Is anyone else playing this? It's as good as the original should have been, far better in fact.
Hard to desrcibe what makes it so good really, it's basically grand theft auto except you play as a cowboy. Unlike in GTA, this game has an Honor scale (think paragon/renegade, light/dark) which determines how civilians, lawmen, and outlaws react to while also granting different boosts which affect shopping, hunting, and police encounters. The horseback riding is just fun to look at, makes me wish Shadow of the Colossus was on PS3. The scenery is phenomenal, the whole game feels like Gran Pulse in FF13. Combat is solid, with a decent cover mechanic and a degree of autolock that helps when you're fighting a one man war. Dead Eye aim returns from the original, which lets you slow down time while you take aim and lock on to your opponents (or whatever game you might be hunting at the time) before unleashing a hail of bullets all at once. The voice acting trumps GTA4 hands-down, but isn't quite up to scale with say, Metal Gear.
I think what I like most about this when compared to GTA, besides the fact that you get to ride a horse, is that the huge unbearable weight of negativity present in GTA is not here. The hero is a gentleman, most of the people you help out are not the scum of the earth, you have ample opportunity to actually play as a good guy and help random people out in various ways. Anything from fighting off bandits attacking a stagecoach, wild wolves attacking a traveller, stopping horse thieves, working night watch at ranches, freeing soon-to-be lynch victims, to picking flowers for a crazy old man and winning back a land deed in a poker game. Those opportunities don't really exist in GTA besides ambulance missions. Then again you can play prick if you want to, I just don't see the point and it doesn't fit into the story.
I like it. I like it a lot.
_________________  Some stories can't be told with words, some legends are meant to die
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