Oooh atmospheric |
Anytime a new Rockstar game is released the hype around it is deafening. Best game ever. Mindblowing. A game changer. All that jazz. The thing is though, it's nearly always right. Their games do tend to live up to the hype around them. Red Dead Redemption 2 does in spades. It's amazing. It's beautiful. It's filled with a mind boggling array of things to do. It's dangerous. You could lose evenings and entire weekends to it. It's quite possibly the best computer game I've ever played. No word of a lie.
Ansel Adams couldn't do better |
This just blew me away. In a year that's seen the release of both God Of War and Marvel's Spiderman I never expected this to become my favourite game. It's that good and for fans of the western genre it's an even bigger treat. It's a sandbox for adults. The entire map is open to us to discover within a few hours of starting the game and it's up to you to do what you want to do. A fan of exploring? Grab a horse and go for a ride. The game map is so big it will take you 2 -3 hours just to ride around the border. Like a bit of virtual hunting? Arm yourself and head off. Poker fan? Dominoes?? The notorious game of five finger fillet (Made famous in Aliens). Fill your boots. The sky is the limit. Best of all, everything you do improves your in-game experience. Exploring will build your health and your stamina. Hunting will increase your dead eye gun skills. Winning games will make you money allowing you to buy better horses, better guns and better food for yourself to keep you going. Nothing you do here is a waste of time.
My Wild Bunch moment scored to a suspiciously Morricone sounding piece of music |
Of course it being the Wild west everything and anything is done on horseback. Your trusty steed is always by your side and its a good idea to keep him or her sweet. The nicer you are to your horse the better your riding (fnarr) experience will be. If you feed it, pat it, groom it well you'll reap the benefits in the form of increased strength, speed and stamina and in no time you'll be yee-hawing your head off as you drift across the high plains. The same goes for the people you meet on your travels. If you're sound to them they'll generally be sound to you and things will go your way. Sort of. Looking after your gang means looking after your campsite in the form of upgrades which will save you money in the long run as you can stock up there instead of making a potentially life threatening trip to the shops. Everything you'll ever need is in the shops if you do go. Tins of peaches (no unauthorised cinnamon though), hair pomade, hay, cocaine, tobacco, fancy gin and all the bullets in the world. And after a shopping spree you can always go for a haircut and then pick up some dandy clothes to impress all and sundry when you go to the theater for a show. See, you can do literally everything.
Walk with your horse every now and then to let it build back up it's strength |
Some people, especially those who have played a lot of open world games will moan about the lack of a fast travel feature. I saw this as a massive plus because it forces you to actually travel around the in-game world. After a while it becomes second nature and just riding through the picturesque countryside is something you'll be thinking about in your dreams. The slower pace takes a while to get used to as well but soon you'll be craving it. It's just fantastic fun. Even the smaller moments too. How many games let you have a bath and give you the option of which limb to scrub first. A donation of a dollar to an amputee civil war veteran that leads to a conversation about masculinity. Watching a bunny rabbit scurrying through the grass as you pelt by. Walking through a cornfield when the sun is setting and the breeze is causing the field around you to sway gently as you stand there feeling like the only person in existence. Honestly, its a rare game that gets you in the feels but this does and then some.
If you've any interest in gaming at all it's worth trying this. It's an amazing experience getting to jump into a world that will never exist again.
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