I don't get the cult following this game has. I got the game over Christmas and have been playing it ever since. Don't get me wrong, it's not a bad game at all. It just doesn't live up to the level people hyped it up to.

The story is very good so far. I haven't finished it yet but it is still a good story from what I've seen. Arthur Morgan is a funny and human character. His antagonizing nature makes interactions feel unique and real, I'm also a sucker for sarcasm in characters.

His compatriots are also interesting people that feel real. They aren't just people to fill up a home base and hand out quests. The world is also very well realized. I helped a man who had been bitten by a venomous snake by giving him some medicine.

I later found him and he wanted to repay me somehow. He ended up offering to buy me any gun from the local gunsmith. I walked out of there with a brand new Springfield rifle.

That kind of interaction rarely, if ever, happens in other games and for that Rockstar should be applauded. However, that leads me into what I find to be the major issue with Red Dead Redemption 2, the gameplay.

Since I had this brand new rifle, I wanted to test it out. I found a mission where I had to rob a homestead. As soon as the shooting started I pull out my brand new, never been fired before, Springfield rifle.

I put one shot into a guy's chest. Arthur then proceeds to stand there fiddling with the rifle while he gets lit up like he's a Christmas tree. On my respawn I look at the stats for the rifle and find out it is a breach loaded rifle, meaning I could fire the weapon, go make a sandwich and come back and it might be reloaded.

So I try my repeating rifle which has a quirk of its own. Repeating rifles and revolvers, the main weapons available in this game, need to be re-cocked after every shot. Now I get the whole "realism" thing believe me, but "realism" shouldn't interfere with gameplay.

The re-cocking action could, and probably should be done automatically. The final thing that makes the gameplay a chore is the movement. Rockstar games aren't exactly known for great movement but it bears worth repeating. Mashing the A button to sprint was not a good idea the first time and it hasn't gotten better with age.

In the grand scheme, these are fixable things and the story and world are worth dealing with the poor movement and combat. I just don't understand how this game was elevated to legend status with the issues it has.