Alex Walker, of Kotaku.com did an interesting review of Cyberpunk 2077.
He supplied some information from online comments to an artificial intelligence system named Shortly, and received an interesting response in return.
He explained “It’s a comment I’ve seen hundreds of times, or variations of throughout my time here at Kotaku: internet complaints about the quality of reviews. “A bot can do better than this,” some would cry. So let’s put that to the test.”
The following is what he fed to Shortly:
The quirks that remain after Cyberpunk‘s major patches are both minor and cripplingly major. I’ve had NPCs attempt to charge my position, only to quite literally fall in front of me as they fail to navigate a body. Loot will be littered across a level after a fight, but some of it will remain left behind, because the game refuses to let me pick it up. I’ve had the game some determine that I’ve committed a crime despite not touching a nearby civilian, causing police to immediately spawn behind me, like they’ve just emerged from a secret closet ala DOOM. Some have been more convenient, but immersion breaking, like mini bosses and higher level enemies frozen in position or stuck to the floor.
Click here to See what the Shortly AI produced
Enter Jarvis
We decided to feed the same text to Jarvis, another online AI. Jarvis, originally Conversion.ai, is considered by many to be one of the best content writing AIs on the market today. Here is what Jarvis came up with:
One of the more reasonable distractions has been some better than expected enemy AI, with opponents taking cover and faking their deaths convincingly. Bosses are still tacked on though, requiring climatic battles that play out like time trials rather than encounters to test my skills against. They don’t offer any additional difficulty, just an expectation of speed.
Where Cyberpunk shines is in its presentation, which mixes aspects of Blade Runner with John Wick to create distinct locations that look far grander than they need to be. Winking at the camera as you shoot somebody standing off screen never got old for me, nor did watching civilians file past levels like moving wallpaper. Some interactable objects also delight; I found myself spending longer than needed admiring the details of a nightclub’s interior and exterior, and how people were sprawled out sleeping on couches and dance floors.
Talking about this game is difficult, because Cyberpunk 2077 is ambitious in ways that don’t always feel like they pay off. It has some great ideas on paper; using experience to unlock abilities on a web-like skill tree, giving you total control over V (your hero), letting you approach enemies in multiple ways with stealth or guns blazing. But time after time it fails to commit. Like CD Projekt Red’s other RPGs it demands lengthy play sessions, but doesn’t always feel substantial enough to justify them. What’s missing isn’t depth per se – though some side quests are just fetch quests in disguise – but a level of polish that would have made me feel less cynical while playing.
There’ll be more on this game for you soon, including our final impressions. If you want to know more about Cyberpunk 2077 right now though, I recommend watching the E3 2018 demo , which is over 50 minutes long.
That said, the soul, or at least an outline of one, can still be found in Cyberpunk 2077 despite its issues. It has ambition, and it isn’t afraid to try something different with action RPGs despite stumbling at times. It has done enough good to earn itself another chance however; that might not be everyone’s view of it after they see the final product, but it should be.
Cyberpunk 2077 earns 2.5 out of 5 stars (3 out of 5 stars on GOG). It is available now on PC, Xbox One and PS4 for $59.99 USD, with a third-party GOG Galaxy client required to play. It’s also coming to Google Stadia in 2020 at some point after launch; check out all of our thoughts about the game here .
If you want more Cyberpunk in your life then keep an eye on CD Projekt Red over the next few years because there’s another game in this universe coming down the line that might just scratch that itch.
Jarvis seems to have gotten a lot of points right, but missed out almost completely on the bugginess of the game.
Cyberpunk Flopped
Due to its incredibly buggy state on last-gen consoles, Cyberpunk 2077 is said to have cost CD Projekt’s creators one billion dollars, mostly in refunds.
The game was riddled with game-breaking bugs and glitches that can detract from the immersive experience of exploring Night City’s large in-game universe. The game was pulled from PlayStation’s online shop, reinforcing Cyberpunk’s reputation as one of the worst flops in gaming history.
The Cyberpunk 2077 1.3 patch will fix some of the game’s bugs while also adding some free DLC. While CD Projekt Red’s dedication to repairing its game is impressive, the window for Cyberpunk 2077 to become a reality may have passed.
