Cyberpunk 2077 - A game that rose from the ashes.

By Sam Coles: 

In the modern era of video games, it is common place for projects to come out unfinished and buggy and it is rather frustrating but sometimes certain games can rise from the ashes. Cyberpunk 2077 was a notorious example of this; to put it lightly the game was completely unplayable for most players and when I say most, I mean console players.  

The first trailer for this game dropped all the way back in 2013, as it was used more of a launching off point to announce The Witcher 3. After that announcement, it went quiet until E3 2018 where it was shown to the media behind closed doors where it was later released to the public. People were impressed; however, it looked to be too scripted and almost as if it was pre-rendered and that turned out to be true and a former CDPR developer came out and admitted it a few years later after the 2020 release. The game was set to release in April of 2020 on Xbox One, PS4 and PC, but then was delayed to September, then November and finally released in early December of 2020 and to say it was a disaster is being kind.  

The game was shown off before the release of the game, and curiously throughout its marketing the base Xbox One and PS4 were missing in their official comparisons, and most shrugged it off. Then when it came to the media reviewing the game, first they were only given PC codes for the game, no console review codes were sent out and second which was a huge red flag, they were not allowed to use their own screenshots or video footage. All my years of writing in the industry, this was the first time I have heard of such an embargo with game reviews and it was deeply concerning and when the game came out the review stipulations were clear as the game was a complete mess mostly on the PS4 and Xbox One.   

The PS4 and Xbox One versions of the game barely worked, the game targeted 30 frames per second, however you were lucky to get 20 fps at most. Textures popped in all the time as the game struggled to keep up with the player, especially driving cars at speed. Most often blame the fact the game was released on the Xbox One and PS4, which I would say no that is not the case at all as the hardware was capable of running an open world at this scale and detail, as Red Dead Redemption II came out two years prior to this game. No, this was rushed out the door, coupled with the COVID pandemic as well as the Red Engine which was already an unoptimised mess, this game turned the engine’s cracks into chasms which lead them to ditching it in favour of Unreal Engine 5.  

CDPR knew they had a complete PR nightmare on their hands, and quickly issued an apology to players on console about the unplayable state. However, the damage was done, PlayStation took the game down from digital stores due to the unplayable nature which is unheard off in the triple A space, where as Microsoft had a performance disclaimer for Xbox players. CDPR went back to the drawing board for the game and started to work on fixes.  

Fast forward to now, the game is in a great state if you play it on Xbox Series X|S or PlayStation 5 and it really feels like the game it was supposed to be. The game has a living and breathing world that is really convincing, the variety of people that walk the streets of Night City is incredible. Not only that, they added in a wanted level system that actually works now, so police will no longer spawn out of thin air they actually chase you, something that Grand Theft Auto got right in 1997 but I digress. The game runs a lot better too, running at a consistent 60 fps on the PlayStation 5 which is the platform I played it on recently, visuals in general have been given a massive overhaul and texture pop in is nonexistent now. The world feels lively and lived in, with streets crowed and meets their initial ambitious vision all those years ago.  

Gunplay and physics were tweaked too, combat just flows better now and shooting feels satisfying too. The driving was and to put it bluntly dreadful in the original release, as the physics just didn’t feel right and cars would often fly off in a different direction whereas now it feels like you have a handle of the cars now. The gunplay felt really off in the original release, mostly because I was playing it on an original 2013 PS4 and the framerate was lucky if it hit 20 fps during frantic firefights, 10-15 fps was the normal which made my eyes turn inside out.   

After all the fallout of the initial launch Cyberpunk has turned into a great game that everyone should play, it showed that the team was dedicated to fix a broken promise. However, we should not forget what CDPR did to consumers, with a broken mess that most players could not get through. We should not allow scenarios like this to become the norm, yes, it is great that CDPR didn’t abandon the project all together but we must remember what happened so we don’t repeat said scenario or that is what we should do in theory. We need to hold developers and publishers accountable more, instead of sweeping most issues under the carpet with a mere shrug of the shoulders waiting for an update. Cyberpunk is a great game now yes, but we need to remember the past to build a better future for the games industry and community.  

