Red Dead Redemption: Another reason not to trust review scores

Red Dead Redemption has recently released to critical acclaim. With such a high profile title, in development by a world class developer, receiving review scores where the mean is 95, putting this at or near the best scored game of the year, you would expect that Red Dead Redemption is near perfect. But how is there such a disconnect between the reality of Red Dead Redemption, its bugs and problems easily detectable by anyone that has played the game's multiplayer component, and the theory that Red Dead Redemption is near perfect in every review score.

Boomtown, Game.nl, 1Up, GamePro, GameReactor, Gameplanet,Planet Xbox 360, Telegraph, Cheat Code Central, Videogamer, Gamespy all gave Red Dead Redemption a perfect score. In these reviews there are no mentions of the glitches that prevail in some of the games modes. So, why is there no mention of these problems? Is it because Red Dead Redemption launched a web marketing campaign rivaled by few before lauch?...continues

[sixaxis]

"game to find glitches within the first 10 minutes of gameplay you have to question the integrity of media outlets who have reviewed this game and give it a perfect score. "

so true.

[toaster]

I have also heard my friends say that RDR is not perfect in terms of graphics and glitches.

[StanLee]

It's not even about the graphics or the glitches. The game suffers the same poor design of GTAIV. While admittedly it's not as shallow, the mission structure is still as repetitive as go here, chase him, kill them, go back. Frankly, I haven't encountered any glitches and I'm about 5 hours in. I'm just disappointed that it's a GTAIV cloned Western.

[KiRBY3000]

and what did you expect exactly?

i mean, your complain is like saying that all you do is fight in a fighting game or all you do is drive in a racing game.

what solution do you propose to break RDR missions "repetitiveness"?

[toaster]

I played GTAIV. After looking at reviews I got the game on 360 and played for a while because everybody praised it for doing everything right. I quickly found out how boring it was and only played until the part where you have to chase the guy on a motorcycle. I stopped there because it was just boring.. the graphics were not jawdroppingly awesome the way a lot of critics said it was. The controls were uncooperative. The story was not very compelling though I did not play much so maybe it got better the more I played, but an exciting beginning would have helped hook me in to playing more of the single-player. I think the only good part about GTAIV in my experience was that the open-world was lifelike and fluid. Going from one part of the city to the next was smooth and everything looked natural, from the pedestrians going about their business to other drivers.

I still to this day do not understand all the perfect scores and the GOTY awards and praise..

[EDIT]
Here's my friend's opinion on RDR. lol. And no I could not have faked this because it was posted yesterday, FYI. I also censored his name for privacy.

[HolyOrangeCows]

You pretty much have to assume at this point that reviewers will give anything Multiplat Rockstar a near perfect score.

Don't get me wrong, it looks fun and I'm probably going to get it, but most reviewers will overlook the problems, and I wouldn't be surprised if that's because Rockstar sent them all "care packages"

[Figboy]

i think for him to not feel that the game is repetitive, the game designers should have made it where, while you are going to a mission, the earth opens up with a sudden volcanic explosion, and mole people emerge, riding dinosaurs and declaring they will finally have their day, forcing you to single handedly battle the mole people leader.

just when you are going to deliver the killing blow, a siren wales, and alien spacecraft careen back and forth through the air, peppering the ground as you flee with your new ally, the mole leader, as you declare that your beef will have to wait in order to defeat this new quest.

but then, as you are escaping, a small army of Jedi and Sith break into a beatmania style contest, forcing you to compete with them in order for you gain their respect so they can repel the alien invasion.

as you are crowned the victor of the competition, zombies (because EVERY GAME needs zombies), crawl from a nearby crypt, and you and 4 friends must fight them off while trying to reach the next safehouse...

and i'm spent.

i don't know what he could possibly be expecting from a game that is clearly in the GTA mold. in fact, just about ALL open world games follow that template, because HOW ELSE would the game play out? it couldn't all be random encounters (of which, i hear, RDR has plenty of), and there is a story being told, so yeah, to get to those story points in RDR, you have to travel to them.

as for the repetitiveness, ALL GAMES are repetitive. not a single game out there that i can think of has new game play mechanics every few seconds to keep you interested. if you really need that much new stimuli to keep you playing a game, then you should get checked out for ADD.

in a game, what matters is that the game play mechanics are FUN. if they are fun, it doesn't really matter if the game is repetitive.

God of War 3 has great game play mechanics, with enough depth to keep you playing and finding fun ways to defeat enemies.

Tetris is a classic example of a game with a highly repetitive game play mechanic, but it's so fun and addicting that you could literally play it for hours and not be bored with it.

[hay]

Perfect scores aren't about perfect games.
They are about awesome games which can be awesome despite some issues. But on the other side awesomeness is a matter of opinion(I think Blaze&Blade was awesome but it was 5/10 game max), so perfect scores should be about top quality games.
Glitches like that should prohibit the reviewer from giving the game full score but today quality of reviews are as we see it now.

Not reliable at all.

Word of advice?

Don't follow other's opinion blindly.

[JohnnyMann420]

What the hell are you talking about. Besides the R* style....this game IS NOT GTA IV...Not in the least.

Just because a game has the same controls, doesn't make it the same friggen game.

If that was the case then every FPS would be the same, right?

[Perjoss]

the bottom line is for every person on the internet complaining, there are 1000 gamers looking past the bugs and glitches and having a great time.

[WinterWolf]

Bubbles for making me lol!

I am playing RDR right now, and to be honest it is not nearly as repetitive as most games. There are random encounters throughout the landscape with wild animals and bandits, many of which come in different varieties (people trying to rob you, trick you, or challenge you). The missions are engaging and fairly unique, introducing you to different characters and ranging in tasks from herding cattle, breaking horses, collecting bounties, raiding camps and so on. And choosing a playing style of honor or dishonor adds a level of depth.

And when you get tired of that, Texas Hold 'Em never gets old for me. :)

[KiRBY3000]

that was an awesome reply! lol

i dont know which Bubble up + category i should pick, they all work with your post! Interesting, Well said, Intelligent, Funny and Helpful!

[Millah]

Figboy, you nailed it. +1 for you. I'm starting to think that people will hate on any game no matter how good it is, as long as it gets highly praised. Seems you can't satisfy everyone, some people resist it too hard.

[Figboy]

thanks guys!

i just think it's kind of ridiculous that "repetitive" has become a "valid" complaint with video games.

as stated before, all games are repetitive by nature.

what we are really complaining about when we say the game is "repetitive," is that the game play mechanic that is being repeated the most isn't fun, and it makes the game feel repetitive (ie, boring).

i've certainly played my fair share of boring games.

if the core game design mechanic is flawed, then you will more than likely have a weak game (see: Turok, Blacksite: Area 51, Legendary: The Box, Conflict: Denied Ops, etc).

a rock solid core game play mechanic, and solid production values generally lead to high praise. i haven't played RDR myself, but the general consensus from gamers (not reviewers, but those that have actually played the game and aren't being paid for it), is that it nails those two aspects and is an, overall, enjoyable experience.

i just can't wait to get mine in the mail from Amazon on Monday.

