I'm pretty sure Timey will be caught trying to hack the control tower at Heathrow this morning, and I can imagine
his interrogation taking a while, so I'll fill in for him.
PSXextreme review.
The Good: Great detail. A dynamic, lively atmosphere that puts immersion through the roof. Several great voice performances and tons of fantastic special effects. Hacking mechanic is an excellent twist on the standard action/adventure style. Moralistic elements add another dimension. A ton of stuff to do.
The Bad: A few control issues, especially with the driving. So much more could�ve been done with the story and protagonist. Online invasions are a little blas�.
This sums it up for me. He's spot on about the hit and miss nature of car performance, but there are other handling issues that I mentioned to Magoo last night. The chase camera could be better. It's also very easy to hack the wrong thing by accident, so you have to be far more measured than sometimes the frantic ratcheting up of the pace allows for. It jumps from stealth to balls out action in the blink of an eye.
But the real gripe I have is "O" being the jump button and "X" being crouch. The majority of games (that I've played anyway) are the other way round and with the required co-ordination for free running/shooting/climbing concurrently, it really didn't need to be different. Once you get used to it it's ok though.
As for the visuals, it is obviously better than GTAV when you immerse yourself, but there is a lack of texture detail, primarily on the buildings. The lighting tries to make up for it and doesn't do a bad job, especially, as mentioned by many reviewers, at night. So ground breaking it aint, but it has improved quite significantly in terms of visual "clarity" over GTAV.
What is truly special though, is the trumpeted "life" in the city. It really is packed with people and sounds. It's akin to the ambience of a school cafeteria. If you walk with your hacking thingy open, every where you look you hear people's conversations without having to stop for a second. It is truly brilliantly done.
I locked Magoo out last night when he started messaging "Heeeere's Johnny!" lol, but now i have the hang of the driving a bit better, I'll open up the invasions tonight. Bring it on Grandad.
To sum up, if you liked GTAV, this is an amazing game that replaces in your face, with something a little stealthier and more delicate in approach. But when it kicks off, it's just as much fun.
The Ugly: �Some of the stuff people are doing in their �private� lives are beyond �ugly.��
I think he means me.
Edited by mrnelster (Sun 01-Jun-14 11:13:45)