Main story characters are cropping up in Online, too, like Van der Linde gang member Sean MacGuire, and Bonnie McFarlane from RDR 1respawned right at the edge of the
map. At present you can’t vote to skip
game modes... if you positively hate,
say, Team Name Your Weapon, you’re
stuck with it unless you quit out and
try again for a preferred mode. Of
course, it’s a work in progress, but we
really hope your lobby will be able to
vote on what you want to play. There
are also random timed PVP events,
enjoyable point-to-point, lap and open
horse races, and the obligatory Battle
Royale mode, Gun Rush, providing
enjoyably tense shoot-outs.
Lawless land
Of course, other people can and will be
dicks, and sadly Red Dead Online has
its share of prize morons who seem
to take pleasure from trolling other
people’s experience. For the most part
though, other players’ bad behaviour
makes the world a living, dangerous,
chaotic place, like the Wild West. No
other posse or player you meet can be
entirely trusted, but those folks who
gun you down, or lasso and hogtie
you, or murder your horse, are being
outlaws after all – and some missions
actively encourage badness. Luckily, if
you die, you respawn close by without
losing gear or cash. You can then go
and get revenge, or ride off in the
other direction. At a push, if you do
get persistently trolled, you can quit
and rejoin a different instance from
those players. Pleasingly, Rockstar’s
planned updates include an improved
Parley system whereby a player can’t
kill you for a time, a bounty system
to de-incentivise murder, and easier
identification of persistent griefers as
they appear on the map.
While Red Dead Online allows us
to more fully appreciate the huge,
immersive world Rockstar have
created for us, it isn’t yet the cowboy
RPG of our dreams – and this is mainly
down to a lack of solo things to do.
We’d love to see loads more storymissions and PVE content for single
players and or/their posses in free-
roam (and bank robberies, please!),
though we suspect they’re being
bombarded with requests for more
Battle Royale. We think there’s room
for both though, and we’re excited to
see what Rockstar can come up with
to keep players of all persuasions
coming back for more. QGOLD
STANDARD
Microtransactions are
inRed Dead Online,
and take the form of
gold bars. These will
allow you to buy stuff
in-game instead of
just using dollars,
including gear that’s
locked to a higher
level before you can
buy it normally. This is
mostly cosmetic stuff,
though (it can’t be
used for weapons), so
you can skip grinding
the 70 levels before
you can buy that
lovely duster coat
you’ve been wanting.
Gold bars are earned
through PVP events
and can be bought
in packs from the
Xbox Store.“You can rind
to your heart’s
content for X
dollars and shiny
old buckles”
FAR LEFTThe
game is fun as
a posse, but
equally
rewarding for
solo players.
RIGHTTeam
Shootout – kill
the other team’s
players to get
the biggest
score.OXM VERDICT
Already an
incredible thing,
this multiplayer
marvel will only get
better and better.ß
LEFTIn the PVP
Series Showdown
modes, teams are
allocated
colours to
identify them.More Xbox news at gamesradar.com/oxm THE OFFICIAL XBOX MAGAZINE 079REVIEW