Review: Red Dead Redemption 2

Getting back on topic, the problem with the controls is that they can be overly finicky. For example, mounting your horse and strangling a nearby pedestrian are assigned to the same button for whatever reason. Same goes with interacting with an item on the ground and say vaulting over a railing to your death. Throwing dynamite while in cover can also be hazardous as more than often it found itself on the cover in front of us. In addition, dealing with a horse is the biggest pain in the ass than anything else in video games and Red Dead Redemption 2 is no exception. The difference between this and Grand Theft Auto is that your vehicle won’t run away when it hears gunfire, ensuring you fail a mission when you need him. The physics can be a little wonky, too, as we had multiple instances where the horse could easily make a small dip or go over a rock, but instead decided to trip over its own feet, dying in the process once in a while. We even had an instance where it ran into another rider while in the cinematic camera angle (which allows you to put the controller down as the horse gallops to a set destination), something the recipient of the crash was not too happy about. Finally, I don’t know who thought it was a good idea to assign the run button (tapping X) to the horse, but there has to be a better way. As you can see, I’m not a big fan of horses in video games, as it consistently feels like you’re fighting with them, which doesn’t help with the already finicky controls.


For such a stoic man, John Marston, the protagonist of Red Dead Redemption , was a bit for a clutz. Despite being a frontiersman that should’ve been adapted to the rough terrain of the West, players found their character stumbling around like a drunken fool at the slightest notion of uneven land. It didn’t seem like John Marston had much ability to explore anything other than flat firm ground. Getting a player character that can climb up can ledges and swim across rivers would make for a much more realistic Western character, ready to take on whatever the terrain throws at them. He doesn’t need to have Assassin’s Creed style free running, jumping from tree to tree like a flying squirrel, but a bit more natural movement and flexibility over what terrain the player can traverse would make for a better character and experie

Outside of that, Rockstar has created an engaging system that allows you to rob shops, stagecoaches and even trains full of people at any time. All you need to do is put on mask (if you don’t want to get caught) and start demanding the goods. If you do most of the story, you won’t need to do this all that often as you’ll be rolling in dough, but it’s a fun way to de-stress. The Wanted system is also back, as the more heinous of crimes you commit and people witness, the higher the bounty is put on your head. You can change your disguise or grow your hair and facial hair out to avoid being recognized, but you’ll probably want to pay it off the fee to avoid bounty hunters coming at you in the wild. Alternatively, if you catch up to a witness, you can threaten them, or if a police officer sees it taking place, you can defuse the situation if it’s not too damaging of a crime. Occasionally it can be a confusing why you’re immediately pinpointed as the perpetrator, though, as we’ve had a number of instances where we killed someone, a pedestrian comes across the body while we’re nowhere to be found, and yet a bounty is set on our character. Overall, though, the system works fine and can even be entertaining to chase witnesses down as they plead for their lives.

Uncharted 4, Halo 5 and The Legend of Zelda will be the poster-children for the PS4, Xbox One and Wii U throughout 2015. All three will launch in time for the Holiday, and you bet people will be trying to tear them down. PS4 lovers will attack Halo and Zelda, Xbox lovers will attack Uncharted and Zelda and Wii U lovers will attack Uncharted and Halo. Why? There’s no benefit to tearing down any of the three games. All three Open World games exploration are going to be amazing, and if there was any year to try and get all three consoles then 2015 is that year.


What makes the Wild West one of the best settings for a videogame is that there's constant danger around every corner. Cowboys and pioneers had to be prepared for whatever the frontier threw at them. Not only were bandits and predators a threat, but the very land and weather itself. The American West is home to some of the United State’s most intense natural disasters. Tornadoes, sandstorms, mudslides, wildfires, flash floods, and even earthquakes could cause devastating amounts of damage in moments. If Red Dead Redemption 2 captures even one of these phenomena as a random encounter, it would completely change the way players would think about the map, knowing full well the ground below and the sky above them could kill them. Players might think twice about crossing Tornado Al

Throughout the numerous towns and areas you'll visit in Red Dead Redemption 2 , you'll run into plenty of general stores and gun shops where you can stock up on supplies during or in-between missions. While ammo and healing supplies are naturally items you'll want to pick up when you have the opportunity, two particularly useful items (at least I find) you should always make sure that you have in supply when needed are gun oil and snake oil.