Border Stroll

A meditative gallop in Red Dead Redemption

FORMAT PS3 / PUB ROCKSTAR / DEV ROCKSTAR SAN DIEGO / RELEASED 2010 / SCORE 10/10

The unspoken rule of music in westerns is that they should sound like Ennio Morricone’s iconic movie scores. Be honest, you can already hear The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly’s coyote howls and galloping beat in your head. So when José González’s haunting ‘Far Away’ starts to float through the air as you take your first steps into Mexico, it comes as a pleasant, soulful surprise.

After a gruelling gunfight as cowboy John Marston and his companion Irish cross the border into the land down south, you assume that Mexico will be nothing but bandits to fill with lead. But as you reach the shore – and discover two horses – Rockstar’s classic takes a different approach. Irish abandons John to look for greener pastures, so you grab a horse and start galloping into this new world. As you do, the softly plucked ‘Far Away’ starts to play. It’s nothing more than a man and his guitar but it’s hard not to get swept up in the haunting melody and González’s cracking (in every sense of the term) voice.

Perhaps it’s because trekking across the desert and plains in a Western is usually propulsive, racing to or from another violent encounter with little time to think, whereas this feels sorrowful and contemplative. You feel every stride of your recently nabbed horse and question if John’s quest is really worth the bloodshed while drinking in the alluring new environment. It’s a powerful moment that sticks until the final credits, making for an accomplished change of pace in a game full of them, giving Mexico a startling introduction with nothing more than a winding road and a superb, soulful song.