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For a few moments at the beginning of Red Dead Redemption it's unclear just what kind of Western we're in. A paddle steamer comes in to dock at a place called Blackwater, wistful piano drifting over a bustling crowd impatient to step into the promise of the frontier. But then we catch a glimpse of our hero John Marston, flanked by two men, and - twang - a jarring, sleazy Morricone note tells us that we are in a Spaghetti. Spaghetti Westerns are a perfect fit for Rockstar Games. The Spaghettis were, after all, a negotiation of American-ness from afar, a stripped down take on the founding myths of an immigrant nation as perceived by Europeans who never made the journey. "It is a great shame if America is always to be left to Americans" said Sergio Leone, director of the most famous Italian Westerns, articulating a philosophy that just as well applies to Rockstar, who make games about America from a half-in, half-out position of intimate distance.
Red Dead arrived sandwiched in between two of these games, GTA 4 and GTA 5, both developed primarily in Edinburgh at Rockstar North while Red Dead was underway in San Diego. As a pair these Grand Theft Autos are the culmination of Rockstar's years-long fascination, as seen in everything from Midnight Club to Manhunt, with the culture and geography of America, both of which are essentially devoured whole and then regurgitated as seething, super-real coastal cities. GTA 4 is a classic tale of immigration, of New York harbouring huddled masses and shotgun capitalism enabling self-made dreams. GTA 5, meanwhile, is a bewilderingly accurate look at the somehow fabricless city of Los Angeles, site of America's illusion industry, the last resort of dreamers and criminals.
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