![]() But Cyberpunk 2077 has seen so much hype behind it – even in the pages of this very magazine – that a wall of positivity has overshadowed any real critique of the game (well, that was the case when this review was written, at least). It’s fair to say this is a review that lands on the negative side of things, so it ending with a score that’s not, say, 12% might be a surprise. With RPG mechanics that aren’t even as good as CD Projekt Red’s own The Witcher 3. With emergent encounters that offer a paltry amount of choice next to Metal Gear Solid V. ![]() One with an open world that pales next to GTAV’s. So it is that even ignoring myriad technical hitches, overlooking a managerial culture that values overwork rather than careful planning, and sidestepping a plethora of questionable creative decisions/accusations of cultural appropriation/alleged transphobia, we’re still left with a game that isn’t as good as the hype said it would be. Minigames and side attractions? Well, from the studio that made Gwent, you’d have high hopes – and they wouldn’t be met. The muck-about factor – incredibly important in open-world games – hardly registers. Stealth regularly results in NPCs seeing you through walls, or at extreme distances, so becomes a chore.Įxploration is uninteresting because of that lack of interaction I just mentioned, and also because it’s worrying to drive long distances in a game so unstable, when it appears the open world is what prompts the PS4 version to crash. A city so incredibly vibrant, that initially engulfs you and leaves you gasping for air, ultimately reveals itself as flat and empty.ĭigging into combat is initially fun, but it’s rendered dull thanks to a lack of adaptability – the quickhack powers you wield generally boil down to hurt, hinder, or distract, despite their different names and descriptions. ![]() Outside of your main and side missions, the odd shop, a few sex workers, and a couple of gun-ranges, you’re left lacking in muck-about activities. The game’s setting of Night City is beautiful and atmospheric, the sort of place you want to wash over you and bathe you in its filth… but there’s nothing to do there. There are areas in which Cyberpunk 2077 would fall flat even when running on a superpowered rig from the year 2078. Thing is, it’s not just technical hitches. A crushing disappointment for anyone who hoped back in 2012 their then-next-gen RPG would be something special, instead of a flat, empty, and broken missed opportunity. With millions of dollars, years – and many pages – of hype, and a culture of crunch behind the creation of the game that is entirely shown up by this end product, it just isn’t funny. And this is where the comparison falls apart, because when in Cyberpunk 2077 my car clips a corpse and flies into a building, getting half-wedged in there and re-quiring a save to be reloaded, I don’t laugh. It was awful on the surface, studded with potential underneath, and something you could enjoy for a laugh before most of the hitches were fixed and it became a more sedate affair.īut Boiling Point was funny in how broken it was it wasn’t backed by an eight-year wait and the sort of hype that makes you question the position critics and journalists inhabit in the world of gaming. It was utterly broken at launch, and resulted in one of the most unintentionally brilliant games of the era as you ran for your life, pursued by a jaguar stuck in a pounce animation that hovered after you. An open-world adventure combining first-person shooter mechanics, free-roaming driving, and RPG elements, it held a lot of promise. Cyberpunk 2077 reminds me in many ways of a little-remembered PC release from 2005, titled Boiling Point: Road to Hell.
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