I just played through the game on a PS5 yesterday, spent about two weeks’ evening time, completed almost all the side quests except those that just cannot be triggered because of BUGS, which are super annoying. And here’s some of my thoughts.
Overall, I would give the game 6 out of 10.
Graphic wise, it is acceptable on the PS5. But in comparison, it may not even be as realistic as the GTA 5 which has been released about 7 years ago. And it is widely known that on the PS4 and xbox, its graphic is almost non-acceptable.
AI wise, all I can say is OK. Not terrible like a disaster, but not as impressive and “Next-Gen” as it was advertised…there are countless video on YouTube to compare its AI with the GTA 5.
Story-telling wise, I would give it 9 out of 10. I like its side missions, even more than the main quests. The main quests are relatively short, probably less than 10 hours if one only plays its main quests. The side missions tell good stories about people around the main character. Other Gigs only need a few minutes to finish, and with a profitable award.
Its soundtrack is a compilation of rock, electronica, pop, metal, ambient, dance music, etc., and they are of very high quality. But I do want to argue that its soundtrack implementation is a little bit inconsistent, partly because of the bugs that would cancel the music and sound effects, partly because of the open-world nature of this game.
Driving, a PITA…Sometimes I just prefer to run rather than to drive in the Night City because it does not feel good at all with the slippery physical engine of the game..and riding a motorcycle feels better than driving any vehicle…
Fighting in the game is acceptable, with a quite large amount of different builds, one can choose the way(s) he/she prefers to encounter enemies. In the beginning of the game, I preferred to use my hacker skills to remotely disable the enemies, but the tempo of this kind of fight was really slow, that you have to wait for a few seconds before you can release your next move. So later in the game, I just throw in a bunch of grenades and shoot the enemies with guns, which is much more satisfying than hacking.
I particularly like the Mandarin dub of the game, which not only did it quite “authentically” (as Chinese popular/commercial culture), but also simulated dialects/accents of other part of the world, such as a Japanese character in the game, who would speak Mandarin but with his “Japanese accent”, which is widely accepted in China because of some TV programmes.
One thing I would like to point out is that the advertisement of the game said that one could complete the game by only completing side quests. But I had finished all the side quests (except those bugged ones), and I still had to do the main quest to proceed to the different endings. Isn’t it a kind of advertising swindle?
Lastly, the BUGS. I have encountered so so many bugs in this game, even more than in games such as Assassin’s Creed, Watch Dogs and other games developed by the infamous (in terms of their BUGS) Ubisoft. Those minor ones such as character teleports, Non-quest NPCs disappear, loots can’s be picked up, music/sound effects disappear or mis-matched, enemies glitches etc…are awful but not unbearable. BUT those major ones such as game crashes (many many times, like 3-4 times in a evening), Quest-NPCs disappear, Quest unable to trigger etc…are so significant that It is impossible to finish the game with 100 % completion and get the Playstation Platinum Trophy.
Finally, to sum up, my personal opinion is that the game is NOT fully developed nor finished before the release. Perhaps because of the several previous delays that the company cannot bear the lost to delay it again. Or because the company thought the game was good enough to release…or for some other reasons. But anyway, I think the company and its game developers have enough skills and sources to make this game better, more playable and joyful, perhaps in another several update patches, in 2021.
The GOOD:
Storytelling
Mandarin Dub
Side Missions
Soundtrack
Character Customisation
The BAD:
AI
Graphic
BUGs
Physics/Mechanics
Optimisation for Gaming Consoles
Please Note: I’m not a professional game reviewer nor a developer, this review is purely based on my personal experience as a gamer who recently (21st December 2020) finished the game on a PS5.
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