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DriveClub Review Thread.

Protome

Member
Has Metacritic ever revealed how they weight reviews for their averages? Given almost all the reviews are >75, the few below it must get pretty heavily weighted to drag the overall score down that much.
 

Amir0x

Banned
The bolded nails it. If you can't drive then tough cookie, learn how to drive without your hand being held and try again. There is absolutely nothing wrong with a game like this. There is no way to brute force your way into being better or faster, its all down to your level of skill as a player.

It seems that over the last generation people have become so accustomed to games being easier, more accessible and generally holding their hand more that when a game comes out, throws all of those things out the window and simply says "learn now to play me or crash and burn" that it suddenly turns it into a bad game? Thats wrong.

Yup. And to be clear, there's nothing wrong with not thinking this type of racer is for you and finding problems with it. But you had better elevate the level of your criticisms above "a-herpity derpy old school racers are bad" and "open world is the wave of the future" and "why cantz I upgrade my vehicle waaahhh" if you expect your review to be respected and taken seriously. All I ask from any reviewer is that they demonstrate they even twenty five percent of a grasp on the genre they're reviewing games for. I mean Christ, I didn't think that would be so hard to ask for before this topic, but clearly even racing games can't escape the self-fellating nonsense that passes for games criticism these days.
 

kinoki

Illness is the doctor to whom we pay most heed; to kindness, to knowledge, we make promise only; pain we obey.
MSPR 3.5?
MSPR is 10/10 material.

It stems mostly from that I consider Motorstorm an action-series that just happens to be a racer. I liked the original because of the intense battles between bikes and trucks in an ever changing landscape.

Pacific Rift is an arcade racer and scaled back on the action I love with the original. I enjoy it a lot. The multiplayer was awesome (RIP) but the campaign drags due to crazy rubberbanding. It is a good game but the slight tweak in pacing makes me enjoy it less overall.

Apocalypse, on the other hand, went back to formula and made an action game again. I think it's a really good game and I wish they'd explore the concept again. One of those gems I come back to every so often just for the fun of it.

Driveclub, if I were to steer the subject matter back on topic, is an arcade racer and the sweet spot between Ridge Racer (RIP) and Gran Turismo (which I consider really good but awfully boring). I think it excels at its niche.
 
Retail was like $49 at Dick Smith for pre-orders btw.

Nah, it was 59. But I bought it online with a $15 off voucher when the price was $69, then emailed Dick Smith to take the extra $10 bonus off for preordering. Still, the season pass is $38... Not sure if I'm going to fork out for that.
 

Raonak

Banned
Yeah, okay, just played it for 2 hours, got 13 stars so far (atleast 8 races?)

I have no idea what reviewer's expectations were... but Drive Club plays really good.
Handling is very unique, doesn't feel arcadey like NFS, but not sim like GT. You are definitely gonna use your brakes around corners.
I quite like it. and think Jeff is legit crazy, if theres one thing it does really good, it's the handling.

The penalities were strange at first, had to go mentally re-write my impulses to go try sideswipe cars and go ramming into corners. I have no doubt this is gonna be useful online.

Sense of speed is VERY well done. That was a problem in GT where even fast cars felt slow, definitely not the case here, even with the starting lineup of cars feel fast.

Graphics look good, day/ngiht cycle is awesome, india is kinda underwelming tbh. And aliasing is kinda bad :/, you don't notice it while driving but yeah, the IQ isn't up there with infamous, or even killzone.


tl;dr: amir0x was right.


I sorta feel this game will do a good job at getting me trained up for GT7.
 

strata8

Member
Has Metacritic ever revealed how they weight reviews for their averages? Given almost all the reviews are >75, the few below it must get pretty heavily weighted to drag the overall score down that much.

Average of all the reviews is 74. Weighting must be what drags it down to 72.

90-100: 3
80-89: 17
70-79: 17
60-69: 5
<60: 4
 
DriveClub reminds me of Titanfall or any other MP shooters. Sparse on single player because the focus is on online racing.

