Okay. Just finished Red Dead Redemption. Wow.
First of all, the game took about 12 hours to complete. This was partially due to the story and partially due to the sheer amount of things you could do on the way to objectives. I was stuck using the fast travel option as often as I could to avoid getting side tracked while moving, but I still kept going off objective. There is TOO MUCH stuff you can do in this game. The amount of different animals, achievements, stranger missions, challenges, and most importantly the random events just make Red Dead Redemption a game that can be played over and over different ways each time.
Second, the story was incredible. Plot twists and turns everywhere keep you interested throughout the entire game. This was the one of the only games I have ever played that held my interest to the very end and made me eager to play whenever I could, and it is undoubtedly the longest of any of these games. A surprising ending only added to the plot. [spoiler] The ending also frustrated me very much. In the end, Marston is faced by an entire gang of law enforcement for which he does not have enough ammunition or deadeye to kill before they unleash their weapons on him. I wanted to repeat the ending over and over, just to see if it was possible for John to live, which demonstrated the immense feeling of emotional connection someone has after playing through the game. [/spoiler]
Third, multiplayer is VERY fun. Not only can you free roam with your friends, but you can also perform co-op missions and participate in multiplayer shootouts. There are many different game types but they all start with a Mexican Shootout, which is a very enjoyable experience. It's like an in-game duel, but without deadeye and involving team vs team instead of 1v1. After that, the game progresses as a normal multiplayer match in any other game. Progression isn't too hard but isn't too easy either, providing a perfectly difficult progression ladder. There is a MW2 Prestige-like system in place where a player can reset their stats at level 50, but instead of providing no rewards, previous rewards are unlocked at a lower level and there are new rewards available at higher levels.
Now, with all this being said, there is a dark side to RDR. That would be its glitches. Red Dead Redemption has more than its fair share of glitches, making it the roughest game in my collection. A lot of times these glitches will sneak up on you and ruin your fun. Some of these aren't glitches but are intentional, such as a cougar pouncing on you and 1-hit killing you after a half an hour of hunting animals (believe me, just happened to me again today) but others are just frustrating, like your horse flying in to the air and killing you, or refusing to jump off a cliff, only to jump when you attempt to turn it around.
The controls for mounted aim are also imperfect. Shooting enemies behind you is near impossible to do without stopping or going far off course, although they are much easier to use than some other games. Also, the crosshair in the game is just frustrating. In singleplayer, the crosshair is a small white dot, which often blends in with the ground because of the extraordinary lighting system. This problem is fixed in multiplayer, where a white circle is placed around the dot providing a GTA IV-style crosshair.
All in all, Red Dead Redemption is the best game I've purchased this year, and will definately be a title I will revisit often.
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