This game has some very good points, the atmosphere is great and the gun play is great, sadly there's not enough gunplay and the city is only skin deep, this game is 90% cutscenes, its more like an interactive movie where you have to press the f key all the time to keep advancing
if you want to have long cutscenes then have proper cutscenes, not this illusion you try to portray that the player is in control, i'd rather watch a good proper cutscene and then carry on with gameplay then have 90% just an interactive "press F" all the damn time to continue cutscene
Deus ex human revolution is a great example of a game where gameplay is prioritized and cutscenes are there to support the story, cyberpunk just railroads you and is literally an interactive movie
I do not often pre-order games, but for Cyberpunk I thought, "it's CDPR of course it will be a good game." And long story short, I learned that pre-ordering is still a bad idea.
The game itself is beautiful, but the world feels empty. There is little interaction that you can have with the world and you do not have to go far before cracks begin to appear. The NPC behaviour in this game is laughable at best, worse than games which came out over 10 years ago. The police have become an absolute meme where they spawn behind the player after you commit a crime, and can be easily escaped because they cannot drive, so you simply run around the corner and the chase is over.
The story is okay, but if you were expecting your choices to actually matter, you will be disappointed. The game feels like you are just put on a rollercoaster which carries you through an entertaining but predetermined set of loops and turns, where occasionally you will get to pick between 2 paths.
The game feels like it needed another couple of years to cook.
Its not an Ubisoft game or anything, but it does not feel like it was made by the same studio that brought us the Witcher games.
The game itself I guess is not so bad but not worth it considering all the bugs and linear gameplay. The world felt as if it could have been significantly better. I wished it had more rpg elements to make me feel like a part of the world and not just an observer. As in my title I bought the game early so naturally there were several bugs and glitches. Although these were subsequently ironed out, I do not feel the need to replay this game. It is difficult to explain but it is not something I would want to replay because it felt linear to me despite the illusion of freedom. Anyways I would only recommend playing if it went on sale for no less than half price.
The good:
Visually, when the bugs aren't doing crazy things, the game can be stunning.
The voice acting is mostly really well done though the male lead can come off frequently flat.
Some of the missions are superb - the Portal limo reference mission pick of the bunch.
The bad:
Interactivity is tiny to zero. There's a mall, full of arcade machines, no interaction. Unimportant NPCs have one line of dialog that the lead doesn't even respond to. The gang turfs will never change. In fact, everyone is waiting for you to do their jobs, but there's no payoff in the world.
It's painfully obvious this game is so far from unfinished. You have an assassinate skill perk from water that's useful nowhere but the very final mission.
Origin stories are a waste of time after the opening mission.
The driving. Not only are the physics awful, they went and made a race mission out of it just to double down on how bad it is where you can also see competitors mariokart teleporting behind you rather than actually racing.
The AI is painfully stupid. Companions always getting in the way/setting off alarms, enemies standing around being shot at.
Cyberware gets grossly unbalanced very quickly. You can wipe an entire area in 15 seconds without even needing eye contact on someone.
Some things just don't work as advertised. Gorilla arms explicitly say they help low str characters open doors of a certain level. Then don't.
The racial stereotypes and one romance for each gender and orientation comes off as nothing but a checklist.
Police spawning is still not fixed.
Time means nothing. In a setup where the lead is panicking they have finite time to live, through the quick wait mechanic, you can literally spends months in world time (mostly to farm inventory). Makes no difference. "Time sensitive" missions sit patiently waiting for you to pick up whenever.
It's so half baked - the train station, the hinted war with rogue AI that's never fulfilled, the voodoo boys setup that turns to nothing.
Cyberpunk, by itself, is a average open world game with decent gun play. Memorable characters, and with a plot thats nothing to write home about.
BUT. if you take into account all the promise they made about the game (Corrupt cops, mercenary's, trains, life paths having more meaning then just "where you want to start", in-depth character creation, being able to go into any building you want, etc.) and ultimately LIED about. The current state of the game, being broken and unpolished (even worse on consoles). The fact the this game is NOT a RPG by anymeans, other than perks; which are just basic stat upgrades and lite additions, nothing major. and the world lacks any depth at all that doesn't involve gunfights. And the AI is laughable at best.
Then the game is TERRIBLE in that department. Shame on you CDPR for advertising something that was never going to be, at least from its release date. And using your goodwill from the witcher 3 to essentially boost pre-order numbers and sales for the holidays.
I'm glad CDPR's reputation has burned to the ground at this point. Hope they think twice before over-hyping a something that isn't. And ill think twice before I buy anything from CDPR ever again