What it does, Driveclub does well, Graphics is top notch, and the cloud system actually matters to gameplay. Handling is arcade-ish without being simple. Music is fantastic to drive to, if you opt for it.

I really like the focus on making everything simple. It's a game where I can just enter, and get into a race as quickly as I can. One of those games that you can go to when you just want to get away from Real Life for a bit. Fantastic.

I really love the usage of flags and flares to tell you how hard a turn is as well. The game doesn't hold your hand, but gently nudges you to the right direction when it can.

Of course, there's problems. The livery system could use an upheaval. I like my retro stylings but it should be custom. The fact that I can't just pick another plain color for my car before I drive it is annoying as well. Not having Replay yet is annoying, because some of the races I had were so much fun that I want to watch how I really did again.

Not to mention that the servers have been down for most of us for the last 2 days. Sony fucked up on that one. Again.

This game is the definition of an arcade racing game. Hell, I'll say it's perfect for dads, or people my age since honest to god it feels so good to just play a game without having distracted by something else. I don't think it deserves a 5, or a 7. Should be an 8 honestly, and most probably will be bumped to an 8.5 or 9 once the Replay and Weather update hits.
 
Honestly not really surprised by the reviews. Almost every thread for DC was exclusively praising the game for its graphics, Full weather cycle, realistic lighting, etc...,Barely anyone mentioned DC's gameplay, car handling, AI, customization options, you know, mechanics that makes a good racing game.
 

GHG

Member
I just glanced at the metacritic page for this game and I'm now wondering why some people only looking at the giant bomb review and taking it as gospel?
 
Listening to Jeff on the bombcast is hair raising, he even says they MIGHT add weather effects, implying they won't bother. Spends 2 seconds saying it looks good. Talks about Forza for 10 minutes and concludes that it plays old.

He sounds defensive and angry the whole time, I wish the others bothered to play it because they just sit there acting like Jeff speaks gospel. So infuriating, reminds me of when he dismissed demon's souls and monster hunter.

Evolution were on stage at an event (e3 or gamescom) showing it off. The last time I really watched these guys was at e3 last year, and they seem to only believe/rely on things that are told to them back stage or over heard by people they can't mention the name of, they appear elitist.
 
Bought it. Played a bit. It's cool and feels good to play. Just wish they could get their shit together and let us use the main focus of the game (the social stuff).
 
Honestly not really surprised by the reviews. Almost every thread for DC was exclusively praising the game for its graphics, Full weather cycle, realistic lighting, etc...,Barely anyone mentioned DC's gameplay, car handling, AI, customization options, you know, mechanics that makes a good racing game.

Nice assumption, too bad a lot of people that own it think it handles and feels perfectly. Try before you judge.

Just read a Dutch review that claimed ''extreme rubberbanding'' to be in the game..

Did not notice it, but the AI is aggressive.

Evolution were on stage at an event (e3 or gamescom) showing it off. The last time I really watched these guys was at e3 last year, and they seem to only believe/rely on things that are told to them back stage or over heard by people they can't mention the name of, they appear elitist.

Yeah they showed it off a few weeks ago, with the photo mode. Jeff was acting like we haven't heard about it in years.
 
Honestly not really surprised by the reviews. Almost every thread for DC was exclusively praising the game for its graphics, Full weather cycle, realistic lighting, etc...,Barely anyone mentioned DC's gameplay, car handling, AI, customization options, you know, mechanics that makes a good racing game.

Go to the OT now then. There's people praising the gameplay and AI in every page.

Why didn't we praise the mechanics before? Simple.

It was just released yesterday.
 

Raonak

Banned
Honestly not really surprised by the reviews. Almost every thread for DC was exclusively praising the game for its graphics, Full weather cycle, realistic lighting, etc...,Barely anyone mentioned DC's gameplay, car handling, AI, customization options, you know, mechanics that makes a good racing game.

Gameplay - good
Car handling - great
AI - havent had any problems so far, but im on easy events right now.
Customisation Options - bad
 
I love the AI actually, they are such bastards.

