Expected or not, Cyberpunk 2077 is such an excellent video game that it does not deserve to be played in the current conditions offered on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. Flaco favor has done CD Projekt to one of the most anticipated productions of recent times. How serious is the problem? We tell you about it in the analysis of Cyberpunk 2077 on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.
When the newspaper is sold it is easy to wrap up with the blanket of “it was seen coming” , but when the president of CD Projekt spends a whole month talking about the benefits of Cyberpunk 2077 on PS4 and Xbox One and they make a coherent video sample of the performance of both platforms that ends up being false, it is difficult to maintain the level of paranoia given how serious the hypothetical deception would be. It’s fair to acknowledge the obvious: we don’t deserve to play Cyberpunk 2077 on Xbox and PlayStation like this. The statement is more serious and sad when we consider that the software of the creators of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt had to be released with dignity on these machines from the beginning.
But to what extent is the state of the version of these consoles dire? Certainly, it should never have reached its Gold status like this, much less reached the shelves of the shops with all the work that remained to be done at the polishing level . CD Projekt Red is now trying to put out the fires caused by its incomprehensible improvisation, but it is doing it at the cost of its prestige and without counting on its partners or its clients , the great victims of the present story. They have promised that by FebruaryMany of the problems your buyers have faced in the last six days will have been fixed, but what exactly do you have to fix and what is preventing you from enjoying Cyberpunk 2077 on consoles in an optimal way? There is much to do .
And do you know what the worst is? That it has been inevitable for me to enjoy the benefits and virtues of Night City despite its problems on PS5. Does it mean that my eagerness to play it is going to justify my recommending you get the game in its current state? Not at all. That is why Cyberpunk 2077 on consoles seems to me one of the greatest tragedies experienced in the contemporary video game industry. The show’s wounds are deep and glaring, and I doubt that players will soon forgive the disappointment suffered in stores around the world. You will need more than a Trauma Team Platinum account. As a clarifying note, we will not address playable, audio or visual elements in this review. To know what awaits you in Night City in these sections, do not hesitate to read Alejandro Pascual’s analysis on PC . Today we want to focus on our experiences at the controls of the different console versions of the software, although, of course, the reviews of the title on PS5 and Xbox Series will be carried out when dedicated versions for them are released, this time limiting ourselves to comment how the game works on the new machines from Sony and Microsoft.
Night City on PS4 and Xbox One
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Despite the fact that, as we told you in the analysis of the Xbox Series and PS5 versions, these are not to shoot rockets either; The truth is that you will not need to see much to know that something is not going well on PS4 and Xbox One : the rate of images per second is absurdly low, especially incapable on Sony and Microsoft hardware to maintain 30fps at that in theory the action of the game has been blocked. Not to mention the constant popping of enemies and citizens of the city, who will appear suddenly armed to the teeth to prevent your advance in a fair way. It also doesn’t help that loading of textures and game elements runs so slowly – characters with invisible limbsWeapons that don’t appear and hits that don’t seem to appear are a constant trend. The sacrifices made to make the current state of the software a reality on the fourth generation of PlayStation and the third generation of Xbox have a direct impact on the playability as well , since the drawing distance prevents some shootings, for example, from being enjoyed in a optimal shape.
Cyberpunk 2077 on consoles seems to me one of the greatest tragedies experienced in the contemporary video game industry.
In static it might seem that the game does not have great differences with the PC version. It is in motion that Cyberpunk 2077 shows the worst of its port.
Lighting issues and flickering textures are common in Night City on PS4 and Xbox One. It excels in scenes at night or at heights where the game is unable to provide a couple of minutes of peace visual : there is always something ready to show the terrible state in which the software has been presented in stores. To the aforementioned we must add its poor resolution , which will require granulation to save some of its embarrassments, highlighted by the same title because of its sloppy antialising that blurs the image. We have also detected some problems with the AI of the game’s NPCs such as those already explained by Alejandro Pascual in his analysis and the occasional hang that will force you to restart, getting to lose the progress of the advanced if the autosave has not done the work that is expected.
Driving is unpleasant and annoying, making popping an uncomfortable enemy when it comes to driving around the city on the machines of the previous generation. The slower conversation scenes take place with a certain normality, but it is in the very common action parts that the software will drive you out of your boxes to the point of wanting to avoid them by all means. When the player unconsciously considers how to play a game to avoid technical problems, you know that there is something disturbing about the product you have purchased. You just can’t play like that . The general feeling at the console controls transports us to one of those poor ports that are released from Xbox One and PS4 gamesNintendo Switch : a second-rate version of a quality product that does not deserve the present treatment.
A Next-Gen experience on PS5 and Xbox Series?
The case of PS5 and Xbox Series is not so serious … but it is not trivial eitherThe case of the game on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series is not as serious as that experienced on PS4 and Xbox One … but it is far from trivial. The general feeling at his controls has been of small but very constant problems that have put in check the suspension of disbelief at his controls in which the immersion seemed total. Small visual and aesthetic nonsense: a flickering texture, an unexpected clipping between vehicles and pedestrians crossing the city roads or flying objects in the middle of the hotel lobby … nonsense, it is true, but so constant that the threshold of the anecdote turns into something habitual and annoying. So much so that it seems complicated that between one thing and another the much desired next-gen version of Cyberpunk 2077 makes its appearance soon. ¿ Scheduled for mid-year ? It remains to wait for new news, the fact is that the review of these machines will wait until then. What we can tell you is how the game moves right now both on PS5 and Xbox Series, which, remember, do not have native versions for them .
