Cyberpunk 2077 PlayStation 4 review: I fell for CD Projekt's scam and have no regrets

Cyberpunk 2077 is a great game without exaggeration, but only when it works. Many players are ready to put up with not the best graphics on consoles and weak PCs, but regular bugs and glitches seriously spoil the experience. In the main story quests, Cyberpunk 2077 tells a gripping story with a great setting. At such moments, the game gets on track and everything works well. When the player enters the open world, he immediately faces technical problems that not only tear him out of immersion in the virtual world, but also terribly enrage.

Is Cyberpunk 2077 playable on consoles? Yes, but you have to close your eyes to a lot. Still, for the sake of local stories and characters, I'm ready to go back to Cyberpunk 2077 and ignore the poor technical condition. Still, players on consoles can only recommend to wait until January-February, when CD Projekt will release big updates, and only then sit down for the passage. Owners of powerful PCs, where the game works and looks much better, can break into Night City right now.

Reasons to buy Cyberpunk 2077:

• Great plot and characters
• High replay value thanks to the skill tree
• You really want to play Cyberpunk 2077

Reasons not to buy Cyberpunk 2077:

• Poor technical implementation
• Poor graphics on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One
• You've been waiting for GTA in a cyberpunk setting

Your hero

Before letting you into the dangerous world of Cyberpunk 2077, the developers will force you to create your character. If you are in a hurry, or you don't care what V looks like, you can choose from a couple of blanks. The rest can delve into a rather detailed editor with customizing the appearance of the hero or heroine.

The process of creating a character ends with a choice of background: Korporat, Street Kid or Nomad. Your choice affects two factors. First , the initial story mission. For example, a nomad's adventure begins in the wasteland, from where Vee tries to smuggle into  Knight City . The corporat gets involved in the showdown of its bosses and gets hit on the head for it. Despite the chosen path, everything leads to the same thing - V becomes a mercenary who is trying to make a lot of money and become famous.

One day he takes an order to steal an advanced biochip from a tough guy. During the operation, everything, as usual, goes downhill and the main character has to insert a chip into his head so that it does not break. Here another plot twist takes place: the mind of the terrorist Johnny Silverhade (Keanu Reeves) appears on the device, which begins to overwrite V's personality, essentially slowly killing the protagonist.

This is where the main action begins. The main character goes on a journey to save his own life, and along the way he meets new characters and does not miss the opportunity to get involved in their story.

Every quest has a plug

According to the classics, in addition to the main plot, the player will be able to complete the carriage of side missions. Fortunately, CD Projekt did not waste time on trifles and did a great job on the main and optional quests. They turned out to be interesting both from the point of view of the plot and production. The story is complemented by well-written characters that are interesting to watch.

CDPR hasn't had much of a storyline, and Cyberpunk 2077 is no exception. True, a huge step forward also did not work out, which may disappoint those who were waiting for an incredible game that will turn the industry around.

Thousand Faced Hero

The absence of the next gene is seen in weak variability. As mentioned earlier, at the beginning of the game you can choose the origin of V. In addition to the initial mission, this also affects the appearance of additional options for remarks in dialogues. The problem is, they almost always don't affect the story. These are rather showy lines in which V shows his knowledge of the topic or teases the characters.

How you pumped up your character can affect the outcome of the quest. From time to time, the game arranges a skill test, giving additional options or responses. For example, in one of the missions I was offered two ways out of the situation, but the second required a high level of Technique. This is rare and there is little room for wagering.

Cybermaster of all trades

Basically, all the variability of Cyberpunk 2077 is expressed in the ability to deal with enemies in different ways and complete tasks. Vee has five branches of development: Strength, Reaction, Technique, Intelligence and Composure. They are actually responsible for the physical strength of the character, the ability to wield firearms or melee weapons, as well as hacking and item creation skills.

Each of the branches has several sections, in which you already unlock specific passive and active skills. Their effectiveness and quantity depends on the level of pumping of the corresponding branch.

