As someone who wasn’t anticipating this release since 2012, and as a massive fan of everything they pulled from in the genre from Strange Days to Akira, I actually quite enjoyed my time cruising around Night City with this memorable cast of characters. That’s not to say twists in this weren’t predictable most of the time or that aspects of this game aren’t still janky as fuck. What sticks out like a sore thumb really foes BECAUSE the rest of this world breathes with such life and vibrancy and seediness.
An aesthetic masterclass on top of an ok shooter. I much preferred playing with quick hacks most of the time, and as someone who sucks at most FPS games I was happy sticking to the shotguns and light machine guns that tore through enemies like butter. You get exponentially stronger very early on if you just explore and do any of the side content, that I found most of the main game to be pretty easy breezy. The opening missions however I did find heavier enemies pretty threatening, but as you unlock skill trees that vulnerable feeling vanishes entirely. When I can double-jump over enemies to chop their limbs off from behind or dismantle their team with all the hacking skills I wanted out of a Watch Dogs game, I’m not particularly challenged but it feels cool as hell.
Still, the story managed to get me invested enough to really care when it came to the climax and I really felt the relationships I had built up between the characters, while somewhat shallow, paid off in a way I found really satisfying. Loved how you can’t really get an ending that’s not bittersweet in some way. V’s male voice actor kinda sounds like an east coast caricature and that never really changes, but the rest of the voice cast is pretty great. I didn’t max out any build completely because I felt more than equipped to beat the game, and I’m not sure if I’ll return to night city because, much like the V I ended the game with, it’s like I already got all the city had to offer me. Maybe I’ll return there someday down the road…
An aesthetic masterclass on top of an ok shooter. I much preferred playing with quick hacks most of the time, and as someone who sucks at most FPS games I was happy sticking to the shotguns and light machine guns that tore through enemies like butter. You get exponentially stronger very early on if you just explore and do any of the side content, that I found most of the main game to be pretty easy breezy. The opening missions however I did find heavier enemies pretty threatening, but as you unlock skill trees that vulnerable feeling vanishes entirely. When I can double-jump over enemies to chop their limbs off from behind or dismantle their team with all the hacking skills I wanted out of a Watch Dogs game, I’m not particularly challenged but it feels cool as hell.
Still, the story managed to get me invested enough to really care when it came to the climax and I really felt the relationships I had built up between the characters, while somewhat shallow, paid off in a way I found really satisfying. Loved how you can’t really get an ending that’s not bittersweet in some way. V’s male voice actor kinda sounds like an east coast caricature and that never really changes, but the rest of the voice cast is pretty great. I didn’t max out any build completely because I felt more than equipped to beat the game, and I’m not sure if I’ll return to night city because, much like the V I ended the game with, it’s like I already got all the city had to offer me. Maybe I’ll return there someday down the road…