9 people found this review helpful
5 people found this review funny
Recommended
0.0 hrs last two weeks / 49.0 hrs on record (32.2 hrs at review time)
Posted: 28 Aug, 2015 @ 8:09pm
Updated: 7 Sep, 2015 @ 7:12pm

In short (lazy)

Pros-
-More lore; extensive and inclusive
-Good story
-Excellent character story missions
-Improved Matrix = confirmed
-very interesting assortmant of characters, especially your crew mates
-exceptional (if rare) voice acting
-Impressive and plentiful NPC portraits
-♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ *GREAT* dialogue
-Shadowland BBS
-Integration of Easten culture into story
-You can change the name of the ship
-Dialogue that is ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ *GREAT*
-Poetry Slam
-Reliable Matthew (stay beautiful, Cool Blue Jazz)
-Ghost noodle machine

Cons-
-The generic player models
-Some NPC's in the hub don't really stand out
-Ghouls r 2 sp00k
-Main hub is very large
-Reliable Matthew (get it? Con? because he's a con artist? whatever.)

In long (look at you, reading and stuff)
To start out with, I shall give a basic synopsis of HK (no spoilers).
You recieve a mysterious message from an old aquaintence, asking you to meet him in Hong Kong, a Corporate-ruled metropolis, where the neon is bright, and the shadows are dark. You end up leading a group of mercenary criminals (Shadowrunners), each with their own talents and personalities. As you progress, you investigate the reason for the message calling you here, and even the city itself, which seems to be affecting everybody in a negetive manner.

Now, to the part where I tell you how this game is the bee's knees, and how it stands against the previous entries.

Lovely game, a real improvement from Dragonfall, much less Returns. HK goes deeper into Shadowrun lore, with the inclusion of the HMHVV and extensive references to events, including the Desert Wars, and the activity of dragons other than Loftwyr or the Feuershcwinge. The Matrix is improved, having more of a fluid motion aspect rather than a near-constant turn-based navigation like the previous enstallments. Many of the NPC's have custom portraits in the dialogue, lending more immersion to the experience. Speaking of dialogue, the dialogue is great. I mean, it was great in the last two, but i think that the dialogue in HK is *GREAT*. Each Character and NPC has a story (academic etiquitte if you want some more dialogue options with your team, especially Ractor), and your opinion of those characters change the more you interact with them (looking at you, Reliable Matthew, you beautiful SOB). Unfortunatly, there are some long-winded characters that aren't very memorable, i.e. the talismonger in the Five Elements (When talking to her, i just read the last couple of sentences and still got what she was saying). Thankfully, a majority of characters are more interesting and are well-worth talking to, not only for information, but also for the simple pleasure of it. Not only when interacting casually with characters is the dialogue spectacular. During missions, the dialogue between people is just as important as putting a hole-shaped hole in their head. When you hear, "We've eaten burritos tougher than you", it really makes you think about the bigger things, you know? Not to mention the ghost noodle machine, which made me contemplate human mortality and the transcending of our fragile bodies to become a part of something greater (seriously tho, ghost noodles super sp00k). As for the missions, the main story missions are good, but I always found myself wanting to finish as many miscellaneous runs as I could. I would actually argue thet the misc. runs are more enjoyable than the main ones, in particular the missions from your crew members. Nevertheless, HK is an excellent entry in this interesting series.

With ghoul and deathless
I stand, cutting foes like wheat
Not to mention, rats

Verdict: Novahot
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