[UJUSTLOSTONE]

@Hay,

their was even one point where a puma came out of no where and attacked my horse, first I was upset at losing my horse, that emotion surprised me, then I was scared cuz the puma turned around and started for me. I like the game

[AngryTypingGuy]

Figboy, that was a brilliant reply!

[Kleptic]

figboy I totally agree, however I have yet to play RDR...but what all this review stuff did do is motivate me to play through GTAIV...

I bought the game the day it released and put a solid month into it...and never touched it again after MGS4 released...while GTAIV was ok at the time, I definitely saw it and felt it played like a step backwards from the unstoppably awesome over the top PS2 gta's...

repetitive gameplay is built into an open world game...there is no way to do it, like you said, with a story and completely illiminate having to revisit known locales or travel 'to get there'...but that doesn't mean developers have to over inflate that...GTA games have always had failed mission problems...always...and there is no real way to fix them I guess...but I would LOVE for an open world game to have some sort of mission save option...or some mechanic where you can simply save the game wherever you want...whenever you want...thats what makes these types of games much more accessible to people that simply don't have 2 hours to plop on the couch and play...or at least don't have that time very often...

GTAIV for example...multiple missions involve driving for a few minutes to one area...shooting some people, or picking some up, or both, and then driving somewhere else and doing the same thing...and if for any reason something goes wrong...you have to do ALL of it over, not just the section you screwed up...the bank heist mission can take up to 20 minutes, with nearly non-stop action and a lot of 'luck' involved...with no option to save during it...being almost done with it and getting arrested simply because some crap taxi randomly pulled into the intersection at exactly the wrong time in front of your SUV is beyond annoying imo...these are the ONLY types of games that get away with this...in a shooter it would be the equivalent of starting at the beginning of a particular level every time you die...modern games have insanely complex mechanics known as 'checkpoints' that completely changed gaming entirely...why these sandbox game developers think they are above that will always be beyond me...

GTAIV did have a mission restart option that was new to the franchise...but its nearly pointless because its almost always suicide to start any real mission without armor...so the 'right' way to do it is either reload your last game save after you die, or at the very least drive across town to get weapons and ammo...

so i'm not saying its easy to fix...but I see what this guy is saying about repetitiveness bordering on being overly tedious...and true; an in mission save option could make the game too easy...but for me personally, i'd take too easy over the mundane process of re-equipping your character after failing a mission...especially under random situations that are not always your fault for being a 'bad player'...

beyond all that I do see where he is coming from with reviews in general...I don't care about this argument of people saying a perfect score does not mean a perfect game...uh...well fix the numbering system then...most review sites still do something down to a .1 significance...which is retarded considering they still argue that a 10/10 still doesn't mean its perfect...GTAIV received 10/10's left and right too...and its far from that for me personally...reviewers should just skip a score altogether...give it a thumbs up, or down...or middle for something simply average

[Alcon]

What I fear is another GTA4 case, where everyone raved on the game, only for us to find out it was good but not as great as those reviewers told us. So in the end we where left a bit disappointed, because we expected much more?
I did not play RDR yet so I will hold making any judgment,but I believe that nontheless it looks like a very good game worth buying.

[raztad]

You have a good point but the problem are the perfect reviews all over the place (95 meta) that rises the hype (and expectations) through the roof.

To tell the truth I've been avoiding to fall for the media created hype. It's better to wait for fellow gamers reviews.

[TooTall19]

and the game is fun. I don't see why everyone hates GTA4 so much on this site!

Edit: RDR sp and free roam is best when using expert aim.

[vhero]

Been saying this all along just because its open world single player and made by rockstar reviewers immediately gave it a near perfect score just like with GTA IV.

[Raf1k1]

You'd think the fools would have learned from GTA4. It's still probably a great game but to have none of those reviews even mention the glitches and bugs just isn't right.
Maybe they were just reviewing certain parts of the game but what kind of reviewer worth his salt would do that unless he was to review the SP separately to the MP.

[Myze]

Big thing RDR has over GTAIV is that it's actually a lot of fun. Review scores encompass countless possible reasons for the score given. A few bugs here and there (none of which I've seen playing for about 4-5 hours) does not detract from a game if it has enough good going for it. Also, since I haven't seen, or at least haven't noticed, any of the bugs people are claiming, it's quite possible that the reviewers never saw any of them either.

The Multiplayer problems are a valid complaint, but that would not go into determining the score, since most reviewers were probably playing it on a different server than the average gamer is, or at least on a server where very few people were playing to avoid the massive overload that it received on release day.

I could understand people worrying about RDR getting such good reviews after the debacle of GTAIV, but having played the game myself, I can say that is not the case, and RDR deserves the high scores it's getting for the single player alone. I suggest some of you people play the game, rather than having some no-name site reaffirm what you were hoping to be true, and claim so many other sites are in on a huge conspiracy.

[morganfell]

Personally I am enjoying the SP portion of RDR.

However, it must be admitted that this isn't the first prominent game with a broken Multiplayer component that had it's online failings completely glossed over and forgiven, no, ignored by reviewers. That very thing happened in a prominent, not to old title and it took them months to patch it. Meanwhile media outlets gave them a pass. And it wasn't a Rockstar game either.

[kingdavid]

I had a go at it. Its far from unplayable online and I had fun playing the free for all and gold rush (not much lag and proper maps).

I did however see my entire character disappear for about 20 seconds at one point.

Even so, its a far better effort then what went into gears 2 multiplayer *vomit.

[ALFAxD_CENTAURO]

I was sure the Multiplayer gonna fail, since I saw the phrase: The multiplayer is ''Powered by Gamespy'', in my experience, Gamespy it's a mediocre service in consoles, but not on PC.

[sikbeta]

Ah... What everyone is Expecting, This is a R* Game, last time GTAIV wasn't that Great Either but it got Loads of Perfect Scores...

I knew something like this was going to happen (but ina different way), but it'll be like GTAIV all over again...

"It's a Rockstar Game, No Matter What, IS Perfect!"

[TheHater]

yesterday on Attack of the Show, Morgan Webb admitted that they had no attachments to the characters or Story in GTAIV and it was over hyped but they still gave it a good score because it was GTA. Even Kevin admitted that it was a good game

[TheHater]

Everyone got on me when I said that reviewers are giving all this game flaws a pass because it made by R*. When I called out the media for not bring up the problems with the online, everyone disagree with me. R* has already been caught with Red Redemption controversy http://www.1up.com/boards/p...
That is why I will never trust or ever will trust reviews because you never know that is going on behind the scenes, whether or not reviewers are bias toward a specific company and so on.

