33
Clearing My Backlog #6
This one had a lot of potential to be something truly great; there’s a lot of missed opportunities here, and I think if this was made by Rockstar with a bigger budget then it could’ve been a deeper and more distinctive game, but instead we got one of those Ubisoft-styled games with a ton of map markers, repetitive activities, and a lifeless story that doesn’t really go anywhere meaningful.
Wei Shen as a protagonist doesn’t fully work for me, we’re constantly being reminded that he’s carrying immense trauma with him, but we don’t get to see any of it besides the mumbles he has in his sleep, which act as a very cheap reminder. I would’ve loved to see his backstory be delved into more, which would’ve made for an infinitely more interesting character — someone you can actually care about and root for; sadly that’s not the case. The entire premise of the game relies so heavily on the choice that Wei will have to make later on (which is what side he’s going to choose), but I don’t care about any of it; because the game doesn’t give me any reason to. None of it is believable, Wei instantly has this connection to the Triads, he views them as family from the get-go and we never learn why he cares about them so much — Jackie? sure — but everyone else? why the fuck would he care? he’s literally used as an errand boy the entire game (and the mission variety suffers because of this). He doesn’t change at all throughout the game, and I mean really change; there’s some superficial stuff that happens which makes him more loyal to the Triads but again, none of it is believable imo.
All of the characters are one-note, especially on the Triads’ side of things. All they do is spout the same bullshit about “family” like this is some sort of fast and furious movie. It’s just not explored well enough, it’s boring and generic. I know that since it’s a game about gangs, its sorta obligated to have this… commentary? — if you could call it that — on family, but for the love of god, please at least try to make it unique or interesting. The ONLY character that I liked was Pendrew; he was great, and was fantastically voiced by Tom Wilkinson — who was Carmine Falcone in Batman Begins — so it’s no wonder I liked him, even if he’s underutilised. EMMA FUCKING STONE IS ALSO IN THIS LIKE??? I would’ve loved to see her in a more involved role; it’s weird how many A-listers this game has but most of them have very minor roles, which is such a shame.
I didn’t like the story either; the first and last few levels were fine, I liked some of the bigger set piece moments, but not much else. There’s a lack of connective tissue between the levels, stuff just sorta happens and characters change for no good reason, it feels both rushed and drawn out for what the story is trying to accomplish. The ending was ass, it was predictable and boring, and this is one of those games where multiple endings would’ve worked really well, I don’t know why they didn’t go for that.
In terms of gameplay, it’s mostly good and pretty varied, thanks to the combat system that is surprisingly fun and unique for this type of game. I liked a lot of the upgrades that you could get which managed to spice up the combat encounters. When it comes to the gunplay though… that shit sucks, why is the bloom so ass? I have to sometimes use a whole mag on a single enemy because the bullets go everywhere; thankfully the guns aren’t very present during the game. I do hate how you can’t get them in the open world though, unless you do the tedious thing and lockpick a police car trunk (with a late-game cop upgrade).
I’m not a fan of the arcade-y driving, it feels off and it limits you to what you can do, like I can barely drift around some of the corners (this is made worse by how the world is built in certain places). Imagine this game but with “realistic” driving, like in Forza or something where you can continuously drift around multiple bends without stopping, MAN that would be cool, especially with how many curvy roads there are in this game. I did enjoy the races though. There’s also boats that you can use, but you have no reason to unless you’re going to some of the islands for collectibles, they’re also a nightmare to control, because they can’t fucking turn! Getting around the map was an exhausting experience, the navigation system doesn’t work properly half the time, and it always tells me the slowest route, which is the exact opposite of what it's designed to do...
The parkour was a really cool idea, one that wasn’t executed well whatsoever. Parkour should give you the feeling of speed and momentum; this game made me feel slow as fuck. Every time you vault over something, Wei will pause for a millisecond, effectively slowing you down before you can continue running. All of it feels very scripted with what you’re able to climb too, there are fences and walls that you SHOULD be able to climb because you CAN in other sections of the map, but for some reason you can’t in certain places. You also have to be head-on when trying to climb anything, so if you’re even slightly at an angle, you won’t be able to; this completely halts gameplay at most points in the game.
Overall, I think the developers should’ve just scrapped all — or most of the open world content and just focused on delivering a bigger and better story, there could’ve been something special here if they did; sadly, they just made a mindless, bloated, and uninspired map-marker simulator.
Some notes:
- Karaoke is fun.
- Good amount of customization
- Can’t believe how many bugs this game has, definitive edition? are they joking?
- Facial animations suck, especially for the NPC’s. This is a 2014 game? holy fucking shit.