 

Just a quick P.S. I am sorry for not uploading any articles on the blog for the past two months, been really busy with video content on my Instagram and TikTok. Been doing vlogs, mini reviews and uploading gameplay content on said channels so it has been eating a lot of my writing time, I will get back to a consistent writing pattern in 2025, thank you for understanding and thank you for the support! 😊  

Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 Campaign - Black Hawk Down to The Italian Job.

(PlayStation 5 code provided by Activision) 

By Sam Coles:  

Call of Duty has been up and down in recent years, but you could always rely on a decent campaign in each game but 2023’s Modern Warfare III was a bit of a blunder. So, when Activision announced Black Ops 6 I was cautious but now I have played the campaign I can safely say that is one of the best in years. I use to be a massive fan of the Call of Duty series, but in recent years I have fallen off the bandwagon, but kept up with the series regardless and this game is a very pleasant surprise. So, let’s get into it.  

Black Ops 6 is set in 1991, where it starts off in the Gulf War which honestly, I thought was a bit of a bland setting for a game, but soon after it veers into the realm of espionage fiction. It has elements of history in the game, but ultimately it goes for a fun fictious spy thriller to entertain the player. You go from your stock standard military shooter of blowing up scud missiles in Iraq, to robbing a casino in an Ocean’s Eleven style sequence. It goes from Black Hawk Down to The Italian Job in tone, where I am expecting Michael Caine to show up and say “You were only supposed to blow the bloody doors off”!  

Anyway, the plot revolves around a private military group called the Pantheon who have sleeper agents within the CIA, where they are trying to get hold of a biological weapon to unleash on the US. You have old favourite characters joining the band of rebelling agents, such as Frank Woods and Russel Adler. They are being hunted by said group, so they have setup shop in an old CIA hideout where they can rest and setup their operations where you the player can upgrade said hideout. The plot is really good, it is completely insane but in all the right ways although the tone does shift all over the place. One moment it is an intense military drama, then a kookie heist movie then suddenly it turns into a phycological horror. Outside of that, the voice acting is great the performances from all the actors are superb!  

Now gameplay wise, this is where I would usually give a quick synopsis about it but they have changed a fair bit including the campaign. Let’s start with the aspect they have marketed the most, the omni-movement. What this basically means is that you can perform any movement in any direction, so you can sprint, slide and dive in any direction you want. This on paper sounds absurd and honestly in practice it is, but again in all the right ways as I feel like I am in a John Woo film as I dive across tables, slide through enemy’s legs as I turn legs into stumps with my shotgun. It is immensely satisfying to sliding into a room, diving across tables and gunning everything down without being hit.  

The game does include fairly open-ended levels, the game is overall linear with its structure but they do mix things up by including levels that allow you to tackle objectives in any order you want. Unlike the open combat missions from Modern Warfare III, these are fun and have focus and are not repurposed Warzone levels. They also include levels where you can take a stealth approach too, or moments where you just talk your way out of a scenario you know like an actual secret agent with plausible deniability.  

Not only that the game gives you a plethora of tools to tackle each combat engagement, you have your usual tactical options like flashbangs, smoke grenades and distractions. However, you also get more lethal options like airstrikes and mortars to the more absurd such as RC cars with C4 strapped to them or my favourite the exploding homing knives. You don’t have to use these, but they are a massive help as this game is quite challenging even on normal difficulty, I died a fair amount in this game. This game will repurpose you as a shovel if you get too careless during firefights.  

Visually the game looks fantastic, I played this on the PlayStation 5 and it looks incredible with a stable 60 frames per second throughout with little to no hitches. The character models look great and believable with excellent animations throughout coupled with the well-crafted backdrops you will explore in the game, my favourite being the neon lit casino you rob. Sound design is excellent, gun audio feedback has kick with the chatter of a light machine gun to the hip thrusting thuds of buckshot from a shotgun. Visuals and audios are top notch in this game.  

