Rockstar has such a great opportunity to deliver a tale that is bathed in more of a classic period piece than a ritzy Hollywood do over. If the game looks anything like what the teaser presented, they just might deliver that game. It seemed calm yet brooding. It seemed slower, while being thoughtful. The posse of men on horseback seen in the trailer is fitting for the time. It was stupid Openworldpilot post to a company blog travel alone through the wilderness of America, and cowboys relied on each other for not only companionship, but the journey ahead. My mind keeps wandering to The Magnificent Seven though and I can’t shake that this is what might be showcased. A band of cowboy bandits causing all sorts of mayhem in a sort of Magnificent Seven bizarro world. The previous two games were great because the stories encountered seemed real; the characters seemed like real people dealing with personal qualms that had nothing to do with me. It’s the reason I loved the Witcher 3, the world didn’t care about the player, but if I could stop and help, I’d go for it. Otherwise, time to hit the dusty trail.

As is clearly evident now, Rockstar have put a lot of effort into their online game mode in GTA V . So you'd we expect it to be smooth sailing when we log on, right? Wrong. So many reports have come through about the failures of GTA Online' s lobbies. They always seem unable to cope with the sheer amount they have to process. In my personal experience, they've always felt really choppy and slow. Often, I've been kicked out of lobbies for what seems like no good reason. The option to join your friends lobby when they are in free roam is a great one, making it easier to connect with your pals without having to bother them with invites. But, again it seems like such a temperamental feature, as I'm often being told I have no friends active, when I clearly do! I even had this happen with a guy who was in the same room as

As for the main story, it’s entertaining but far from revolutionary. It has its highs and lows, the lows being the lack of development outside anyone who’s within the Van der Linde gang. You get to meet a plethora of characters through Arthur’s journey and yet most of them only appear in one or two missions, outside of a couple of exceptions. Red Dead Redemptions 2 moves at an incredible pace to the point that most people in the world are disposable and sometimes unnecessary, making me wish there was more of a focus on specific story beats as it’s spread too thin in spots. With that said, outside of the phenomenal core cast, what Rockstar does right is create exciting scenarios. This is something the company is known for, crafting well-designed and often comical heists that are sure to go awry. Whether it’s robbing a train or a stagecoach, or simply walking through town, each chapter has a handful of standout missions that will keep you on the edge of your seat. Granted, the other missions are mostly broken up into your standard affairs, but at least they’re kept lively thanks to Arthur generally being assisted by another member of the gang.

Red Dead Redemption 2 is a long game and there’s a lot to do in it. The main campaign alone, along with a good number of Stranger missions, took us just under fifty hours to complete, which is exponentially longer than its predecessor. That’s barely even participating in the various other activities, such as hunting, gambling, bounty hunting and more. The Stranger missions are one of the bigger draws as they are once again whacky, over-the-top scenarios that fill out the world. Arthur may not have the sarcastic, comical timing of John Marston, but he still lends to each situation with his confusion. Sadly, I never saw a damsel tied up on a railroad track that needed saving. Speaking of Stranger missions, you're also able to make choices that may affect scenes in the main story. For example, I met one woman earlier in the campaign and she appeared as a prostitute later on, which lead to a bounty immediately put on my head. Another was a surprisingly lengthy scene with a nun who I randomly bumped into once, and Arthur opened up to her. Your choices through the campaign do hold some weight as they can affect where specific people end up in the future and might even expand upon Arthur’s character more.

While Red Dead Redemption 2 is clearly a game that we think highly of here at DualShockers , it's not one that is infallible by any means. In fact, since its release this past Friday, the most common complaint that I have heard not only from some of my friends but fellow writers here at DualShockers is that Red Dead Redemption 2 is far too slow and plodding. Even after getting past the game's initial opening hours and having the world start to open up, traveling from one location to another takes far too long, animations are too slow, and there's not the typical intuitiveness that streamlines many of the systems and mechanics that you might find in other open-world games.