Ian Judge

I've been playing CP2077 for a few days, about 10 or so hours in - playing on PC. Not the latest and the greatest (6600K and 2070 RTX) but it runs well enough in medium. The graphics look great and the world (on first viewing) looks impressive - people, cars, noises - the world looks alive. The story is interesting enough and I like some of the characters. But, unfortunately, that's "it". The choices you make don't seem to change the story and you end up feeling like a passenger. the RPG elements don't seem to do anything, and the AI is very weak. NPCS seem to walk on scripted paths and are very cookie cutter. Cops appear out of nowhere if you commit a crime they act with spiteful AI. Interesting areas of the city look great on first glance - but when you walk around these areas, doors are shut or lead nowhere, NPCS say/do nothing, and its really a dead end. I've had my far share of bugs - floating NPCs and items, randomly appearing enemies/NPCs and I had to reload a previous save as I was stuck in the helicopter scene and I couldn't progress. My concern is the bugs are of course fixable, but this game (apart from its looks) is nothing revolutionary. The bugs can be fixed, but making the game interesting will need a lot of work. A lot. The cynic in me thinks there were suits in the background wanting to rush this out before xmas, and while the pandemic rages on, there are plenty of customers out there. TBH if it wants live up to the hype, it needs another 2-3 years.