Overall Call of Duty: Black Ops 6’s campaign is one of the best in years, it knows what people want from a COD campaign a bombastic and over top set piece driven experience and it delivers that in spades. It feels like Call of Duty is back with this instalment and I love it!  

Judgment - Yakuza but a detective thriller.

By Sam Coles:  

The Yakuza franchise has been around for nearly 20 years, with the first debuting in 2005 on the PlayStation 2. After years of struggling to get a foothold in the west, it wasn’t until 2017 when it got mainstream recognition with Yakuza 0, and it has all been smooth sailing since then. However, they would change things up with the series, and I am not talking about the turn based JRPG approach with Like a Dragon, but with 2019’s Judgment. A game that takes a slower approach to the series but in the good way given the context of the narrative, anyway let's get into it.  

Judgment takes place in Kamurocho the usual stuff, but this time you play as Takayuki Yagami who was once a lawyer but now a private detective. Yagami was once a lawyer but left the profession due to one of his clients he got acquitted ended up brutally murdering his partner soon after he was released. Using his knowledge of a lawyer he puts it to go use as a private detective, where he ends up stumbling upon a string of murders where all the victims have their eyes gouged out.  

This makes Yagami chase this case, as it goes all the way to the top throughout the police department as well as a conspiracy to get a type of medicine to public trial. It is a really interesting story, yes it does include members of the Yakuza but it is mostly about a political conspiracy which had me on the edge of my seat throughout the narrative, coupled with the excellent Japanese voice acting.  

Gameplay wise if you have played Yakuza, you will be instantly familiar with this game, you roam around the streets and sometimes you will get into fist fights with the local thugs. The combat is very similar to Yakuza 6, with reused animations but with certain aspects tweaked to Yagami’s more slim and slender build, so he is a more agile in fights. It’s rather entertaining seeing him bouncing off walls, as he flies foot first into some unfortunately thug’s face. Combat feels much faster, as you are playing as a younger and more agile person in this game, Yagami spins around like a tornado in fights while knocking people down like bowling pins and it is gleefully entertaining.  

Like the other games in the series, you can get distracted with various activities in the world, you can go to the arcade, play pool, play darts or blow off some steam at the batting cages. However, one of the most iconic activities in the series karaoke is conspicuously missing which is rather baffling to me.

 

Besides the usual things you would expect in a Yakuza game, you have to act like detective. There is more dialogue in this game compared to the other games and I know that is saying a lot considering there is already a lot dialogue in Yakuza games. Contextually this makes sense, because you have to interview people about crimes and scenarios, whether you are going undercover or just examining a crime scene. It never got boring the dialogue because the characters are really engaging coupled with the well written script.  

What I like is that you have dialogue choices in this game to piece together the crime, you use evidence to accuse people that they are lying or present it to a prosecutor. It requires you to pay attention to dialogue, otherwise you will be lost in key moments when you are finally putting it all together. How you gain said evidence is through examining crime scenes, this will put you into a first-person perspective, which immerses the player into the scenario. You have to really pay attention to details, as it will help you with your future investigations. It adds enough to make this game separate from the rest of the Yakuza series.  

Visually the game looks incredible, it runs on the Dragon Engine which was first introduced with Yakuza 6 and it just looks fantastic. The streets of Kamurocho at night with its neon lit streets really standout especially when it is raining. Character models look great and believable, even for a game from 2019 it still looks fantastic.  

Overall, Judgment is a fantastic spin off to the Yakuza series as it does just enough to differentiate itself from the rest of the series. The angel of you being a detective works really well, and it feels a mix of 1930’s film noir mixed with Jessica Jones and it is brilliant. It is really cheap on PS4 so I recommend grabbing it!