Immaculate gunplay paired with writing that makes your average they/them Twitter user foam at the mouth. Defines the term 'blueballed'.
This is a thoroughly satisfying cyberpunk experience that met all of the expectations I had for this project back in 2014 when I first learned of it. The production is obviously high-quality in all segments and the audio-visual design is impeccable - the soundtrack particularly is incredible, it complements both high-action and emotionally packed scenes in a perfect manner; Marcin Przybyłowicz deserves all the praise he can possibly get. The missions are diverse, both in gameplay options and aesthetic variety, and convey the game's moods and themes wonderfully - in addition to this, the writing is top-notch and the game consequently never failed to fully immerse me into its world. On that note, Night City is a vibrant place full of life and exploring it was a joy; gang members slavsquat while hanging out, people browse wares in stores, smoke on the street, sit down eating in restaurants, etc. The main story is brilliant and touches upon intriguing subjects that a lot of other games with the 'cyberpunk' etiquette slapped onto them fail to acknowledge and are shallow as a consequence, this definitely isn't a game that merely rides upon the popularity of the neon-lit puddles of rainwater and towering skyscrapers aesthetic. My issues with it are: - the lack of wallrunning - missed opportunities for role-playing (more dialogue options and clothing items contributing to stats would've been a welcome addition - e.g. netrunning suits contributing to intelligence, glasses to cool, heavy armor to body, etc.) - gangs come off as shallow (why bother creating all these different factions with no reputation system and lack of interaction with them outside of a few missions?) - backgrounds, the game should've just copied the etiquette system from Shadowrun that could be chosen via the cool stat, for example - minor visual bugs (hope butt-naked T-posing through the car doesn't get patched out though) - max FOV of 100 - no quickloading (I mean, seriously?) - male PC's voice-acting
Gone are the needlessly complex level design, incredibly irritating platforming, and ridiculous boss fights of JO. The game is fairly short (11 hours on my first and, so far, only playthrough) and split up into sections - you get a set of missions you can undertake (I've already forgotten, but I think there were either two or three sets of five missions), after which there's a mandatory plot-crucial mission. After each mission, you get a skill point you can allocate to one of 8, if I'm not mistaken, Force powers. You won't have enough to max out every single one by the end of the game, so think about what sort of playstyle you want. I think there's one new weapon in the game. As with JO, I didn't bother much with weapons, I saved them for larger opponents that attack from a distance. Naturally, lightsaber combat is where this game shines. Now, I think I may have given Jedi Outcast an unfair review when I said the lightsaber combat was unsatisfying and felt like you were slicing air, I just didn't understand it properly. Even still, it feels smoother here. Additionally, maybe 2 3rds into the game, you get to choose if you want to continue with a single saber, dual sabers, or a double-bladed saber. The game had been fun, but from that point onwards, it was a joy, seeing the lightsaber twirling around and slicing stormtroopers apart effortlessly. I got the impression that bolt-reflection was slightly nerfed. In addition to choosing the type of lightsaber you want to continue with, there's this one, I figure, plot-defining point where you make a choice and it's the type of thing that tickles your imagination and makes you want to go back for another playthrough. All in all, a relatively short and thoroughly satisfying experience, recommended for Star Wars fans and everyone looking for a great game with a focus on melee combat.
Hands down, Chris Avellone is the greatest video game writer of all time. I'll start by drawing comparisons between this and the first game. The gameplay is virtually unchanged, there are a few additions here and there, but nothing radical. It's still an RTWP RPG that I adore. Swoop racing is there, pazaak is there, you travel from planet to planet and progress through the story in the way you see fit. Where this game excels, however, is its writing. The first one's was great, but this game's is incredible. The story and all the characters involved in it are immaculately crafted. Because it's such a thrill, the only thing I can say about while being certain I won't spoil anything is that you play as a former jedi who's lost his connection to the force after the Mandalorian Wars, hunted by the Sith who think you the last jedi. This is the mature take on the SW lore that I've wanted ever since my gaining interest in the universe. Despite the unavoidable distinction between the light and the dark, the story and its characters manage to remain multidimensional. It was an absolute thrill to go through and the game feels cinematic. However, the game is buggy and unfinished and you can really tell. I experience far less crash-to-desktop bugs in comparison to the first game, but the game's imperfection really shows. I didn't play with it, but I figure my experience would've been far greater if I'd installed the Restored Content Mod I've heard people praise. Oh, by the way, you can now wear actual jedi rober, hood and all.
