A pure time trials machine at full price isn't going to score that great, I mean I can understand the criticisms in that it's really focused on just time trials and no sense of working to complete something... Aka soul. The good news is it looks amazing and plays great... The latter being the most important for a racing game. It's be nice to build upon this
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DriveClub Review Thread.
- Thread starter Saty
- Start date
Muppet of a Man
Member
I think this game coming in at average to above average is fine. It's a first in a potential franchise, and they didn't take a lot of risks with the gameplay, even though it is a more than competent point to point racer. It's pretty and limited in scope. Sony seems to do this a lot in the beginning of generations while building out their first party tech.
Initial launch window games are many times pretty but limited in scope and don't take many risks in terms of gameplay.
Initial launch window games are many times pretty but limited in scope and don't take many risks in terms of gameplay.
GT have a racing game guy to pretty much do all the racing game reviews (Bloodworth).
I feel that this is exactly what is happening but we weren't told it was, in our minds we still view it in that same 7 - 10 scale where 7 is a pile of crap but I think that review sites have had a clean slate to do more honest reviews that use the entire scale more effectively.
Natureboy99
Banned
Interesting scores. I wonder how it will sell. I also wonder if this game suffered from some political media heat. It was severely delayed, embargoed, and set up as a Forza killer. This is the kind of drama gaming media lives for.
The dialogue will continue on as this gets weather and tons of content over the next several months. A sequel seems likely too as they definitely have room to improve here.
All that said, I find some of the really low scores to be emotional and amateurish, or just click bait. Nobody can deny the amazing technical accomplishment of this game. The devs really forged some new paths here. The fact that it didn't come out perfect day one is not a sign of a bad game to me. Personally I want to see the next level of gaming and can't stand the devs who don't invest or don't challenge themselves to take it to the next level.
Driveclub might be low in content, missing features day 1, but they clearly have laid a foundation for great things to come. Imagine another 2-3 years of development on this engine with VR being incorporated, or more open world structure on the next one...
The dialogue will continue on as this gets weather and tons of content over the next several months. A sequel seems likely too as they definitely have room to improve here.
All that said, I find some of the really low scores to be emotional and amateurish, or just click bait. Nobody can deny the amazing technical accomplishment of this game. The devs really forged some new paths here. The fact that it didn't come out perfect day one is not a sign of a bad game to me. Personally I want to see the next level of gaming and can't stand the devs who don't invest or don't challenge themselves to take it to the next level.
Driveclub might be low in content, missing features day 1, but they clearly have laid a foundation for great things to come. Imagine another 2-3 years of development on this engine with VR being incorporated, or more open world structure on the next one...
Teletraan1
Banned
Scores are exactly what I expected. The text as well. I could have wrote half these reviews 6 months ago having never even played the game.
Birgitte2004
Member
Sigh. It does not work this way, even though it should.
For example, out of 67 PS4 reviews on Gamespot, only 15 have a 5 or below.
That means that 5 is terrible, not just mediocre/average.
By giving Driveclub a 5, they are saying that there are only 5 games out on PS4 that are worse than Driveclub.
This myth that "5= average/mediocre" needs to die, until reviewers actually play by those rules.
Miles Quaritch
Member
I have to disagree. How is framing the lack of a rewind button or getting a penalty for cutting corners as negatives being informative?
It's only real purpose is to show that the reviewer let their own opinion/bias of how racers should be interfere with their review. They didn't consider how the game might benefit from the lack of those features or how those might be seen as positives, they merely labelled them as negatives/cons because it suits their own opinion of how racers should be and that's not being informative.
That's writing something off because it doesn't have feature X or tries to encourage you to actually be good at something, which is just ridiculous.
My bad, I misread the intent behind the gif.
Allez Phill
Banned
It got to the point where anything/anyone not in favor of Driveclub were drawn out in the thread, and smacked around for a few pages. I made a comment of the game lacking features and questioning if there was anything else other than the evident racing in the videos. My post wasn't really structured well, but what I asked in the end was clear. I got called a Forza fanboy because of one post that I made in the FH2 thread and mocked/made fun of. Extreme enthusiasm got in the way of realistic expectations when it came to this game. Many people said that this is the game they wanted, and then they mock the reviewers for wanting something fresh and new.
