I'd been waiting for Red Dead Redemption since long before the hype train rolled up. I'm a big fan of the Western genre and Clint Eastwood is one of my favourite actors. San Andreas is probably the most brilliant game I've ever played - I've been a GTA/Rockstar fan since the original dodgy top down PC installment. So it was a no brainer that I bought RDR the day it came out.

But you know what? It's been a month or so and I feel I've got the guts to say that, well, frankly - RDR just isn't that great. It's not a 10/10 game. It's not a 9.5 or even a 9.0 game, if such arbitralily chosen numbers should even mean something in the first place. It's a decent sandbox game with an average story, uninteresting and frequently annoying characters and voice acting, too many hideous character models and is packed to the brim with utterly tedious moments. Sure, it's scattered with the odd fantastic gun-slinging moment, plenty of mini-games, bloodthirsty prairie beasts and side missions, but ultimately it's the same thing we've seen plenty of times before, now adorned with a neckerchief and stetson.

RDR is a good game. Sometimes, it's even a great game. But it's not revolutionary, and it's certainly ain't JESUS **** GOTY HURR.