Are Westerns just out of fashion at the moment? Gun was brilliant in its day, but since then, Xbox gaming has been all about space marines, ninjas, and the other usual fare. Rockstar clearly aims to change that with Red Dead Redemption. By returning to the days of the good ol’ Wild West shootout, it’s giving the genre the full-on sandbox treatment. In fact, in a demo, Rockstar PR director Simon Ramsey called it “as ambitious in scope and scale as anything we’ve done with GTA.”

Them’s bold words, but from our first glimpse of the game, the series has come a long way from the so-so third-person shooter that was Red Dead Revolver on Xbox. Instead of retreading that ground, Redemption constructs a vast landscape set in the early 1900s — a time that Rockstar selected because increasing industrialization and a bigger government presence were starting to make the West not so wild anymore. Revolving around John Marston, Redemption’s story is all about mingling the notions of right and wrong or good and evil in a way that sounds a lot like the TV show The Shield. Marston himself embodies that notion — as the former member of a really vicious gang, he just wants to settle into a quiet life with his family. But the Feds have other ideas, drafting him to work for an early version of the FBI called The Bureau. Problem is, Marston can’t usually tell whether their assignments and orders are more noble or just than anything his former gang had him do.

Sounds like dark — and hopefully compelling — stuff, and Rockstar’s creating a pretty sweet backdrop for it. The environments we saw were vast and impressive, and we’re told that Redemption’s landscapes are bigger than those in any game Rockstar’s made before. Broken into three segments — Mexico, the Frontier, and the North — they each have their own look and vibe. The North is greener in that California-redwoods way, while Mexico is all sand and red rocks, just like it should be in that era. Everything from tiny settlements to decent-sized towns dot all three landscapes, and you can walk right up to any building and stroll inside without loading.

You’ll do plenty of hoofing it around these big environments, but naturally you can get ahold of a horse to pick up the pace, while stagecoach and train rides give you something resembling a fast-travel option. If you do wander, the game has a dynamic-events system that regularly puts obstacles, challenges, and surprises in your path — everything from mountain-lion attacks to lynchings to pleas for help from travelers in trouble — and you can be a saint or keep moving and let them solve their own problems. In classic Rockstar fashion, there are also mini-games; we checked out one where you place a wager and then plant your hand flat on a table, tapping a knife in between your fingers as fast as you can. Let’s just say we’re never, ever trying it in real life…

We also saw several missions: a hostage rescue gone wrong, a combat sequence on horseback against train-riding desperados, and a desperate attempt to escape some unfriendlies by barreling away in a stagecoach. The gameplay definitely has an arcadey feel as you shoot enemies by the dozens, but it’s hardly kiddie — there’s enough blood, gritty violence, and prostitution to make Redemption feel right at home in the GTA family. And that’s really what this game boils down to: GTA Wild West. Since it packs the edgy storylines and seriously pretty graphics to back that up, that’s just fine and dandy with us. — Paul Curthoys