Recent reviews by gwait

It's a classic. Easy to get started with lots of different content available based on your playstyle. Only downside is that the base client is missing a lot of the functionality that custom clients offer and many people are used to.

Story line & Side-Missions
The story line is engaging and easy to follow. The only issue I see with the story line is that it is short. Whilst one mission has many sub-tasks to complete, the missions are quite short. The side-missions do not add too much length to the total story line either.

Co-op Game Mode
Now what is a game without a co-op or multi-player mode, right? The game has easy "matchmaking" system that matches you to a stranger or a friend. You are then able to either free roam or complete a co-op mission together. The co-op missions have varying lengths of difficulty to cater to different players. Now there are also a lot of issues with co-op. One issue is that there is only voice chat available in co-op game mode. Whilst it may be convenient for some players to use a "hands-free" approach, I prefer to use a text chat. This feature is unavailable.

Another issue with co-op is that it can take quite a while to match you with a person. Usually by the time you get matched with a person, you are more than half way done with the mission itself. This can be bypassed if you accept to join somebody else's lobby though. Co-op missions can also be quite repetitive. There is not much variety in the locations and objectives for the co-op missions. This means that these missions can get repetitive after a while. This also does not help as most missions can be completed within a short period.

When you are roaming, a player can be matched just because they are in the same location. This system is annoying especially if you just want to play single-player.

AI (Artificial Intelligence)
Each AI have their own unique personality and characteristics in the game. AI also often respond to interactions by your character in-game. Another feature of AI that I found to be pretty cool is that the AI can often perform their own actions. Whenever you steal a vehicle from AI, some of them will try to steal the vehicle back and then try to you fight with you. Other times, you have some AI carrying guns, which they use to start conflicts with other AI. AI are also able to photo bomb your selfies!

Tools and their Upgrades
You have the option to 3D print items such as weapons, a drone and a jumper (or even add a paint job to it). These tools add a lot to the game-play and I love that often you have to use variety of tools to complete a task in the game. For example, you have to use a jumper to enter vents and unlock a door which then the character can use to enter. Some tools are too overpowered and can make some of the missions easy to complete. Sometimes you do not have to enter a restricted area to complete the mission. All you can use is a jumper or a drone to complete the mission.

Now that I am talking about the drone (and their upgrades) - they are way too overpowered. For example, if you get a mission to destroy shipments, all you do is drop three bombs and then detonate them all. Whilst this may sound complicated, this usually takes under a minute to complete. What I am trying to say is that you will often end up relying too much on the tools to complete missions.

An ability to place a target on an enemy is another example of an overpowered upgrade. You place a target and two gang members come and start a gun fight and try to kill the target. Often, you will have many enemies in the same area that also engage in combat with the gang members. You are also able to upgrade the strength of the gang members which will make them a lot harder to kill. This makes the missions easy as the gang members often deal with all the enemies by either:
1. Killing every enemy
2. Distracting them enough so you are not the central focus

Play style
You are able to approach missions in many ways. Main examples are that you have the option to use stealth, "guns blazing" or a mixture of both. If you decide to use stealth, the melee system is well made. You can plan your every step to complete the goal. The parkour aspect makes the character perform tricks when jumping between building or falling from a certain height.

FPS, Crashes & Bugs
Regardless of the settings, I always experience FPS drops whilst moving or driving. After the latest patch, I have been having much more issues with the game crashing. As an example, I had two simultaneous crashes in a short period, making me unable to complete a mission. Luckily, these are the only two crashes that occurred whilst I was playing. There are also quite a few bugs that you might encounter if you decide to buy the game. For example, I was getting a drone out whilst driving a vehicle and then called it back. The controls were still stuck as if I was still controlling the drone even though I was in a car.

The anti-cheat system can sometimes bug out too. I got kicked because I did not have EAC installed, as an example. I was able to play the game for over 40 hours so this caught me off guard.

Other activities
There are a lot of activities to complete outside of the main story line. This includes collectibles for paint jobs, cash or research points for upgrades. You can also be a driver and have to complete various objectives to earn a five-star rating. Finally, you can take selfies at certain landmarks or take part in a Drone, Kart or a Sailboat race.

There are also some forced activities such as having to chase a vehicle and neutralize the driver. The AI driver follows you around even if you do not want to take part in the activity. Later, you get an obnoxious notification telling you that the target is getting away. I didn't want to take part in the activity in the first place!

All in all, I only have 45 hours of play time and have:
1. Completed the story line
2. Completed all the side missions
3. Reached the highest possible level
4. Collected all the collectibles (for Upgrading)
5. Got gold medals in all races
6. Had a chance to try out co-op and already got bored due to repetitiveness

It is a short but a fun game and I would recommend to only buy it during a sale.