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@CYOA
So I went to visit my family in Winchester at the weekend..
Knowing my brother was out of town and that there'd be an xBox 360 and bloody great TV all on their own I thought I'd buy a copy of Red Dead Redemption to play.
So I played. And played. And played. And probably to the detriment of my enjoyment of the game, I completed the main story line and maxxed out most of the challenges (Didn't try multi-player at all knowing I was on a time limit and couldn't bear to leave the single player campaign unfinished without knowing what happened to John)
Verdict. Good, but disappointing. I know I rushed it, but honestly, the amount of expository and travelling was just immense. I found any number of bugs and glitches which was a pain (not being a console player normally I didn't expect this) - I just assume that they release working content, perhaps naively. This is down to my only real console experience being sucked into Zelda and the Ocarina of time on the N64 while I was at university. In those days consoles didn't have internet connections and hot fixes and patches etc.
So anyway: problems were constant glitches and bugs, LOTS of travelling; seriously most of the game was spent riding a fucking wagon from one side of the map to the other while trying not to get shot by the same bandits spawning in the same place wearing the same clothes, or have my horse ripped apart from underneath me by a fucking cougar.
Potentially spoilers
First episode - great.
Second episode - good.
Seriously - Big Red Dead Redemption Spoilers Ahead
Third episode - weak - I understand they were trying to show development and evolution in frontier life to a modernised society but still - it only really picked up what the first episodes had when they stormed Dutch's fort up in Tall Trees.
Fourth episode/prologue - in fact I think this was my favourite to be honest. One thing I really loved about the first episode was herding the cattle with Bonnie so I thought the idea of him putting together his own ranch was a real reward both for the character and the player. The final conclusion for John was obviously a bit abrupt. I also thought it was a bit of a shock tactic - they sacrificed his character for the sake of it - I certainly don't think the game benefited in any way. Even with the clichéd prologue with Jack heading down to Mexico to seek revenge on Ross.
Enjoyed the many subplots/missions, enjoyed hunting, gambling, the honour and fame system was cool. Didn't enjoy getting mauled by cougars, didn't fare very well with duelling, loved the dead eye feature, obviously enjoyed the Rockstar* touch on dialogue/humour etc.
I'd love to try out the multi-player, and I'd like to dedicate more time to exploring - which brings me to another point. Despite my whining about how bloody long it took to get anyway, it still didn't feel big enough... It felt cheap how the terrain varied so wildly within such a short space.
I understand wanting to cram in variation but honestly, the snow-capped mountains of the Rockies, the great plains, arroyos and deserts, canyons, great rivers, great lakes, swamps of Louisiana - it just felt like they were shoehorning everything in. Each area was too small to really get a feel for and appreciate the scale of it. The Great Plains for example would have been fucking amazing - if it didn't take you thirty seconds to ride across the entire thing.
Basically, good but it could have been GREAT.
7/10