CD Projekt Red's Cyberpunk 2077 is guaranteed to go down in infamy. Not since Sonic the Hedgehog 2006 has a video game released as such a buggy, glitchy mess -- and Cyberpunk 2077 doesn't have being rushed as an excuse. Despite numerous hours of crunch time, the game was still delayed several times before finally being released to heavy criticism.
Shortly after release, gamers were quick to voice their complaints. The PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions were so unplayable that both Sony and Microsoft swiftly outlined return policies for the game, which was soon echoed by CD Projekt Red. Although the developer is promising patches to fix glitches, bugs and other assorted issues, the game's legacy may already be set in stone.
One YouTube content creator, Wood Hawker (via his channel BeatEmUps) has made an extensive, nearly hour-long review that goes into great detail about the game. Titled "CD Projekt Are All Liars," Hawker discusses the bugs and multitude of glitches, as well as the numerous other issues with the game. This includes the various features that were promised but never delivered in-game. He comes to the conclusion that, even setting aside all the bugs and glitches that can be fixed, Cyberpunk 2077 is simply a boring game that isn't worth the money.
What really sells this review is the parody song he tops it off with, performed to the tune of Billy Joel's "We Didn’t Start The Fire." Roughly four minutes long, this song sums up the major complaints with the game, from its glitches and bugs to the numerous crashes and the issues with the gameplay itself. This song has become such a hit with his fans that Hawker has released it as a separate video from the review. He's also put it on Bandcamp, with iTunes and Spotify releases to come in the near future.
It's a fun parody and worth the $1.29 to buy on Bandcamp. The music video itself is edited well and, under the Fair Use clause, is perfectly legal. It showcases Wood Hawker's creativity, and is a productive way to address his frustrations with the game. For Cyberpunk 2077 players, it perfectly outlines the issues players have experienced with the game. The music video takes snippets from Wood Hawker's gameplay (which he also streamed on Twitch) that show the various issues with the game, from vanishing assets to poor collision models to faulty AI behavior. Many of these are issues which should have been addressed early on in alpha testing.
Cyberpunk 2077 doesn't look like a game that has been in the works for at least eight years, nor does it look like one that involved employees spending months working in unhealthy crunch conditions. This parody song describes it all perfectly, summing up Wood Hawker's review in a memorable way that immortalizes CD Projekt's failure to deliver. Cyberpunk 2077 may eventually become a good game, but it will be a long time before anyone forgets its shoddy opening -- and Wood Hawker has done his part to ensure this.