- The radio stations are plain as hell, doesn't even begin to compare to the greats (GTA IV, V, Cyberpunk 2077, etc)
Playtime: 28.6 hours
Every Game I've Ever Played - Ranked (By Score)
Clearing My Backlog
2014 - Ranked
Clearing My Backlog #6
This one had a lot of potential to be something truly great; there’s a lot of missed opportunities here, and I think if this was made by Rockstar with a bigger budget then it could’ve been a deeper and more distinctive game, but instead we got one of those Ubisoft-styled games with a ton of map markers, repetitive activities, and a lifeless story that doesn’t really go anywhere meaningful.
Wei Shen as a protagonist doesn’t fully work for me, we’re constantly being reminded that he’s carrying immense trauma with him, but we don’t get to see any of it besides the mumbles he has in his sleep, which act as a very cheap reminder. I would’ve loved to see his backstory be delved into more, which would’ve made for an infinitely more interesting character — someone you can actually care about and root for; sadly that’s not the case. The entire premise of the game relies so heavily on the choice that Wei will have to make later on (which is what side he’s going to choose), but I don’t care about any of it; because the game doesn’t give me any reason to. None of it is believable, Wei instantly has this connection to the Triads, he views them as family from the get-go and we never learn why he cares about them so much — Jackie? sure — but everyone else? why the fuck would he care? he’s literally used as an errand boy the entire game (and the mission variety suffers because of this). He doesn’t change at all throughout the game, and I mean really change; there’s some superficial stuff that happens which makes him more loyal to the Triads but again, none of it is believable imo.
All of the characters are one-note, especially on the Triads’ side of things. All they do is spout the same bullshit about “family” like this is some sort of fast and furious movie. It’s just not explored well enough, it’s boring and generic. I know that since it’s a game about gangs, its sorta obligated to have this… commentary? — if you could call it that — on family, but for the love of god, please at least try to make it unique or interesting. The ONLY character that I liked was Pendrew; he was great, and was fantastically voiced by Tom Wilkinson — who was Carmine Falcone in Batman Begins — so it’s no wonder I liked him, even if he’s underutilised. EMMA FUCKING STONE IS ALSO IN THIS LIKE??? I would’ve loved to see her in a more involved role; it’s weird how many A-listers this game has but most of them have very minor roles, which is such a shame.
I didn’t like the story either; the first and last few levels were fine, I liked some of the bigger set piece moments, but not much else. There’s a lack of connective tissue between the levels, stuff just sorta happens and characters change for no good reason, it feels both rushed and drawn out for what the story is trying to accomplish. The ending was ass, it was predictable and boring, and this is one of those games where multiple endings would’ve worked really well, I don’t know why they didn’t go for that.
In terms of gameplay, it’s mostly good and pretty varied, thanks to the combat system that is surprisingly fun and unique for this type of game. I liked a lot of the upgrades that you could get which managed to spice up the combat encounters. When it comes to the gunplay though… that shit sucks, why is the bloom so ass? I have to sometimes use a whole mag on a single enemy because the bullets go everywhere; thankfully the guns aren’t very present during the game. I do hate how you can’t get them in the open world though, unless you do the tedious thing and lockpick a police car trunk (with a late-game cop upgrade).
I’m not a fan of the arcade-y driving, it feels off and it limits you to what you can do, like I can barely drift around some of the corners (this is made worse by how the world is built in certain places). Imagine this game but with “realistic” driving, like in Forza or something where you can continuously drift around multiple bends without stopping, MAN that would be cool, especially with how many curvy roads there are in this game. I did enjoy the races though. There’s also boats that you can use, but you have no reason to unless you’re going to some of the islands for collectibles, they’re also a nightmare to control, because they can’t fucking turn! Getting around the map was an exhausting experience, the navigation system doesn’t work properly half the time, and it always tells me the slowest route, which is the exact opposite of what it's designed to do...
The parkour was a really cool idea, one that wasn’t executed well whatsoever. Parkour should give you the feeling of speed and momentum; this game made me feel slow as fuck. Every time you vault over something, Wei will pause for a millisecond, effectively slowing you down before you can continue running. All of it feels very scripted with what you’re able to climb too, there are fences and walls that you SHOULD be able to climb because you CAN in other sections of the map, but for some reason you can’t in certain places. You also have to be head-on when trying to climb anything, so if you’re even slightly at an angle, you won’t be able to; this completely halts gameplay at most points in the game.
Overall, I think the developers should’ve just scrapped all — or most of the open world content and just focused on delivering a bigger and better story, there could’ve been something special here if they did; sadly, they just made a mindless, bloated, and uninspired map-marker simulator.
Some notes:
- Karaoke is fun.
- Good amount of customization
- Can’t believe how many bugs this game has, definitive edition? are they joking?
- Facial animations suck, especially for the NPC’s. This is a 2014 game? holy fucking shit.
- The radio stations are plain as hell, doesn't even begin to compare to the greats (GTA IV, V, Cyberpunk 2077, etc)
Playtime: 28.6 hours
Every Game I've Ever Played - Ranked (By Score)
Clearing My Backlog
2014 - Ranked