Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey is the main map in the layout of the Ubisoft interactive entertainment industry for 2018. Everything that they achieved in the previous part of Origins was multiplied by two, or even four: a more thought-out plot, a huge map of the world with various not only regions, but with whole bioms (forests, plains, mountains, seas, such), minor quests pulled up, deepened and made at least some meaningful in the narrative (sorry, not all). The very idea of the brotherhood and the global confrontation of the two groups went to the tenth plan and only hints remained from it, but the RPG-component was introduced, which causes disputes among players and the press. The ability to play both for the male character and for … And what, damn it, the difference is when the Red Dead Redemption II (hereinafter referred to as the RDR2) is one of the best games, not only setting the standards of the industry for years in advance, but also a self -sufficient almost literary work. And the best that I had to play in many years.
I, like many, follow the work of Rockstar Games (hereinafter – RG), but I must admit: I did not like GTA III, Vice City and San Andreas. Maybe everything turned out differently, do not hit me Mafia: The City of Lost Heaven is the first, and you get used to the good. And after that, the toy physics, the half-joking plot of GTA III and then Vice City + not as awesome as in the “Mafia” soundtrack, seemed to me a real second (yes, I’m not a fan of the 80s and a selection of tracks for radio in Weiss City-not mine, with some exceptions). But then both parts of Manhunt came out, and behind them – Bully (“Canis Canem Edit” in many countries) and I realized that the company is growing in its work – I really liked the game.
But the standard that GTA IV moved to me the "First Mafia" once established me. After the first three parts, I did not expect anything, but I received everything at once:
– the advanced schedule with the physical model of people and the believable behavior of cars. The management was far from auto-symptules, but better than some NFS of those years. And most importantly – the physics of damage and accidents!
-The big and so different city of Liberty City, which transfers the atmosphere of real New York.
– more thoughtful gameplay. Yes, I do not like auto-nation in any game, because there I turned it off immediately and did not suffer, in principle.
– The initial musical theme of Michael Hunter, which is still in my player – beautiful and very restless music.
– The most important thing: a wonderful plot with a well -thought -out sad story, that "a new life is never given for nothing". The protagonist, former war criminal ("War The War Came, I DID Bad Things, But After the War I Though Nothing Bad Things.") Who came to North America for an abstract" new life "and a specific goal to find a traitor to his detachment. And, most importantly, for the sake of this new life, he was ready for absolutely everything. Just in the same years, I moved from the Russian Federation to the West Coast and, in the absence of the experience of Niko Bellik, I perfectly understood it and the situation in which he was located. Everything seems to be like on TV, but you will look closely – in a completely different way. And you will look even more – just like in that country, from a past life, from where he left without looking back.
The game seemed to step into a completely different class and became a relatively serious narrative, which I missed in the previous parts. I liked the main character, and the plot liked the plot even more with its cynicism and cruelty. I knew – now this company will be fine and you can safely follow their work.
And, I must say, Rg did not let me jackpot-village.co.uk down. In 2010, continuing the “serious mood” in its games, Red Dead Redemption (hereinafter referred to as the RDR) is a game, for which many then bought the consoles of the last generation. She was not a continuation of Red Dead Revolver, which she never played, but rather a spiritual follower, like BMW i8 in relation to BMW M1.
The graphics from the time of GTA IV were pulled up, and the gloomy color palette changed to the yellow brightness of the prairie. The models of the characters became noticeably better drawn, the gamilies transformed and adapted to the setting of the Wild West, but it was not so important to me – it was important that this is a new independent story. The main character-John Marston was not like some character of spaghetti westerships-this character did not receive any pleasure from being in the best game of 2010 and wanted to deal with his main order as soon as possible. Find and, perhaps, kill their former accomplices, and now the dangerous thugs of Bill Williamson and Havier Eskwell.
And everything goes wrong: opponents are much more dangerous than at first glance, the area is not at all friendly, and the evil government agents keep John’s family hostage, and all this presses.
The game struck me personally, as well as many critics and audience with their scale and filling. Despite the fact that the beginning of the twentieth century was noticeably more boring than the beginning of the XXI, the world of the game seemed to live his life, in which John was only some part, and not the center of the universe.
And this, perhaps, was surprised and pleased with me the most-the opportunity to simply observe the world from the side, although influencing it as the plot part of it passes, but still not being in the center of what is happening around: somewhere the sheriff has problems with the bandits, and a little further in the prairies, some lunatic kills and eats people, while another lunatic digs up the graves in search of cards of non-existent teeth, and on the other.The next revolution is brewing the side of the border and so on ..
