GotG Round 2: Red Dead Redemption vs. XCOM: Enemy Unknown

hmmmmmmm.

Red Dead Redemption is one of the best games to come out this generation so it gets my vote.

I almost fell asleep playing RDR and the only part of it that I actively enjoyed was the Jose Gonzalez song. So I guess XCOM gets my vote this time.

XCOM!

I like horse riding and shooting old pistols.

Oh I can't get a long little doggy,

Oh I can't even get one that's small!

Oh I can't get a long little doggy,

Oh I can't even get one at all!

For whatever reason, that was what I thought of when I just thought of a western setting.

I know XCOM isn't going to win, but I have to give it my vote. I love that game and dislike the way RDR plays. One day I will make it all the way through RDR though.

RDR is probably my GOTG. Sooo...RDR!

This should be a close contest. Why isn't this a close contest?!

These are two of my favourite games, why did you make me choose? :( I chose RDR, even though I really, really like XCOM.

Red Dead Redemption is the best game of this generation. XCOM is fucking good, though.

Dude the fact that Xcom is not winning this is making my stomach turn!

Oh shit oh shit oh shit I don't wanna choose! And they're so apples and oranges too.

John Marston...

Commander...

FUCK

You should have listed XCOM first :P

@killerfridge: I know this is ridiculous. Both of these would be in my top 5 for GOTG

Bread Bred Bredemption!

I really loved both of these games...but my dark secret is that I never finished XCOM because I jump around between games too much. I really keep meaning to go back and finish it (maybe over Thanksgiving?). RDR is fantastic though, so I have no problem voting for it :)

Red Dead by leaps and bounds. It is quite honestly the game of the generation IMO.

Well, I'll keep this interesting and vote for the underdog and be happy with that.

This could be a semi-final match up; shame it has to happen so early. XCOM is amazing, but I have to go with Red Dead. I think it's Rockstar's most fully realized vision.

Red Dead Redemption had a great ending. It's hard to stick a landing, and Rockstar fuckin nailed it.

XCOM was a consistently more fun experience. Also I prefer an orange twist over a necrotic twist, thank you very much.

It's gotta be Red Dead.

If Red Dead doesn't at least make the finals, I'm...probably not going to actually get angry, but I will at least shake my head sadly.

F this poll.

im voting with the losing bracket, XCOM.

XCOM 4EVER

BUT THIS IS, LIKE, THE SIXTH XCOM GAME. ALSO, MY VOTE GOES TO RED DEAD REDEMPTION BECAUSE I NEVER PLAYED ENEMY UNKNOWN.

Definitely give it up to Red Dead. That game was a blast with maybe the best lead character of the generation.

And also had less game breaking bugs,

XCOM fo' sho'. May not have horse tech, but it does have XCOM.

XCOM was pretty damn good, but Red Dead was probably one of my three favourite games from last generation.

XCOM is among my top 5 of the generation but I gotta go with Red Dead Redemption.

Ugh, two games that make me sad. Everyone else adores them, and I can see why, but they just didn't stick to me (primarily RDR) or I encountered too many game-breaking bugs (primarily XCOM) for us to move beyond just friends.

I really can't choose. (So why am I posting this, again?)

I can't pick one over the other. So I'm not voting. All the others I've voted in have been easy for me to choose

How the hell isn't XCOM winning!?! Such an amazing, and unique game. No other game this gen was like it.

Easily Red Dead Redemption. XCOM is only an okay strategy game that got a lot of hype from people that were unfamiliar with the genre.

One of these games, should end up squaring off against Dark Souls, for GOTG.

The other one is a really good reboot with alien shooting.

I finished Red Dead. I never finished XCOM. I'm still voting for XCOM.

This was the first poll that I found really tough.

XCOM proved turn-based strategy is still a viable genre but RDR? RDR is one of those games that comes around once every few years and blows everyone's socks off.

I just don't get Red Dead, like it made a horrible first impression why I annoyed with rockstar's design of talking radio dramas while someone walks you to another point.

Word.

Red Dead, baby. Always.

Every Sunday night Gunsmoke is on the radio... Every Sunday night I want to play RDR... I LOVE XCOM... I love RDR more....

XCOM really didn't like Red Dead.

Tough call. I mean, not for me: X-COM all the way. But trying to decide which of these games deserves to win based on more objective merits like "importance to the medium" and such, this is an even match regardless of which one happens to be your favorite. RDR proved you could do Rockstar's combination of maudlin stories and self-satisfied satire without cars and X-COM proved you could take a game that's as old as dirt with an ardent fanbase and somehow please everyone with the new incarnation.

Boy howdy, was there a lot I didn't like about RDR though. At least its poker engine was pretty good? I guess RDR and Rockstar deserve to win after GTA V got its ass kicked by a game that was more or less imitating that series (which would've happened eventually had it met up with Saints Row: The Third, but c'est la vie).

I love XCOM, but RDR is my game of the generation.

Because Brad's compelling and memorable RDR review.

;3

These are both incredible games. They're both pretty satisfying to play so I'm voting based on narrative quality. It's so hard to end a video game story particularly during this generation and Red Dead did it amazingly well. XCOM's biggest weakness is its ending sequence and while it may not be fair to hold something against that game that wasn't its primary focus I have to look at the product as a whole when talking about a generation defining game.

I think you're forgetting about Mexico in Red Dead. That was hours and hours where the game forgot what made and it great.

I felt very comfortable voting for XCOM, but I fault no one for preferring Red Dead Redemption. These are both some of the best games in the tournament.

@l4wd0g: I didn't forget. I just didn't mind it as much as others I think. Maybe it helps that I happened to unintentionally rush through that portion of the game. Seems like people enjoy hating that part than they do absorbing the stark and lonely western experience that the game offers.