It took me 5-6 years to finally install this game and play it. Didn't regret. Seeing as I played a whole lot of old Infinity Engine RPGs, this game felt mechanically familiar. This is a real-time-with-pause RPG where you don't directly attack opponents, but rather issue your party commands, including attacking, using items, and using Force powers (worked better in the isometric perspective, to be honest). Now, I'll reveal close to nothing about the story because it's nearly impossible to do so without spoiling anything, but I'll just give you a tip - if you want to run with two jedi at all times, consider Kashyyk as your first planet. As for the story - the starting point is that you're on board a space ship and you have amnesia, which is as early 2000s as it gets. Now, the game's plot itself isn't all that original, but to me, it was all about progressing through it, interacting with my companions, and listening to what had happened before. Nothing too spectacular, but it was a thoroughly satisfying experience. Relatively early on in the game, you become a jedi and you choose between three classes - a combat-focused one, a force-focused one, and one that's sort of inbetween. If you choose the jedi guardian class (combat), make sure you don't do what I did on my playthrough by choosing dueling (single-handed combat) - max out the dual-wielding feat and go for two lightsabers, seeing as you can imbue them with crystals which grant them various improvements, so you get double the bonuses. The sense of progression is just amazing, this isn't one of those games where enemies scale with you and you never feel like you're on top, you'll feel like a powerhouse by the end. The things I hated - the amount of walking (felt tedious even when using the speed power) and the speed at which you open containers, as well as only being able to see within a single horizontal plane, which was just weird, but not really gameplay-impacting (fixed in 2, by the way).
That's it, I've absolutely had it with this pile of crap. This is late 90s/early 2000s game design at its absolute worst. I picked this up at the 4th of May sale, since it looked fun, after I'd checked how long it usually took people to finish it - "oh cool, 12-15 hours, perfect for a fun FPS experience set in the SW universe". Jesus, was I wrong. Now, first off, this is an FPS platformer, more or less, considering a very sizeable portion of the game depends on it. You'll slide off edges into the abyss easily, considering Kyle moves somewhat erratically, and the fact that the jumps you'll have to make are usually very tight will lead you to insane amounts of frustration. You know how it goes - miss a jump, oh well, quickload - miss two dozen more jumps, smash the keyboard, make the jump after a dozen more tries. Lightsaber combat is absolutely terrible. Even when using the light, fast style, it feels slow and tedious and I got zero satisfaction out of it, feels like you're slicing air all of the time - compared to SW: KotOR 1 and 2 which are RTWP RPGs, for god's sake, and managed to make the combat more satisfying. You'll encounter dark jedi throughout the story and, naturally, you'll want to duel them with a lightsaber - except for some reason, it happened on quite a lot of occasions that they managed to down my shield and a large portion of my health with a single blow (playing on normal). I don't know if this is a bug or what, but that's just absolutely ridiculous. As for firearms, I didn't bother with them much, save for tougher enemies where I'd opt for the chunkier weapons - which are the only ones that feel good, others have crap projectile velocity. Oh, and you can't move with a zoomed in sniper rifle. :) The overall map design is just plain idiotic, I mean, look at this screenshot - https://prnt.sc/sid9kx. Enemy and trap placement is absolutely ridiculous and is the main reason I'm quitting the game after the Galak fight, which was the final straw.