[JohnnyMann420]

Well the Red Dead Redemption "Controversy" was explained. Also if you read into it a little more you will find nothing more than your run of the mill PR notice.

I will be blunt and honest with you.

I've played this game for 10 hours (officially) and I have seen no bugs. Zero. I have seen some bugs on youtube, so I know they exist and I also saw a bug while watching a Justin.tv stream.

There are bugs but they are really not game breakers and probably cause very little grief to the player.

As far as giving R* a free Pass? IGN and other reviews mention bugs as a negative and it ruined hte final score of the game.

After playing the game for 10 hours and still have tons to do (I'm doing all the challenges etc) this game was worth my 60 bucks.

I would still rate it around a 9.5

I am in no way a R* Fanboy. I liked GTA IV for what it was but when I compare it to GTA SA, I think SA was better as far as things to do when the game was complete.

RDR seems to bring R* back on pace with their old series. There is so much to do in this world and it just feels right.

This is a must have game and I am happy the reviews show it.

[RedDevils]

you can never satisfied everybody. especially fanboy

[Shepherd 214]

Figboy is my freakin hero.

[badz149]

or maybe not exactly the same but kinda! I saw the game already up on shelve today but I didn't buy it although I would really love to. the reason was, I thought back about GTAIV and how hyped I was for the game just to be disappointed later on!

it's true, that there's a lot to do in a sandbox game like this but if the main missions are the repetitive "go there, kill him" kinda things, then that's just BORING!

[EvilBlackCat]

wow by reading all this comments i ask my self now

Why all this critics (n4g fans) are not designing games?

glitches? YES

POOR GAME DESIGN? Come on give me a break!

"seems like it's GTAIV all over again"

YUP because is not a PS3 exclusive again

right?

[sikbeta]

"because is not a PS3 exclusive again"

What a short-sighted dude, he takes everything as a "tool" for his Fanboy-war, No-1 is talking about the Game being BAD or something like that, Only saying that is NOT F*CKING PERFECT and if is not Perfect, a 10/10 got no justification, you get it?

You're probably the guy that was PRAISING MW2 while other players were being pissed cos how crap the game was, [man, the PC version $ucks BAD], is not about fanboysm, you paid for a Game, you want the Best, is really difficult to understand?

Anyways, as far as I know the Game is Awesome, so keep Gaming...

[badz149]

yah, I'm busted! happy now? I was planning on getting the game since the 1st time I saw the footages and with all the hype and everything I really really want the game! - and I knew from the get go that it's a multiplat!

I said "seems like it's GTAIV all over again" because in terms of reviews and reception, you can't deny that it's kinda similar! perfect reviews all over the place but the game itself is not reflecting the 10s it's getting! where exactly in my previous comment I was disappointed RDR is not a PS3 exclusive?

I think I'll get the game eventually but silly me for being hyped (again!) by the reviews, I just hope that I'll not be disappointed the way GTAIV did!

[SeanRL]

It's still a fun game, but it doesn't deserve a 10/10. The same thing happened with gta 4.

Edit: Evilblackcat, if you think we don't like the game because it's not exclusive to ps3 then you are stupid. It's gta all over again because it doesn't deserve the 10/10 scores it's been getting.

[thetruthinator]

Red dead revolver was a cartoony shooter with very entertaining game mechanics. You actually had to aim when you shot an enemy in the first one.

Whats the point of a shooting game where your character shoots with 100% perfect accuracy every time... with little effort on your part? Theres no sense of accomplishment in that.

But if exploring large amount of content is your thing than redemption is probably still worth your money

[SpinalRemains138]

I totally agree. They even changed Red's voice. Nothing is the same except for the Reds facial scar(stolen from Josey Wales).

The game is fun as hell, but it doesn't resemble RDRevolver at all. I think it's entirely too much like GTA.

[AngryTypingGuy]

I love Rockstar games. They are made specifically for adults. You will not find a more extensive western anywhere. The game is getting phenomenal reviews, and people still find reason to complain. I guess no single game can please anybody.

[Heisenberg]

Rockstar clearly gets special favorable treatment by reviewers. But lets be honest, we all know the people reviewing the games we play are generally full of it. Far better games get scrutinized much more harshly for issues that are trivial in comparison.

[pixelsword]

...they matter to you.

:P

[Spydiggity]

it's an open world game. an open world game where everything you kill stays behind for a time after you kill it the after you skin it (the bodies don't just burst into orbs and disappear. they don't turn into light as a feather rag dolls). an open world game where you have full control over the camera, where you go, what you do, when you do it. an open world game with dynamic weather and a day and night cycle. and so much more. so yes...you're going to get some glitches...that's just the way of it.

it's not like it's some "next gen" game where your path is already set before you, the enemies and events are completely scripted, and in many cases (one major one in particular) you can't even control the camera. i think it takes a pretty arrogant (and ignorant) person to find fault with a game that does so much more than most other games on the market by a LONG SHOT. especially faults as trivial as the ones in red dead. the game is great fun, and the glitches almost never detract from the game and often add a little chuckle to the experience.

and on top of all that, they added a pretty heafty multiplayer. the multiplayer is a bonus, not something you should expect to be amazing when you think of all the content they've already given you. it's just meant to be fun with your friends...and it is. yeah it's buggy as hell and not at all balanced; but it's very enjoyable non-the-less for just free roaming with your posse and getting into a battle in the middle of a giant world you've grown to be familiar with.

seriously...what more do you want?

[Hellsvacancy]

The good outweighs the bad, Fallout 3 was a glitch fest but that didnt stop me from getting the Platinum trophy, i loved Fallout 3 its the best game ive played this gen even with all the glitchs and freezes and crashes

Mega lookin forward to Red Dead 2 (hav been ever since it was announced) people are just to picky

"If it wasnt for Gravitys inperfections none of us would be here now, Perfect isnt a word in the Unviverse because nothin can b perfect"

[unknownhero1123]

agreed. I only experienced 2 glitches, one huge frame rate slow down and another glitch where marston was floating in the air after fast traveling. other than that, it's a great game and I'm having fun with it.

[Digibull]

... and dispite the glitches Fallout still turned out to be GOTY.

[Johnny5]

Can a game have glitches and be perfect? Sure if your name is Rockstar, Bungie, or Infinity Ward

[poe]

MW2 is a good example of this defintely

[retrofly]

GLitches/hacks/bugs for over hyped. I played nearly 3000 games online yet only come accorss a handful of broken games, maybe 12 maximum.

