By Raychul Moore
There are developers that understand how to make cooperative play a fun experience for all players involved and then there are those that just completely miss the mark. Rockstar’s release of their highly anticipated co-op pack for Red Dead Redemption’s “The Outlaws to the End” unfortunately missed the mark by a long shot.
The six co-op missions offered in the pack should be quickly recognized by gamers who have played through the campaign mode, since they are basically rehashed levels they’ve already encountered. The aspect of needing a teammate is completely missing, except when you die they you are allowed to revive, should you not fall in the water. There is not a single thing in any of the missions that requires or encourages teamwork. Players might as well just be playing single-player again with a NPC for support. In addition, who wants to spend time herding cattle with friend within a co-op mission? Did anyone enjoy herding cattle in single-player to the extent that it begged to be played again with a co-op partner?
Another example of poor gameplay design is the useless checkpoints. During each mission players reach checkpoints that don’t function like they do in just about every other game; the main difference with how checkpoints are handled in Red Dead Redemption and how they should be handled is that, if the entire team dies then they are booted back out to the co-op main menu and must start the mission all over again from the beginning. Considering that the co-op pack is just as filled with glitches as the single-player game, having to restart a mission from the beginning just because one of your teammates gets stuck in a wall is extremely frustrating to all those involved.
The co-op missions select function is flawed as well. Instead of being able to select from a menu which co-op mission players prefer, they’ll instead have to slowly cycle through each mission, complete with a loading screen in between each before they find the one they are looking for.
If I would have had to pay for this DLC pack, I would demand a refund. The missions are frustrating, unoriginal and, for the most part, the co-op experience is poorly designed. So make sure you posse up with seasoned Red Dead players and light some soothing candles before jumping into this mess of a co-op pack.
