The Clackamas print., October 31, 2018, Page 3, Image 3

TS & C U L T
Red Dead returns
BY IAN VAN ORDEN
)
! :
M
W
ARTS & CULTURE EDITOR
One of the year’ s biggest game
releases has arrived. A prequel to
“ Red Dead Redemption,” a beloved
2010 western shooter, “ Red Dead
Redem ption 2” is developed and
published by Rockstar Gam es, the
creator of the “ Grand Theft Auto”
franchise.
Released on Oct. 26, “ Redemption
2” has received critical acclaim from
nearly every professional critic.
The game currently sits at a 97 on
Metacritic with only one mixed review
sitting below the 77 positives. But
does the game deserve this praise?
In many ways, absolutely. From the
moment the player is dropped into
the game, breathtaking landscapes
surround them . The huge map is
varied in its environments, featuring
e v e r y th in g fro m snow capped
m ountains to arid d eserts, all
beautifully realized by the Rockstar
Games team.
Beyond the lan d scap es,-Fth e
characters are in te re stin g and
unique w ith even many of the
temporary characters sporting quirky
personalities. The protagonist, Arthur
Morgan, is a bit stereotypical for the
setting, but he conjures memories
of protagon ists fto m some old
western movies. Being a prequel to
the original, the game also offers
the opportunity to meet many of
the characters who appeared in
“ Redemption,” including some that
would go on to become antagonists.
U n fortu n ately , for all it does
correctly, it does just as much wrong.
Any longtime fan of Rockstar Games
will immediately recognize the basic
gameplay, as the game’s shooting and
movement are nearly identical to the
last four or five games released by the
company. This is a tragic move on
Rockstar’ s part, as the gameplay and
movement systems had already felt
dated and clunky before the release
of this game and certainly have not
improved with its release.
Especially with the recent release of
“ Rise of the Tomb Raider” alongside
older third person shooters such as
Tom Clancy’ s “ The Division” and
“ Watch Dogs 2,” all games that have
satisfying and well-developed third
person gameplay, the gameplay of
“ Red Dead Redemption 2” gameplay
canfeel like a product of thé distant
past. Movement can be downright
frustrating, in many cases forcing
the player to fight the controls as
much as the assailants in a gun fight,
and there is little weight behind the
gunfire.
The game is also bogged down
w ith a J d i c u l o u s am ou nt of
m icrb m a h a g e m e n t, w h ich can
seem charming at first, but quickly
grows tedious. One example is a
new mechanic called “ cores.” The
m echanic, which is supposed to
simulate the need for rest and food,
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requires you to consume certain kinds
of food in order to replenish one of
three cores: health, stamina and dead
eye. When a core is depleted', the
connected stat will replenish slowly,
if at all, forcing the player to seek out
food or sleep. Luckily, food is fairly
plentiful, so the mechanic mostly
becomes more of an annoyance than
anything else. Morgan’ s horse shares
this mechanic.
Other su rv iv al-lite m echanics
exist such as the need for warm
and cool clothing depending on the
environment Morgan finds him self
th e c la c k a m a s p fin t.c o m
1
in, and the growth of hair over time.
The attention to detail found in the
game is truly something to behold.
It is easy to tell that this game was a
labor of love from the Rockstar team,
and there is much to praise.
Characters, environm ents) and
the story are all unbelievably well-
realized, but the decade-old gameplay
and a few tedious mechanics stop
the game from truly thriving, which
is truly a shame, because it brings
what could have easily been one of the
best games in video game history to
a middling experience at best.
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October 31, 2018