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REVIEW: RED DEAD REDEMPTION 2 (PS4, XBOX one - PS4 VERSION TESTED)

1/11/2018

19 Comments

 
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This isn't a review. Well, it sort of is, a bit. But also... not really. Actually, maybe. I DON'T KNOW.

​Red Dead Redemption 2 is enormous. Like, two discs enormous in an age when games no longer come on multiple discs. I'm barely over 25% of the way through the main story - not even accounting for the side missions and activities I could spend time with - and seen but a fraction of the world... but I'm itching to talk about it.

So... let's talk. 

I loved Red Dead Redemption. I might've loved it more than Grand Theft Auto V in fact. I loved the Wild West setting, the writing, the characters, the depth. Red Dead Redemption 2 is a literal return to that world - or, rather, a first visit, as it's a direct prequel featuring many of the same characters and locations - but with more of everything. Wads more.

It's also very much a Rockstar game. It shares its DNA with the GTA series - the controls are familiar, the writing and humour offers the same giddy swerves from maturity to broad satire... and the visuals make it feel like part of the same lineage. And - with some serious caveats - I like that it's part of that family. 

As with everything Rockstar does, it's a deliciously epic game, and though I might have grown tired of open world adventures featuring forests and mountains, and the character models might not be the best, there's something alluringly grounded about RDR2's look. What it lacks in flash it more than makes up for in grittiness and scope.

Why am I talking about RDR2's graphics first? Because I want to get it out of the way before I launch into an impassioned tirade about everything that drives me mental about this game.

Somebody pass me a bib; it's time to start foaming at the mouth!
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DON'T LIKE THINGS
There are many, many things I don't like about Red Dead Redemption 2. I don't know whether any of these issues will be resolved as I get further into the game - like fast travel almost has been (more on that momentarily) - but from the first quarter of this experience... a lot of it is a massive pain in the arse.

And get this: I think much of that is intentional.

Everything here seems to be trying to get across the notion that life in the Old West was hard. Everything you do feels like an effort.

Missions are multi-part mini-epics - rescuing a fellow gang member from jail requires you to first speak with the sheriff, then find a way to get your mate out of his cell (dynamite? Or that conveniently-placed steam engine with a rope and hook attached? Or just shoot your way in?)... and then embark on a shoot-out with the local law officers, escorting the wayward gang member to pick up his guns, then finding your horses, and then fleeing while being chased. 

That sort of thing is the main event; there's a ton of other stuff to consider either side of the big story beats, and a lot of it isn't especially exciting.

As part of a criminal gang, you not only have to look after yourself - which obviously means not dying in gunfights and making sure you eat enough and get enough rest - but also your stupid horse (which similarly needs rest, feeding, and brushing), and the rest of your gang and assorted hangers-on.

There's an element of base-building; earning money can upgrade your camp, giving you access to more gear and new gameplay elements. 

Such as... fast travel. Sort of. In a game with a map the size of RDR2, you'd think fast travel was a given. Unfortunately, at the start the only way you can get from one place to another is to walk or ride on your horsey. They've tried to lessen the tedious impact of this by implementing a "cinematic mode", whereby you can set a waypoint, set your horse a-running, and sit back while the screen ratio is reduced and the camera angles switch at random. 

Except this isn't very well explained, and it doesn't make the journeys any quicker, but you can at least check your phone while it's happening. Except don't do that, because if you don't keep an eye on things your stupid horse has a tendency to run into trees, or trains, or buildings, or off of cliffs, or into people - instigating a shoot-out that'll require you to drop out of cinematic mode in order to deal with it. 

Frankly, the whole horses-running-into-things issue happens so frequently, I've no idea how Rockstar's beleaguered staff didn't address it. It's a massive, massive issue. But at least it's one that can be put down to an element of unforeseen brokenness.

​Other problems with Red Dead Redemption 2 are there by design...
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BROKEN BY DESIGN
Do you remember Grand Theft Auto San Andreas, where they added a whole ton of extra busywork which stopped you from just getting on with the game? You know: like when you had to exercise to burn off the belly you'd developed from eating too much junk food? Yeah, well... expect a ton of that sort of thing in Red Dead Redemption 2. 

For instance, you're expected to do chores around your camp - yes, actual chores. You know: those things you put off doing in real-life because they're not as much fun as, say, playing video games.

The need to maintain your community, your horse, your gun, your self... your reputation... they're all barriers keeping the player from what most of us expected to be getting up to in Red Dead Redemption 2. Tie that together with the interminable travelling, and you've got a game that's challenging in ways that video games normally aren't.

Aside from your stupid horse - which is clearly the way Rockstar wants you to travel, so that you can have random encounters en route to wherever you're going, and appreciate the scale of the map - you can get around via train or stagecoach (both of which use up in-game money). Or you can purchase an ill-explained upgrade for your camp that allows you to travel instantly to previously visited locations. Providing your stupid horse is nearby. Though you can't ever travel instantly back to camp; you have to ride.

