Pre-orders got mailed out (mine included).
To tell you the truth I don’t know what to think of it. I can list some of what I do/don’t like so far if that helps:
Don’t Like:
1.) Dialogue trees. Stilted and insipid (sorta like my posts on QT3). Also, wholly inappropriate voice work for some of the chars. IE; An old woman, obviously Latino in South America has the same accent as a retiree housewife from Kentucky.
2.) Performance. unless you have a muscular rig, this game will chop on high-ish settings. turning down the eye candy helps a bit but then the game gets quite ugly.
3.) AI. It can show some truly moronic behavior. IE; Its a common sight to see NPC’s in their cars stuck bumping up against buildings and laying on the horn endlessly. Nearby characterss will scream and run in fear for no reason even when your reputation is neutral in all groups.
4.) Atmosphere. The game is similar to Morrowind in that there are NPC’s walking the streets but you don’t get the feeling of a large, living, vital and interconnected world that would go on even if you weren’t there. Its feels very static.
Do Like:
1.) Missions seem varied and (mostly) fun so far. Besides the main story arc of finding your daughter, there are plenty of side missions in which you run jobs for people like the corrupt police chief, local mobsters, etc. Depending on what you do and who you work for, the outcome affects your reputation with that particular group. Alternately, you can just go freeform and shoot people, steal vehicles etc but keep in mind that the reputation system is at work here and you can quickly find yourself unable to even walk the street without being shot at.
2.) Inventory/Character system: Sort of a Deus-Ex/General RPG type of thing here. you have inventory slots which are finite and (I’m assuming) will slow you down the more you carry. Your body has zone specific damage which is represented by an icon in your inventory screen. You can heal these specific areas by dragging various substances over the icon from your inventory such as food or drugs (drugs heal better/faster but are addictive). Weapons can be purchased from a black market dealer or gotten off a victim from one of your missions. the weapons can be improved by purchasing upgrades and having them installed (for a fee).
3.) Terrain/Overall look: Big open seamless world as advertised. You can go into just about any building in town and look around and you’ll occasionally find useful items lying about. Art direction is competent (it sure looks like So. America anyway)
Like a lot of games this one could’ve used more polish but so far it isn’t bad taken at face value. Curiously, the menu has control bindings for things like “Team chat” etc which I’m assuming was going to be part of a multiplayer feature. This thing would be perfect for co-op if at some future point they decide to implement online capability.
Anyhoo, I’m only about 4 hours in so take all this with a grain.