Sorry for the title :D but if any one had watched the Kiwis podcast on Youtube, then you would know what I'm talking about hehe.

I haven't had time to focus on gaming the last few weeks due to a sudden spike in the number of teaching hours. So my gaming has been sporadic and uneventful. This is a game that i felt I had to get. I have always loved Grand Theft Auto and despite R* saying that RDR is not a western GTA. It certainly is. And to be fair, there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. It is not simply just another GTA game, however. It is western GTA. Cue coyote howls and banjo music, please.

You play as the typical anti-hero better known as John Marston, a gruff, rough and tumble gun slinger with an unexpected kind heart. But test his patience long enough and he'll turn on you like a cactus up your bum. As with many protagonists in Rockstar Games, John is a an easy character to like. Nico Belic is another example of this. They are not particularly chivalrous characters, but rather one who are thrown into the fray against their will. We like that indeed; best heroes are often made that way.

Why do I say its not such a bad thing that RDR is so GTA-like? Because as with GTA, you get to do a ton of things. Side quests and mini-games are endless and everywhere to be found.

The game is a little buggy for my liking though. My PS3 has the O button as its main selecting button but the game doesn't accommodate itself to this. It keeps confusing the X with O button and in some mini game like poker, it becomes almost impossible to play. There might be a patch later to fix this I assume. The horse rides can sometimes become very dull as there is nothing out there to see except long stretches of the wild plains. And to be honest after a while it becomes plain boring to see.

All in all, a good all round game with miles of longevity despite its minor bugs. Good story, likeable characters, and cool western action to boot.