John should all his assistants alternately express the unpleasant situation in which he ended up and, as a result, the reasons for what he does is hunting for former friends and, one might even say, brothers. But, at the same time, there are some kind of slightly tangible longing for those times when they were together in the same gang, which was called a family. And what then seemed to be completely different, but then there was a series of some unknown garbage and there was no gang. And for everything that was-only some heavy regret in the form of memories, where it is not clear what is true and what is not.
And now I did not expect that, firstly, the RG would release this western, and secondly, it would be a direct prequel, which will lead us from the beginning to the very end to the events of the first part of the game of 2010. Welcome to the world Red Dead Redemption II.
On October 26 of this year, I took a rang, went to the store and bought a disk with a game, and in the appendage to it – the last revision of PS4 Pro. And rushed … to take some confident steps forward, once you have to step back. So here, the main character is Arthur Morgan and we will play for him, and not switch between several characters, as it was in GTA V. In the context of RDR2, this is not a minus, since it is better to concentrate on the stories of this hero and imbue his life and actions. So, if from the very beginning Arthur seemed to us as a kind of abstract simple white guy who could go to any style of play, then by the middle of the game there was a feeling that I was familiar with him for a long time. You know, there is such a type of not very verbose, but thoughtful people who may seem limited or not particularly educated, but it is worth recognizing them a little better, as you understand that they know and understand much more than they say, and their character is more determined by actions. But only if you climb into their heads or read their personal diary, you will understand the motives of their actions, nothing else. So with Arthur the same story. He is like the quintessence of other characters from the Rockstar Games: he can be angry like Max Payne, witty as Michael de Santa, is calm like Niko Belllik … But these are only character traits, and in general Arthur remains throughout the game, even when his outlooks on life change through what happens to him personally and with the gang in which he consists, in general, in general, in general, in general.
I must say, I was pleasantly surprised how great all the characters were in the dance of Van der Linde – from the main characters to the most secondary and episodic.
The fact that Arthur, albeit the main character, but not the center of the world is not at all the fact that he is only an assistant and one of the most entrusted leader of a gang, a charismatic dreamer of a Dange. The datch was in the first part of the RDR, but it was very episodically reminiscent of a parody of Kurtz from the book of the English writer Conrad “The Heart of Darkness” (or the film of Coppola “Apocalypse Today”). In RDR2, his character is revealed no worse than Arthur. Here you have an all-knowing leader, an archetype of your father, and a desperate thug, and a well-read erudite, with your own code of honor and special outlook on life, which are expressed in the search for some abstract freedom from the impending industrial-capitalist age of mercantilism. By “real life and freedom”, the Danga understands the robberies of diligenes, banks, trains, railway depot and everything where there may be money that is needed, and do not ask why. Apparently, for moving to permanent residence to Australia or Tahiti, about which he has no particular idea, except that there is warm, light and there are no boring capitalists and private detectives. But with each plot mission, it becomes clear that the datch himself does not know what he wants and where his path leads … there is no more dangerous person than the one who has broken life and soon Arthur and everyone else will be convinced of this.
Of the other members of the gang, where everyone is perfectly spelled out and thought out, I can distinguish the best friend of the Danch-Jose Matthew, who is 10-15 older than him and too old to be a leader, but not knowing another life and not familiar with the concept of a pension as such. This wise old man is trying to somehow instruct the Danch, Arthur and other bandits to even common sense, convincing not to risk in vain and always look for bypassing ways to resolve a financial issue. And there is also a cruel and dangerous Mika Bell, who is on his mind;Antagonist of the first game, but for now only a dumb former soldier Bill (Marion) Williamson;Faddy from the loss of the husband and at home, Seyda Adler, who is not a typical Boybab, but a man with his cockroaches in his head and sublimation of them in the form of murders of bandits from the O’Driscolla group;Former Havier ESCEELL HIS Hunter, fled criminals;Strange Austrian Herr Strauss, working in a gang, in which there is never money and resembles an animated caricature of the Russian president in pre -retirement age;Hello and calm Indian Charles Smith;escapist Mary-Bat Gaskill, preferring books of harsh reality;escapist Karen, who prefers alcohol of severe reality;Abigail Roberts escapist, preferring care for the little son of severe reality – banditry is clearly not a female person, and Seidy Adler is only an exception confirming the rule.
