Absolutely phenomenal, I love this game. The characters here are interesting with everyone having their unique traits, stories and so on. While I’m not a graphics fanatic, I’ll admit that it honestly impressed me how good this game looks still even after 6 years. Unfortunately I do have some issues with this game that did dumb it down to a 9/10 instead of a full 10/10.

To start I think the gameplay is a bit stale. It’s an improvement from previous entries like the Grand Theft Auto series and the first game but it still is the reused formulaic Rockstar gameplay. I do like features such as the ability to “talk” to npc’s in two different ways and in combat things such as Tonics, Deadeye, even just the slow motion shots that sometime occur when killing an enemy, but features such as those doesn’t save it in the end. You might not get tired of the combat, but by the end I wasn’t as engaged by it like I was at the start.

The other part of my gameplay critique are the missions. In nearly every Rockstar game after Grand Theft Auto IV their games have used a more structured approach to missions which works but is also a double-edged sword. This approach can make for a more cinematic experience in gameplay, but it also doesn’t allow for any creativity or real thought from the player making every approach to all missions the same for every player. Which in turn can also bring down the replay value for some.

Another critique of the missions is the formula for them. A lot of missions here act the same, which includes; talking to the person you approached, going to the destination on horseback, doing the unique thing to the mission leading to a shootout, then either end the mission there or ride somewhere on horseback again where it ends. Yes it works, but no player will have a unique experience or approach to the missions again tuning down the replay value. Realizing this structure and playing through the story again makes it feel a bit repetitive, padded even.

But that’s more or less my only critiques for this game, I still love everything on display here. The story is just as good as people make it out to be and the open-world is not only beautiful but rich with numerous random encounters and stories making it feel more immersive and real. All in all, an amazing game only held back by some minor flaws in my opinion.

9/10

A simple yet effective story incorporating some interesting mechanics.

While many of the plot points and setting aren't completely relatable for me, the main theme of feeling like you have to be more than just "good enough" does strike home. And the game does a great job at not just showing that, but showing why people might contribute to such an unhealthy obsession. Characters throughout the story are flawed, they feed into the obsession but their motives are realistic and their flaws don't make them villains. It just makes them like everyone else.

My only negative mark for this game is that, while the blink feature is interesting, I find that for people who may have some form of eyelid droop (or they're even just tired) they might find themselves accidentally skipping forward. Calibration does exist to try and fix these issues but after 3 or so calibrations in a row with the game still thinking that me looking at the bottom of the screen was me blinking, I decided that I'd rather just accidentally skip stuff and deal with it. You can play with a mouse instead, and that will work to prevent any accidents. But with the blink feature being a prominent method of gameplay I feel it's still a valid criticism.