I wasn't enjoying games anymore. At the urging of friends, some who were quite passionate and eager to discuss the story without spoiling things... This expansion and the base game cured my video game anhedonia. On the surface, it is 'just' the best Far Cry inspired title I've ever played. It's the BEST Far Cry-like, better than ANY Far Cry I've played. In this alone, Cyberpunk 2077 stands supreme as of this review era. It may not be the dynamic free-form game you were expecting; you are on more of a theme park narrative RPG ride than a traditional freeform one. During a period when I needed something deep, personal, and affecting to remind me of the importance of fighting for what you dream of and care for, resolving the disparate parts of the core of your psyche and so on... You really can't go wrong. It might not hit as hard my next time around but I can't wait to play out more builds and try different decisions, and... Well... I never thought a 'linear experience' game would make my choices so hard... but, this game played and roped me in every turn, and I'm a jaded stubborn cynic. If only I had trusted certain people more... and others less. It is an ode to transformation and consequence and how we adapt, or don't. It may not ever be the game you wanted it to be, but the game it is is... one of the few times the industry has produced literary quality material. It is one of the few times that I feel the industry has achieved genuine art in the past decade.
Hard no. This just doesn't hold my attention. The music is okay. Not worth the price of free.
Jazzpunk is an aesthetically peculiar title drabbed in 'cold war' era inspired absurdism that plays out a series of 'episodic' interactive narrative setpieces. A lot of the reviews on site praise this game like is compelling; this proved to be nothing further from the truth for me. Believe me, I wanted to like this. During the episodes, while sometimes you will have a 'freedom' to explore which is as shallow as a plastic kiddie pool, most anything that advances the plot is predetermined, such that after a while it feels like you could simply watched someone play the 'main thread' of the game and fast forwarded the slow and badly paced bits. The easter eggs, despite adding welcome novelty, roll into an experience that proves rather trite and derivative, even while beating up cars may prove satisfying. The absurdity fails to elevate the work to live up to anything remotely climactic, which almost seems to have been the goal. Jazzpunk unfortunately amounts to a short inane 'wacky' adventure that thinks rhetorically asking "hey do you remember things from between 1992 to 1996?" like it's going out of style is a substitute for humour and synergy between content and features; it is a lot of empty space with very little to do. The only surprise after a while was that it didn't say "Information Super Highway" to death. Since GOG is given to a 5 star system: I give it 1 star for the attempt and the look of the game. I give it 1 more star for oddball appeal, which I'm no doubt sure is the appeal of the game for most people but, I can give no more because; overall, the experience proves to be tedious, slow, boring, and without any redeeming qualities to the hashed togeteher elements to satisfy you beyond a veneer of novelty. In short, there are far better priced 'indie' games worth your time and cash. If you want a pastiche narrative experiment that tries and maybe succeeds but it does so on its own terms so far you can't even tell for sure, then this game is for you!
