Red Dead Redemption

So we work our way through some top-hatted mooks until the boss himself comes out. When you get bounty missions like this you have the choice to take them in dead or alive - alive is always a little trickier, but after shooting the guy in the leg as he comes out of his shack he's willing to give in. And that's our first taste of the game.

It's very simple, but it's also insanely atmospheric, and when we get the chance to have a wander around the world we start to see where the richness comes from.

RDR's open world is at once empty, and packed with hidden treasures. You expect the open plains to be a somewhere desolate place, and the balance struck between that classic western lonesomeness and enough events to keep you interested must be a hard line to straddle - but as usual, Rockstar shows its deft touch. You can gallop (or walk) for a while by yourself, admiring the rugged landscape, or even just posing dramatically during some of gaming's best sunsets (trust me - it's addictive!), but then a posse of riders comes along, or you can just make the sound of gunfire in the distance. You can always leave well enough alone, but there's always rewards to be had for helping out, whether you're saving someone from bandits or picking sides in a fight between lawmen and desperadoes.

And aside from human encounters, there's a mess of wildlife to contend with. We've mentioned the wolves and coyotes before, that'll chase your horse and cause all kinds of grief, but you can hunt a lot of them down and skin their corpses, for stuff that others can make use of in towns - a limited form of crafting.

Shooting wildlife also unlocks a lot of achievements, like nailing buzzards as they circle the dead for Sharpshooter titles.

Our limited taste of the game has left us only vaguely satisfied, though - we're not going to be happy until we can sit down with RDR, a bottle of whiskey, and get some serious gaming in. We'll just have to wait until the end of April.

Damn.

In the meantime, have a look at our gallery, and keep an eye out for a new trailer on Monday.