I decided to start my "Quest to Conquer my Back" Log with a bang. Red Dead Redemption was the last game I pre-ordered and I remember rushing home from work to play it. I got about an hour in and passed out, but what an hour!

I spent time over the next week or so picking up the occasional story mission, but mostly just hunting and picking flowers. The world Rockstar created was the most beautiful piece of digital art I had ever laid eyes on. But, as was the case with me I got distracted by other shiny, new games that came out after that (plus my roommate kind of hogged it for a while) and it eventually collected dust on my shelf. I never even made it to Mexico.

So when The new year rolled around and I made my resolution to "Conquer my Back Log" (That seems more and more dirty every time I type it), RDR was the first game that came to mind. I don't know how I managed to stay away from this game for that long. As soon as I fired it up I was immediately reminded of how amazing this game looks. The combination of great texture work and lighting is really hard to top. And I don't think I'll ever be able to look at another video game horse with out thinking it looks like garbage.

All that gushing aside, about halfway through I was reminded of the fact that I kind of don't like open world games that much. I rushed through all the Grand Theft Auto games just so I could see the end of the main story line and then I shelved that shit quick. I've always gotten frustrated when the rest of the world interferes with me while I try to complete mission objectives. This frustration goes as far back as Tony Hawk's Underground. Red Dead Redemption is no different.

For the record, I really liked this game. I do not regret playing at all. But, I'm not gonna lie, I cursed a LOT throughout my time with it. Every time a cougar killed my horse and then me while I was chasing down a bounty, when the cover system would flip out and get me killed, or during the entirety of the train escort mission, expletives went flying. It got to the point that went into GTA mode and just rushed through the story missions so I could see the ending that has been talked up so much across the internet (Which is awesome BTW).

It's no surprise that I got frustrated with a Rockstar game. I should have known better than to expect otherwise. But that being said, had I finished it sooner this would have easily been on my top 10 list (which is also no surprise as it was featured in over 25,000 peoples list on Giant Bomb alone). One thing is for sure. I think I'm gonna wait before I tackle another open world game.