A few posts ago I mentioned I had an affinity to V’s Northside Apartment. Well to my surprise my wife got me a Street Fighter arcade machine. It just adds so much to the aesthetic I was going for. It has a lot of meaning to me because it was one of the first games we bonded over. 25 years later she can still kick my ass, but that’s ok. It was worth it for the member berries.
Now that the hype has died down. I can give my final review of Cyberpunk 2077. I never knew what the original direction of this game was supposed to be. Once I did know, I understood the dismay people had. They were expecting more of an RPG experience and towards the end I must admit, I wanted that too. What we got though wasn’t that bad. Parts of the game are very polished. Such as the main story with Johnny for instance. The side quests were very good too, such as River and the Peralez. The romance stories with Judy and Panam were very good as well. I can not recommend this game enough, especially at the price now you can’t go wrong.
I’ll start off with the negatives. They changed this from an RPG to an Action RPG title. Unfortunately the RPG elements leave you with yearning to have more of this game fleshed out. When it was over, I left with the feeling of wanting more dialog options with these amazing characters. Night City is this amazing place at first it seems so full of life. Then you realize it is this empty place, just as empty as most of the buildings there. Even though this is the city where you live, you feel like an outsider. It is full of restaurants, clubs, and random vendors. There should have been more interactions other than just the setting for the mission. Something else which bothered me, after you complete a mission they close that area out and you can not return. I don’t understand that design choice. Here you finally get inside a new interesting place to explore, than they lock you out.
Now for the Positives. You are to make your name in Night City as a Mercenary. You wind up pairing up with another Merc, Jackie who is looking to make the big time as well. A botched heist along with Jackie’s death, leaves you with the Relic chip in your head. This chip has an engram of Rocker Johnny Silverhand encrypted on it. Now his electronic soul is rewriting yours and will eventually kill you. The open world of Night city is beautiful, it is such a fun world to walk around and explore. You stop and look around and it looks like this real living breathing city. While you are fighting for your life you are also helping others. The premise of the story is great.. It has this spaghetti western type of flair to the story line. While you are arguably an outlaw you are helping people. Helping others durring these side quests makes this game as long as it is. If you don’t do a lot of the side quests. the game won’t last as long. In this game the different factionsare rounded out very well. Arasaka, Maelstrom, Valentinos, Sixth Street Gang, Scavengers, Tyger Claws, and of course, the Aldecaldos, all have their own unique style. The main quest with Johnny, is the most rounded out and polished quest of the game. Followed by Judy’s and Rivers side Quests. Kerry’s side quest with getting the band back together was good, but I wish he was in the story more. Side quests in Cyberpunk can be either hit or miss. Some seemed cookie cutter while others had a lot of heart. Quests with the Brandon the vending machine, Delamain taxi, and the Peralez, stick with you long after the game is over. Combat in the game is fun now. Enemy Ai saw improvement. Plenty of weapons and cybernetic implants to dish out all kinds of damage and fun.
I’ll end this by saying, I spent over 500 hours in this game with multiple play throughs. Cyberpunk may not be for everybody. But if you like an engaging story, fun combat in the Cyberpunk setting, I can not recommend this game enough.
