Those who think RDR is another GTA with horses are in for a quite surprise...I know, i was one of those people...
I picked up GTA IV about 6 months ago, played it for a bit, probably put in about 20 hours in it. There were some interesting missions, great city to drive around, wonderful and diverse music on the radios etc...But one day i stopped playing and never really got into it again (to finish it). Dont get me wrong, i can see why it got a 10 as a rating but something was missing from the game, something that would prompt me to continue playing it...
When Red Dead Redemption came out a lot of people were praising it and a lot of gamespotters were putting its name in the categories like: Best single-player game, best voice acting, best graphics, best this, best that...I was so reluctant to buy it at the time, as i did not want to spend $ 65 dollars on a game that will follow the same fate as GTA IV.
Well, three days ago i finally decided to give it a try. I bought it off eBay for $ 35 with free shipping, brand-spankin'-new. Yesterday was my first day playing it. From first glance, the game looks amazingly beautiful. It can easily rival Mass Effect 2 as the best looking game of this year. Red Dead Redemption kept me going and going for 5 straight hours. You have inventory, you can buy and sell things, the gunplay is so much more addictive than GTA's one even though the controls are similar, the wild life is so addictive to kill, birds, bunnies etc, there are a lot more to do in the Wild than in the city...Late last night, right before i turned the XBOX off i thought: Man, i could play this for a while, well at least until Oct. 19 that is (War never changes...)
1. Story - one word. Epic! A great and engaging story will make you do mission after mission (which are very diverse and interesting). For the length of this game, you will feel like you are in this Wild West world, filled with cruelty, dishonesty and guns...10/10
2. Gameplay - very solid gameplay. Controls are good both on-horse and on-foot. 9/10
3. Sound - very appropriate music score, lots of wild west themes, country songs here and there and in the end it works well with the idea of the game 9/10
4. Graphics - one of the top two most beautiful games this year i have played (along with Mass Effect 2). I was simply stunned by the level of high-resolution details, areas and character designs. 10/10
5. Long-lasting appeal - the deep and thrilling story will make you think about those days and how people used to live back then. it is simply one of those games that will make think about it for a long long time...10/10
Overall, a game that i am glad i purchased. So far it is clearly a contender for the Game-of-the-Year award....9.5/10
EvilSelf...