6. Red Dead Redemption
I had a conversation with a man in a pub only recently about this game. During the discussion, this man poignantly stated, "'Tis a shame immersed in irony - we spend the entirety of the narrative endeavouring to survive with John Marston, only to be lumbered with control over his orphaned son after the story's conclusion." This raised a lot of questions; what did he have against Jack Marston? Is it literally possible to have an "after the conclusion"? Why did this man start speaking like a 16th century poet after a few ciders? The remainder of our chat offered few answers, but I could sort of see his point anyway - playing the game post-plot, I missed John, and having to play on with Jack's whiny voice constantly in my ear started to grate a little. I suppose I've exaggerated this tiny fault a little too much, but that's only because it's one of the very minor flaws in an otherwise perfect game (and I really am grasping at straws). With such a vast array of activities to take part in, one can waste away hours just playing poker or five finger fillet - and losing at these mini-games is the best part, 'cause you can just shoot the guy that beat ya! Oh, can you imagine such a world? A compelling storyline, remarkably entertaining characters, and simple but effective gameplay mechanics make for a game that's easy to pick up and impossible to put down. The honour system could have been made slightly more noticeable - I didn't even know there was one until that injury-riddled, half-dead horse responded to my whistle (and I'll be honest, that thing scared me so much I shot it all-dead before I realised what it was). After GTA IV's release in 2008, players' criticised the driving mechanics, saying the developers needed to get back to basics. Rockstar responded by giving us horses in RDR ... Touché Rockstar. But we're glad of it, because in doing so you created one of the greatest PS3 games around - a game that has the ability to reach number 6 in this illustrious list.