Which is utterly baffling.

Why have they done this? Horse riding is nice and all, and the scenery is lovely... but the novelty soon starts to wear off, as it would with anything you might spend hundreds of hours doing.

HEAVY, MAN
You can also add to this sense of heaviness the movement and combat, which is laboured to the point of teeth-grinding. It's essentially a decade-old control system; you move slowly, buildings and objects get in the way, the cover system is hit-and-miss, it takes an age to reload. Even locking onto enemies with your slow motion Dead Eye ability lacks grace in the midst of a firefight.

Hunting can be a way to raise money, your skills, and the health of your campmates, but once you have taken down a deer or a rabbit, you then have to skin it - taking up to 30 seconds - carry it back to your horse, load it onto the back, and then return it to the camp butcher (who is likely at least 5 minutes-plus ride away).

And on the journey back it'll probably fall off the stupid horse at least once, and you'll have to pick it up and put it back on. And might've attracted flies in the interim. 

I'd attribute this  to Rockstar wanting you to feel the constant uphill battle of frontier life, but - let's be honest - the control system is much the same as you got in the contemporary setting of Grand Theft Auto IV in 2008. Which is to say: ignoring 10 years of player-friendly refinement. 

I get that this is the Rockstar model, but I also wonder how much better the game would've been if they had fixed the controls and streamlined everything. And the truth is... I'm not sure whether a smoother, less clumsy system would've improved the game. Something about what you have here feels entirely appropriate; this isn't an arcade game. It's a cowboy simulation.
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STRAIGHT UP 
So, here's the thing. For the first 8 or so hours of Red Dead Redemption 2 I hated it. I came to it straight from loving Assassin's Creed Odyssey, and it seemed tediously cumbersome and broken by comparison.

I felt like an Olympic gymnast who'd been hobbled by an obsessive fan. Wheelchair-bound after a lifetime of cartwheels and flips, stuck in some dingy home office doing paperwork and making things to sell on Etsy, when I'd have rather been out there winning medals.

And then something changed.

The diversity of the missions, the breadth of the world, the variety of encounters... even just sitting around the campfire to sing a song or play a game of dominos... somehow Red Dead Redemption 2 has started to win me round. In a very insidious way, it has become to get under my skin in a way that few games ever do. Even as I'm typing this I'm wondering if I can bunk off work for the day to play it.

I mean, there's an old woman's house I want to get to, because I've heard she's got some valuables stashed away. And I think we're going to have to move camp soon, because the rumour is out that we're being watched. Somehow, the law is always two steps ahead of us, and the local gangs are out for revenge, and... and... you get the idea.

I no longer feel like I'm playing Red Dead Redemption 2; I feel like I'm living it. And what's really annoying is that I can't even articulate why that is... whereas I could spend a week telling you in great detail about the game's flaws and all the things I don't like. 

Everything is a little bit busted and nothing is intuitive. There are far too many buttons and controls for a console game. The map alone requires two button presses to access. Even switching weapons often requires you to rummage around your stupid horse's saddle bag.

That is, if your stupid horse is even nearby. Still, it might be in whistling range - quick whistle and it'll come running, right? Eventually. Oh... it's out of range. Oh, and now I've been run over by a stagecoach. And my hat has come off. And now I've been attacked by some blokes who thought I was looking at them funny. 

WHY DO I KEEP WANTING TO PLAY THIS GAME?!? 

WHYYYYY?!
I'll tell you why: because this feels like the games I thought I was playing when I was growing up. Despite the scale and the production being vastly superior, it reminds me of games like Skool Daze; a dizzying sandbox, where your actions bring new and unexpected adventures, and the controls were toilsome, but there was a indefinable, magical, ambition underpinning it all, holding it together. 

The difference between then and now is that in the 80s games were limited by the technology. RDR2 feels limitless. I think I could spend years in this world - much as I did with Grand Theft Auto V.

Except, I am much more seduced by RDR2, even though my character, Arthur Morgan, is a bad guy. For now I'm choosing to play him as one with a good heart, who cares for the people he's aligned himself with. Already the story is showing me that he's got a history which belies his grizzled, alpha male, exterior, and all the things that I hate about the game are also the things that are building a connection between me and him and the world he lives in.

The chores around the camp, keeping my people alive, conversations and favours... it's all building a sense of community - with people who don't really exist. Somehow, I'm learning to respect my stupid horse - massive half-deaf, half-blind, idiot that it is - and the land, and the game itself. There's a distant rumble of thunder on the horizon, and I know my heart will break once the storm arrives.

Astonishing, really.

