[PS4] Red Dead Redemption 2

Red Dead Redemption 2 is the latest in a series of Rockstar games set in the Wild West. The series is well known for its deep story and character development, as well as its open world atmosphere and huge content of side missions, collectibles and mini-games.

Read Dead Redemption 2 reveal poster

STORY

Set 10 years prior to the events in the original Red Dead Redemption, the player takes on the role of Arthur Morgan, a surly cowboy on the run from the law along with a large caravan of other bandits, robbers and criminals. They are led by the silver tongued Dutch van der Linde, who is almost a father figure to Arthur having taken him in at a young age.
When a bank heist goes horribly, horribly wrong in the town of Blackwater, the gang are forced to flee north to the Ambarino region, a snowy mountain range full of dangerous wild animals. As a blizzard rages across the wilderness, Arthur, Dutch and Co. must find a place to shelter, and end up running into a rival gang, the O'Driscolls.
The entire game is based around making enough money to flee the country and start a new life, maybe in Tahiti. So begins the usual GTA style mission rush with specific characters who may or may not be around in 3 or 4 missions time. These missions can range from quick point A to point B travels to full blown shootouts involving everyone who can hold a gun in one hand in the same continent.

Arthur himself as a character can be played however the player wishes to, he can be an honest, hard working man who is trying to redeem himself, or he can be a right bastard who shoots anyone who looks at him a bit funny.

The player can mould Arthur into their own playstyle and customization

The other characters are all well portrayed, and set up nicely for when half of them inevitably fail to make their way into the game where they were strangely absent. Part of the problem with making a prequel like this is that some of the events are already pre-existing, so you already know certain characters that survive and some that you can make pretty strong cases for buying their caskets early.
An example would be John Marston, the protaganist of the original RDR, who is missing at the beginning of the game. The narrative tries to convince you John is in danger and you just sit there, scratching your chin and thinking, "Nah he'll be fine".
The story is definitely one of the finest to come out from a game in recent times, and really engrossed me, but the lack of any real surprises was the only flaw for me.

GAMEPLAY

As a GTA style game the emphasis is largely on exploring and interacting with the environment, rather that actual gunplay and action.
The map of the game is huge, approximately 4 times larger than the original game, and navigating such a massive area with no easy access to fast travel can seem a little off-putting at first. RDR2 really needed to nail the horse riding so that it did not seem like a chore, and for the most part they did.
Riding a horse in the game certainly does feel as though you are trying to control a real animal, with the inputs just lagging enough to feel as though you are guiding something rather than controlling it. The horse will act somewhat independently, it will refuse to walk straight off a cliff and will get scared when wild predators are around, running away and potentially bucking you off.
A running joke on forums is how the horses seem to be tree seeking missiles and would throw themselves at every rock slightly off the road. I have to admit I did crash a few times, but mostly when I wasn't paying full attention to my tv. Overall, the travelling element of the game is very good and easy to pick up.

Now it's time for my unpopular opinion. I personally do not like the shooting in Rockstar games. I have never been a fan of it in GTA 5 and it doesn't appear to have changed too much in this one. It is still such a forceful lock on that it becomes almost impossible to miss a target. Sure you have to adjust your aim for headshots but in all honesty it became a simple case of muscle memory during the game. Pull L2, move the right stick up slightly, pull R2, rinse and repeat.
Turning off the auto lock means you have to deal with the clunky controls of the third person shooter with a tiny reticle, it ranges from embarrassingly easy to infuriatingly difficult with no real middle ground. Part of this is surely down to the shooting being only a small part of this game but some of the best missions involve huge gunfights involving tons of opponents.

GRAPHICS

Every region has its own unique scenery and nature

This is an absolutely beautiful game, and I can say this having played it on a standard PS4, not even in 4k. The first area has your gang permanently surrounded in a snowstorm, and just watching the way the horses shuffle through the snow, creating a trail that genuinely looks like a large creature has shovelled it to the sides, makes you realise the amazing detail that has gone in to every aspect of the game.
Horses and Main Characters are by far the standout players here. The models have been meticulously recreated and brilliantly rendered. Put this with the incredible environment and lighting effects and you get an outstanding feast for the eyes as you ride through the forests and plains of the Central States of America.
Returning characters are made so well that you can honestly believe that you are looking at a younger version of the same character from RDR.
Couple this with the intense and atmospheric soundtrack that really brings certain sequences to life.

You have to be looking very hard to find any issues with textures or graphical hiccups, which for me is going far beyond what any normal person would experience when playing a game just to enjoy it.
Some of the less important textures such as lesser npcs and animals may not be quite up to the same par as the big ones but let's be real here, if they were this would likely be a 5 disc game instead of 2.

LONGEVITY

The main story of Red Dead Redemption 2 is an epic journey that takes you all over the map and beyond. There are 6 main chapters and 2 epilogues, with Chapters ranging between 10 and 30 missions. Most Chapters would probably take between 3 and 4 hours playtime, without distractions, which means an overall main campaign length of around 20 hours, plus 3 for the epilogue.
Once you get away from the main missions you can start to look at the absolute catologue of side stuff that you need to get stuck into for 100% completion.
Stranger missions are dotted all over the map and offer fun and weird alternative storylines that can twist in ways the main story never does. My favourite character from this game actually came from a stranger mission, an old war veteran who teaches Arthur the expertise in fishing and hunting.
The hunting minigame is practically a game in itself, with 14+ legendary beasts to hunt down as well as having to find hundreds of perfect pelts by hunting animals with the correct weapons.
There are also plenty of freak occurances and chance encounters around the map that reward those that explore away from the obvious markers, with treasure maps, easter eggs and unique cutscenes.

Some shootouts will take you through an entire town full of enemies

And when all of that is done you have the added bonus of Red Dead Online. Currently content is fairly limited but knowing Rockstar they will be continually adding new game modes and more to keep the community busy.

SUMMARY

Red Dead Redemption was just pipped to the Game of the Year this year by God of War, a game I am also very looking forward to playing hopefully soon.
It is fully deserving of its place though with a brilliant story, outstanding graphics and expansive game content. It is certainly a game I will be playing for a long time and I doubt I am alone.
It might not be perfect, but it's damn close.

STORY 9 / 10
GAMEPLAY 9 / 10
GRAPHICS 10 / 10
LONGEVITY 10 / 10

OVERALL 9.5 / 10