[RedDevils]

can never be perfect, there always will be a glitch

[jmare]

A "perfect score" does not mean the game is perfect. No game can be objectively be determined as perfect. All a "perfect score" means is that, in the reviewers opinion, the game is really fucking good, great even.

Of course, if all the assholes that complain about "perfect scores" would try games that rated less than an 8, then maybe the review scale could widen out from the 7-10 range it's at now.

[retrofly]

Most of the reviewers probably only played Multiplayer locally as it wasnt released when they did the review, so probably didnt experiance any of the MP glitches.

There are a few glitches in SP but these were mentioned by quite alot of the reviews, but despite the odd glitch people still really enjoyed the game.

this has beenr eflected by the community as well, if you check gamer forums etc they will say depite the glitches SP RDR is a great game, but its true the MP glitches need to be fixed.

No game is perfect, RDR being a sandbox game its hard to predict every eventuality so it will have some bugs and glitches.

Maybe thats why it has a 95 score on metactitic instead of 100 ;)

[Burn360]

This is true, and as good as RDR is, there is no way its in the same league with God of War III or Mass Effect though.

[Hellsvacancy]

God of War III?

[RosoTron36]

Retrofly got disagrees for speaking his own mind. Lol. Bubs+ for being the only one that's actually not brain dead...

[Raf1k1]

IMO it doesn't make sense to call a game rubbish simply because it's not your kind of game. There are games that I didn't like very much such as Fallout 3 but I can see why so many people liked it. I'll admit it's probably a great game but because it's not for me I'll just say I didn't like it not that it's rubbish.

That may be why retrofly got the disagrees. He did say it's his thought on the game but as usual people take it the wrong way.

[RosoTron36]

Agreed. But umm.. "IMO"... I simply agreed to disagree. good point though :D

[RedDevils]

just cause you don't like it doesn't mean it garbage, just like me saying Mass effect is garbage, but when I say it your head is about to explode and smoke come out of your head

[BeaArthur]

These articles are so stupid. Reviewers are designed to tell you whether to buy a game, they are there to provide information to help you make an informed decision. It has a 95 on metacritic and based on the 6 hours or so I have played I think that's a pretty fair score.

[FanboyAttack]

These articles are stupid to someone like you that agrees with the score that made you go to the store and buy the game.

But to people that read a review and get a completely different experience than the one described to them in the review it might make a little sense. This would be anyone that wanted to play multiplayer in RDR because its broke.

[BeaArthur]

I don't allow scores to dictate what I do and don't buy. I do my research, which yes does include reading reviews, but that is only a small part of the equation. And for those who "read a review and get a completely different experience than the one described to them" should have read more than one review.

Besides your argument doesn't make sense anyways because reviews are subjective. Just because this game received "universal acclaim" doesn't mean everyone is going to like it. And this article is stupid because people reviewing the game had early copies and when they were playing it for the purposes of their review the servers were not under the strain they are under now. I didn't see one review where someone talked about turning invisible; and why is that? Because it wasn't happening when they reviewed it. This person is just bitter because they have some delusional idea that this game was perfect and now that he has found a few non game breaking bugs, he is bitter.

**mistake on the original post, I meant reviews are NOT designed to tell you whether to buy a game**

[Raf1k1]

It's great that you love the game but as you said reviews are supposed to provide all the information you need about a game for people to be able to make an informed decision which is what I don't like about overly positive reviews.

I'm looking forward to reading some user reviews on this site to get a good idea about the game.

[BeaArthur]

I think a lot of the reviews have been pretty spot on so far. It's not perfect but it is very good. The only issues I have seen have been in the multiplayer and although I don't know what's causing it, I bet they have it fixed by the end of the week.

[xg-ei8ht]

Thanks for that.

I'm going to give this a miss then, i hated GTA4.

But then again i'm an adult.

Cheap thrill explosions and pulling people out of cars does nothing for me. Even the shooting is awful.

Sorry but GTA4 and RDR are getting free rides and i'm sure black ops will get the same.

[Official General]

You mean to tell you are gonna give Red Dead a miss, solely based on someone else telling you the gameplay is like GTA 4? You mean are not not gonna play it for yourself and make your own judgement? I see thats all it takes for someone else to tell you what to do, and tell you what to buy. Its that easy to make you something I see.

[radphil]

xg-ei8ht, I hated GTA4, but for some reason RDR is pretty fun.

Yes it's the formula of GTA, IT'S A SANDBOX GAME! (for those that keep ramming that crap into peoples' heads)

[Mew]

You're right, it is a sandbox game, and that's it.
There's a box and sand. There's nothing to do in this game, besides pressing X while on a horse.

[extermin8or]

i would agree but im sure that they would say if the copies they got had had this many glitches, R* will patch it and it will be fixed at least all the games features work *cough mw2 party system and trophys cough*

[respawnaction]

"Super Mario Galaxy 2-The Reviews Justified?"
"Modnation Racers-"................. ................?''
''Peace Walker-....................... ..................?''
"Metroid: Other M-............................ .......?''
"Black Ops-.......................... ..............?"

Coming soon this year.

[Phish]

The game is awesome and deserves to be played by all. If scoring it a 100 makes that happen then so be it. You should really use your own judgment on games anyways, and not look at scores since they are subjective. Take GTA IV for example, I think that was one of the most over rated games of all time.

[FanboyAttack]

So games just deserve insta 100 so people buy it? Doesn't seem right to me. People read reviews to get a accurate description of the product. The article is right when they say their is a double standard. The reviewers rip games that aren't paying them and games like this that do pay get the 100s. I agree the game is good, but when the dust settles its just another GTA with a new skin. A nice new skin and hopefully some fixed problems.

[TooTall19]

Then so is Uncharted 2.

[orange-skittle]

If they trash this game because of the multiplayer then Uncharted 2 should be trashed too. Both single player experiences were fun, but MP seemed like an afterthought. My only gripe about RDR is the traveling back and forth and the fact that the character can't swim. How thought they corrected that after GTA 3.

[TooTall19]

so true

[Bigrhyno]

"Boomtown, Game.nl, 1Up, GamePro, GameReactor, Gameplanet,Planet Xbox 360, Telegraph, Cheat Code Central, Videogamer, Gamespy all gave Red Dead Redemption a perfect score"

I'd just like to mention that 1up did not give RDR a perfect score. Also, I don't agree with this article. Having said that, I am not too far into the game, so I don't know how I will feel once I put more time into it.

[PS360_37]

The fact is, the glitches or bugs in RDR in no way make the game unplayable.

I still can't believe he brought up Metro 2033 as a comparison. I played the entire game and it is nowhere near the same level as RDR in terms of gameplay.

The story and immersion were awesome, but the gunplay was just ridiculous, and I could make better gun sounds with my mouth.

