If a player doesn’t have time to sit down and enjoy Red Dead Redemption 2 the way Rockstar intended, they may want to hold off. I loved the game overall and am glad I put the time in, but with it being so big I would be shocked if there were not parts I hated.
“I hate everyone just the same.” – Arthur Morgan
I’m a fan of the new protagonist, Arthur Morgan, who may be a better main character than John Marston. Only by a little bit of course, but still. Arthur is a handsome man and I made sure not to shave so that he could have a sexy beard full-time. More importantly, it became my mission to keep a good hat on his head, as players can pick up almost any headwear in the game.
My wife convinced me to play Morgan as a good guy, but being a white hat seems to be the way the narrative wants people to play anyway. Many of the missions and choices make less sense if someone wants to play a morally bad character, and there isn’t enough benefit to maxing out the morality meter. It is also so hard to be good in a world that is so damn needy. When criminal acts happen, witnesses are everywhere. Even when it seems unlikely that anyone would be around, someone is just out of view. It doesn’t matter if the player’s actions were in self-defense, being seen next to a body can create a horrible chain of events. There were so many times I wasn’t sure why the law was after me because I missed one little detail or there was a misunderstanding.
Red Dead Redemption is cool because you can ride to town to sell a rat pelt for $1.10 so you can afford horse food but you accidentally bump into a farmer and cause a 17 minute long shootout with 30 cowboy cops and now you can’t go back to that town unless you pay a $243 bounty.
— Brian Altano (@agentbizzle) October 28, 2018
I recently tried to mount my horse but pressed the thumbstick in too hard, so Morgan went to the next horse and jumped on top of him, but bystanders perceived this as me stealing the steed. Players have the briefest amount of time to protest this and claim their innocence or give up, but nine times out of ten it results in a shootout. These kinds of things seemed to happen to me so often and usually involved my horse.
Controlling these beasts was a pain, and I swear pedestrians jump out in the way or overcompensate my turning and run into me, also causing me to be wanted. There are also times where I try to speak to an NPC, only to accidentally pull my gun and shoot him. Some missions finish in a gunfight and I’m already being ambushed by bounty hunters or groups of Pinkerton agents. Might be bad luck on my part, but it was annoying.
All of these elements create a tough combat situation, which can be fun at first, but eventually the realization sets in that nothing is being accomplished. I quickly learned that if I wanted to save time and a little money, it was easier just to let myself be shot dead rather than fight and spend my evening trading bullets with little reason. When I can make it out of an encounter unscathed, my wanted status keeps me from being able to interact with many of the missions until it is clear. That means I have to waste more time, but be careful not to cause any more trouble in the process. I just want to get to the mission or side quest, buy or sell my wears, figure out what is going on or travel to my destination, but that was all difficult, especially in populated areas.
Concerning getting to these areas, traveling is a thing that irritates me in life because I cannot drive, and also vexes me in the game. Walking wasn’t too bad, but Morgan can’t run through the camp or some buildings, making it slightly annoying when in a rush. Riding horses is the main issue as the controls feel stiff and the hit detection is almost too sensitive, where the slightest brush against something sends the character spiraling. I hit so many trees. I also struck a ton of other travelers, which of course started shootouts. There may be a trend here.
Traversing the map takes a long time if the player doesn’t make use of trains and stagecoaches, so thankfully the terrain and environments are extremely gorgeous, but that loses its luster after a while. I prefer to take my horse to keep him close, but opt to check Twitter in the meantime because the trail is boring. This usually results in me hitting something. One might think the horse would know better. There is a Cinematic Mode that is supposed to help the character follow waypoints, but it is bullshit and only works half the time. A fast travel system also exists that can be purchased at the camp, but Morgan can only teleport out to various towns, never back, so selecting the wrong option can be a costly mistake. Certain mission specific NPCs will offer quick travel to the beginning of a task or back to the camp afterward, but it is easy to miss these prompts and they are not offered enough.
If I have a mission far away, I count on getting stopped at least twice on the path there. It’s not like I’m taking some crazy shortcut or cutting through properties, these are the main roads, but I will always get stopped for help, shot at, or have a wild animal try to make my horse a snack. You might ask, with so much on the road, how could I get bored? Many of these things become repetitive, are often even the same encounters, and offer little reward other than killing an annoyance or a small bit of money. One time I journeyed across the entire map to follow up on a Stranger mission and when I got there after being shot to death and mauled by a cougar, the mission was no longer available and I was stuck in the middle of nowhere. Perfect.
RDR2 is one of those games that if I only have an hour or so free, I do not bother. I know that I will most likely have to sleep, eat, brush my horse, feed her, clean my guns, manage the camp’s money, and pay my bounty from last time’s fun, all before I can set out on a task. Why bother? All of this maintenance feels like RPG-lite elements that bog down the experience. The game makes players wait in the name of immersion, and we are on its time. I tried not to rush at first. I did slow down now and again, like the one night I just played poker, but this could only go on for so long.
It doesn’t help that a lot of information is thrown out early on, leaving players to go back to the slow parts they know. There is no way to check a log to see what exactly was said, but there is a guide for basic controls of primary actions. Often though, that does not help with missions or side quests. The text that is used for alerts and shows what Morgan picks up goes by way too fast, making some parts hard to follow.
Some things the game teaches early on are not available until later. Controlling the pacing and slowing down the narrative while allowing the player to feel slightly free between moments of interactive theatre with the gang. Movement itself is slowed here. Players must move before being able to whistle for their horse after a transition or loading in, pausing to observe the scenery I imagine. Mission info has to fully clear before the map can be opened again, so there is no rushing off to the next part. Picking up objects, checking an area, crafting ammo, looting bodies, all flow more realistically and slow, all while the other characters bark for Morgan to hurry up.
The story itself is quite engaging once it gets going, even if some parts feel abrupt in their resolution. Its beginning is slow and the pacing picks up about halfway through chapter three, but even this feels like the game urging the player to slow down and enjoy the world. Even if that becomes painstakingly dull after the twenty-hour mark.
Those hours stack-up quickly because all of these individual slow actions feel like busy work with the controls. Within that, too many actions are tied to the same button and a few switch which button performs this based on the situation. Unlike Spider-Man for example, RDR2’s problems are tied more to its core mechanics in the combat and physics. Movement itself can be frustrating, while still feeling responsive, but it lacks precision. These issues will not be the same for everyone, but I have heard so many complaints about the aiming. It makes me miss GTAV’s smooth polish in that regard, even if that felt weightless at times.
With all of the clunky aspects, I only ran into a few small glitches, mostly with the camera appearing in my horse or Arthur standing on animals or thin air. There was one mission toward the end I had to restart four times and eventually fail out of it on purpose to fix the issue. For such a large game, I’m surprised I didn’t run into more of this.
Remember, I enjoyed this game a lot overall, but this is a world that felt long and arduous at times, helping me to feel Morgan’s pain in his situation. This same insight though brought with it a certain emptiness once the story was done, and living the life left for me seemed less appeasing. It will be a while before I dive back into this world and give RDR2 such a large chunk of my time again.
MORE RED DEAD:
– 22 Red Dead Redemption 2 Tips To Tip Your Hat At
– Red Dead Redemption 2 Guide: How To Raise Your Honor
– Red Dead Redemption 2 Guide: How To Earn Money Fast
Some of the coverage you find on Cultured Vultures contains affiliate links, which provide us with small commissions based on purchases made from visiting our site. We cover gaming news, movie reviews, wrestling and much more.
