After loving the 100+ hour experience that was red dead 2 I decided to come back to this game as i a) wanted to see john marston's story in the original and b) saw that it had recently been re-released for the ps4 and switch and could easily access this great game without having to go out and look for a physical ps3 or 360 copy of the game.
Almost 14 years later and this game still holds up exceptionally well. From the 3D open world rockstar games I have rolled credits on (everything except gta 4, red dead revolver and bully), I think this game might have perfected the cover system that has been in these games since from what I remember SA. I find the cover system in rockstar games in general to be pretty clunky, with SA barely protecting the player and V and RDR2 struggling to put the player behind any object whatsoever as in those games half the time I pressed the cover button my character would have a 50/50 chance to hide behind a shitty crate or hug the wall. However I never felt that problem in RDR1 as John pretty much went exactly where I wanted him to be, and the cover itself did very good protection allowing me to enjoy finding my opportunities to kill specific enemies in a tough encounter.
I didn't have high expectations of New Austin in this game, as I found it to being laughably underutilized and boring in red dead 2, but this game somehow managed to make traversing an almost completely baron wasteland actually enjoyable, as the stranger missions, gang hideouts and wide range of animals made exploring it extremely rewarding.
I also didn't know what to expect with the story, but was pleasantly surprised by how well it still holds up to today. It made me like RDR2 even more as the mysterious characters like Bill and Dutch in this game were given an opportunity to be developed further in RDR2 and in a way that made going from 2 to 1 feel extremely natural and enjoyable.
I was however spoiled on a couple major events in the story which admittedly did take a hit on my desire to see this game's storyline to the end, but I'm glad I did as it's narrative and characters are very strong and compelling. Aside from John, Bonnie MacFarlane has risen as one of my favourite characters in this universe, Nigel West Dickens and his antics always made me laugh, and the entire mexico saga I believe is one of the strongest chapters I've seen in a rockstar game.
Overall, this game still holds up incredibly well today, and it's re-release on modern systems allows accessing it's great story easy and accessible to all. This is definitely a must play, especially if you enjoyed RDR2, and is certainly in the upper echelon of Rockstar's phenomenal games.
Almost 14 years later and this game still holds up exceptionally well. From the 3D open world rockstar games I have rolled credits on (everything except gta 4, red dead revolver and bully), I think this game might have perfected the cover system that has been in these games since from what I remember SA. I find the cover system in rockstar games in general to be pretty clunky, with SA barely protecting the player and V and RDR2 struggling to put the player behind any object whatsoever as in those games half the time I pressed the cover button my character would have a 50/50 chance to hide behind a shitty crate or hug the wall. However I never felt that problem in RDR1 as John pretty much went exactly where I wanted him to be, and the cover itself did very good protection allowing me to enjoy finding my opportunities to kill specific enemies in a tough encounter.
I didn't have high expectations of New Austin in this game, as I found it to being laughably underutilized and boring in red dead 2, but this game somehow managed to make traversing an almost completely baron wasteland actually enjoyable, as the stranger missions, gang hideouts and wide range of animals made exploring it extremely rewarding.
I also didn't know what to expect with the story, but was pleasantly surprised by how well it still holds up to today. It made me like RDR2 even more as the mysterious characters like Bill and Dutch in this game were given an opportunity to be developed further in RDR2 and in a way that made going from 2 to 1 feel extremely natural and enjoyable.
I was however spoiled on a couple major events in the story which admittedly did take a hit on my desire to see this game's storyline to the end, but I'm glad I did as it's narrative and characters are very strong and compelling. Aside from John, Bonnie MacFarlane has risen as one of my favourite characters in this universe, Nigel West Dickens and his antics always made me laugh, and the entire mexico saga I believe is one of the strongest chapters I've seen in a rockstar game.
Overall, this game still holds up incredibly well today, and it's re-release on modern systems allows accessing it's great story easy and accessible to all. This is definitely a must play, especially if you enjoyed RDR2, and is certainly in the upper echelon of Rockstar's phenomenal games.