Like most, I was hesitant at launch to say the least. I let the game sit for a long time. Once I was convinced that it was playable, I jumped in. What a ride it is, highly recommended!
I got really excited when the game was announced in 2012. It seemed to take ages for the actual release to take place, and as everybody knows, it wasn't pretty. Luckily I didn't pre-order the game. I kept putting off buying the game because of all the reported bugs, and performance issues. I finally jumped on board after the launch of patch 2.1, and I'm glad I did. The way the launch, and subsequent damage control was handled by CDPR, is irrelevant. I think they did good in the end. I would like to give the game five stars, just for being such an immersive experience as a whole but it's just quite not that perfect. I didn't encounter any game breaking bugs during my playthrough, but there were some graphics/physics glitches along the way. These were so random that I didn't lose any sleep over them. The game looks awesome, and is really well optimized. My rig (Lenovo Legion 5 15ACH6H, RTX3060) is a few years old now but it runs the game really good (55-60 FPS) on medium/high settings. I can also switch on basic ray tracing, without any noticeable impact on performance. Sure the frames drop somewhat but I can't feel it while playing. Night City looks gorgeous, and the world is really detailed. After playing the main game for a few hours, I was convinced enough to buy the Phantom Liberty DLC. I'm playing it right now, and I'm enjoying it a lot too. If you like fluid combat in a well realized, immersive gameworld, and a good story, then I would highly recommend Cyberpunk 2077. Maybe it's not exactly the game that it was hyped up to be, but put aside all the hyperbolic negatives you've heard, and try it for yourself. Recap: +Immersive +Graphics +Sounds/music +Story +Charecters +Gameplay +Lot's of stuff to do -Still some glitches/bugs here and there -Too easy (I played on hard) -The grind can sometimes get a bit repetitive -Cyberware's/skills' effects aren't perceptible enough -Car cutscenes as a passenger are hideous! (like from a 60s Bond movie)
To me, this game is flawless. My love for it comes from experiencing the excitement first hand, in 1994 when I played the floppy version. I had already put a fair bit of my time in X-Wing before that, but Tie Fighter was a real improvement over it's predecessor. The Collector's CD version was even more of an improvement, and it's the definitive version of this game. I keep coming back to Tie Fighter periodically, and it doesn't get old. Tie Fighter hits the perfect balance between story, atmosphere and gameplay. The plot is set up in classic Star Wars fashion, with some rolling text and a cool intro where the emperor swears to crush the rebel uprising. That's it. There's no emotional backstory about you being the unlikely hero, called upon to save the empire. You're just a pilot among others, putting in the work just like everybody else. You rise through the ranks as the campaign progresses, and by completing optional mission objectives, can get you into the emperor's inner circle. The story get's subtly explained in mission briefings/debriefings, and with a few cutscenes. The art and sounds of the game, really set the mood and give it that classic Lucas Arts/Star Wars feel that I've grown to love. The exceptional IMUSE midi music changes based on what's happening on the screen, and it harkens back to a time when game music was composed with the game in mind. The missions are usually pretty long and often times unforgiving, but they're never unnecessarily hard. Usually there's a tactic that you just have to figure out by replaying the mission a few times. It's just the way games were made back then. You can also manage the difficulty level, by how badly you want to complete all the optional mission objectives. Tie Fighter is an oldschool GAME, that has the right amount of everything. It's a simulation, but it's not overly complicated. There's a learning curve, but when you get the hang of it, you'll get so immersed that you can't stop playing.
I got into SS2 when it was new and back then, the atmosphere in the game was so chilling, I was literally scared stiff most of the games length! Today for me, obviously the impact isn't that great anymore but this is still one of the greatest games ever made. The game mechanics are intuitive, the atmosphere is still good and the storyline is stunning, just epic movie stuff! If you wan't your games to be immersive in almost every possible way and don't mind the dated look (which can be helped a bit with an unofficial patch) then get this game! Play it in the dark with your headphones on and enjoy.
