Red Dead Redemption

So, I've been playing Red Dead Redemption.

And I've got to say it doesn't quite live up to the hype.

To break it down these are my problems.

*It's bland.
*It's uninteresting
*More rails than Neverwinter Nights

The game scenery is bland. Despite the claims of an open world, you can't really travel anywhere unless you complete the story. And yes, the scenery changes from area to area, but inside of each individual region, you're treated to delicious copypasta terrain spread over a series of monotonous ridges and valleys.

Oh. And you have Mad Drowning Skills. For all this claims to replicate the West, the inability to cross a river or swim, or ford a body of water on a horse is discouraging. It's almost as if they don't want you to explore. They're the chest high walls of this game and frankly it is insulting. You enter a body of water and you die, simple as that.


The game is plainly uninteresting. You move from area A to area B and do the same things you were doing in the beginning. You are restricted in what you can get unless you follow the story along. Again, almost like they're cordoning off your sandbox world. It irks me that game developers feel the need to do this. They let you run around in between missions but then plainly prevent you from having certain skills required to complete them. For instance, the lasso. I wouldn't be half as angered with this if they'd just squish all this tutorial bullshit into the beginning of the game and then step back.


All water is instant death. There's a great big river separating you from Mexico in the south and another one cutting you off from "Civilization" in the north-east.
Your equipment and the tutorials that teach you how to use it are directly integrated into the story, so you won't have the whole kit until you've gone through the story. What's the point of letting me off the rail before I've gotten everything?

Not a fan, folks. Not a fan at all.