Red Chocobo
Banned
Bloodworth "Blood" knows his shit. He's a big racing game fan.
He obviously is joking, but that statement has a small amount of truth to it. Sure, a game that gets a critical average of 70 isn't a bad game by any means, but one that gets a 90 is likely to be a far more exciting, stand-out product.
Interfectum
Member
Exactly.
Some people like it, some people don't. This is how actual critique should be. Very rarely should a game get 9/10s across the board. We want games to be niche and to be divisive. It seems like game reviewers are finally brave enough to use the full 1-10 scale. Lets let them use it and get past the obsession of making sure everyone agrees with everyone else.
For many reviewers, the IGN scale is still used, where mediocre games are in the 70s.
When developers can lose bonuses and fold/be downsized over their metacritic (and subsequently sales) not meeting expectations, I think this worries people, and why a 70 is something to be worried about. Not that we know that Driveclub has such a clause or whatever, but metacritic permeating contracts and having real effects on developers is nothing new.
Nothing wrong with 7/10 games though. The more AA games we get, the better IMO.
graywolf323
Member
No romance
if only they had made it a dating sim instead
edit: I'm not really big on more simulation focused racing games but will definitely give the PS+ edition a try
Sorry. I was expecting 88-90 metacritic. Guess I was wrong on that one.
But my comment is mainly directed at the euro gamer and game spot scores. They are usually pretty reasonable. Was surprised at the 6 and 5. They talk about the game being bland. Yeah racing is a bit like that, a bunch of menus and then racing... GT, forza, motorstorm, PGR are all like that. Guess we can't have a standard racer in this gen then or we need shit exploding everywhere like split/second or motorstorm apocalypse.
I've got the game on pre order and it's downloading at the moment, so looking forward to trying it. Will be writing a review on it too.
GeordieMark
Member
That's cool, but there are better racing games around. GT and Forza do racing like that and they do it really well.
DC just isn't as good as either of them, and has less about it in terms of content, so gets lower scores from a lot of reviewers.
Being 'old school', unless done absolutely perfectly, is never going to get you a 9 or 10/10 game with game reviewers these days. It'll get you a solid score, like 7 or 8, which is what DC seems to be getting most of. That's not a bad score.
AndrewDean84xX
Banned
I dont understand the comments about not relying on or trusting reviews, after a game doesn't review incredibly well. Why come into a review thread then? To hope your bias is confirmed good?
I also love the line, "I trust gamer impressions." Because those are never biased or justify their purchases.
I don't know. I guess I'm just tired of people flip flopping with reviews, gamer impressions, metacritic, etc.
/end rant
I also love the line, "I trust gamer impressions." Because those are never biased or justify their purchases.
I don't know. I guess I'm just tired of people flip flopping with reviews, gamer impressions, metacritic, etc.
/end rant
Bloodworth
Member
ha ha so much hype for my opinion, I hope I don't let anyone down
bananafactory
Banned
Don't really agree with this. GT, Forza, and Driveclub all offer different experiences, and do their own thing well. I played a few hours of Driveclub last night and it's just as good as the others you mentioned.
75 for a big-name first-party exclusive is absolutely disappointing. I guarantee you Sony and Evolution are not going to consider that score 'respectable'. Score a 75 on your exam and nobody is going to applaud you for it, either.
Aggressive AI doesn't necessarily mean difficult.
It's a subjective opinion, all reviews are. I'm enjoying Driveclub, but I find the corner penalty and lack of a rewind button to be negatives too.
swazzyswess
Member
You and me both, brother. 100% agreed, especially the bolded part.
AgentP
Thinks mods influence posters politics. Promoted to QAnon Editor.
You should go count the number of games that scored that well in the last few years, your expectations are too high.
Coulomb_Barrier
Member
Gamespot, Eurogamer and Polygon's scores are no surprise at all, given each website's leaning.
