My Score - 8/10
I could honestly write a thesis on this game - theres so much to talk about. However, i shall condense it down into 3 mini sections. Note that this is for the PC only - played on a upper mid tier PC:
THE GOOD - The art, setting, aesthetic, voice acting, graphics and environment are simply stunning. Its a work of art. And a huge amount of love has been poured into this from a lot of people. The characters, plot and everything is also really well done. And its clear that they set the bar extremely high. And pulled out all the stops including Keanu Reeves in order to try and fulfil the lofty aspirations they set for the game. The slight bitterness here though is that i kind of wish they set their aspirations slightly lower. Which leads me neatly onto:
THE BAD - Essentially Cyberpunk is an attempt at making a Mass Effect style story combined with an open world city akin to GTA. And i think overall it sort of succeeds. However, it is not as good as either of those two games in each of their respective styles. And as a consequence, it ends up not being as good as either of those 2 games over all. It seems that specialism really does win the day here. Thats not to say someone might not be able to achieve the same goals in the future. But the mark is missed by Cyberpunk. That said, there is a lot to like here. And i am sure that the time people spend on it will be more than worth it. In parts it hits spots that have seldom been hit in gaming at all. But other times it really falls rather flat. So its a mixed picture. The storyline is better than the open world elements. And if you just enter to play that then im sure your experience will be just fine.
THE UGLY - Even after a number of patches, the game is still buggy and has wonky features littered throughout the world. Which all amounts to a break in immersion. Its not uncommon for random cars to appear out of the sky. Or when you loot something a number of boxes suddenly eject themselves from a nearby cupboard. This brings me back to aspirations. I think they would have done better to focus more on a stricter and tighter experience - more like a Mass Effect style of game. Other aspects of the game, in particular the User Interface, Inventory management system, the crafting system. All of them are in need of overhaul because they are quite frankly a mess. And they just scream out that so much of the developers time was consumed by trying to get everything else to work that they forgot about some of the fundamentals that you NEED in order for someone to properly enjoy what you have crafted. If I have to go on the internet to find out how all this stuff they have created works then it is not well designed. Which is a real shame as there is a lot of good here. But it takes too much work and effort in understanding to enjoy it as it is.
(SPOILERS) - One minor note as well - I really didnt understand my ending. I chose the Rogue path and decided to return as V. And i woke up in some plush apartment and went and assaulted a space hotel. And i have no idea why. I dont really get why it isnt the same as the Panam ending. After all, my choice was to save her clan all that horsehockey and some of their deaths. I thought it started with Rogue and Johnny and should end with them too. But afterwards i wanted to drive off with the Aldercaidos into the sunset and instead i go off to rob a hotel????
I could honestly write a thesis on this game - theres so much to talk about. However, i shall condense it down into 3 mini sections. Note that this is for the PC only - played on a upper mid tier PC:
THE GOOD - The art, setting, aesthetic, voice acting, graphics and environment are simply stunning. Its a work of art. And a huge amount of love has been poured into this from a lot of people. The characters, plot and everything is also really well done. And its clear that they set the bar extremely high. And pulled out all the stops including Keanu Reeves in order to try and fulfil the lofty aspirations they set for the game. The slight bitterness here though is that i kind of wish they set their aspirations slightly lower. Which leads me neatly onto:
THE BAD - Essentially Cyberpunk is an attempt at making a Mass Effect style story combined with an open world city akin to GTA. And i think overall it sort of succeeds. However, it is not as good as either of those two games in each of their respective styles. And as a consequence, it ends up not being as good as either of those 2 games over all. It seems that specialism really does win the day here. Thats not to say someone might not be able to achieve the same goals in the future. But the mark is missed by Cyberpunk. That said, there is a lot to like here. And i am sure that the time people spend on it will be more than worth it. In parts it hits spots that have seldom been hit in gaming at all. But other times it really falls rather flat. So its a mixed picture. The storyline is better than the open world elements. And if you just enter to play that then im sure your experience will be just fine.
THE UGLY - Even after a number of patches, the game is still buggy and has wonky features littered throughout the world. Which all amounts to a break in immersion. Its not uncommon for random cars to appear out of the sky. Or when you loot something a number of boxes suddenly eject themselves from a nearby cupboard. This brings me back to aspirations. I think they would have done better to focus more on a stricter and tighter experience - more like a Mass Effect style of game. Other aspects of the game, in particular the User Interface, Inventory management system, the crafting system. All of them are in need of overhaul because they are quite frankly a mess. And they just scream out that so much of the developers time was consumed by trying to get everything else to work that they forgot about some of the fundamentals that you NEED in order for someone to properly enjoy what you have crafted. If I have to go on the internet to find out how all this stuff they have created works then it is not well designed. Which is a real shame as there is a lot of good here. But it takes too much work and effort in understanding to enjoy it as it is.
(SPOILERS) - One minor note as well - I really didnt understand my ending. I chose the Rogue path and decided to return as V. And i woke up in some plush apartment and went and assaulted a space hotel. And i have no idea why. I dont really get why it isnt the same as the Panam ending. After all, my choice was to save her clan all that horsehockey and some of their deaths. I thought it started with Rogue and Johnny and should end with them too. But afterwards i wanted to drive off with the Aldercaidos into the sunset and instead i go off to rob a hotel????
