Cyberpunk 2077 Review: Over 150 Hours Played

The first time I heard of Cyberpunk 2077 was just before E3 2019. As a casual gamer with no talent for multiplayer (other than racing), I don't follow such events with any serious interest. However, I do love storyline games. So when I saw the trailers and teasers for Cyberpunk 2077 that featured a character that looked a lot like Keanu Reeves, I had to find out more.  A few weeks later, I tuned in to the livestream to witness the moment that went on to become one of the biggest, most breathtaking memes on the internet. 

Of course, I was going to buy the game as a Reeves fanboy. At E3 2019, they announced a launch date sometime in April 2020. I was ready to pre-order it months in advance but thought I'd wait it out. In the meantime, I also acquired a decent gaming laptop and decided that I'd rather have the PC experience than play it on PS4. Then COViD struck and the game's launch got pushed to September. Then to November. Finally, the game was available on December 10. I had no idea about the studio behind the game, CD Projekt Red, or the extensive drama involving the development process from its inception many years ago. So, I'm not going into any of that and there's plenty of material on it available online. 

Here's my review of my most expensive PC game yet: It's buggy, but decently fun overall. Now lets get into the details.

One of the key issues with Cyberpunk 2077 is how buggy it has been since the day of release. Given its many delays, one would expect a much better experience but the game launched with some serious glitches that hampered the experience early on. They were quick to roll out a few patch notes to resolve some issues but even now, the game tends to bug out at any moment. I've heard that the problem is worse on the previous-gen consoles, especially since the game requires some serious computing power for its graphics.

You start by making your character which you can customize extensively, including the genital area. Kind of pointless since the game is in first-person (you can switch to 3rd person while driving). Next, you get to choose between three backdrops for the character: a Corpo (used to work for the evil companies), a Streetkid (raised by the gang-infested streets) and Nomad (lives outside of the urban premises). While the core plotline remains the same, you do get decently varied conversation options depending on your character's background and even a different starter car if you choose the Nomad arc.

The story is based in a city called Night City. Not the most creative of names, but it works. Its set in a semi-dystopian future where everyone is a bit of a cyborg with various cybernetic implants. Corporations rule the world but governments are still a thing. Implants grant you various abilities and there are many modifications for both combative and stealth-based game styles. The gang/factions are also based on implant types.

The plot opens with you failing in your starter background and then becoming a full-fledged thug with your best friend Jackie Welles. There's a montage of successes and bonding moments before you start to play the game properly.  You and your buddy's goal is to become LEGENDS in the scene which means doing something EPIC to gain immense notoreity...like stealing a prototype shard from the biggest, baddest corpo in the game's fictional universe. It's your first big score and it all seems a tad too easy. So of course, things go wrong and the shortest version with minimal SPOILERS is that you end up with a digital psyche stuck in your brain. If you pull the shard out, you die. If you let it be, the psyche takes full control of your synapses and your soul dies. You need to figure out a solution to your impending death and various groups are happy to kill you before the chip does.

It is after this point that you begin to play various missions aside from the main storyline. These missions allow you to level up your character, unlock skills, upgrade abilities and perks and just become a stronger badass in the game. There are many types of side missions. The ones with a story to them are called gigs in which people called "fixers" will contact you to do jobs that help you make cash (which is called eddies in this universe). There are also side jobs that offer some interesting rewards and converstaions that have no affect on the overall storyline whatsoever. Lastly you have NCPD hustles wherein you are legally allowed to kill other gangsters, mercs and what not to "help" the Night City police. These are a real pain for someone who aims for 100% game completion but there are a fair few mini-stories in these as well, if you remember to read the journal shards as soon as you collect them.

Most side jobs and hustles get quite repetitive. You simply break into an enemies space to kill someone or steal something. The level of difficulty varies depending on the mission and the faction you're going up against and there's almost always a stealthy option to do the job using your cybernetics to kill your enemies from a distance or distracting them. The game also gives you a moral choice when you sneak up behind enemies: snap their neck or simply knock them unconscious, before hiding their bodies. 

The main story missions and gigs are quite fun with extensive plotlines while most of the action usually dwindles down to the same formula of shoot, hide, hack, repeat. 

Remember the digital psyche that is the catalyst for this storyline? Its an engram of a rocker-turned-terrorist called Johnny Silverhand (voiced by and modeled on the appearance of Mr Reeves himself). He keeps appearing in your optics to talk with you, help you with missions and offers his own solutions to the problem of your impending demise.

It seems all of the story budget went into the supporting characters, especially those with direct connections to the Johnny Silverhand story arc, because the character you play rarely has anything interesting to say. You always get a few dialog options to choose from which can steer the conversation between good, unhelpful and violent consequences. But the extensive dialog is usually cliched and uninspired, paling more so in direct comparison to the dialog of the key supporting cast.  I often found myself skipping through dialogs to get to the other person's bit. Even the voice acting of your character (at least the male one) is painfully generic in its delivery. 

Another issue I have is the awful driving dynamics in the game. The cityscape is vivid and even the landscapes outside of the city are quite stunning. They even put some goregous cars in the game to cruise around in. However, the awe fades as soon as you start driving as the physics are really, really bad. I don't want them to be realistic but when previous-gen games like GTA 5 and Saints Row 4 can do a good job of it, the experience of driving around in Cyberpunk was a serious letdown. Even the audio  for the vehicle sounds is depressingly dull, to the point that EV noises would have been better.

NOTE: I played it on PC but using an XBOX-styled controller, not mouse and keyboard.

Despite the game's many shortcomings, I have spent over 150 hours playing it. Why? One reason is that I suck at games so it often takes me many attempts to clear missions. The other reason is that I still love the look of the game. I also enjoy the combat gameplay and the interactions with the supporting characters. This game is nowhere near the likes of GTA 5 but its good enough to play again after a long break. 

I'd rate Cyberpunk 2077 at 9 out of 12 (as a Keanu fanboy) but drop it to a 7.5 for the actual game itself. While they can't fix the story gaps or the physics, the game could benefit from fixing most of the glitches and bugs that plague the gameplay experience.

Have you played Cyberpunk 2077? How was it for you? Share your thoughts on it in the comments below. 

Hope you liked this first ever Sane Loon video game review and thanks for tuning in!