In Metro 2033, some of the glitches made the game unplayable, such as not being able to change air filters and dieing because of it. That's unplayable. Getting multiple horses to come to your location (which is actually kinda funny) is not unplayable.

Edit:

I have played the game for about 4 hours and have really liked it. I'm not a big fan of GTA and I don't think I have ever even played a quarter of the way through any of them.

[Pennywise]

For those of us that want to play multiplayer... yes, it is unplayable.

[bjornbear]

MP will most definitely be fixed

+ thats not R*, its Gamespy =/

[Pennywise]

No doubt it will be fixed, but other games have been beat up for glitchy multiplayer out the box and stupid things like load times. Reviewers are just inconsistent.

MP is R*'s fault. My problem is more with the invisible stuff. Anything messed up with this game is all R*, not Gamespy. R* chose to use gamespy.

[TukkerIntensity]

I played MP for about 8 hours yesterday without problem. Mostly in competitive modes but some time in Free Roam as well (which is the only place I've seen the invisibility thing happen - not yesterday however I only encountered that on launch night).

[VileAndVicious]

LOl first dude last night i couldnt even connect with my friends to play MP. Second, the few games I somehow managed to get in all players and NPC's were invisible. Let me ask you, how do you have a shoot out with invisible badguys? I think that means its unplayable.

[Legionaire2005]

Why do u think I ignore the reviews for Lost Planet 2 and buy the game anyway? They are wrong about it thats why. Now this game Red Dead has glitches and errors and it get the free pass? I admit though I like the game, but if Lost Planet 2 got points down for glitches this game too should have points down also.

[VileAndVicious]

I said the same thing yesterday! To be fair though RDR has a very good SP going for it but online is horrendous. I couldnt even connect with my friends last night to play MP.

If i have to pay 60 a pop for a game the least they could do is make sure it works damnit.
And i dont understand why this wasnt fixed BEFORE the game shiped!? Im sure Rockstar encountered the exact same MP problems I have long before I ever even played it.

No review Ive read even mentions the glitches youll encounter.
I need a PS3 patch Today damnit!!!

[dragonelite]

With so much content in the game it's 100% guaranty to have bugs and glitches.

[divideby0]

same as the last GT... game is great but NOT deserving of any score over 95, just do to the graphics and glitches and those who say its acceptable for such a sandbox large and open game are just wrong.
I bought the PS3 version and played the 360 version last nite on the same TV I have XBR9 and the graphically oops are present in both AND the 360 version is better looking. Since I played the game on the exact same TVs I know I am proper for saying it

[r1sh12]

All games released have some minor flaws, especially when they dont get Betas.
The best way to put this, this articles logic says that if a game is released and 10 minutes after its release some bugs are found then it doesnt deserve good scores.
So with that logic lets look at modern warfare 2, it took 2 weeks for the first glitch to come out, and those were game breaking.
To then go on and say how god of war (which is 1 of my favourite tilogy's) is amazing and had no glitches is dumb. The glitch where you could get all trophy's playing it on easy, the glitch where you could get all weapons from the start.
Rockstar have already released 1 patch, with another on the way.
The best way to look at this, is what sort of games a game developer puts out throguh its history. Rockstar makes very good games, and attention to details is always good.
@pennywise you must have some bad internet connection, I was just playing RDR online without any issues. If at any time you have issues just dashboard out and start the game up again.
Its simple, metro 2033 was a single player game, you cannot compare a game which has multiplayer glitches with a game that is only single player.

[Sheikah]

I loved GTA 1, 2, 3, Vice City, SA - yet I hated GTAIV

I loved God of War 1 & 2, and DMC - but I hated Bayonetta with a passion.

After 18 years of playing games, I have a confession to make - not everyone agrees with the masses :s.

9.7 doesn't mean it's a 'god among mortals'.

My best childhood gaming experiences are (among others) Aero, Monkey Island 3, Perfect Dark and Max Payne? Not all of those are 'classics' nor even remote favourites to some - subjectivity is key!!

Oh, and I've yet to try RDR - still pending a good T minus 18 hrs (give or take)

[maawdawg]

well said. Reviews are just the opinions of one person playing a game anyway. Sometimes that person isn't even playing the game enough to make a solid evaluation due to time limitations. They aren't carved in stone facts about a game, everyone has their own preferences and biases, and those will turn up in reviews and score. Reviewers aren't immune to those pitfalls.

This is no different than movies. Just because "Ebert and whoever" gave something two thumbs up or the NY Times gave it 4 stars doesn't make it great. Decide if you think YOU will like it, using your personal tastes, and go from there.

Stop looking at the numbers, read the text of the coverage, watch some in-game videos, talk to people YOU TRUST about the game, and make intelligent decisions based on all that available information. Be an educated consumer and often you will find that going by your gut and drawing your own conclusions is a much more reliable method than trusting "some guy reviewing for a website" that you don't know from Adam.

[despair]

thats true I agree completely... also I hated bayonetta with a passion...game just annoyed the hell out of me.lol

[divideby0]

I read some of the comments above and I think some gamers just accept lower standards of quality in a product just because its a "game". I look at is a product I pay top dollar for and do not want the game to be flawed.
RDR is a great game, with a bunch of flaws and the way the game looks on both consoles is just not acceptable to me

[DelbertGrady]

Are we already bashing it? That was fast! :)

[Jack Klugman]

yup it didnt take long once the results were in and a certain version was found "not as good".

[Another One]

I'm just going to agree with you both and leave it at that.

[BannedForNineYears]

http://attackofthefanboy.co...
ROFLLLLLLLLL!!!!!! HAHAHAHA.

[TukkerIntensity]

Perfection is an illusion - nothing is perfect. Even the biggest and baddest computers in the world cannot draw a perfect circle. Nowhere in life has actual perfection been achieved. So now that you've been educated on the impossibility of perfection you can conclude that 10 out of 10 is not perfection since perfection cannot exist. A 10 out of 10 says to me "knowing that nothing is perfect, at this time and place this game offers more than most and is worth seeking out and playing".

Now lets say I made a perfect circle (impossible)...so that's a 10 out of 10 in the eyes of people who aren't smart enough to realize that perfection doesn't exist. A guy next to me makes the perfect ball - it's very impressive and incredibly more functional than my perfect circle and much more fun - is my 10 now an 9 or an 8? or still a 10.

Use your heads - a 10 is a guide and not an absolute. It's a point of reference and not the definitive truth.

[Socomer 1979]

Use the Reviews from InFAMOUS to Red Dead Redemption.
In Those Reviews the reviewers felt compelled to tell you every single niggle and naggle of coles open world.

The only difference is InFAMOUS didnt have millions to spend on Marketing.

So far though RDR has climbed to a 9.5 game for me as soon as i saw thunderstorm.

