Some VERY early impressions of the PS3 version..
First off, once again, why no customizable controls?! I finally looked up as to why this would be, and
saw this thread on Reddit, but honestly at this point I just chalk it up to developer laziness and/or ineptitude, and lord knows there's a LOT of instances of that with this game if Youtube is to be believed, but I digress. I'm just not a big fan on the PS3 of having to use the rear triggers for my gun drawing and firing.
May as well start off with the graphics. Overall, when viewed in action on a nice 48" LED the game doesn't look that bad, for the most part. For a last gen game it looks fine. Not as nice as GTA V or TLoU, but nothing that I would call bad. Most of the graphic complaints I have are on other things, such as the weird (or complete lack of) reflections, awkward use of lighting, and textures that just look rather off. And yes, you need to bump up the gamma settings as high as possible to get an enjoyable experience, unless you want everything to look dark.
I still haven't gotten completely used to the hacking mechanic, especially not when it comes to driving, which is also quite annoying. The driving controls are not very tight, and I found myself playing the standard metro style of bumper cars. The main character Aiden also doesn't control very well either, at times feeling like you're navigating a cow. I'll be able to speak to the combat/gunplay later as I saved my game right before a gang infiltration mission. It is slightly annoying that I can't fire from the hip, and also that I need to remind myself to put away my gun after drawing it. You'd figure something like that would be automatic, lest then you start going around and every gets worried and calls the cops as you have a weapon exposed in public. And finally, this game commits the same sin as LA Noire did where foot races are just prolonged borefest where you hold down the run button and watch the distance meter SLOOOOOOOOWLY get smaller and then you can take down the enemy. Seriously designers, you love to use QTEs so much, this is one instance where a QTE would actually be preferred. I'd rather be forced to hit a few buttons in succession as opposed to holding down one for an overly extended period of time.
Overall I'm still optimistic about this game, but I definitely understand at least some of the backlash this game has received. A game that was delayed so much should not be having some of the issues that it has. I wouldn't be surprised if Ubisoft did something like Gearbox did with Aliens: Colonial Marines and just release a massive ~1GB or larger patch to fix all the crazy dynamic graphics problems and tighten things up a bit.