SCORE (THUS FAR): 1/10 and also 9/10

19 Comments
Moonboots
1/11/2018 10:00:12 am

I'm glad they've made an R2D2 game at last, but why is it about cowboys?

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Steve Perrin link
1/11/2018 10:17:45 am

Just finished the game.

I only lightly touched on the many, many, many side quests and distractions so I could plough through the game to do a write up for my blog.

In short, RDR II is a masterpiece of game design. A lot of the negatives (mainly the slow pace) I enjoyed. Most of the niggles bought up in this review are easily overlooked. For instance the "maintenance" elements are not integral to the game at all. I didn't even buy any upgrades for my camp until I was over 70% into the story. Eating, maintaining guns, etc can be ignored just as they can be embraced.

I think that's one of the best elements of the game, the fact a lot of the things people are bringing up as negatives are not all that important. I finished the game without having to clean any of my guns for example, I just picked up better guns from the people I'd killed. Never once had a problem with the controlls either.

I'm currently working in the write up for my blog. I have a few issues with the game but its mostly all good.

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Steve Perrin link
1/11/2018 10:24:58 am

Just wanted to add.

There are a lot of "hidden" controls not mentioned in game. For instance, just hold down the start button to go straight to the map. And then just hold the cancel button to exit right back to the game.

There are loads of these little shortcuts that improve the controls.

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PeskyFletch
1/11/2018 10:19:10 am

You can hold the options button to get to the map in one press. My biggest gripe is the horse controls are knocking the x button on my shoddy constructed ps pad.

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PeskyFletch
1/11/2018 10:20:52 am

Knacking, notknocking. Great way to ruin your horse based pun, fletch.

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Grembot
1/11/2018 11:09:13 am

Is it possible to play this without killing anything? I don’t really want to kill anything.

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Ian
1/11/2018 12:27:00 pm

Here's the thing, despite the plaudits from all fronts and what I assume will be an Edge 10, I'm not sure I'm arsed. The first (OK, second) was alright but I got bored beyond redemption after a few hours, beautiful vistas or not.

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Taucher
1/11/2018 08:01:37 pm

I'm with you. But then I've never found westerns as a film genre compelling at all. They are just shooty costume dramas.

And I tried with the XBox 360 of RDR but yeah, got bored. I keep thinking I'll go back to it, I must be wrong. But RDR was the countryside bits of GTA V without cars.

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Jetpack Jim
2/11/2018 11:17:27 am

I feel a bit like this, though I really enjoyed RDR for a few weeks -- then got bored and never bothered completing it. As for RDR2 all I could and still think is... what, really, is there to add? RDR was already vast and without cars/planes, the map felt huge. RDR2 is just huge-rererer but with no access to cars/planes (or jetpacks!). And, you know, sometimes I do just want to fly up into the air to admire the scenery. Okay, so I don't expect jetpacks in RDR2 but... perhaps let me become an eagle for a while, or something?

Ben
1/11/2018 12:35:15 pm

The score appropriately reflects how much I don't and how much I do want to play this game; I'm conflicted as all heck.

Despite being in a hypy, foaming lather for this amazing/boring title for a while, I stupidly decided I can't support the exploitative way these things happen, so will abstain for now and as long as it takes for my principles to admit defeat. I know it's daft, I'm sure my impotent boycott will achieve little more than denying one of the Housermen an extra brass button on a shiny new pair of whipcrackin' pants that has brass buttons out the wazoo, but it made me super cross, so there.

I was wondering if you had any thoughts on the recent controversial, utterly unsurprising, revelations regarding the process of making this and many other games? Love to see/hear your tuppence Biffles.

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Jask
1/11/2018 01:46:04 pm

Sounds great Biffo, can't wait to maybe play it at an undetermined point years from now when there might possibly be a PC release except once again they aren't saying!

Ah I'll stop whingeing, I know it's my fault for not wanting to spend money on a console and clearly the model works for Rockstar. And they did take the time to make GTAV on PC a decent conversion so it's all good. Getting kinda sick of playing bad guys though, shooting unarmed, innocent people in the face is wearing a bit thin for me but then again I'm probably in the minority with that.

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CM Punk
1/11/2018 02:26:39 pm

I got bored with the busy work and complexity. I just couldn't devote my life to it.

RDR1 and GTA V struck the right balance. RDR2 was too much.

I went back to AC Odyssey which I found to be more humorous, fun and not too complex (but not shallow either) despite its epic size.

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Paul
1/11/2018 03:49:53 pm

I genuinely know people who will buy this game just so they can look after the horse. I doubt they’d ever go much further than the stable, to be perfectly honest.

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combat_honey
1/11/2018 04:58:56 pm

The slowness and clunkiness of the game hasn't really bothered me so far - they've mostly worked to make me feel embedded in the world, as opposed to feeling like I'm just gliding over the surface of the world, as most open-world games do.

