Red Dead Redemption - 2 (PS4)

Rockstar Studios (R*) seems to be on a roll with the release of the highly anticipated game, Red Dead Redemption 2. A few years back they released GTA 5, although that was on the last gen consoles, they remastered the game for PS4 (Pro) and Xbox 1 (X). GTA was a fantastic game with superb graphics even on consoles. GTA strengthened its gamer base with GTA Online (which I barely play but seems to be fun to say the least). Now following the same roots, R*has released RDR2 on the same lines as GTA. Think of it as a GTA in the 1899 era with characters wearing a gunslinger outfit, chewing tobacco and shooting at the slightest possible agitation.Make no mistake that this game is nothing like any of the GTA games. May be there is a slight similarity in terms of execution and game design but these games are poles apart in every possible way. To give an idea, this feels like real life with so much of visual renders and details. Roads, buildings, NPC characters and their manners, animals, birds, ambience and pretty much anything you can think of has a consequence of your actions. You play as Arthur Morgan, an outlaw and second in command to Dutch, who is the head of the Van der Linde gang. The level of attention to detail is simply impeccable. For example, you cannot wear winter clothes in summer as that will drain your stamina and that goes the other way too meaning, no warm clothes in ice filled mountains will result in loss of health rapidly. The massive playable map of RDR 2 is as beautiful as you can imagine and with more than 200 species of wildlife in the game waiting for you to discover. The map may not be the biggest (it might be I am not very sure) but it definitely feels huge since you have to ride your horse everywhere. There is no fast travel, well at least not for free. You still have to ride your horse to a stage-coach or a train station from where you can only travel to cities for a small fee. As you are free to play anyway you like, remember that your actions will have consequences, like passing insults, mistreating animals, killing innocents, robbing people or stores, hijacking trains or stage coaches will earn you a bad name and the NPCs will remember you committing a crime so don’t expect to roam around without resistance, unless you are wearing a bandit mask or covering your face in anyway. On the other hand, greeting people, helping others, feeding your horse regularly and other positive actions will earn you a positive name. Having positive honor also has few perks where you get store discounts and better loot only when you kill bad people. Just like in real life, Arthur has to bathe and shave, as he will get dirty and will grow his beard. You also have to maintain your guns in pristine condition if you don’t want them to malfunction at a critical time. As a general rule, all of your guns will malfunction after firing 300 shots. So maintain your guns with gun oil which can be bought from stores or looted from the dead bodies in the missions you complete. Coming to your horse, the more you ride your horse you develop a positive bond with your horse. There are 4 levels of bonding. You also have to maintain your horse, if you want it to stay healthy and perform the best all the time and that means feeding and cleaning, since you never know when you will need to outrun a gangster or sheriff or probably a vicious predator lurking in the dark, when you are passing through a dense jungle. One more critical point to note is that, look after your horse and try not to put it in danger since in this game your horse’s death is permanent and it will be gone for good. So, if you acquire a nice horse, make sure to keep it out of trouble when you think all hell is about to break loose. There is an item in the game “Horse Reviver”. What it does is you have a few moments before your beloved horse is permanently gone. The amount of time you have to revive the horse depends on your bonding level with your horse.Just like any open world game you are free to roam anywhere and do anything you want like hunting, exploring, side activities, crafting, etc. Hunting in this game is very challenging as there are various kinds of animals and each type of animal has its own behavior pattern and has to be hunted by a specific kind of weapon. Any given animal in the game will have three kinds of pelt/skin depending on their health status, ranging from poor, good and pristine which is indicated by 1, 2 or 3 stars respectively. For crafting, you will always need pristine skin/pelts. So, when you find an animal you are searching for, keep an eye on what kind of status/skin/pelt it has (on a side note, if you kill an animal and don’t skin it, you will lose honor points for being a bad sport and killing for fun). A perfect hunt depends on 2 things, animal quality and kill quality. So even if the animal is in pristine condition, you have to use the correct weapon and shoot in the appropriate body part (in most cases it’s the head) else a pristine skin will get damaged too. For example, you cannot hunt a rat or squirrel with a rifle or even a normal arrow as that would destroy the pelt since the normal arrow or the bullet itself will be as big as the small animal so you would require small arrow for hunting small creatures. Similarly, hunting a large animal with bows will destroy the pelt as you will need a lot of arrows to bring it down, which in turn will damage the pelt. Just a tip, shotguns are not appropriate to do any kind of hunt (except for legendary animals). Do keep an eye on your body smell which is affected by the wind direction. When you press L3 and R3 time slows and you see tracks of all the near by animals. You will also see a white flurry stuff near you which indicates which way the wind direction is, thereby indicating the direction in which your body scent is going. So, when hunting, always make sure that the wind is blowing from the target’s direction and not towards your target. There are scent covering lotions available in the stores. There are also legendary animals (most likely 13 or 14) which, when killed will be gone for good unlike your normal animals which will repopulate after sometime. These animals are fast and vicious. Be sure to bring your best weapon and be precise in shooting. However, there is a catch when hunting legendary animals. Unlike the regular animals, their pelt won’t get destroyed. So just bring your shotgun and make sure your dead-eye meter is full. The same goes for fishing and legendary fish. However, unlike the legendary animals, you can re-catch the legendary fishes only of-course when you released them. In case you die or lose your legendary pelt, it automatically goes to the trapper. The only downside to losing the legendary pelts is that you won’t be able to sell them and they fetch quite a high price.When in cities, keep your weapon holstered, if not then you invite bullets flying your way and make no mistake as Arthur can go down in a couple of well-placed shots or even one headshot. Slow down your pace when in cities as knocking down people will result in injuring or killing them which in turn leads to negative honor or worse as it sets the law enforcement after you. Keep it in mind that losing honor is faster than gaining. There are tons of side activities to do like collecting Cigarette cards, Dinosaur bones, Rock Carvings, Dreamcatchers, Treasure hunting, Challenges, hunting, fishing, crafting, cooking, unique collectibles and a lot more. These side activities will really test your patience.If you are still thinking whether or not to buy this, please don’t think and go ahead. If you are gamer who like fast paced games, then please stay away and enjoy your Call of duty.