[phantomexe]

I've been playing it sent it came out 2 days ago and haven't goten on the net to check gameing news. I haven't had 1 problem with my red dead game what so ever and i'm a good ways into the mexico areas. Great game picked it up for the ps3 so yea this game needs to be above a 9 in score.

[prettyboy1]

MP NOT SO MUCH

[PS360PCROCKS]

Do people realize that glitches don't happen to everyone? I'm not giving reviewers a free pass. But maybe JUST maybe they didn't experience that? I haven't encountered any glitches yet. The only thing I've seen is slight pop-in (PS3 version)

[LiquifiedArt]

...then nothing will convince you. They get paid by the advertisers dollars. Keep that in mind. Also, I don't know if anyone has realized this, but anything from Rockstar gets a high score. Same is true with anything Final Fantasy related. I could point out many games where this is true.

I played RDR for 5mins and already noticed severe pop-in, invisble horses, invisble players and poor controls. That was only the start of it. Secondly, if you didnt' draw a conclusion that RDR was GTAIV int he west, then your nieve, cause it is. Duh.
Which means it'll have the same issues GTAIV did. The Multiplayer, although fun, is same as GTAIV, its not a staple of multiplayer gaming. The single player, Similar to GTAIV, is well scripted and you encounter likable characters, but yes it is Mission based and all the nuiances of the design of a GTAIV stick in RDR.

Yet GTAIV got a similar score. It seems anything Xbox users are super hyped about, gets a good score. where as only the sony exclusives that are "Known" or "Long running" franchise get a good score on the ps3. I've noticed a very wierd trend in media since the xbox 360 release a year early. Its clearly evident they are feeding their readers and its assumed and factual that America has more Xbox's sold then PS3's.

Once again, non of this is really new. Its just how these people work. For them, its a JOB and you do what you need to do to keep working. period. Why did all my friends want RDR, but pass on other games? one word. ADVERTISING. Unfortunetly, since the 360 is leading in the US, multiplatform games will get bigger talking points then most exclusives on the ps3. Although Xbox exclusives work similar to the big name Multi-plats, like Gears or Alan wake.

Maybe you guys feel differnetly, if so great, but its very clear to me. So I guess it becomes a matter of opinion.

Calling it now: Same thing will happen with Natal & Move. Natal will get the spotlight, Move will get the horse's tail end. Regardless of performance or maturity of technology.

Sidenote: I have 15hrs in 3D Dot Heroes and am loving it. RDR is ok though, but I would never miss a 3D Dot Heroes since its somethign that wont be around long, but i'd pass on RDR anyday of the week. Its not that fantastic. It is GTAIV in the west, plain and simple.

[webeblazing]

i been saying this for years this is how we do over advertisement and word of mouth do wonders even if its not true. aint media like ours.

also tv overseas suck and low budget y is dat? tv over here suck too but it look like movies compared to others.

[The Krystal]

Dirge of Cerberus, Crisis Core, and several entries in the Crystal Chronicle series didn't receive high scores. Also Final Fantasy Fables. Dissidia and the Anniversary collections didn't get that high either.

[dizzleK]

they spend a $100 million developing their games and god knows how much on marketing, r* literally can't afford to have negative reviews. they'd be financially ruined.

[ImmortalLegend]

GTA IV was highly praised also and based on all of the great reviews it had I thought it was the "second coming." So I literally bought into the hype and got the game. I was so mad at myself for believing all of the hype and I really didn't like the game much at all. If anything the game was a 7.5/10 imo. Less than a week I got tired of it. If I do get RDR it will be after a price drop for sure.

[Veneno]

that's exactly where I stand with RDR. even if it's GOTY for the next 3 years i won't buy it for more than $40 just based on the GTA4 expetience/letdown.

[artsaber]

I was a mouse click away from buying RDR from walmart.com (free $20 e-gift card bonus) - then I remembered the burn of GTAIV. I resisted the urge, and THANK GOD I did. Even though RDR is ok, I chose the right option FOR ME, because the game is no where near a 9.5 or 9.0 for me. It is about an 8.0 for me. The campaign has much boredom IMO, even though I like skinning animals, etc., it is just not enough for me personally.

I wished R* woulda made this more like a Young Guns video game, etc., mixed with Tombstone and DeadWood... where the hell is Swearengen? LOL - But oh well. All I can say is, I am glad Blockbuster has a gamepass, because it is perfect for this type of game, which is how I am renting it now.

[Son_Lee]

EXACTLY how I feel. Plus I'm strapped for cash at the moment so I have to pick and choose wisely. I hated GTAIV, but RDR does intrigue me so a price drop purchase seems likely. Besides, I'm way more excited for Alpha Protocol.

[streety]

rdr is a very very very nice game...so shut up...you haters!

[ALFAxD_CENTAURO]

I don't buy the game yet, but according with some comments, It makes me to skip that game and wait for ModNation Racers better.

[LeonSKennedy4Life]

Don't skip it. People downplay it because it's popular and got amazing reviews. Just play it.

[LeonSKennedy4Life]

Shut up and play the game, losers! It's fantastic! It's nothing like GTA! The missions are not repetitive. The story is intricate. The amount of gameplay mechanics in this thing is insane!

[PMR_21]

step away from you're keyboard.

[Another One]

I'm agreeing with Leon on this one. The game is great.

If all people do is bitch about small issues how do they ever enjoy any game?

[wollie]

really hated GTA IV, bought into the hype but was so disappointed. because of that I'll wait to play RDR until the hype dies down.

[brendan4444]

yo N4G im supposed to be banned SO BAN ME BITCHESS

[Drjft]

I don't think Boomtown is really needed to be considered in this article; They just went Bankrupt unfortunately.

[SnakePlissken]

Some of you idiots havent even played the game and are bashing it! Whats wrong with you people? This is one of the best games in a very long time! This is not GTA, this is seriously a very creative game and just defines art when it comes to a videogame. Rockstar put ALOT of time and effort into making such an incredible game. Theres been some awesome games out this gen and this is definately amongst one of the best! From Dead Space, Infamous, Gears, GOW3, Uncharted, Mass Effect and so on! This is right up there with some of the big ones. Havenet played Alan Wake yet, thatll be next on the list. Ive got like a hundred of some of the best games sitting here from all 3 of the new consoles and this one is definately leading the way right now. Do not listen to the haters.

[nefertis]

No game is perfect.

[MadMan00]

And people were talking junk about Just Cause 2 because it was repeativeness and said RDR would be nothing like that, must be some fanboys trying way to hard now.

[CharlesDCI]

Well for one I don't think bugs should be included in the opinion of a game because they can be fixed quickly.

The developers may of not know that the problems existed when the game was released. Sometimes you have to look past small things like that and see the game for what it is.

