Thoughts so far after completing the 1st district and 1 side mission (ps4):
- 1 crash thus far, happened when opening the map
- I'm no graphics expert. I only look at significant frame rate drops (AC Unity), severe pop-in and draw distance when in motion. And while driving the game doesn't process fast enough consistently, but otherwise the game often looks good, even great at times
- gameplay is cover-based stealth mixed with shooting/brawling depending on your playstyle. It's basic, there's some cover-to-cover but nothing like in past Gears games and no parkour-type fast-pace movement. TLOU had active cover, this isn't that neither, but more like GTA 4 - Lincoln Clay is a war vet who stalks guys and opens up when needed. It's serviceable.
- Guns feel light, even machine guns. There's this Kill Bill-type splash when you shoot a guy down. It's passable.
- Driving isn't smooth, but it's not Sleeping Dogs Arcade, either. Cars feel too heavy, hard to control in turns and the handbrake puts the cars on skates, they slide for too long, which is a headache in chases.
- Soundtrack is amazing, which makes driving a lot more fun. Cash, CCR, Clash, James Brown and many other big names from that time period.
- AI does the common guard routine from point A to point B and back. They do close in on you if they think they saw you. When they're hostile they mob you rather than cover exists and box you in, which would be a common 10 vs 1 strategy. So you can gun down 10 guys AND their reinforcements from cover. It's poor, but AI almost always is.
- City has a lot of detail and various shops you can rob and find cool collectibles in. 60's playboy mags, car mags, albums and more cool stuff. Both the city and the collectibles are well done.
- Story cutscenes have an old movie filter, which fits nicely into the covered time period. Character cutscenes use a modern filter. The storytelling in both is fantastic, easily the best aspect of the game. All characters thus far have a distinct persona, which adds both life and variety to them. The start of the story is right up there with the best made to date.
- The struggle is real for the 60's black man here. Accurately described, but not overdone.
- Overall I can see the repetitiveness already this early in the game. You kill a few key mobsters to get to a higher ranked target who then leads you to the big fish. The game tells you early this is how you get to your final goal. Hopefully there's more mission variety down the line.
