"Mixed Bag". That's the best way I can think to describe this game. It's hard to say whether it's a good game or a bad game when there's so much content that some of it is bound to fall on both side of the fence for players. I'm only about 10 hours into this lengthy game, so take everything I say with a grain of salt.
The good:
- Immersion - more than any game before it, this feels like a real city. Drivers generally follow the rules of the road, pedestrians pull out umbrellas or newspapers when it rains, and people cower/take cover when the big guns get hauled out.
- Pool minigame - It feels very realistic, down to the sound of a ball's muffled click against the felt as it almost goes into a pocket. Controls well, too.
- Combat controls - They've completely revamped them in this version, to the point that they work reasonably well and don't have me dreading getting out of my car.
- Storyline/cutscenes - Nicely done, with great voice work overall. Not Oscar-worth by any means, but certainly impressive for a videogame.
The bad:
- Music - Gratingly bad. I've heard a total of about 2 songs that didn't suck. I've enjoyed the occasional track outside my favored genres in Tony Hawk games, but this stuff is just bland, terrible crap. If you don't like the kind of music you hear booming out of idiots' cars at stoplights in real life, prepare to hit the "mute" button often.
- Humor - It's the Howard Stern brand of humor, where shouting/cursing constantly = teh funny. While there's the occasional clever bit (the pregnancy/STD prevention posters in the hospital are brilliant), most of it's at that very basic "HAHAHA! BITCHES R DUMB! FUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCKFUCK!" level that embarasses me to be playing the game.
- Every other minigame - the darts minigame is ridiculously easy, while the bowling minigame controls astoundingly poorly.
- Meeting requests - the mission-giving NPCs in the game constantly pester you to go out to darts, strip clubs, etc. with them, and react poorly when you refuse. It's incredibly annoying to be in the middle of doing something and have to choose between finishing what you're working on or fulfilling the requests of these whiny babies.
- Lack of choice - there's occasionally an opportunity to not kill a target, but that's about as far as the opportunity to develop your own path goes.
Comments