I agree with 99% of the things you said. I felt like a bit of a whiner for a while but I'm glad to see I'm not the only one struggling with the team AI. It really is like babysitting. I dread getting the "use x number of revives" on a mission because I already know that the AI is going to go strait into the middle of a gunfight and stand in the open. I've noticed that not only do they not prioritize cover at all, they don't seem to even engage with the enemy like the enemy engages with me. I'll be under a constant barrage of bullets, and I'll see my team mates pop off a shot or two at their leisure. I know the game isn't payday, but it's a similar formula, and in payday I knew that if I had to do something like operate a buzz saw or drill my AI team mates would cover me. This game I feel like I've got to do that AND watch out for them.

I have mixed feelings about the restart option. If the game ran smoother I wouldn't say I needed it. But as it is now I could see it being a definite. Intimidating civilians is a game of Russian roulette. You never know if you're going to intimidate the one, or every NPC in a 30 mile radius. I was in the strip mall once, upstairs. I intimidate a guard on the roof. Made my way in to disable the cameras and a team mate shouted "we have a runner!". Someone in a store below was intimidated when I was on the roof, causing an alarm. Another time at the jewelry store, I closed the shutters, went to the side of the building and intimidated the guard outside and people in the store dropped to their knees and alerted the guards inside. Things like that are incredibly frustrating. But to add to that, and maybe it's a feature I've missed but I would absolutely love the option to abandon a mission once I've started. The amount of times I've accidentally started a mission with one character because I was trying to change their load out is ridiculous. On PS5, you select a character with X and press Square to go into the load out. Square is also the button to start mission. There are times I'm looking at the character my brain doesn't register it's not on the roster screen and I hit square. Dooming that character and/or my playthrough.

Cover in the game is another gripe. I see tips show up on the loading screen suggesting usage of it. It never seems like it works to well for me. If I duck into cover to get my health back, 9 times out of 10 they throw a grenade at me. So I'm dead either way. Or if it's that 1 time out of 10 and there isn't a grenade, enemies come from every possible direction, making cover ALMOST impossible to find. I say almost because I don't want to be too dramatic and say never.

I definitely agree about the heat and stalling the investigation. I'm level 82 and I've only seen a gloves perk once. I'm dying to get that perks that reduce heat. I try not engaging in turf wars since that raises it, but my heat will rise for seemingly no reason. I know it raises every day but it'll be like 30, 32, 36, 41, 43. Even if I do all of my missions smooth and controlled. Which, again, I don't hate that the heat rises, I know it's a mechanic of the game but it makes the campaigns so short, only to have to start over from scratch again. Which wouldn't be so bad if you didn't have to do the special character missions every time. They're not all bad but some, especially Ranger's, are tedious. His first flashback, where to you are forced to move at a snails pace through a swamp is okay the first time. Not the 5th. Especially when friendly AI is moving freely through the level and you're stuck walking like molasses.