I know many hope they dont collide with you most of the time, but the AI actually play like most people online.
 

strata8

Member
More Metacritic stats -

80% of reviews scored 70 or higher. Of these, 54% were 80 or higher.

Of the 20% of reviews scoring below 70, roughly 50% scored above 60.
 

T.O.P

Banned
So Rapier didn't actually play Forza as expected, great stuff to start a day at work :D


It sucks that there's still no plus version though, I feel like a pure arcade racer might actually complement Horizon 2 quite well


Eager to try this
 
Yep 100% agreed.


ITT: People overreacting about reviews lol. Knack and Lair being bandied about. Bunch of children (not the low review scores, different opinions and that etc) but the fickleness and giving up.

Oh,and this game is not even close to Knack or Lair:
http://www.metacritic.com/game/playstation-4/knack - 54
http://www.metacritic.com/game/playstation-3/lair - 53


Do people even math/logic/think?
The problem is the level of hype fans created.

Just like Destiny.

What the fuck are people doing creating such levels of hype for a game nobody even has gameplay footage of? Or have even played a year after announcement?

Then when reality doesn't match the hype in the form of the game being okay, but nothing really special, people either can't believe their eyes or meltdown.

There isn't even anything wrong with the game being okay, but when an entire community (and many more) is already professing about what the game is going to be when probably less than 2% have even seen it with heir own eyes! let alone played it, you're fucked from the beginning.

I say this in every thread about games that have so much hype. SCREW HYPE.
 

Amir0x

Banned
I love the AI actually, they are such bastards.

I know many hope they dont collide with you most of the time, but the AI actually play like most people online.

Seriously they are right bastards. I feel like they are all aiming to kill me, and I love every second lol
 

Man

Member
European press is loving it seems (minus Eurogamer lul). Being compared to Dark Souls as in no hand-holding, rewind buttons etc.
 

Foshy

Member
Honestly not really surprised by the reviews. Almost every thread for DC was exclusively praising the game for its graphics, Full weather cycle, realistic lighting, etc...,Barely anyone mentioned DC's gameplay, car handling, AI, customization options, you know, mechanics that makes a good racing game.
Gameplay and handling is amazing though.
 
The problem is the level of hype fans created.

Just like Destiny.

What the fuck are people doing creating such levels of hype for a game nobody even has gameplay footage of? Or have even played a year after announcement?

Then when reality doesn't match the hype in the form of the game being okay, but nothing really special, people either can't believe their eyes or meltdown.

There isn't even anything wrong with the game being okay, but when an entire community (and many more) is already professing about what the game is going to be when probably less than 2% have even seen it with heir own eyes! let alone played it, you're fucked from the beginning.

I say this in every thread about games that have so much hype. SCREW HYPE.

Destiny had a public beta and alpha.
 
I love the AI actually, they are such bastards.

I know many hope they dont collide with you most of the time, but the AI actually play like most people online.

I wonder how much of Forza's Drivatars just gives them more of an excuse for aggressive behavior - people don't think of it as the "AI sucks" but "these virtual people from my friends list suck".
 

Tekku

Member
Honestly not really surprised by the reviews. Almost every thread for DC was exclusively praising the game for its graphics, Full weather cycle, realistic lighting, etc...,Barely anyone mentioned DC's gameplay, car handling, AI, customization options, you know, mechanics that makes a good racing game.

My feelings exactly. Much talk about the presentation but not much else. Not a very good sign.
 
Destiny had a public beta and alpha.

The hype for that game was already at gargantuan levels over a year ago and the early access couldn't stop it.

Not to mention that said hype made people want to believe that what they played was just a taster, not the entire framework of the game.
 

Foshy

Member
How is that true when I can't tune handling settings?

I think that's a real concern. I want to be able to do that.
Don't see how that is linked.

I've been playing it for 2 hours on my T500RS now and I'm really really enjoying it. Sure, options would be nice, but for me the driving model feels so good I wouldn't want to change anything, honestly.
 