[rob6021]

when you compare it to other sand box games like just cause 2, it kicks the crap out of them. People expect to be blown away, and you won't be, you'll just get a very solid open world game, where you can go anywhere/do anything.

[bviperz]

Safest bet for GOTY for most major media outlets. I just don't agree that bugs/glitches are pretty much ignored (didn't happen to me so it doesn't bother me excuse is b.s. btw) while other games (exclusives mostly) get nit-picked to death and scored lower because of it.

[stuntman_mike]

I think its a case of the gaming media hyping this game to the high heavens, and when Joe public get their hands on it they get slightly disappointed as its not quiet there.

I felt the same about GTA4 got hyped the hell out of it I fell into that and was slightly disappointed with the end product, it was a good game but nowhere near the level of praise it got.

I haven't played RDR yet but it could be the same again (hope not).

[lightningsax]

And I quote; and I bracket:

"So, you have to ask yourself when visiting these sites. "Do these guys have my best interests in mind?" Because the term "professional" means for money. [Unlike this site, which is full of most likely Google Ads, which are hilariously all about RDR right now. Don't worry, they're just decorations! My .com prefix means non-profit, right? Anyone?]

So, these "professional" [I put this in quotation marks because I think I'd do a much better job] journalists [with their BS "college" degrees and all]likely took money in some form or fashion [I have hard evidence that R* gave these California "professional" jerks some dirt from their footprints in the office, which is currency in Waterworld] to overlook any problems that they may have encountered [keep in mind that I mentioned good outweighing bad not too long ago and never resolved that], to basically lie to you [I left out a comma because I don't want to look "professional"] the consumer."

And I still didn't read anything about why RDR didn't deserve its scores, or why any reviewer was lying. That was time well spent. If this is the Attack of the Fanboy, I'd love to see how the fight turned out.

[primesuspect]

Absolutely. They're absolutely right. The game isn't perfect, yet everyone is fapping off to it all over the web. A perfectly executed PR and marketing plan, but are the big game sites to be trusted? That's for the readers to decide.

[sam2236]

This is why I don't read reviews.

Reviews in general are an utter joke, be it for movies, books or games. You want to know if a game is good? Play it. Movie? Watch it. Book? Read it. Don't let some idiot (Who, FYI, got paid to say that game/movie/book was good) make up your mind for you.

Unless, of course, you don't know how to think for yourself.

[SephireX]

The game has glitches but so do every game. I'm loving it atm. This guy is just being nick-picky in order to contradict the critics. I love the game and it deserves the acclaim it has received imo. Of course its not perfect, that's why the mean is 9.5 and not 10.

[Jrider46]

Just shut up and play

[jack who]

we dont review glitches and bugs.

[xg-ei8ht]

I don't get your point at all/s

But the point i'm making is, if it's the same as GTA4, then i wouldn't be interested. I've played many games in my life and have always played the demo etc, GTA4 i got very late on because i had a gut feeling it wasn't for me, and guess what, i was right.

I think this game would get boring after awhile, i'll probably check it out myself properly one day.

I'm not impressed by the bugs i'm hearing about, nor am i overly impressed with what they've done or haven't done with the PS3 version as the case may be.

I do however have a PC,PS3,360,WII.

But i think i'd actually prefer playing Alan Wake.

[Kev2077]

it may not be perfect as you say but i know it will be good so i will still get it

[Tyokio]

"So, these "professional" journalists likely took money in some form or fashion to overlook any problems that they may have encountered, to basically lie to you the consumer"

nothing new there... They've been doing this kind of crap for ages. I've even heard of people getting fired from their job for writing a review that was honest about the game.

For this I just cant trust reviews from magazines or websites on ANYTHING. I wait until actual people have played the game or used the product I'm interested in buying. Magazines and official game review sites can go screw themselves.

[XerockX]

Yeah it is AWESOME. just watch the sun come up over the mountains or all the little critters and tumbleweeds running around1

Yeah quit whining! if you dont like it , F*ck OFF!!!!

[danielle007]

One of my favorite games that I'm playing through atm is Fallout 3 .. & it's hella glitchy. But, if I were a reviewer, I would still give it a 95% or more. I've never had so much fun just wandering around and doing random shizz for random people and figuring out all the stories everywhere. But, it is ridic glitchy, especially if you try to take dogmeat into a stupid vault. I ended up just sending him back to 101 before I went inside anywhere. So, really, it's silly that the glitches aren't mentioned at all, but I can see how they could forgive them and not let it affect the score.

I think why I'm hesitating to pick up RDR is because with GTA IV, I didn't really buy into the hype. I didn't think that Rockstar made a pact with the devil to make the perfect game or something, which is kind of what some of the reviews sounded like... I bought it because I loved the other GTAs, and was expecting a super fun and silly experience. But, while GTA IV had it's moments, I didn't even play through the whole game. It just didn't end up being fun to me. & I'm just worried that with RDR they're going super realistic again, and won't make it super funtastic.. I mean, at least there isn't a cell phone for someone to call you on every few minutes.. But that was just a small part of the problem.. Sigh. I want to buy the game, no joke. But it's $60 and GTA IV kind of let me down.

[lightningsax]

As another gamer that wasn't impressed with GTAIV, I'm really happy with RDR so far. I'm especially a fan of the pacing - they move the plot along slowly so that you can enjoy some good times and a lot of humor. I feel like they sequestered all personality and humor in GTAIV to the TV and radio stations, but here it's much more organic and comes from the characters interacting. The voice acting is top-notch, and the dialogue is great. You'll see its GTA roots every so often, but the missions are much more interesting. Maybe it's just because I enjoy the dialogue so much that I don't care about it being extremely repetitive, but I'm having a great time!

So far. It's not like I beat the game in a day or anything, I've got a long way to go.

[danielle007]

Maybe I'll invest in it after a while. I've recently gotten into Fallout 3, and then I have Alan Wake and 3D Dot Game Heroes and Splinter Cell Conviction just waiting for me to play them atm.. Plus, by that time, all the hype for RDR will be gone, and the real verdicts will come out.

Even if that sounds skeptical, you've really given me hope just saying that the humor is actually in the dialogue... I really was wondering what was going to happen with no radio or billboards, but maybe without them, it's more required to put the humor into the actual interactions.

[SpinalRemains138]

Yeah man. I loved when the little cartoon guy in one of the movie houses drank the 99% Cocaine drink and started farting the tape worms out of his ass! Then the little drank a bottle of Laudnum! Sick stuff but hilarious indeed!

[harshtruth]

It plays exactly like GTAIV (which was not as good as San Andreas). They replaced an eastern european with a cowboy and sold it. The controls are outdated and awkward (even walking is a chore). For 3rd person action/adventure/shooters uncharted2's controls are the standard. IF U DON'T LIKE GTAIV U WON'T LIKE RDR. If you do like GTAIV raise your standards play San Andreas and Uncharted2 so you'll know what a sandbox game and a next gen game should be like.

