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I've always loved the Sonic Advances too ! Great and underrated games
But I love Sonic Rush one and two...too ! Happy if I was being able to lead you to dust off your GBA to play them tonight !

Trying to slog through Phantasy Star II for review purposes.

It's no wonder people praise the story so much- it hasn't got much else going for it.

R-902 : Ah you write reviews ? Good luck in your next review writing ! And have a nice tme doing it and playing PS II ! (impossible not to have playing this great game !!)

Last night I popped in Rockstar's 'Red Dead Redemption' (not the Undead Nightmare version). My boyfriend recommended it to me, so a couple weeks ago, I got with an awesome Gamestop coupon for used games, which I typically share with my boyfriend, but in short, he and I got 35% off a total of 3 used games. He got two for himself, I got RDR.

When it comes to Rockstar, they're easily best known for GTA, which is a franchise I never quite got into. I do like Saints Row 2 (what little I played of it), but I know GTA started turning gritty and realistic and away from the absurdity that SR retains, and that a game like GTA should quite frankly have. Rockstar does realism well, but it just didn't really fit with GTA, in my opinion. When I got my PS3, the first game I played through was Rockstar's LA Noire, which, while flawed, is a game I fell in love with, at least due in part to the spot-on depiction of 1947 Los Angeles.

I wish Rockstar was better known for games like LA Noire and RDR instead of GTA, where they do realism very well, and it fits with the tone of the games.

Started playing RDR, and I got the immediate impression that again, the devs really did their historical research to set up 1911 American West, in terms of culture, politics and tone. I got the immediate feeling of a sense of lawlessness, and more communal order that can easily be exploited. The environment, from what I've seen, is wonderful, with realistic wildlife running around to set the tone of the pre-WWI/Progressive era west. Vultures and hawks perch on cacti, rabbits run around and get chased by coyotes, cattle graze in pens. The horseback controls, once you get used to them, are the best I've ever used (finally ousting Shadow of the Colossus from that perch in my mind), and even capture something horses do by nature - match the speed of another horse it's following. Just hold down X, and if you're following someone, your horse will match the speed of the horse of the person you're following. Brilliant. This is a game where I can easily see myself just exploring the world on horseback for hours on end. Which the game encourages - it is open world, and I know there's plenty to be discovered.

Other controls are good as well. The shooting controls work well, and the game does come with a 'dead eye' mode, which temporarily slows time so you can aim easier. They shooting controls work on foot and from horseback, and work well for both. My only control complaint is that on foot, John Marston (that's you) feels a bit awkward. Though I kind of wonder if they are going for some realism there, as people in the American west spent so much time on horseback it actually affected their ability to walk.

I'm not far into the game yet. But I'm already seeing echoes of LA Noire here, and I feel like I'll end up loving this game for some of the same reasons, but also for a set of reasons all its own. I'm not into shooter shooters (like Halo, Call of Duty, Battlefield), but I've found I do like shooters if there's something else to go along with it.

I currently have a list of games I'm playing this year, but as of right now I'm working on Dragon's Dogma. Once I finish that I'll be moving onto Phantasy Star II

Phantasy Star II ? Nice choice !

I cannot believe how much I've fallen in love with Red Dead. I'm still not quite halfway through the main storyline, but...WOW. Just WOW. I have not been anywhere near this in love with a game on the first play-through in a LONG time. Probably at least not since first playing EarthBound. This game has broken into my top 5, overtaking Ico and Mother 3(!). Shadow of the Colossus is getting dangerously close to relinquishing its title of my third favorite game ever. I can see that potentially happening by the time I finish this game. Then we'll see if it starts threatening the #2 slot...currently held by Okami.

The protagonist, John Marston, has also taken a slot as being one of my favorite game characters as well. They really wrote a compelling, interesting, and ultimately very human character in this game. He's a realistic product of his environment and upbringing...and yet they also wrote a well-spoken, intelligent, thinking and frankly downright DEEP character.

Judge not Rockstar by Grand Theft Auto. Sure, they're best known for that, and they use the a lot of engines, scripts and ideas from GTA, but games like Red Dead and LA Noire really show they have a commitment to creating thought-provoking gaming masterpieces.

I loved red dead redemption too. When i bought it, I was like : well its look like a good game but not more... But when i played, i've passed the game in no time! I have appreciated the storyline with all the historical details. I loved it! And normally, i don't like much all the zombie game, but I played the Red dead redemption undead nightmare, and it was a great game. Same thing as Red Dead! I loved it!