There are many bright types, but on John Marston, who, of course, is also here, I would like to stop. If in the first game John Marston was already a fully designed protagonist, then here he is only a part of the gang and screen time he is given a little more than everyone else. He has not yet managed to become a good guy from the first part, a little stupid, bewildered and rushed between his family and a gang, not knowing what life he would choose, because both current ones do not tolerate compromises. This is later, in the first part, in a conversation with the kind, but bewildered Bonnie McFarlen, he will say that he needs to break the ends of his life so that another can survive, which Bonnie will not even pretend to be what he understands what it is about. And we did not understand until this second part came out, which the essence of the prequel and reveals the characters of Ebigail and John from other, not previously seen by the parties of lost people selected by the sensation and, as a result, found each other.
Here to move on to the description of the gameplay, the open world, the main missions and additional activities, but I will not. Because this game is the rare case where the plot complements the gameplay, and the environment and the so -called “open world” are fully fed into the narrative, and is not there, just to be or because it is so fashionable now. What I like the RG games is that they do not create a conflict between the plot and gameplay, as it was in Bioshock: Infinite or throughout the Uncharted series. Therefore, I will go the other way than other professional and amateur reviewers and just describe one day in the life of Arthur Morgan.
Suppose this is the second or third chapter. The camp is located in a clearing, in the forest. Morning and everyone begins to walk somewhere and talk lazily among themselves. Arthur wakes up. Once in the game there is a system of growth of beard and hair, then you can shave. After that, go around the camp, kick the uncle (no one has never called him the full name), for the fact that nifiga did not do it yesterday and today nifiga will not, hear the complaint of the local cook that there is not enough food in the camp, and especially the meat from which you can make an excellent stew. Then decide to go to the forest, hunting – for example, to shoot a deer. Or fishing, to the nearest lake. If you decide to go fishing, it may be that there is no suitable bait. Say, there are only bread and cheese for lake fish, and what is found in small forest streams is better to catch on dried grasshoppers. You need to go to the nearest village for them. And now, while Arthur goes to his horse, Bill Williamson approaches him and says that he found out somewhere about the collection of a collector and it would be nice to rob him, since, according to the informant Bill, he is almost not protected. The fact is that if someone goes to some business, then all the profit is divided in half-part to the common fund, part of himself or to everyone who went to this business. And so, in order not to enter a bunch of people for easy money, Bill, except Arthur, takes with her a girl Tilly – supposedly, so that she distracts the attention of the guards of the staging. All this does not happen in the screensaver, but right on the screen, during the game: the characters talk, come up with an action plan, agree and then move on horses from the camp. On the way, Bill and Tilly are coming down due to the fact that Bill, without thinking (and he doesn’t like to think), argued some nonsense, and Tilly was offended and mentioned that he was once kicked out of the army, which could be read in an official notice lying on Bill’s table in his tent. To which Bill begins to yell, that, they say, is ugly rummaging in other people’s things (this is not a screensaver, this is happening all the time of the game!) but while they quarrel, and Arthur is trying to ugly, the same stagecoach appears on the horizon, Tilly freaks out and, instead of pretending to be an innocent girl and distracting the attention of the guards, just takes out a gun and starts to shoot at them, and Bill and Arthur are already left, how to join, how to join, how to join.
After a small shootout with the pursuit, friends manage to kill everyone who guarded the stagecoach, but it is impossible to open it – it is armored. Then Arthur straightens the horses from this stagecoach and drives them away, asks the already calmed Bill and Tilly step aside and … takes out the armored door with dynamite. After calculating the money, it turns out that the amount there was symbolic and did not cost even a quarter of the troubles that occurred with our heroes along the way and during the robbery and everyone is leaving.
You think everything, the day is over? But no! Just three more in the afternoon. Arthur calls to the nearest village for fish bait, saving some kind of person from a snake bite along the way. Strange strangers come up to him in the village and ask to resolve their dispute – which of them is cooler, because these are two brothers and they roll up to one girl. To prove his courage, each of them asks Arthur to shoot in a bottle that will stand on their head. Arthur, like the player, is slightly awesome from such a turn of events, but still agrees, but even after that the dispute ends with nothing. When the unlucky brothers are deleted, Arthur buys a newspaper on the corner, where you can read about the fact that the Danch Van der Linde gang robbed a train, and more specifically-a private carriage of the local magnate Levikus Cornwall, and now a reward has been announced for their place and place. Having curled the newspaper, Arthur notes that he is already evening. For the dollar he can spend the night at the hotel, but decides to go back. And only half the way to the Arthur camp, I remember that I forgot to buy a bait for which I went to this village, and there is nothing to eat in the camp, so hunting.