The hype for that game was already at gargantuan levels over a year ago and the early access couldn't stop it.

Not to mention that said hype made people want to believe that what they played was just a taster, not the entire framework of the game.

Or maybe some people actually enjoy Destiny? Let's try to imagine.
 

Jimrpg

Member
Listening to Jeff on the bombcast is hair raising, he even says they MIGHT add weather effects, implying they won't bother. Spends 2 seconds saying it looks good. Talks about Forza for 10 minutes and concludes that it plays old.

He sounds defensive and angry the whole time, I wish the others bothered to play it because they just sit there acting like Jeff speaks gospel. So infuriating, reminds me of when he dismissed demon's souls and monster hunter.

His tweet the other day about doing taxes over playing the game should tell you something how he feels about the game.
 

OmegaDL50

Member
As I said in the OT for the game

This is like Godhand or perhaps Demon's Souls all over again.

Awesome game but with initial weak critical reception.
 

Antiwhippy

the holder of the trombone
Listening to Jeff on the bombcast is hair raising, he even says they MIGHT add weather effects, implying they won't bother. Spends 2 seconds saying it looks good. Talks about Forza for 10 minutes and concludes that it plays old.

He sounds defensive and angry the whole time, I wish the others bothered to play it because they just sit there acting like Jeff speaks gospel. So infuriating, reminds me of when he dismissed demon's souls and monster hunter.

No one else other than drew likes racing games, and drew doesn't have a ps4.
 
Go to the OT now then. There's people praising the gameplay and AI in every page.

Why didn't we praise the mechanics before? Simple.

It was just released yesterday.

Oh I completely understand, just trying to rationalize the discrepancy between reviews and the public reception. I am sure the gameplay is fine based on fans reception (Have not tried the game yet, will do once I finish my thesis), but maybe reviewers this generation is more critical about gameplay and social aspects of a racing game? Do not yet understand why the game has mixed reception among reviewers?
 

Hindle

Banned
I'll never understand why review scores mean so much to fanboys. As long as you enjoy the game then that's all that matters. But getting annoyed when other gamers take a different opinion, is silly.

And journalists are just other gamers.
 

Jimrpg

Member
Its a bit like Sleeping Dogs.

This is why we can't have nice things.

Sleeping Dogs reviewed pretty good but not amazing, yet it was my GOTY 2012 and I know a lot of people on GAF liked it a lot. Another game reviewers don't really give a shit about.

If its not Star Wars or Skyrim or GTA or Call of Duty or Halo or Lord of the Rings, reviewers aren't interested. Unless its a niche game like Tearaway then every reviewer and his dog is telling everyone to buy it.
 
The hype for that game was already at gargantuan levels over a year ago and the early access couldn't stop it.

Not to mention that said hype made people want to believe that what they played was just a taster, not the entire framework of the game.

I don't know about that. I noticed a lot of people were pretty indifferent towards Destiny before the public beta and alpha. Heck, I didn't care much for the game until I got my hands on the beta. I think it's a case where the sneak peak delivered the majority of the experience, and people were understandably expecting more out of the game. I get your point about people setting themselves up for disappointment with plenty of games, but in the case of Destiny at least, people had a good taste of what they were getting into. Unfortunately, the full game doesn't offer much beyond that. However, it's still an enjoyable experience for many, even those who agree with the criticisms.
 

Amir0x

Banned
Sadly people are going to skip this game because of a arbitrary number.

Yeah.

That's why I never read mainstream review outlets, and just select from my trusted GAFer list to read impressions from.

I have a pretty fullproof method too. Whereas most people add people to their trust list when they see someone agrees with them, I'm exactly the opposite. I only add someone to my list when I love/hate something and then I read a poster who passionately disagrees with my stance, but clearly has a commanding grasp of what makes a critique compelling and does a grand job at justifying their position. The mark of a great reviewer is when you can respect their position even when you disagree on the absolute strongest terms.

Works for me almost 100% so far, and works waaay better than just randomly selecting from GAF as well. :D
 
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