For the game i actually play, i just bought Batman Arkham City Game of the year edition. I've just begin it, but so far, I like it! This is a great gameplay with a great storyline. They put a lot of batman vilain in the same game, so it cannot be a bad game

Wolf Bird, I can't thank you enough: you convinced me to dust off my copy of RDR last week and I'm starting to realize that I really took this game for granted. I guess that's because I could never get Grand Theft Auto out of my head whenever I previously tried to play Red Dead. But that was totally unfair on my part because, like you said, while RDR does have many similarities to GTA, it also manages to stand completely on its own. After getting about 3/5 of the way through the main game, I'm becoming increasingly hooked into the story: you really do end up getting invested in John Marston, as well as (the majority) of the people around him. Not to mention the amount of exploration Red Dead has to offer, in fact, I think this has the largest explorable area in any Rockstar game so far (at least until GTA V comes out, from what I've heard). Also, the vastness, at least in my opinion, has more to do with the amount of things you can do as opposed to just the actual map size: from hunting to encountering random events, it's very difficult to get bored by this game. And last but not least, the graphics are absoulutely AMAZING, and just downright fascinating to look at. Anyway, while Red Dead may not beat GTA: San Andreas or Arkham City as being my favorite open-world game, it certainly does come close, and I mean very close.

Oakley2284 wrote:

For the game i actually play, i just bought Batman Arkham City Game of the year edition. I've just begin it, but so far, I like it! This is a great gameplay with a great storyline. They put a lot of batman vilain in the same game, so it cannot be a bad game

Arkham City, eh? Enjoy it, Oakley, you'll have a blast!

Oakley2284 wrote:

II have appreciated the storyline with all the historical details. I loved it! And normally, i don't like much all the zombie game, but I played the Red dead redemption undead nightmare, and it was a great game.

I love the history. They really nailed it, culturally, politically, etc. I also rather admire Rockstar's courage in not hesitating to use various slurs that today, are offensive, but were very commonplace at the time. If you want accurate history, you can't be afraid to cross those boundaries. You see the same commitment to history in LA Noire, which I also strongly recommend. Haven't played Undead Nightmare...wasn't originally planning to, but that might change...

Flames of Yagami wrote:

Wolf Bird, I can't thank you enough: you convinced me to dust off my copy of RDR last week and I'm starting to realize that I really took this game for granted.

Ha ha, you're welcome.

Flames of Yagami wrote:

I guess that's because I could never get Grand Theft Auto out of my head whenever I previously tried to play Red Dead. But that was totally unfair on my part because, like you said, while RDR does have many similarities to GTA, it also manages to stand completely on its own.

It was kind of hard for me to do that when I first picked up LA Noire after watching my boyfriend play through some it, but I'm so glad I did it. Made it easier to pick up and start on Red Dead. Despite similarities to GTA (base engine, similar controls overall, and yeah, a lot of a violence), I think both LA Noire and Red Dead more than stand on their own - it's just that often , GTA is one of the first scapegoats when it comes to 'video games are bad and cause violence', so it seems Rockstar has a bit of a stigma attached to it outside the gaming community. It's just such a huge franchise name that it sticks to everything Rockstar. Seriously...I wish Rockstar got more credit for their non GTA titles so it would be easier to see them as standing alone.

Flames of Yagami wrote:

After getting about 3/5 of the way through the main game, I'm becoming increasingly hooked into the story: you really do end up getting invested in John Marston, as well as (the majority) of the people around him. Not to mention the amount of exploration Red Dead has to offer, in fact, I think this has the largest explorable area in any Rockstar game so far (at least until GTA V comes out, from what I've heard). Also, the vastness, at least in my opinion, has more to do with the amount of things you can do as opposed to just the actual map size: from hunting to encountering random events, it's very difficult to get bored by this game. And last but not least, the graphics are absoulutely AMAZING, and just downright fascinating to look at.

Again, you see the same in LA Noire; they really bring the world and the people to life, and you feel a sense of investment in it all, though LA Noire is a lot more linear. And I agree on the vastness, I love just running through a desert on a horse, then someone suddenly yells 'HELP!' as I go by, and I stop, and oh, turns out the guy's horse got stolen! So I go and grab the horse. Or it's a stolen cart, a guy getting chased by wolves, a carriage being attacked by bandits, the list goes on and ON for the random roadside encounters. You just don't know what might happen as you traverse the landscape, and I love it. Truly no real way to get bored, and if you do, you're just doing it wrong. The vastness also invokes that sense of 'wild west'.

Also I love taming horses. One of the best yet often pointless things to do (unless you need a horse and don't own any deeds) in any game I've ever played.