Review: Cyberpunk 2077
Arguably the most anticipated game of the decade, Cyperpunk 2077 is finally available, but should it have been? It’s available on all major platforms.
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Reviewed on Google Stadia.
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Naturally, the best place to start for Cyberpunk is the rough launch it has had. It was delayed numerous times, so when the game was finally launched we expected a polished product, since CD Projekt Red seemed to have no issues with delaying the game. However, a polished experience is not what we got.
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I may be one of the lucky ones, while I had plenty of bugs, I had no game breaking bugs or even any bugs that required me to reload a save. The bug that seemed to happen to me the most was being unable to reload any of my weapons. This was easily rectified by throwing a grenade. Besides that, and a few UI bugs, nothing really stood out to me during my playthrough, as a product worthy of the backlash it has been receiving. With that said, obviously I do have the internet, so I have watched plenty of videos, and anyone playing on last generation hardware, I feel your pain.
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Cyberpunk continues to confuse me from a critical view. I know the game is flawed, I know the game has problems, but I also can’t stop thinking about it and wanting to play it.
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The main storyline is a passable story but what makes it better are all the side characters that you meet along the way. The development of these characters, the choices you make, and how they intertwine them into your main storyline is what kept me going.
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The big celebrity name behind this was Keanu Reeves. He may be the worst acted character I have witnessed in videogames in awhile. I don’t think he is a good actor in films either, but as a voice actor, he is really bad. It’s a shame because the character of Johnny Silverhand is really interesting and I often wonder how much more elevated that character could have been if an experienced voice actor would have taken on the role.
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My biggest disappointment with the game was the type of game it actually ended up being. CD Projekt are the people behind the Witcher, a massive RPG series. We were lead to expect another RPG with Cyberpunk. This is not an RPG. This is an action game with some RPG elements that are not even needed. The game felt more like a Grand Theft Auto game than any kind of RPG.
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The game has a very complicated skill tree that I honestly gave up on halfway through the game. I had a lot of points that I could use and I did not, however, I still completed the game without issue. The game also has a crafting system which I only used because I felt I should be using it, not because I needed to. I also did not discover the crafting system until I finished the main story which makes it feel like even more of a misfire. The game’s inventory and map are also extremely cluttered and just hard to follow.
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From a gameplay point of view, the biggest issue I have is the open world nature of the game. This is marketed as a huge game with almost endless activities to do. I felt the game was forcing me down the main story and did not encourage me to explore and do side missions. I actually felt the game was actively trying to keep me from side missions. For example, I decided to take a break from the main story and I looked at my huge list of side missions. I selected one to track and started heading there. I got a phone call from someone from the main story and they said I had to get there now. Now my side mission was no longer tracked but this main mission was. I did not know if there would be a penalty to ignore it, so I felt obligated to go to the main mission and once again put side missions on hold.
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The combat was a bit of a mess and how it was tied to some progression. There are some stealth options allowing you to sneak past some enemies. If I play the game as a first person shooter and take them all out, I am getting experience for every kill. It seems playing this stealthy was almost a handicap. That’s also if you could complete an activity in stealth. I was always taken out of stealth pretty early on and then let the bullets fly.
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Looking at the game as an action game and not an RPG is what I decided to do. As an open world action game, this was an above average experience, but as an RPG, this was barely passable. This is what makes reviewing a game like this hard. The game was broken for so many and on top of that what we got was not really what was promised. However, the final product was still enjoyable to me.
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Verdict
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Taking this game for what it is, an action game, there is a lot of fun to be had. If you are looking for a deep RPG experience, this is not what you are looking for. In its launch state, the game is riddled with bugs, from game breaking to annoying, but even if this was bug free there was still a lot of misleading marketing information that would have lead to a lot of disappointed players. This game was delayed numerous times and could have benefitted from a few more.
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Final Score: 7/10
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For more reviews, be sure to check out my thoughts on ,Far Cry 5, Hitman World of Assassination, and ,Halo: Combat Evolved and my new podcast: Game Bites, the latest entry in The Spinchoon Podcast Network (check out Flix & a Six). We also started a new review series on The Spinchoon: Game Club. Check out our first entry on ,Sleeping Dogs here As always, check us out on Twitter @TheSpinchoon and I’m @Big_Broons
