Red Dead Redemption was an excellent game and still my 4th all time favorite game. The story and characters they created in that big open world were outstanding and i never thought that any other R* game could achieve this, until Red Dead Redemption 2 came along and gave me everything i wanted and more.
Story: 10
Red Dead Redemption 2 serves as a prequel to the first game and it succeeds in introducing new characters and bringing back old ones from the previous installment. If you complete RDR2 and play RDR after, you begin to see an over-arching story, which makes the first game all the more of an emotional experience. You play as a newcomer Arthur Morgan. At first i was disappointed to hear this since John Marston was such a great Protagonist, but after completing the first 2 chapters, the game sold me on this guy. On the surface he looks like an ordinary money hungry outlaw but through countless interactions Arthur has his family and friends always in his best intentions, he puts them first before anything else. (i know you can choose whether Arthur is a good or a bad guy, but it feels appropriate to the story that he acts as a good guy). All of the Villains are great (there is one that you will absolutely hate but even he is a good Antagonist with some depth) and there's one main character that slowly descends into madness and it's heartbreaking to watch the slow progression of it all. The missions are a whole lot of fun even though they do get repetitive. As far as i'm concerned just give me a pistol, a trusty steed, and some goons to kill and i'll be satisfied. In terms of story, Red Dead Redemption 2 surpasses the first in my opinion. I will say this though once you complete the main story (6 chapters) and play the epilogue, the epilogue just doesn't hold up to the rest of the game. I mean it's still good for an epilogue but from time to time it would drag.
Game mechanics: 8.5
Okay folks get ready for the nitpicks i have to offer. The main thing this game is recognized for is it's immersion and use of realism. And that's great and all but it gets to the point where it's annoyingly realistic. Your horse has a stamina meter, it takes 6-7 seconds to fully loot one person, when you kill an animal you have to cook every slab of meat separately which takes a while, if you wear warm clothes in a hot setting your health meter will drain/ if you wear cool (temperature cool) clothes in a cold setting your health meter will drain, if you don't hide a body you will get a witness and they will rat you out to the law if not dealt with, your horse will throw you off of it's back and book it if a predator gets too close, and if you antagonize a person they will always pull out their gun and shoot you (not realistic most of the time but still annoying). As for mechanics i've never been a huge fan of R*'s mechanics. I just hate how you have to repeatedly spam X/A in order for your character or mode of transportation to go faster. Also the cover system is broke. I'll go as far as to say Red Dead Redemption 1 had a better cover system then this. Sometimes if you press R1/RB it doesn't make you duck, instead it'll slowly make your character walk in a desired cover spot and then will make you actually get behind it. Okay, okay, phew, i'm done with all the negatives i promise. But in the end the mechanics to this game are good especially the guns. The world is huge and you will spend hours upon hours to explore all of it. Even though the realism pissed me off sometimes, i still respect that the developers would pay that much attention to detail and be willing to add it all in the game.
So all in all, Red Dead Redemption 2 is my second favorite game this year and made it to my top 3 all time favorite games (like i said, i think RDR2's story surpasses RDR's story). The characters, plot, soundtrack (the track "You're My Brother" is one of the best tracks I've listened to in a game), and the massive world are so great. The game in of itself is an achievement among video games.
9/10
Story: 10
Red Dead Redemption 2 serves as a prequel to the first game and it succeeds in introducing new characters and bringing back old ones from the previous installment. If you complete RDR2 and play RDR after, you begin to see an over-arching story, which makes the first game all the more of an emotional experience. You play as a newcomer Arthur Morgan. At first i was disappointed to hear this since John Marston was such a great Protagonist, but after completing the first 2 chapters, the game sold me on this guy. On the surface he looks like an ordinary money hungry outlaw but through countless interactions Arthur has his family and friends always in his best intentions, he puts them first before anything else. (i know you can choose whether Arthur is a good or a bad guy, but it feels appropriate to the story that he acts as a good guy). All of the Villains are great (there is one that you will absolutely hate but even he is a good Antagonist with some depth) and there's one main character that slowly descends into madness and it's heartbreaking to watch the slow progression of it all. The missions are a whole lot of fun even though they do get repetitive. As far as i'm concerned just give me a pistol, a trusty steed, and some goons to kill and i'll be satisfied. In terms of story, Red Dead Redemption 2 surpasses the first in my opinion. I will say this though once you complete the main story (6 chapters) and play the epilogue, the epilogue just doesn't hold up to the rest of the game. I mean it's still good for an epilogue but from time to time it would drag.
Game mechanics: 8.5
Okay folks get ready for the nitpicks i have to offer. The main thing this game is recognized for is it's immersion and use of realism. And that's great and all but it gets to the point where it's annoyingly realistic. Your horse has a stamina meter, it takes 6-7 seconds to fully loot one person, when you kill an animal you have to cook every slab of meat separately which takes a while, if you wear warm clothes in a hot setting your health meter will drain/ if you wear cool (temperature cool) clothes in a cold setting your health meter will drain, if you don't hide a body you will get a witness and they will rat you out to the law if not dealt with, your horse will throw you off of it's back and book it if a predator gets too close, and if you antagonize a person they will always pull out their gun and shoot you (not realistic most of the time but still annoying). As for mechanics i've never been a huge fan of R*'s mechanics. I just hate how you have to repeatedly spam X/A in order for your character or mode of transportation to go faster. Also the cover system is broke. I'll go as far as to say Red Dead Redemption 1 had a better cover system then this. Sometimes if you press R1/RB it doesn't make you duck, instead it'll slowly make your character walk in a desired cover spot and then will make you actually get behind it. Okay, okay, phew, i'm done with all the negatives i promise. But in the end the mechanics to this game are good especially the guns. The world is huge and you will spend hours upon hours to explore all of it. Even though the realism pissed me off sometimes, i still respect that the developers would pay that much attention to detail and be willing to add it all in the game.
So all in all, Red Dead Redemption 2 is my second favorite game this year and made it to my top 3 all time favorite games (like i said, i think RDR2's story surpasses RDR's story). The characters, plot, soundtrack (the track "You're My Brother" is one of the best tracks I've listened to in a game), and the massive world are so great. The game in of itself is an achievement among video games.
9/10