Overall Score 9/10 so far. This has "Game of the Year" written all over it so well done.
PROs
- Story feels great. Characters and conversations are really good. Cutscenes are nicely done.
- Conversation systems works well
- Missions (at least the main Jace missions I've done) feel good.
- Objectives seem realistic
- Love the terrain
- Auto-crouching into cover feels very nice.
- Ammo and pickup indicators on the mini-map are a nice touch
- Weapons SOUND good. This is very important. Well done. Recoil feels natural too, while remaining manageable.
CONs
- "Carry" action is way too slow. It seems to take forever to pick up a body, and in a combat situation it feels too risky to try. I'm sure it was faster in Wildlands.
- Directional sound seems to be off when compared to the red haze on the mini-map. It's hard to determine the direction of an enemy in the open by sound.
- The weapon stats panel is arcane. Too many confusing icons that aren't intuitive, and it's hard to compare weapons because there are no numbers against the graph. There's even one icon I can't figure out at all (the one under damage - is it rate of fire (rounds per minute) or max ammo capacity? And if it's max ammo, where the heck is the RoF stat?? Sorry. This is poor design.
- What's the deal with weapon levels?
- What's the difference between handling and mobility? Is it important? I seem to remember most games picking one or the other as a term to indicate the ease of motion of a weapon.
- What's the deal with those three big circles / dots on the weapon page? It's some kind of perk thing but I can't see how to add a new perk there.
- Weapons look great and feel great in game, but the weapon management screens need a little more work to make them easier to understand - especially since players are going to spend a LOT of time there.
- What the hell are "Weapons on demand" in the shop?
Vehicles
Sorry, this is a real issue. They just don't feel right. Given how many other games manage to do this well (including Wildlands) I just don't understand why the vehicles here are so unsatisfying. Anyway, here are some observations.
- Motorbikes don't seem to have proper momentum. They stop almost as soon as you take your finger off the forward power key. This is unusual. I'd expect to hit the brake to bring a bike to a stop. Most other games let bikes continue to roll forward due to momentum when the gas is off. I'm using to using this method to moderate speed when I'm moving slowly, but here the bike just stops, and quite abruptly too.
- Most vehicles (including motorbikes) feel gutless and under-powered. Many seem to accelerate slowly and struggle to get up to much of a speed. They make be somewhat realistic but they're not exactly fun. I expect a dirt bike to be a thrill machine, but that's not what they feel like here.
- Helicopters feel too light and unstable. While this is quite accurate in real life, it's assumed that if your character can fly one at all, then he's probably fairly competent so the aircraft shouldn't feel like it's trying to kill you all the time. Again, Wildlands got this pretty right.
- Helicopters - even gunships - are disappointing weapon platforms. As I recall, Wildlands had real problems with this to begin with and had to release a patch for aircraft controls before they were really flyable and useful in combat. You've at least got a firing reticle working from the start so kudos, but trying to aim the thing and lay rockets on a target is very difficult, especially when some sniper is hurling .50 cal bullets into your fuselage.
Having said all that, I'm LOVING this game and can't wait to play it for real. I'm sure you'll get these little issues fixed soon. Well done team.