Well personally after trying it at EGX I didn't think the game was what some people were hyping it to be.
The handling didn't feel anything special, I wanted to try with a wheel but it didn't feel much above NFS: Rivals on a pad. Yes it looks amazing but I wasn't wowed by the rest, especially the AI which I was hoping was just shite because of the EGX build but appears to be problematic. Aside from that it still was very serviceable however, which many of the reviews are saying.
It's still on my to get list once I grab a PS4 next year, as I'm a racing fan and will enjoy the game lots, but I'm not expecting it to be the best racer ever, nor do I mind that it isn't. Decent racers are decent racers after all.
Flachmatuch
Member
Well I see pretty good consensus on games I know are excellent, like Diablo 3 or Guacamelee or Minecraft. And "accidentally", so many games this have the same issues: high production values, refined presentation, good technology, so-so fun. This gen is just a bit crap, this is why last gen ports like D3, SD or GTA5 are better than any exclusives.
This is not about "leaning" or "expectations" or "elimination of the 7-10 scale" or whatever bs. It's just that a lot of money and super high tech do not make a good game yet.
Haha... so true. It's almost like a binary decision. Dat metacritic color.
psn
Member
Funny how many reviews mention the great sense of speed, gameplay and graphics. The physics are between sim and arcade and feel great.
You ask the right question: What else do you want in a racing game?
According to some reviews GTA V would be a better racing game.
GeordieMark
Member
For a few games maybe, but it lacks the depth of both of those games.
Both Forza and GT can be played like DC, by just picking a car and trying to beat a lap time, but they also have a deep sim side that DC doesn't.
That's why DC isn't as good in my opinion. It lacks depth compared to the best modern racers.
digoutyoursoul
Member
Spot on
InsaneTiger
Member
The Destiny of racing games
If that is what is happening, I'd like to understand exactly how games like Titanfall made it through unscathed.
It'll sell a shit load of copies?
I've argued before that being an average/mediocre game is basically failing anyway. WHY bother with your game when I can bother with those that have been considered good or even great unless the game's offering something unique? It's kind of like going for really bland food, if it's not very healthy for you and you're not absolutely starving it's pointless to eat. In this case I suppose it's graphical eye candy on a still mostly new system, though we can scratch that itch with the Plus trial then maybe a rental should you have GameFly or Redbox pulls the stick out of their ass sooner than later. And admittedly there aren't many racers yet and if you tried the Crew beta and didn't like it and you want something with more of a sim flavor this probably IS your best bet for now, but anyone either with a PS3 still or a 360/XB1 may not have too much reason to bother with this over the alternatives.
MoGamesXNA
Unconfirmed Member
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KnightHart
Member
These reviews seem all over the place. Now I'm even more interested in playing Drive Club. I played 3 races of FH2 and DC and I actually found DC more enjoyable. Liked the driving more at least. I guess I need to play more of DC later today
If it's disappointing then why worry about this games reviews? You got other racing games coming out, not seeing why you have to make sure everyone knows that 75 is an average score, I'm pretty sure people already know that. Not every racing game is gonna be everyone's cup of tea, and thankfully this year you got tons of choices with FH2, Project Cars and The Crew.
For one thing, I'm happy to see reviewers making full use of the review scale for once. Hopefully this keeps up this whole gen and isn't some thing they are doing for the start of the gen before they go back to their previous bullshit.
blitzcloud
Banned
at least the game has a free alternative for those in the fence. It's good that people don't really have to buy and regret.
It also works in opposites.
"I only care about GAFs impressions." Mmm, was it GAF impressions that sent Shadow of Mordor to #4 on Amazon?
I find it weird how reviews seem to relate 'lack of soul' with 'all it wants me to do is beat my best time' - That's exactly what I want? Beating your best time is real soul.
Miles Quaritch
Member
In what way do you think they negatives?
The lack of a rewind button is perhaps the best thing ever. It's ruined racers in my opinion.
As for the cutting corners penalty, what's wrong with the game trying to encourage players to become good at the game instead of using shortcuts or trying to cheese their way through a race.