An Awesome Game Making the West Come Alive but Falls Short Of Perfection
I am not going to start shooting off at this game because it is a squash buckling ride that consumes your consciousness and leaves you searching for your next fix. Visually stunning, taking into account the sheer scale of the frontier land it is very impressive. The lighting is especially of note with great animations of the sky. The animals also excel out of many other great area of animation although once you have annihilated that poor things the skinning mini cut scene is excessive and unneeded.
The shooting is good but the cover system isn't perfect although the combat is greatly improved once dead eye is fitted into the equation. Dead eye enters a slow motion mode where you can select a number of shots then to execute them all at once. It is so satisfying to take out several foes with all the great death animations and a satisfying amount of the red stuff. This is a great edition and adds much needed depth to the combat with its fiddly weapon selection that was difficult and poorly executed.
The single player for me was the stand out element with comic yet lovable characters that push an otherwise lackluster story-line into an immersive and gripping tale. John Marston, the main protagonist is so lovable you shall become attached to him and his cause. Rockstar have added there famed touch that adds not only humor but character. There is a great verity in missions and the side missions are incredible creative. The ending however without spoiling anything is incredibly sad and shall leave you deflated to the point where you shall not wish to pick it up again. Never lone a second play through.
The world is great and detailed as I have already outlined although travelling longer distances via hoarse can be verging on the tedious with the continuous button pressing (you tab X to go and you have a meter and you must make sure it doesn't run out otherwise you slow down or even un-seated) although this is a better than just holding down a button. The sudden events that happen at random add a lot to this game. The bonus challenges (A mix of shooting and collecting) and getting outfits make sure there is plenty to do and insure the single player will take well over 20 hours. However put aside a lot more time if you intend to do everything.
I wasn't amazed by the multiplayer and I don't think this element lived up to the expectations. I know many people who love this posse slaying multiplayer but personally it comes nowhere close to other experiences available. This is more a case of personal preference. The experience runs fine but I found it frustrating with unbalanced weapons. Most games everyone ends up using the same gun. The level of grieving in this game is ridiculous and unless you have enough friends for a complete posse it is near impossible to get anything done.
I have encountered several glitches the worst when ridding into the main town and there being no characters loading. Texture pop in is an issues surprisingly it seems to get worst as you get further into the game. The difficulty hits the mark but later on is plenty challenging to be satisfying to complete.
Red Dead Redemption is well worth your time and shall take hostage of your thought until it concludes so sorrowfully leaving the player deflated, which is such a shame as the journey is so engaging but the deflated felling it saddens me to say that this is what stays with you.