"The 97% shows that as usual, the media bought into the hype so much, they heaped on perfect scores when in reality, this game is not perfect."
The press is probably reviewing the game in light of other games. I think all reviews in general are based on a comparative measure. Compared to other games its by far the perfect game. Has anyone made a better game than Red Dead Redemption 2? Comparatively speaking. Very few, if any, have accomplished what Rockstar has in my opinion. Besides a few minor and I mean minor issues, the scope, the immense attention to detail, the fact that everything works almost 98% of the time almost perfectly, the crazy amount of dialogue, the fantastic gameplay mechanics, the uinmatched environmental and terrain design, all the activities, beautiful weather system, the humor, the programming that went into making everything function so well, the ridiculous amount of weapons, animals, clothing, etc.., etc.. There is nothing like it. There never has been. Point in case is this - the media didnt buy into anything. They simply recognized that this game has gone beyond anything we have ever experienced (including The Witcher 3) And to top it off the fact that it works so brilliantly on a PS4 or XboxOne is just sheer genius. This is the perfect game if there ever was one. Although I agree it is not perfect in all its own merits. Just comparatively.