A guitar string twangs as the stirring soundtrack fills the air with ominous intent. The sun rises over the canyon. Dust flares up from your horse's hooves as you gallop across the arid plains. A bullet whistles past your hat. Bandits. You dig your spurs in and fire off a couple of rounds from your Repeater. One hits home, and a man tumbles off his horse in a red mist, his mare bolts off into the unknown. Welcome to the world of Red Dead Redemption, welcome to the life of outlaw, John Marston.

Rockstar Games have created the most fully realized game worlds to date, in their hugely successful Grand Theft Auto series. In 2004 they attempted to bring the Wild West to life with Red Dead Revolver, an encouraging effort. However, it was not until the arrival of Red Dead Redemption that the true heir to the throne of open world action adventure burst though the saloon doors and knocked out all the competition. Never before has it been more possible to feel like Clint Eastwood   in The Good, The Bad and The Ugly till now. Rockstar have left no stone unturned, in this homage to all the greatest Westerns you've ever seen. This is video gaming at it's most ambitious, with you cast as the central protagonist.

What makes Red Dead Redemption so enormously engrossing is how the choices you make, effect the outcome of the game. You see a drunk kicking a whore outside the bar, do you stand by or step in, you see a man dangling from a tree in the last spasms of life, cut him down or leave him be, the choice is all yours. You can even decide to ignore the whole main plot completely and spend your time exploring the world, collecting herbs and hunting bears. As you progress through the barren landscape, you are endlessly assailed by numerous characters and sub plots in a staggeringly complex world of possibilities which revolve entirely around you. From simply riding around on horseback or blowing pistols out of enemies hands in the sepia tinged, slo-mo aim of  Dead Eye, you feel totally absorbed, in what has to be one of the most immersive gaming experiences since the N64's, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.