I was pretty down on this game before I played the trial, but I downloaded it yesterday and put 3 hours into it. I'm playing the game on PC, and it's an excellent port. It runs at 1440p/ultra at a near locked 60. Frostbite continues to impress me, and it is easily the most gorgeous, versatile, and scaleable engine out there. The game does have some downright stunning indoor environments, but the city itself looks very basic and somewhat last gen. The visuals are a very mixed bag because they can range from ridiculously good to extremely bland, depending on the location. Also, I'd like to add that the image quality is not very good. I'm not sure if it's the motion blur or the anti-aliasing technique at work, but the game always seems to have this subtle blur filter on, which, in my opinion, really hurts the art direction and the overall aesthetic of it.
I genuinely enjoyed the parkour and platforming-based gameplay. Coming off Uncharted 4's near-automatic (and honestly braindead) platforming system, this is quite refreshing. The movement is fluid, and there is a really satisfying sense of speed if you can manage to run long enough without being interrupted. It's also very intuitive, so you never feel like you're lost, or going in the wrong direction. Plus there's this thing called Runner Vision that acts as a waypoint of sorts. Not very intrusive, but pretty helpful. The gameplay stops being fun with the platforming part, however, because the combat is extremely clumsy and simplistic. I could Left stick + Y the hell out of enemies; even large crowds. Also, the camera becomes a total shitshow during combat sections, so it's particularly infuriating. The only fun parts of the combat system are when you're doing running takedowns. Overall, platforming and movement are great, but combat is a mixed bag,
The open-world is extremely unnecessary. It is static, lifeless, and bland. I loved the first game especially because it had very focused level design with impeccable visual design. This one throws all of that out the window with a homogeneous open-world that is extremely inconsistent visually, and doesn't offer any engaging side activities. It's just fetch quests and your typical filler AAA video game bullshit. I'm currently playing Blood and Wine, and the quality of side content in that makes this look like a heap of trash. Sorry to be blunt, but it does. The writing, dialogue, plot (so far), and voice acting range from mediocre to complete and utter piss. I hate it when the game transitions to cutscenes, because they're so awfully written, acted, and directed. It's like watching a B-tier teen sci-fi drama that even The CW wouldn't bother putting on air. Not one character is compelling. In fact, a couple of them are straight up insufferable and the only word I'd use to describe them is "edgelord". On the upside, Faith is somewhat well-designed. She looks pretty without being overly sexualized, and she seems quite badass. I like her design a lot. Oh, and the soundtrack is pretty good for the genre.
Overall, I don't think it's worth full price, based on my experience so far. There's definitely fun to be had here, and at times, the game is a treat to look at, and it's technically sound, but I've simply got too many better games to play at the moment to spend $60 on a barely above average experience. See you when you're 20 bucks, Mirror's Edge.
), is that you don't see Faith's legs swinging over when you mantle stuff any more. Her hands and feet are still there for the most part, but when you're vaulting over things you just look like a floating camera kind of bumping over quickly.