[3sq]

Thanks God I didn't buy it, lucky me.

[Arnon]

RDR most certainly deserves the scores it's getting. I really wasn't a big fan of GTA IV, but this game is absolutely nothing like it. The missions are NOT repetitive, and even when you repeat certain things, they're fun. The glitches of the game are so minute that they really don't affect the gameplay in anyway.

The only complaints I have with the game are it's multiplayer aspect (aside from free-roam), and the fact that you cant swim (but this really doesn't matter).

[Kabuki Man]

if you have played this amazing game then you know how absolutely amazing it is. The fact that the scores are still so high when the game has its share of glitches and bugs is a testament to how awesome it is. Haters gonna hate, but who cares i'm havin a great time playing rdr.

[fullmetal297]

The author makes a good point about game reviews You can never them until you play the actual game itself. GTA IV received numerous perfect scores from many well known websites, but it was NEVER as fun and didn't have that quality to details as the previous games like San Andreas. Missions were repetitive and graphics were terrible for current gen yet it got positive praises from many sources.

[McLuvn]

only one person's opinion matters people

[Dash Reindeer]

This is exactly why I like to see separate scores for singleplayer and multiplayer. Red Dead Redemption's singleplayer game is absolutely fantastic. Why should the abysmal multiplayer stuff bring down the overall score when it is an entirely separate entity? The answer: it shouldn't.

[nnotdead]

both on the game so both should be reviewed. i have a bigger problem with reviews not actually playing the multiplayer. when MAG came out their was many reviews before the servers where even up. they all was basing the review on the beta and media partys.

Gamepro just reviewed UFC 2010, and they too didnt play the MP. the guy said so in the review, but then went on to say how it will be improved.

[FanboyAttack]

They said theres a patch out (Kotaku) but I am still getting dropped from every free roam? WTF!

[SpinalRemains138]

I have noticed many glitches already also. There are gang members that get stuck inside walls in the canyons, there are floating lassos when you hitch your horse in places (no bigge, until you realize that lasso follows you around unless you reload the game), there are artifacts in the sky and backround.

-The games a ton of fun, but the glitches are not only there, but quite frequent. This game for sure has the impression of a "rushed" title. A few tweaks would have cleaned them up I'm sure and they aren't too annoying, but perfect score is completely out of the question..

[TheMutator]

alan wake deserve a better score

[Vaughn_CW]

"But how is there such a disconnect between the reality of Red Dead Redemption, its bugs and problems easily detectable by anyone that has played the game's multiplayer component, and the theory that Red Dead Redemption is near perfect in every review score."

This whole article is a load of shit. Sure Red Dead Redemption has a few bugs and the multiplayer isn't superb, but this game was made for the single player, and the bugs can be easily disregarded. The game has a one of the largest single player maps ever, the story is compelling and Interesting, the graphics are some of the best ive seen, and there is a near infinite number of things to do. You can do main story missions, do side missions, hunt animals, track down criminals, play poker, drink, get in duels, hunt treasure... Need I go on?

This article does not do this game justice. Though the game definetly isn't perfect, the good outways the bad by a lot. In my opinion, ign has the best review for this game. For anyone who likes westerns, or open world games I would highly recomend Read Dead Redemption. Theres just so much to do, and alll of it is a lot fun.

[Bigboss19]

This game is sick i own it on PS3 i find it much funner then GTA4....

[bviperz]

It plays okay (I'm just at the beginning), though the cut-scenes/gameplay in the beginning could have been smoother. But after awhile I started getting into the game and now I wonder had I not seen the million articles of the game not as graphically optimized for the PS3, would I have noticed as much? Probably not. No matter, the game is bought, going to enjoy it out anyway. Haven't tried the online yet, hope it's not as bad as people making it out to be.

[dizzleK]

i'll gamefly it or pick it up used, i'm done being continually burnt by (potentially) overrated games. i've learned my lesson not to listen to reviewers.

[Jdoki]

This is my biggest problem too.

I had GTAIV pre-ordered; reviews made it sound like 'teh best game eva'. But in reality I'd give it a 7 at best. I can not, to this day, work out how reviewers gave it such high scores (and I find it hard to believe that R* bought off almost EVERY website and publication to secure high scores!)

Video game journalism and reviews have zero credibility to me these days, so I'll probably let RDR pass me by until I can get get it on budget or second hand.

[Dorwrath]

This guy talking about glitches in multi-player modes ?

Uncharted 2 had glitches, so did God Of War 3. So does that mean they don't deserve their scores either? All games have glitches that were not mentioned in reviews.

This article sounds just like a PS3 Fanboy who feels annoyed over all the crap over the RDR 360 vs PS3 articles over the last few days.

[PRHB HYBRiiD]

you go to justin.tv or youtube...watch some gameplay see the things you like and the things u don't like.

[taylor35]

what else can you do in a cowboy game,eat beans,learn how to cook,knit a jumper,
i do think rockstar as put alot in this game,i just dont understand what people want from this game.

compair this game with Alan wake then you will have reason to moan.

[PRHB HYBRiiD]

is far better than this....still is a great game...but if gun had those graphics and that giant open world...it would be alot better than rdr.

[TwistedMetal]

If you want repetitive and a complete rip off of a game then halo series and call of duty series is where you nuuubs neeed to go. Rockstar put more work into this game, more content, and its by far a lot harder to achieve whats in red dead redemption then whats in that crap halo and COD spit out each year. Im sorry but a lot of you just need to shut up with your hateing becuase 17 million of you each bought halo and COD games. Stop being hypocrits.
Also red dead redemption is better then gta4 and name me an open world game thats better? For those who bought alan wake or splinter cell also need to shut there mouths becuase not only are those games really short but they have no replay value and are repetitive. Get your freaking prioritys straight and your mind right.

[The Milkman]

The game has glitches but it doesn't stop me from playing it almost non-stop for the past 3 days. It's nothing that cant be fixed just give them time it just came out. This game definitely deserves the scores it received. You probably wont like this game if you cant put yourself in the shoes of the character because your going to be riding along time listening to dialogue. So you will have to have the patients and curiosity to hear what the character have to say. That's just for the story line though. Everything else is fun and unexpected, you don't know what you will run into next. The game is just full of stuff you can do to keep you busy for hours. After your done with that you have the whole multiplayer thing. Believe me though you wont be getting 100% on single player anytime soon.

[iistuii]

That before the PS3 version was anounced as sub HD, it was the GOTY , now all of a sudden its not very good. Ive got the 360 version and its great.No bugs found and looks stunning. Sorry fanboys, go get a life.

[TunaCanoe]

This is a good game , my advice try it for yourself
I enjoyed it