Does anyone know if the layoffs were all from the Rock Band division? I fear this might be true, but every time I ask on the Harmonix forums, my post gets deleted. :/

If you ignore ALL of the game that requires microtransactions, you will find that you have a robust fighting game with tons of characters to choose from, a great story, and many other options (multiplayer, AI, multiverse, etc).

When was the last time you got so much content for a $60 game?

Yes the microtransactions are stupid but they are OPTIONAL and so far I haven't felt the need to spend a single dime. You get TONS of game for NO extra money.

And if you don't like microtransactions in console games, stop spending money on them in mobile games. :)

I think the review is overly harsh. Maybe they're just trying to head-off the fanboys who say "All Gamespot ever does is give AAA games a 9 or higher". I don't think this game deserves that.

I played the 10hour trial, all single player, and I found a lot to love. GONE are the stupid sticky-cover problems. In/out of cover in a moment, rather than a long drag. Jump jets give you maneuverability never before seen in an ME game (finally!!!) Combat is 1000x better, more immediate, and challenging. GONE are the limiting classes... you can literally pick any skill from any tree, but there are benefits to focusing as well.

Are there bugs? Yep. What game doesn't have bugs on release? Welcome to the 21st century.

The character faces/animations are another story. Your main character is super easy to make look ugly, and very hard to make look good. 10 hair choices that look like the BEGINNING of last-gen? wow.

The initial party members are definitely bland. None of them stands out like Jester or EDI. I didn't think the voice acting was bad, I actually thought the ACTING was good. Maybe the lines could've been written better. I felt the character concepts could use work... thankfully the reviewer says the later party members are more interesting.

I would say,

--If you're after an awesome RPG, a 6 score is probably right. You're going to be disappointed, it seems like. There are several big mysteries (the scourge and the missing arks, etc), that makes me want to finish the game.

--If you're after a combat game, an 8-9 score is more appropriate. It's just damn fun, and you can build ANY combo of skills you like. I played on Challenging difficulty, and it was actually that... challenging (well the smaller fights weren't).

--If you're after an exploration game, I would also give that an 8-9. The solar system graphics are INCREDIBLE. There's a ton of stuff to do, and I'd rather have fetch quests that give me a reason to explore vs "let's drive all over this empty planet to maybe find ONE node to mine?" (anyone remember ME1????). I'm much happier to scan stuff for "research points" so I can research what I want, vs having to hopefully pull a rare out of a container (thank you, no), or running all over the citadel to buy stuff.

I could write a ton more, but just trying to be honest.

I refuse to play the demo. Every year they make it super easy in the DEMO to score, the gameplay seems awesome.

Then you get the real game and all kinds of B.S. is happening that never happened in the demo. It's essentially false advertising.

I hated FIFA16, I have no intention of buying FIFA17 until I hear whether the full game is any good.

Harmonix has said repeatedly that they are running very lean. RB4 is supposed to be the platform with which they release new content for the life of PS4/XB1. That leads to a very different launch ideology than a game that has a very limited lifespan.

They have plans to release tons of new content over time. But yes, I too was surprised at how lean the game is.

@GuilhermeHQ It's not just anti-piracy. It's keeping the control of item creation on the server side, to severely limit abuse/hacking.

Not everything game companies do is inherently evil.

I really have a hard time stomaching the complaints (though I do understand, not everyone has had as smooth as experience as I've had) I've played for over 50 hours since launch, and I only had two disconnects. Release day was rough, with a lot of server downtime, but I still was able to play 6 hours that day. Since then its been smooth running (for me). I'm running Windows7 64bit. Name me a single other online-only game of this magnitude that has ever gone off this smoothly.

No graphics problems, no crashes to desktop, no locking up of the PC. Heck you can even alt-tab with abandon and still come back to the game without a crash. ONE CLICK and you join your friends game... in seconds. The matchmaking is incredible. I play with my friend in Australia (I'm in the US) and we don't have noticeable lag.

I've had a few minutes of weird lag, about a dozen weird reverse-time-inducing lag. Nothing that ever got me killed. The auction house is painlessly easy to use.

The new skill system gives you flexibility to change when the situation develops (like I dunno, fighting diablo... or moving to nightmare?) Remember D2 when you got to level 40 and suddenly your character was untenable because you'd spent skill points into stuff that no longer kept you alive? Why do people miss that system???

Yes Normal difficulty is boring... I wish they had upped the difficulty there. Keep playing. Nightmare is much more fun. Can't wait for Hell.

@AndrewMoynes You will find a significant increase in challenge in Nightmare, if you ever bother to get there.

@Lord_Python1049 AGREED

@Cbordi

It's not DRM. It's hacker-prevention. If you have the server generate all of the loot you prevent idiot hacks of the loot generation.

I really don't understand all the griping about no online play. Every MMO in the world requires online connection. This is obviously not an MMO but the same theory applies.