Got this a few days ago, played this almost literally all day yesterday. Barely touched the main campaign, haven´t finished act 1 even. Have been playing online mostly..
Anyway, I´m really liking the game, although I wasn´t feeling it right at the start. I think it was part not being used to open world games (I did´t realise at first, but this is actually my first proper sandbox game, I never properly played a GTA), part still learning the controls, part the controls not being optimal, and part not being good at 3rd person shooting. Oh and part being a game that doesn´t cater much to my play style (non-lethal sneak). It´s possible, but not really optimised.. Oh, and part me not having a controller. At first I was thinking controls were just shit, but then I learned every option I wanted was actually there. But it´s stil not as fluid as Deus ex for example, which is a shame because it would make things easier. Sneak controls are contextual, so I can´t properly re-map the keys, not if I want to have the climb button stay where it is. Maybe after playing some more I´ll find the perfect mapping.
Anyway, I love walking through Chicago, the city is wonderfully built. The civilians are great too, although I wish they recorded even more lines, because some I hear way too often. Every other civilian´s house was broken into, etc. Hearing "Run Forest, run!" when I was running away made me smile though. I like most of the side missions, but I´m not really in to those fixer missions. But the QR missions for example are fun.
multiplayer
Since I´ve been playing it all day yesterday, you can conclude I love multiplayer. I´m not particularly great at it though. But I´ve been playing the tailing and hacking almost exclusively. Have not tried the racing, and played only a little decryption. Decryption is fun, but I can´t see it hold my attention for long. Especially if I can be hacking or tailing other people. I´m not good at hacking (or being hacked), but I seem to be better at tailing (or being tailed). Do the players here have any tips? When I first started out, I copied things I´ve seen from being invaded, but these appeared to be beginner´s strategies that only work against new players.. Hiding in cars does not work (in general). Also, at first I thought it was good if you invaded a person with police on his tail, but I´ve learned it´s quite the opposite. Players with police on their tail are not afraid to blow stuff up. Hiding behind police cars is not a good idea.
My tips from what I´ve seen so far (some are obvious, but still):
- strive always to to hide at a place which has multiple levels. An elevation difference works wonders, and this is actually an in-game tip. But I´ve seen that most of the time, where I was sucesfully hacked, or I succesfully hacked someone else, it was because of this.
- If no multiple levels are available in the area, look for objects taller than you, but not too wide. You can simply walk around those to stay out of the line of sight. A small truck can work.
- Can be considered unsporting, but I don´t want new players to get better :p. When hacking, I always leave my hiding spot at 99 %, so it doesn´t show where I am actually hiding .
- I forgot all about those cameras when playing online, but they´re actually incredibly useful when tailing somebody. I successfully tailed someone who was holed up in some high building, which would be a pain if there were no cameras available, but there were, and I didn´t even have to leave my hiding spot.
- Although it pains me as a non-lethal player who doesn´t bother civilians, the more mayhem, the better (more hiding opportunities or distractions). So hack anything in sight.
- Some people just drive away when being invaded. Incredibly annoying. If you still want to pursuit them, move in the other direction, after a 1000 m difference, you get the option to fast travel to near your target. You can also quit the mission without any penalties, to discourage them from doing this in the future.
Last thing I´ll mention: I was incredibly disappointed with the lack of a dedicated house genre in your music player, but it seems there actually is one, so those tracks must be incredibly rare or something. Annoying, because although I always want house music, in Chicago you have to have house music.
N-E Supporter
