDD and thinking I'd never see him again, getting one last real time to see John Marston in action a completely unexpected treat.
It may signal that I'm really insane, but I think it shows just how good the writers were for this game. I missed John Marston, I missed hearing his voice, I missed his aggressive manner of handling his less honest companions, I missed watching him tease his wife and clumsily try to be a good father to his son. I missed his attitude, his smile, and his unending efforts to be a good man in a world out of control.
Now that I've beaten Undead Nightmare I am sad that it's over. I'm losing a friend again. I'm losing John Marsten, and the second time is harder because I really now know what I'm going to miss. John isn't a real person, I can't go find him, or drop him an email. All I can hope is that somehow Rockstar makes another game with John as the main character without screwing everything up, as usually happens.
Goodbye John. I will miss you.
Oh, right, the actual game. As zombie games go, I enjoyed it. Things get really hectic and annoying when zombies get all up in your business, and the first level is a desperate dash to try to find ammunition, but you're blasting away the undead in a myriad of fun settings, you have the opportunity to catch and ride the Four Horses of the apocalypse, and you get to visit, and sometimes kill, all those characters you loved from RDD. It's a great add on to a great game. Visiting with John is just the kind of perk I get worked up about.