This is my favorite game of all time. So many things are done right compared to other rockstar games that I don't even know where to start. The story is a 10000000/10. It has such an interesting take on morality, injustice, and America as it developed into the powerful country it is. The characters are pieces of art, Arthur Morgan being in my opinion, the greatest protagonist in gaming history. What makes him so lovable are 2 things: first, He is an outlaw and despite the bad things he does, he tires to do the right thing. And last, His actions, decisions, and choices are all in fact yours. Depending on what you do in the game effects what kind of Arthur Morgan you have. Besides Arthur, the supporting character rolls in this game are to die for. Characters like the widow seeking for vengeance Saide Adler, The humble but furious Charles Smith, The witty con man Hosea Matthews, and the man trying to redeem himself form his wrongs John Marston. Even characters who are meant to be in a bad light still are brilliant characters in their own ways. The world is huge and filled with adventure, challenges, mysteries, and people to meet that can change the experience of your game. This game is very long, which is for the best. Over 40 hours of story and several hours of more things to do, the possibilities are nearly endless. This game deserves every award it had gotten and should get more. The time it took to create this game, the work put into it really paid off. Red Dead Redemption 2 is a worthy contender for one of, If not, the greatest game of all time.

Words would fall short when it comes to describing this game. And I literally mean this, no amount of words can really justify the feeling and the emotion which I got after playing this game!Having played "Red Dead Redemption" on PlayStation 3, when I had first seen the trailer of its sequel, and knowing that this game is actually a "prequel" of the original, I had my doubts as usually when we see a second or third part of the franchise, we expect the story to move forward from its original part. But hearing that the story would move backwards, I was somewhat curious to know whether it would live up to its name or not.And boy, I was wrong! Looking at this game, it's no doubt that Rockstar has made giant leaps and bounds with this game! Everything is perfect, it's very difficult to find a flaw!The story, the background, the characters, the gameplay, the environment, the setup, everything is bang on! You cannot help but feel yourself as living in this world where the outlaws are struggling to escape when the law and the civilization are at their neck!If you haven't played the first game, then you don't need to worry. Since this game is a prequel, you would only get to know and understand the characters, how they existed and their prevailing conditions much better. But then, you would only love and appreciate this game more if you were acquainted with the first part, for which you can find its walkthroughs and cutscenes on YouTube, in case if you're unable to play the first part.But nevertheless, you would feel yourself fully immersed and engaged in this game, to such an extent that you might find it difficult to detach yourself from this world and the world in which are living now.Perhaps that is the beauty of Rockstar Games, as the way in which they have created this gigantic game with all the emotions and the choices that you make as the "Protagonist" is so real and so "human" that you can only relate to it in some way or the other! It's almost equivalent to living another life apart from your own!!Maybe I'm being melodramatic with my review, but I would only say, if you haven't played this game till now, do yourself a favor and play this game as soon as possible!! Very few games have the power to make you feel that you're not just playing the game, but in fact living with it.And no one does it better than Rockstar!! They don't need to be educated in making a game, in fact, their games can educate you in ways you cannot imagine!! They know what they're doing, and their end result is simply the best, with this game among others!In short, it's a "Legendary" game in every way!! This is simply an "unmissable" game, perhaps one of the best games that you would ever play in your life!! It would make you want to replay it again and might make you want to play the first one, if you would have access to it!!It might even change the way in which you look at life!! This game is that powerful and my most favourite game of all time!!Rockstar Games, you've gained a loyal customer from now on and cannot wait to see your next offering!!Without a doubt, you're the best!!