The same can be said for Arthur Morgan. Are there moments of intense excitement in his life such as when he’s robbing a train or special lures RDR2 watching the sunset over the plains? Absolutely. But even in the life of an outlaw on the run, you still have to make small decisions about whether or not you should take a bath or shave your face.
Seeing as Red Dead Redemption 2 has officially been announced to the masses, albeit with no idea what the game is about (John Marston’s name is not even mentioned), I thought I’d voice some thoughts. While I wholeheartedly enjoyed both Red Dead Revolver and Red Dead Redemption, I am worried by Red Dead Redemption 2. Aside from hype, which apparently can’t be stopped, seeing as the collective internet ethos freaked the hell out, let me explain why it’s important to be cautious with something like this.
We’re finally coming back to those indie games. Gunman Clive is a classic 2D run and gun shooter. Shoot guys, collect power-ups, scroll from left to right, and so on. It’s basic, but what sets it apart is the art style. Better yet imagine if someone took the art style of A-ha’s Take on Me and made a game out of it. It looks like a sketch come to life. I bet if you play that song alongside Gunman Clive everything will match up. Maybe even the devil will appear and rip open time and space itself. Either way: Gunman Clive is a real treat through and thro
Unsurprisingly there are a lot of light gun games depicting the Wild West. Revolvers are on of the most iconic guns out there, and everyone knows the best parts of any Western are the shootouts. It’s a natural fit for a video game, but unfortunately, most of these games are bad. Take Lethal Enforcers II for example. This was made for arcades back when developers thought it was a cool idea to digitize actors instead of creating new character sprites. This must have blown minds back then, but it looks like garbage today, and it doesn’t play any better. Lethal Enforcers II is just kind of boring. It may be hilarious especially when you look at some of the cheap costumes at play, see above, but laughter can’t fix all probl
In a time where open-world games are a dime a dozen, my problem with most titles in the genre is that they rarely force you to engage with the world that has been laid out. Instead, developers just use the confines of an open-world to place the structure of their game inside of, because it’s the normal thing to do more often than not nowadays. Simply existing in an open-world though isn’t enough when you don’t feel any sort of connection to the environment that you’re within. Forcing you to explore and take your time in the world allows you to get to know the area which you find yourself in. This is something that I think The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild did so perfectly last year , and it’s something that I think finds success here in Red Dead Redemption 2 as well.
In Blackwater, John meets a politician in need of some help with blackmailing an opposing politician with some photos. If you view the photos in John’s inventory, you’ll see that the opposing politician has been caught in some rather…unsavory acts with a prostitute. You approach the target at town hall, show him the photos, and he changes his tune real qu
In the wilderness, a prospector asks John to peacefully acquire a nearby old man’s land so that he can dig a ground well. John heads out and approaches the old man, who stops his sweeping to give John a two barreled greeting. Once John explains that he wants to purchase his land, the old man asks for $200 in exchange for it. The game then lets you give the man $200 for the deed to the land or kill him and take the deed by force. The game even describes him as „the helpless old man,” yet gives you the option to gun him d
Until Rockstar reveals more, though, I will keep being nervous over just what Red Dead Redemption 2 is. A lot of rumors are floating around that it’s a prequel. If it is, they could knock it out of the park, I just don’t want them relying on The Magnificent Seven to do it. Give us an American classic, something steeped in our own mythos, while keeping it fresh. Running and gunning is fun in games, but you can get that anywhere ( GTAV /any shooter ever). Let’s see a western tale more in truth with reality than Hollywood. There are so many other stories out there that get overlooked. If it is a prequel, the fall of John Marston’s gang could be done with style. How cool would it be to build up a bandit posse only to have it all ripped away (or in Marstons case, walking away)? Usually in games where the player must form a crew ( Mafia III /GTAV), it’s to set out on some serious mayhem and succeed. To have a game where the player forms their crew only to have it taken away would be the ultimate middle finger to that style of storytelling in gaming. Especially coming from Rockstar. Not only would it flip the script, but it would show Rockstar can even go against their own grain, while not borrowing from Hollywood.