And there really is where to roam. If you wish, you can create a ninja who runs with a katana and does not use a firearm at all. In addition, such a character does not have to be quiet all the time, dying from every hit. They will not talk about all the options, since you can collect a lot of different builds. In general, there are skills for every style of play. Want to play a la Rambo? No problem. Are you planning to become a merciless hacker who blows the brains of enemies from a distance? That please.

There are also quite a lot of weapons, and given that CDPR did not deal with shooters before, the shooting mechanics turned out to be solid. The guns are interesting, they look great, and also differ from each other in behavior and capabilities. There is even a homing weapon for the most skillful shooters who don't even see the point in proving their accuracy. The arsenal can be replenished with augmentations. For example, by improving V's hands with blades or a special whip.

There are three ways to get weapons and upgrades. The first is to find. The second is to do it yourself, but for this you have to download the Technique. V turned out to be a jack of all trades, and independently knows how to assemble weapons, write dangerous viruses for enemies, viruses and even sew. The third way is to buy weapons and software from merchants. Body enhancements can also be bought or found by exploring the world, and they are put by specially trained people, called rippers in the Cyberpunk 2077 universe.

He's not a GTA

And you're probably wondering why I haven't started talking about bugs yet. The fact is that in story quests and various tasks, they rarely come across and are often uncritical. Many players complained about bugs that literally prevented them from completing the missions, but I was lucky. Cyberpunk 2077 works flawlessly in most quests. The only thing that can spoil the impression is the frame rate drops. For this review, the game was played on a PlayStation 4, where Cyberpunk 2077 looks and plays pretty badly.

The real triumph of bugs begins when you are faced with an open world with many more variables. It is worth entering it for the sake of assignments and activities, like a showdown with hooligans for a reward from the valiant police. If in story missions bugs are rare, then on the streets of Night City they wait around every corner, from slow loading of textures to deaths from jumping over the fence.

The game logic of Cyberpunk 2077 is completely broken, and some functions do not work at all. For example, I still cannot properly switch the view while driving. Every time I start the game I just hope it will work.

The second problem that interferes with diving is the desolation of Night City. I note that this is mostly a problem with the console version, and for  PC gamers, everything seems to be fine. The fact is that there are few people and cars on the streets. In areas where crowds literally walk on PCs, five or six people roam the PS4 . As if the action takes place not in the metropolis of the future, but in a residential complex on the edge of the city, where the developer has sold only three apartments.

Moreover, the scenery of Night City itself is beautiful. The city is densely built up and diverse. There are not very many open spaces, but all areas are different in appearance, and after a while you begin to navigate the terrain even without a map. Still, the CDPR creation does not reach the level of the Rockstar sandbox (talking about GTA). If you've been waiting for GTA in a cyberpunk setting, I have to disappoint. Night City doesn't feel as alive as Los Santos.

Fan whining

Yet the most upsetting thing about Cyberpunk 2077 is CD Projekt RED. During the development period, the game has changed a lot. They cut out a lot, but  added something on the contrary. This is normal for the industry, and in principle, gamers were not trying to sell any other project. CD Projekt promised to make an open-world RPG, and that's what they released.

Yet the deception they have dragged the console players into is another matter. Until the release, gamers were not shown how Cyberpunk 2077 works on the base consoles - PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. The developers deliberately hid the state of the game, literally deceiving 41% of users who bought Cyberpunk for their consoles. The Witcher 3 wasn't perfect at the start either, but it's a whole different level. Of course, having shown the real state of Cyberpunk 2077 on consoles, the Poles would have lost some of the pre-orders, but would have remained with a clean reputation. Nevertheless, the developers have chosen a different path, apparently hoping that the players will be silent and simply rejoice in "Cyberpunk", which has been waiting for 8 years.

Things to know about Cyberpunk 2077:

• The game stands out for its excellent storyline and setting in the main quests.
• Cyberpunk 2077 allows you to create a unique character, tailoring it to your play style.
• The technical implementation is not just lame, but walks on crutches.

• Pay attention to our other reviews of game consoles , there are plenty to choose from.