CP2077 is a decently-fun looter-shooter that plays like an indie GTA-V wannabe. If you expected nothing from this game or ignored all of its hype, it's a pretty decent game for an indie studio; almost AAA! But, when you consider all of the hype over the years, and the fact that CDPR isn't a "litte indie studio," the development time and money invested... well.... I think CDPR should've put some spin this mixed-bag of a release and morphed their business into a world-leading video-game marketing and advertisment firm! Seriously, your marketing team could probably sell sand to Egyptians given how well they marketed this game! I hypothesize that CP2077 is the result of mismanagment induced by moneyed investors having too much say during the development process. Everything about this game "looks good," but it's nothing more than a dazzling veneer on some cheap looter-shooter/GTA-5-clone particleboard. There's obviously tons of money spent on writing/acting talent and music assets, but not nearly enough money spent where it matters the most: a slick, polished, bug-free and intuitive game engine that's easy to develop for. Really built that mansion on a sinkhole, it seems. Just a wild conjecture, but investors do not usually play video games, nor do they know what it takes to develop a good one. Get those investors out of your studios and keep them out of the development cycle! Focus on making GOOD GAMES instead of this veneered shovelware that got slopped out to the hogs to appease your impatient investors. Oh, and by now everyone's tired of the "No Man's Sky" schtick. They (Hello Games) got a "pass" when they released a horrifically-unfinished product because they were seen as being a small, struggling indie studio. You're not; you've got that Witcher loot and everyone knows it.
I grew up on the original Jazz Jackrabbit; it was a big part of my life back in the late 90's. When this game (Jazz Jackrabbit 2) came out, it lacked the FEEL of JJ1's levels and music. As I got older, JJ2 got tossed into the "maybe one day" bin, and stayed there for over a decade. Then, in the mid 2000's, I gave it a genuine playthrough and discovered it was a really decent game! It can't ever compete with the memories of JJ1 I have, but JJ2 is technically BETTER in every way, even if the levels tend to feel a bit sprawling and empty at times. Overall, if you want to play a fast-paced action platformer, you'd be hard-pressed to find anything native to the PC that compares to JJ2.
This is one of those artsy-fartsy emo games that yells "Look at how pretty I am! Look at my scars and how deeply I'm hurting inside! Read my introspective exposition I wrote, it's SO DEEP! I'm so depressed and sad... please pay attention to me." I'm learning that I don't do well with these types of games at all, and this is no exception. The game tries to use its story to cover up the fact that it kinda stinks as a city-builder or RTS-type game. I spent most of my time micromanaging how my workers felt about the general vibe of the place, and it got tiresome very quickly. A leader shouldn't have to give a damn about weather his workers feel "totally stoked" about the general vibe of the place, especially in a winter-death survival scenario. It's not an AWFUL game, it's just a little more... "fluffy" than I prefer. If they'd have focused more on the pacing, rhythm and balance of the game, it could have been quite GOOD. There's just other games that do what this game tries do to, but better. Nothing stands out as being exceptional; it's all just a gray blob of "meh."
I'd put this game on your "must play" list. Yes, it's got lots of shortcomings; the reviews make sure to mention that. What most reviewers gloss over is the fact that there's a very solid 30h-60h of exciting, fun and engaging gameplay that'll entertain you the likes of which you have never seen before. I have to give credit where it's due: The dev team is dedicated to this game. They've released update after update, and they're not just simple bugfixes, either: they genuinely add a LOT of content! That being said, there's only so much you can do to make a 3D-modeled, yet procedural world. Typically, that involves scripted "setpieces" and models with parameters and more scripting defining their limits, like an elaborate character-customization screen, but for each piece. In other words: FINITE assets, infinite variables. This game is excellent for about 40h-60h of gameplay. It's SERIOUSLY good for at LEAST that much. The first 30+ hours are just awe-inspiring and astonishing. After about double that time, you may find youself wanting MORE. It's not that there isn't anything to do, but rather that it becomes tedious and boring the hundredth time you do the same things. Learning words, discovering planets, scanning things, doing missions for nanites (usually killing dozens of little buddies for no reason), and following the story mission. You'll discover that there's very little reason to do most of the stuff in the game, as most of your time is spent doing missions for nanites (one of two forms of money in this game; credits are plentiful, nanites are rare and used to purchase upgrades for your equipment). After you get yourself all upgraded and get an exotic ship with insane cargo carrying, there's not much left to do; you're just mindlessly hopping to the center of the galaxy. Everything else just gets you more resources you don't really need, more credits or more nanites. All-in-all, this is a SOLID $30 game, and quite an experience the first go around!
I generally like true metroidvanias, and this one does NOT disappoint! This is not simply a spiritual-successor; it's not "almost as good;" it's BETTER. More items, more souls, more secrets, more more more! It has taken all the best parts of all the previous "inspirational" games, and condensed them into a savory gamespice that's guaranteed to please even the most jaded 'vania lover. There's always room for improvement, but it's just us fans being picky. I personally found Miriam's character animations to be stiff and unnatural; I'm suprised the Way Forward guys didn't put some much-needed *bounce* (or jiggle?) in her steps! The worst offender of "bad" animation is Dominique; just awkward! Most of the enemy animations are great, however, and the anime-art style works well. The "castle" is fun to traverse, the music is top-notch, the voice acting is excellent, and the overall execution is top-notch. Even the moment where you need something OBSCURE to progress is well executed! The 2.5d graphics are a mixed bag for me. Some areas look INCREDIBLE, while others just look cartoonish and under-developed. In the future, I'd like to see a mix of hand-drawn artwork and save the 2.5d for SPECIAL sections. Again, just personal preference here, definitely NOT a dealbreaker! I hope to see more games in this franchise exectued at least as well!
TL;DR: British style detective (NOT American-style film noir) point-and-click adventure game with some RPG elements tossed in for speech-based skill-checks. I've played many visual novels that have less text than this game does. The writing style is particularly grating to me; it's like a British English-major showing his sternly-disapproving father that he didn't, in fact, waste 4 years of his life in college. It's literally PAINFUL to read at times, especially the made-up words, which are just phoenetic over-engineerings of existing words. Just because "cat" can also be spelled "C'eaugh'att," doesn't make it a good word; there are hundreds of these abominations in this game. It even has to tell you how poorly-engineered words are PRONOUNCED in the loading screens. This is an artistic and very CONCEPTUAL European-style mystery, in the vein of old point-and-click adventure (PCA) games but with some RPG-like dialogue/skill-checks added for flavor. You can be whatever style of cop you want to be, so long as he is an alcoholic, drug-addicted washup who may or may not be incredibly weird/creepy due to your choices. In Elysium's world, the police (aka "RCM") have about as much authority as a teenager in a military jacket. The progression is linear. I spent most of the time trying to figure out what cryptic thing the game wanted me to do in order to progress (and they were often buried in previously-visited dialogue trees). The story just didn't excite or engage me, and neither did any of the characters. This game seems clearly-focused on elitist-racism and communism for some reason. Recap: 1) Difficult to read. Painfully so. 2) Boring characters with no *CHARACTER* 3) Cryptic methods of progression 4) Overt elitist racism 5) Boring city with nothing outside of the story to do 6) Complete looser of a protagonist 7) Weird and awkward RPG elements 8) Swapping clothing mid-conversaion to pass a suprise skill check 9) As exciting as watching near-frozen molasses drip