I don't mind the extensive horse-riding, either, given that there's *always* something to stop and do on the way somewhere.

Overall, I think the game is utterly phenomenal. Prior to release I was looking forward to playing in a new Rockstar open-world, but was dreading the usual 'edgy humour' and crazy caricatures that Rockstar usually rely on in lieu of creating characters that you actually want to spend time around. But the storytelling and characters so far (I've only just started chapter 3) have been brilliant, and absolutely leagues ahead of anything Rockstar have done before. I've warmed to the likes of Sadie, Charles, Hosea and Uncle more than I have to any game character since the Mass Effect trilogy, which amazes me given how much I usually dislike Rockstar characters.

I thought I'd hate hanging around the camp but there's just so much to do there and it's genuinely entertaining and interesting to see the other characters interact with one another (even if I've seen at least one conversation repeated).

Speaking of which, while the gameplay is great, I'm starting to see a few cracks that break immersion - i.e. I've saved someone with an injured leg about four times, and each time they've met me in town a few days later and offered to buy me something from the shop. Given how immersive and realistic the world feels most of the time, things like that really do harm the experience more than they would in a less immersive game.

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Marro
1/11/2018 07:53:39 pm

Spot on, Biffo.
I paid £60 and downloaded it as soon as it was released after reading dozens of 5 star reviews and was almost immediately disappointed. The graphics are incredible - the scenery is almost photorealistic - but it's an age before you even get to explore on your own. Also almost all of the missions so far are simplistic shoot outs or fetch quests.
And yet...
I've played it for hours every night since it was released. And some of the quieter moments - like when you're at your base camp on a misty midnight evening with your compadres round you singing out of tune by the fire - are beautiful...
I suppose Red Dead is like a fine wine compared to GTA's crack cocaine ( I played GTA5 for 8 hours straight when it first came out).

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Robobob
1/11/2018 08:47:01 pm

I hate horses - the stupid, smug, horsey gits - so I doubt I'm going to like this.

"They've tried to lessen the tedious impact of this by implementing a "cinematic mode", whereby you can set a waypoint, set your horse a-running, and sit back while the screen ratio is reduced and the camera angles switch at random"

This sort of sounds like those people who "play" flight simulators by doing the London-New York route IN REAL TIME by controlling the plane during take-off, setting the autopilot so that the computer plays itself, and then coming back in 7 hours to land the thing and feel some sort of weird sense of achievement.

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Crab Puff
2/11/2018 10:41:13 am

As someone who likes video games and can enjoy them outside of self-imposed time restrictions, this game is amazing

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Meatballs-me-branch-me-do
2/11/2018 04:43:52 pm

Years ago, when I was richer of free time but poorer or wallet, I made a thing about playing open world games (like Bethesda ones) without using fast-travel unless there was an in-game method for doing so (like the carts in Skyrim or the taxis in GTA IV)

This was after my first playthrough of Oblivion quickly degenerated into get quest, fast travel to step A, get item, fast travel to B, give item, fast travel back to A, turn in quest. The beautiful world was something I almost never saw, I was spending more time in the quest log than actually playing.

This worked great in Fallout 3 to begin with, finding my way from Megaton to Rivet City was a very memorable experience. Likewise, adding survival mods (like needing to rest, eat, and stay warm) completely transformed Skyrim, and going from quest to quest felt like a proper adventure.

The reason for this wibbling on is that I reckon part of the reason you feel so invested in RDR2, in spite of your errant horse/hat

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Pete Davison link
30/11/2018 05:17:49 pm

The idea of a game making you "method act", emphasising how tough life is through its mechanics as well as its narrative components, is something a few devs have experimented with over time.

SWERY's Deadly Premonition is a good example; as you play that game, you absolutely become its protagonist, driving from place to place via "the long route" just so you can take the time to have conversations with your invisible friend (who may or may not be you, the player) about Back to the Future, forgetting to shave or wash your suit for days at a time until the FBI start fining you for being such a filth wizard, and oh by the way if you feel like it solving a Twin Peaks-style supernatural mystery.

Taro Yoko's incredible Nier is also a brilliant example of this. While it doesn't go quite so far with the "busywork" as some other titles (with the exception of its fishing and gardening activities, the latter of which takes several months of real time if you don't play with your system's clock), it emphasises the harshness of its setting with the fact that, more often than not, its more conventional-seeming sidequests end with something "negative" happening in narrative terms. Set out to rescue a young girl and she'll show up dead. Investigate whether something that might make life better is possible and no, of course it isn't. Head off to find a valuable healing herb, discover it's gone extinct.

As a narrative junkie and someone who believes in games as a highly creative, interactive artform, I love this kind of thing, but can also understand how it might rub some people up the wrong way.

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