Red Dead Redemption

This plays into the game's Honour and Fame system. Marston can gain or lose Honour depending on his actions. Capturing the target here boosts Honour, which ultimately affects the way the world reacts to you, from shopkeepers to the law. There are many ways to gain Honour, like aiding distressed travellers and helping the law; and just as many ways to lose it, like, as I discover, shooting hookers in the belly, however inadvertent. In short, murdering and stealing might get you rich quicker but it has consequences.

Fame is increased with every significant action Marston performs. Again, this impacts how you are perceived and treated, with townsfolk referring to you by name as your renown increases but, just as likely, cocksure meatheads challenging you to a duel. You might even blag a discount at the local store. Unless you'd rather shoot the shopkeeper in the face and steal everything.

With the mission complete I take the opportunity to wander off-piste and out towards a rocky rise. Much has already been written about the game's ecology system. There is a circle of life in Redemption, but not one of which Disney would necessarily approve. From rabbits to buffalo and bears, larger animals pray on smaller ones - and on you.

I shoot a rabbit from horseback and watch its bloody body slide down a rock face. It's worth dismounting to collect as animal skins carry a value and can be sold-on in towns. Skinning a dead critter is a single button press. You don't see the process; instead the camera shows Marston crouching down and getting busy with his blade, with the squelch of flesh and blood splatters on the screen indicating a job well done.

As a rule, as long as it ain't human, you can skin it. A cougar appears and I'm forced to resort to Dead Eye to take it down. One skinning later and all that's left is a rather unsettling feline corpse. But the cougar wasn't working alone, and before I'm able to do anything, another has savaged my horse to death. I shoot the cougar and slice off its settee cover. And then do the same to my horse. It's what she would've wanted. By the end of my playtime, I've resorted to Dead Eye shooting a horse limb-by-limb before tearing off its skin like I'm stripping a bed. I feel dirty and ashamed.

If you lose your horse (by fair means or foul), the game apparently detects when you've been on foot for a couple of minutes and creates a scenario whereby you can seize a replacement. That could simply be someone riding by, or a stage coach, or the appearance of a campsite with a horse tethered and waiting to be nicked.

Campsites play an important role. Others' offer an opportunity to sit, shoot the breeze and enjoy a narrative set-piece. But there's every chance of a knife being pulled on you, particular after dark, so it's advisable not to get too comfortable. Marston can also pitch his own camp, which becomes important as you explore the map, serving as an item refill and save point.

A second playable mission gives a taste of Gang Hideouts - side missions that provide a useful haul of items and treasure. In this case, Marston is trying to help a farmer whose daughter has been captured and is being held in a hideout. It's another engaging cover-and-shoot sequence; and once enemies outside have been cleared, a final, frenzied dash ensues to rescue the daughter before she's done over.