By including a special vision by pressing both sticks, you can find a trace of a white -tailed deer that live in local forests. Soon there will be a night and they will not be found (animals also have its own routine of day and a deer never a night animal), but in the evening you can still. Seeing a deer, you can shoot him from a bow so as not to damage the skin, but on a horse, and a horse is two -hundred meters and if it calls it, it will frighten the prey, so that we squeeze the deer from the semi -automatic carbine of Lancaster, which was recently removed from the corpse of a competing group of O’Driscollah. Having killed a deer, we put him on a horse and return to the camp in the evening to hand it to a cook pierzon, and he … And here is a bummer, he will not prepare him, since the evening and he went to sleep, and the refrigerators did not invent and the camp was left without food anyway. But you can sit around the fire and listen to the story of Sean about how he had fun in his native Ireland or how Jose and Datch once met. Then he will go to bed, because if you do not sleep, then the indicators of Arthur (health, vision, endurance) will decline faster. And in general, this is even for bandits in the Wild West – to sleep at night. So one day goes, which, it should be noted, was not filled with plot quests and events.
And that’s all that I wrote here is not even one tenth of what the game can offer. There are plot missions that both begin and end extremely unexpectedly, sometimes witty, and sometimes dramatic. There is a quest line of strange characters, like a photographer animalist;a man of the trainer "Lviv", dressed in a woman;legless veteran-hunter;ex -girlfriend Arthur;Frenchman-artist … to list everyone-there is not enough 25,000 signs. And this is not all, since there is a solo of robbery of diligenes, houses, trains ..
But this is not the main thing, but another – how is it all organic, remarkably and unobtrusively done. The card is not strewn with “icons” (which for a strange word for the designer of sub-quests and icons on a computer screen, also ridiculously called the “desktop”?), as in games from … from other studios. The world does not press its identical or different activities and instructions, and most of interests have not been noted at all on the map – this can simply be discovered by yourself. Or not detect. And this is amazing. That a huge work has been done even where the player may not look at, in principle, if he does not look for this place on purpose and with passage!
I like to write a lot, for a long time and not particularly amicable to a potential reader. Approval or evaluation does not inspire me, because I write for myself. So RDR2 looks the same “game for yourself”, and not for the end consumer, which is sharply different from the previous bestseller – GTA5. But how could you force hundreds of people in several studios to encourage to believe in this idea and create a game that defines both the present and the future of this whole industry?
The allocation of this game is not so that even the working conditions on it were close to the scotch "standards" of the late 19th century, when people had to work days and night, and the concept of 8 hourly day was not at all – both finish and rest and rest. But not only contract agreements, the prospect of bonuses from sales, high salaries helped to create so alive, if you can put it in general, and such a human project.
I didn’t play the best thing that year, and indeed this game will enter the pantheon of my favorite works, along with the first part of Red Dead RedMption, GTA IV, Max Payne 1-2, Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, Nier: Automata, Persona 5,Firewatch, Silent Hill 2, Mafia: The City of Lost Heaven, F.E.A.P., Observer, Amnesia: Machine for Pigs, Transistor, Granturismo 5-6, Soma, L.A. Noire and many more, all.
I am familiar with the books of Fenimore Cooper, I, of course, watched the films of Sergio Leone, although I do not really like westerns. But RDR2 is not Western with his canon, this is just a story about people, but told in the context of the realities of that time. As, for example, the films "Dead", "Unflapped" or "Iron Crack".
However, I found a special similarity where I did not expect. RDR2 reminded me of the book "Sasha Zhegulev" for the authorship of one of the most beloved writers Leonid Andreev (this is such David Fincher, but in Russian literature of the early twentieth century). There, the main character, a young man and cadet Alexander Pogodin, who was carried away by other people’s ideals, becomes a terrorist and, together with a strange accomplice, organizes a gang that hunts murders and robberies, while the mother and sister who love him remain at home, trying to come to terms with the fact that all such stories have one result:
You do not howl, do not cry, but laugh –
Tears will not forgive now.
No matter how much the rope is,
They will shorten anyway.
At such moments, there is a feeling that this game was shot by Andrei Tarkovsky
