R* has proved themselves once again to be one of the best developers in the industry.
The missions are awesome, the story and characters are top-notch and everything about it is perfectly tuned. The Sergio Leone type guitar and horn music as you pick your way down a cactus covered hillside in the desert, incredible rain and storm effects as you herd cattle and ride through the countryside, and then suddenly you're chasing down a horse thief or saving some poor bastard from getting hanged. I love how they captured the fast and brutal violence of gunplay in the old west - it just feels absolutely perfect - the sound of weapons is spot on, and it's incredibly satisfying to get into massive gun fights in this game.
The atmosphere is so gritty and realistic - beautiful graphics - the landscapes and weather effects, the incredible horse animations and also Marston's character model looks extremely cool.
All the insane little touches like tumbleweeds, dust devils, the shimmering heat waves as you ride through the desert, and outrageous sunsets (and sunrises) - everything just pulls together to really immerse you into the role of a badass gunslinger. The amazingly vibrant life going on all around you in the towns - drunks, hookers, saloons, trains, wagons, a gang of killers riding in raising hell - and taking them out is so much fun! I had some broad flag me down to help with her broken wagon and 4 bandits came at me - I was sitting on my horse, and they all rushed towards me together - I went into dead eye and painted all 4 of them with multiple targets and proceeded to absolutely destroy them all in one fell swoop - it was awesome!! Then I hog-tied their lady-friend...lol... and after all that, I love just seeing where the open plains take me next....