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This review contains spoilers
I've been playing the shit out of the No Return mode on grounded in Part II which was probably a mistake cause I got so used to Part II's more fluid combat with going prone and dodging that going back to this was a bit difficult. Naughtdog really should've treated this as more than a graphical remake and imported that because even with how pretty this is it just has aged a bit especially compared to it's sequel. Nevertheless, the story is the same and the characters are; so its practically the best this medium has to offer. And with he graphical improvements the enemies feel more threatening, the gore feels more real and the cutscenes hit even harder.
Some of my favourite encounters design wise in this come from escaping the Boston and initially encountering clickers, the school from Bills town, being ambushed by hunters in the car, fighting back as Joel against David's men and the final encounter with the fireflies. It blows my mind that only the DLC has fights with both infected and humans cause it's easily the most difficult and challenging shit in this game.
Some of my favourite encounters design wise in this come from escaping the Boston and initially encountering clickers, the school from Bills town, being ambushed by hunters in the car, fighting back as Joel against David's men and the final encounter with the fireflies. It blows my mind that only the DLC has fights with both infected and humans cause it's easily the most difficult and challenging shit in this game.
The combat in this game is astounding, the visuals are perfect, but the game is so fucking safe. The villains are unmemorable, the supporting cast are just video game supporting characters, but the central internal conflict between Shen and his honour shit is pretty great. It saves the games narrative and makes for an interesting ending. People try to act like this is a Kurosawa movie adapted into a video game and like no not really
If Red Dead Redemption II is like a great American novel, than this is a Spaghetti Western, or better yet, a new Hollywood Western. From the Rockstar mission structure the plot is all over the place in tone and atmosphere, with the game taking its time to let the player explore the vast and empty map with both great and terrible characters. The Mexico segment might be my favourite part of any of the two Red Dead games ? Theres something about the music and visuals that makes it so enriching and the almost Yojimbo (or rather A Fist Full of Dollars) like stance that John takes during the revolution gives a lot of depth to what could otherwise be a black and white conflict. Here are the best and most memorable missions with the most interesting characters like Landon Ricketts and Javier Escuella,
The moment to moment gameplay in this game is pretty standard, and thats mostly from the games age. The guns kinda all feel samey and theres no reason to not just mow people down with a repeater which kind of invites the player into creating their own determent: playing with low ammo, turning off aim assist and switching between revolvers, shotguns and rifles. Some of the most memorable missions in the game are the climaxes of each arc, with the games ending missions having such a sense of dread around them that they almost don't become enjoyable. The sense that the frontier is dead and the west is dying is so palpable, with the game essentially motivating its characters by which side they fall on that spectrum. John, with his muddled politics and bread winner outlook, is against the change, and is used and abused for that perspective. Man.
The moment to moment gameplay in this game is pretty standard, and thats mostly from the games age. The guns kinda all feel samey and theres no reason to not just mow people down with a repeater which kind of invites the player into creating their own determent: playing with low ammo, turning off aim assist and switching between revolvers, shotguns and rifles. Some of the most memorable missions in the game are the climaxes of each arc, with the games ending missions having such a sense of dread around them that they almost don't become enjoyable. The sense that the frontier is dead and the west is dying is so palpable, with the game essentially motivating its characters by which side they fall on that spectrum. John, with his muddled politics and bread winner outlook, is against the change, and is used and abused for that perspective. Man.