[SPOILERS BELOW]
- (P) Positives
- (N) Negatives
- (?) Other points/Neither positive or negative
- (P) Easily one of the most quintessential Old West games ever released, recreating many of the (albeit, romanticised) aspects of a gunslinger's life.
- (P) Compelling storyline with a decent enough motivation; that being John Marston (the outlaw we play as and the hero of the story)'s wife and son being held captive --> this is so the American government can force him to hunt down members of his old gang in exchange for his and his family's freedom.
- (P) Voice acting is strong, with many memorable voices. Therefore, there are many memorable characters: John, the ex-outlaw who wants to end his life of crime; Edgar Ross, the government agent who toys with John, uses him to gain himself glory and coldly kills him when he has outlived his usefulness; Nigel West Dickens, the swindler and snake oil salesman who travels the countryside selling his wares...as well as outrunning his many, many dissatisfied customers; etc. etc.
- (P) Motion capture and animation is mostly done extremely well, and can still look good even today. Although, some animations can look a bit goofy like John's running animation for example.
- (P) Impeccable environmental design, with plenty of deserts, snowy forests and towns to explore that each have had significant amounts of detail poured into them, making them feel like real places.
- (P) Highly memorable music; with songs such as Born Unto Trouble, that echo the many motifs that are present throughout many famous and important Western film scores.
- (P) Highly memorable music; with songs such as Born Unto Trouble, that echo the many motifs that are present throughout many famous and important Western film scores.
- (P) Gameplay mechanics "gel" nicely and all work wonderfully from decades of refinement in Rockstar's other open world games. Although, Red Dead's "Dead Eye" mechanic, as a new addition, is extremely satisfying and rewards quick and accurate aiming with the potential to eliminate all enemies efficiently (even if it can make most gunfights a bit too easy).
- (P) Variety of things to do, ranging from story missions to playing a few rounds of poker, as well as having a good old fashioned duel in the middle of the street. If you've played a modern Rockstar game before, you'll know what you're getting yourself into --> expect plenty of story, side missions that don't change the outcome of the storyline but merely add "flavour" to the game world, as well as mini-games to do on the side. These side activities are plentiful, but don't over-saturate the map like say, a modern Ubisoft open-world game. The game also has a straight-forward morality mechanic, and me being the kind of player I am (and the fact that the game is all about REDEMPTION), I played the good guy.
- (P) Overall high level of polish, as to be expected of a game development studio of Rockstar's calibre...with a handful of glitches here and there.
- (?) Most mission structures are pretty samey (i.e. ride/drive here, shoot here, talk here etc.), but this is mostly made up for by all the things previously mentioned (writing, voice acting, animation, environmental design etc.)
- (N) By the end of the game, I was suffering from fatigue. The core repetitiveness of many of the missions, despite the best efforts of the game, was really showing by the last third or so. The last few missions, when you're working on the farm, showcase this particularly; as many of the things you do in these missions you've done several times before. It definitely feels like the game's running low on steam by the end.
- (N) Dreadful performance in many areas. I honestly don't care much about graphics, resolution or framerate that much; as long as the framerate is consistent, I'm happy. But many areas like Blackwater and densely packed forests can grind the game to a halt, lowering the framerate drastically and can even hinder gameplay when it comes to doing things like aiming accurately.
Overall: 8/10
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