I tried to reserve judgement and hold my expectations to a reasonable level. I know for sure that a great deal of the wider communities vitriol towards this game is because of unrealistic expectations (we've seen it happen before), so I avoided getting too worked up about it. However, after sinking ~40 hours into the game I can confirm this is not what was promised. Put aside the bugs, which are shocking (and it's truly disgusting that the game was released in this state) but will inevitably be fixed, there are so many fundamental flaws in the way this game is designed that I can't stay silent. The main story is good and so far what I've done of it is told well. As someone who is very much a story driven person this is a big plus, and is the main thing keeping me going at the moment. I should also note that the world is absolutely beautiful, clearly a great deal of time has gone into designing a vast and immersive world with districts that each have their own style and feel. But that's where the good points really end. The world is vast but oh so empty, most of the side quests are short and really shallow. It makes clearing the map a chore rather than an adventure. The AI is truly terrible (this is again patchable) with many enemies either running toward you without any further thought, or getting stuck behind a box or in a corner and simply waiting for you to come and finish them off. The stealth sections are poorly thought out and unimaginative. The gun play is very simplistic and again, unimaginative. And the RPG elements are basically non-existent, there are skills that can be upgraded, and different options to allow you to customise your character to your play style, but they make so little difference that it really isnt worth the effort. The game we were promised was a cutting edge, story driven RPG with the promise of many paths to explore. What we got was a cookie cutter shooter that could have been another entry in the Far Cry series.