It is striking when playing both editions in parallel to see that many of the graphical errors are identical to each other. For example, at the end of the first mission, we will see Jackie go through an elevator door without flinching. I thought it would be a circumstance due to a problem in the game on PS5 or some circumstance that caused the bug, but I was dismayed to see that exactly the same thing happened on PS4. Does it denote that a lot of testing work has not been done due to the current conditions and the impact of the pandemic in Poland? It could be: it’s rare that these issues are so apparent early in the game, something the developers should have tried over and over again. It is an anecdote, but it illustrates well the situation of a game that, under no circumstances, deserved to be news for what it is.
CD Projekt will have to do some painstaking work on the details of the software to take advantage of the next-gen version of Cyberpunk 2077.
Regarding Xbox Series X , another of the hardwares where we have spent the last days playing it, the news is not much better than on PlayStation 5, although there are some nuances to clarify. For example, in the Microsoft game console we find two display options in the video options tab. This is either the Quality Mode or the Performance Mode . The video game is very clear exposing its possibilities “Choose between performance and image quality. In performance mode, the frame rate will take precedence over image quality. In quality mode, the image will look better at the expense of rate frames “.
And what if things are put first. Tested in quality mode we get the best visual experience , even so, somewhat far from what we expected from a game of these characteristics if we are honest and, of course, also a long way from what we have experienced on PC in the review that we published ago just over a week. However, everything has more volume, there are more post-processing effects and the general feeling is more resounding than what has been seen in some of the worst images that have been circulating in recent times. Of course, all at the cost of a rate of images per secondexcessively oscillating and capricious, and that forces not to recommend this modality. It is uncomfortable to drive or point in this mode because it lacks finesse and, as if all this were not enough, it is not even particularly stable, so the variations are really uncomfortable.
Much more interesting for a fluid experience is the other option, the one that rewards the FPS rate . Of course, the cost for the graphics is tremendously expensive. Everything is shown on the screen much flatter due to the lack of advanced lighting techniques that are applied here, and also to a lower presence of particles and post-processing effects that are what help to generate greater depth in everything that is seen in screen. It is more comfortable to play, but it is undoubtedly poor visually in any light. Apart from this, there are also some tremendously striking things that are easily verifiable such as the problematic popping(late generation of screen elements) that the title suffers to try to render everything at the required frame-rate. Nor did we achieve a constant or unbreakable 60FPS, with some drops as or more gross than in the other visual mode.
You will have to wait in console
It is fair to admit that Cyberpunk 2077 on console has taught us all a lesson, but it is no less true that we are facing an unmitigated tragedy for the premiere of one of the most anticipated video games of the decade . It is customary to kill the messenger in the sector, and although Alejandro Pascual only spoke of the PC version and warned actively and passively of the technical problems of the compatible version and its unquestionable virtues, it is true that we must sing the mea culpa . Why? For having relied too much on CD Projekt Red and its official statements, in which they came to ensure that console development was going from strength to strength, that “the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions worked surprisingly well”, show videos of these versions that do not conform to reality and, in short, be dishonest with its clients, publishing partners like Bandai Namco and with the media itself.
Another typical error of the console version: messages and calls that get stuck on the screen for minutes. A nuisance.
And it may be that in the coming months this review will be nothing more than an anecdote in one of the best games of the year, but the reality is that Cyberpunk 2077 is a video game of such superlative playability, narrative and sound quality that it does not deserve be played as we are doing today. It is not about putting a 3, a 4 or even a 0, as the community has been demanding for days, what it is about is that today we can only not recommend it. CD Projekt Red’s betrayal of its players and fans is serious, but much more serious is the stab they have nailed to one of the most exciting projects that have ever been developed in Warsaw. Being relatively playable and sometimes even enjoyable on PS5 and Xbox Series X, it is paradoxical that on PS4 and Xbox One it presents such a catastrophic and unworthy state , which leads us to release in this analysis our seal of Not recommended until things change in the Night City of these two consoles.
“Disappointment”
Cyberpunk 2077
3.1
Readers
(57)
A production of such quality does not deserve to be played as it is currently in physical or digital stores, since Cyberpunk 2077 presents an unworthy status on consoles of the old cycle today. The CD Projekt Red video game will require numerous fixes and patches in the coming months, at which point we will once again assess the technical benefits of a work that is exceptionally playable, artistic and sound, but that on PS4 and Xbox One gives too many headaches.
5 Things you should know:
- CD Projekt has hidden and lied about the PlayStation and Xbox versions.
- Technical issues prevent you from enjoying Cyberpunk 2077 in a decent way.
- The impact on the playable is unquestionable, which undermines its other excellent sections.
- A major fix is expected in February. Two busy months ahead in Warsaw.
- Playing it right now on the console is doing the video game a disservice.
