While a bit on rails, the main components of this game are excellent and I've had a blast playing! The Good: - The game world. It's beautifully crafted and just a marvel to take in when you stop to look around. -Shooting mechanics. It's somewhat arcadey but satisfying gun-play with weapons that dole out what I feel is the appropriate amount of damage. - Story. The main story and its arching ending paths are well written and at times jaw-dropping in their revelations. This applies to the side quests as well - some of the side quests even more so in some instances. - Netrunning. I like that I can build a character that doesn't have to set foot in a building to take everyone out. The OK: - Melee combat. It's satisfying enough when using hand-to-hand, knives, pipes, bats, and swords - but the animations are limited. Feels button mashy and boring (aside from removing limbs, I never tire of this). - Character customization. I love the character creator. I do not love that I cannot change my physical appearance without installing third-party mods. I also wish that we could somehow transfer stats to items that we liked the appearance of rather than a dice roll of higher-level mismatching clothing. The Bad: - Lack of choice. Corp? Nomad? Street? Doesn't matter, same story, same path. A bit anti-RPG. - NPCs. Basically just wasted world-filler with no purpose, too much model repetition, and zero interaction level. - Car/Truck handling. Like drunk-driving on ice. While NPC cars turn on a dime, you slide into a sea of pedestrians trying to make that hard right. I avoid vehicles. - Game balance. Mid-way through you become GodV regardless of the difficulty level chosen. Focus on a single path to level up and you end up one-shotting most characters. Boss fights are laughable. Pistols are OP, katanas are OP. Heals are too prevalent and it's too easy to keep yourself tip-top when facing against all odds numbers.
