Good but ultimately a little shallow. Shows promise, but needs that extra oomph I think.
The main problem is that level ups don't really give you anything interesting. The closest is the vehicle upgrades (which go away when you lose that car anyway), but all the other choices are the same as the base upgrades you can buy on your characters. As such, there's no fun synergies to develop, no odd choices to make, just "get stronger in specific area". One can imagine some incredible possibilities for chaos, like "give all taxicabs bombs" or "mobsters now attack police", but none of that is in the game.
Other small gripes: Hitting air targets is a pain in the ass. There's no isometric-angle camera like in the trailer, just 3 varieties of "overhead". There's no map features like Pay'n'Spray to aim for. If you have finite ammo, getting more ammo for your gun is nigh-impossible. Cop cars and the like act very strangely - they disgorge 2-3 enemies, then sorta hover just outside your hijack range??? Hijacking in general is annoying unless it's literally a parked or trapped car.
I do like the hyper-destructive experience, and I think Maniac has extremely strong fundamentals, it just needs some fun "crazy" upgrades to spice up the experience, better hijacking, and a more fleshed-out city. I don't want different mission types or anything necessarily, just more to do than "wander in a circle and explode cars".
The main problem is that level ups don't really give you anything interesting. The closest is the vehicle upgrades (which go away when you lose that car anyway), but all the other choices are the same as the base upgrades you can buy on your characters. As such, there's no fun synergies to develop, no odd choices to make, just "get stronger in specific area". One can imagine some incredible possibilities for chaos, like "give all taxicabs bombs" or "mobsters now attack police", but none of that is in the game.
Other small gripes: Hitting air targets is a pain in the ass. There's no isometric-angle camera like in the trailer, just 3 varieties of "overhead". There's no map features like Pay'n'Spray to aim for. If you have finite ammo, getting more ammo for your gun is nigh-impossible. Cop cars and the like act very strangely - they disgorge 2-3 enemies, then sorta hover just outside your hijack range??? Hijacking in general is annoying unless it's literally a parked or trapped car.
I do like the hyper-destructive experience, and I think Maniac has extremely strong fundamentals, it just needs some fun "crazy" upgrades to spice up the experience, better hijacking, and a more fleshed-out city. I don't want different mission types or anything necessarily, just more to do than "wander in a circle and explode cars".