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Red Dead Redemption 2 is ranked BEST game of the decade on Metacritic
ROCKSTAR'S Red Dead Redemption 2 has already been ranked as the best game of the decade – despite only launching today.
The much-hyped western has received widespread critical acclaim, with our own Red Dead Redemption 2 review awarding the game a 5/5 score.
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The game ranks highly on Metacritic, a website that aggregates game reviews and then gives them an overall score out of 100.
It's a good way to get a sense of how popular a game is with lots of reviewers.
According to Metacritic, RDR2 is the fourth highest-scoring game of all time – and top for the past decade – with a 98/100 score.
In third spot was Grand Theft Auto IV (also made by Rockstar Games), which came out in April 2008.
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In second position was Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 for the original PlayStation in the year 2000, also with a 98/100 score.
And top of the list is the Nintendo 64 classic The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, with a near-perfect 99/100 score.
The iconic title was released in November 1998, and is widely considered to be the greatest game ever made.
Red Dead Redemption 2 is the only game in the top 10 that came out later than 2014.
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WHAT IS RED DEAD REDEMPTION 2?
Red Dead Redemption 2 is a prequel to Red Dead Redemption, a cowboy game from the makers of Grand Theft Auto.
You play as Arthur Morgan, a senior member of a gang of outlaws in 1899.
It's an open-world game set in a (slightly) compressed version of the Old West. Bits are very much modeled on Colorado's mountains and plains, others on the swamps around a large town modeled after an early New Orleans, and plenty more besides.
With mountains, forest, desert and more all having their own ecosystems, it features hundreds of different types of animal and gorgeous vistas.
It has hundreds of characters -- the cast numbers around 1,200 when you include motion capture and voice actors -- with pixel-perfect renditions of everything from the largemouth bass you've just caught to the can-can girls on stage whose show you've just taken in.
You'll meet small-town tough guys, robber barons, bloodthirsty agents, crooked clerks, slavers trying to make a living and slaves trying to survive.
You story starts shortly after a robbery gone wrong has forced your gang into hiding in those mountains -- and carries on as you try and settle old scores and rebuild your fortunes.
But it builds to much more than that.
As a study of the damage that can be done lust for revenge it stands with the best of them, and it's as brave and ambitious a portrait of a man's descent into madness as you'll find in any medium this year.
Gameplay is relatively simple -- you have a huge array of guns and other weapons to choose from as Arthur, and the majority of missions do involve shooting your way into or out of situations -- Arthur knows what his skills are, as do those who come asking for his help.
Whether you're on foot, on horseback, on a moving train or anywhere else, that core gameplay feels satsifying and compelling in and of itself.
And it keeps on working whether you're creeping through the mountains tracking a cougar, or defending your home and 'family' from an invading gang.
It's a follow-on to 2010's beloved Red Dead Redemption, and lets you play as an outlaw in the late 19th Century's Wild West.
The game has been praised for its expansive and highly realistic open world, its dizzying array of fleshed-out characters, and stunning visuals.
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Still not bought the game? Check out our handy guide to the best Red Dead Redemption 2 deals now.
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