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Horizon: Zero Dawn | Review Thread

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jmaine_ph

Member
*10/10 review comes in*

"Are they on metacritic"

"No"

neogaf25rugz.gif
😂😂😂
 

Alo0oy

Banned
If Edge gives it a 7 it definitely goes down, I'd argue that with an 8 it'll go down as well, a 9 will turn it up to 89 since is closer to that right know.

I like this Metacritic game while we can't play the game, don't take it away from us/me. -_-

The game has 78 reviews, the score needs to be heavily slanted towards one direction in order for it to change.
 
I think taking people's attention away from the main point of the plot to do stuff that has absolutely nothing to do with it is a bad decision in any media, the thing with games is that when they do that it takes extra long because everything is longer in games.
Bioshock does this too, although I love the first one but they often close you the path to your objetive and send you on a quest of nothing: Wanna face Ryan? Oh sorry, power is out, go turn it on... in this place that's two maps away full of enemies. Infinite (biggest offender to me because it repeat the same thing that were frustrating in the first one), want to take a ride on this train to reach Comstock? power is out, go get electrical power... that's a whole storyline away with time travel included.

Again, I think is a bad idea, if you decide to do this, do it only for a short period of time unless you completely want to deceived us with what we think is the main point of the plot.

Yeah. Novigrad fucking draaaagged. It was like "Here's this huge world you've been exploring, now please walk up and down this street for several hours please."

Just wasn't interesting in the slightest, both from a narrative perspective and a gameplay perspective. Here's hoping Horizon doesn't fall for the trap.
 

Loudninja

Member
Some good stuff from that Pocket lint review
When the main plot kicks in and the open world map becomes truly open, you suddenly get it. Developer Guerrilla Games has crafted a fascinating fantasy setting quite unlike any other, and while the wealth of lore takes some getting used to, there is an extraordinary amount of depth that most game franchises take years to establish.

There are some awesome boss battles too. Artificial intelligence in Horizon is excellent, with the more common machines having enough nous to surround you when in groups or second-guess some of your tactics, depending on how complex a beast they are.
http://www.pocket-lint.com/review/1...wn-review-the-best-looking-game-on-ps4-by-far
 

Loudninja

Member
Everyone seems to love Aloy
The game's protagonist, Aloy, has a mysterious past that forms one of the games major plot points, and she manages to feel like a fully formed character as you unravel the adventure alongside her. She’s part Lara Croft, part Katniss Everdeen, with a little more coolness that comes from growing up in a world patrolled by robotic wildlife. She’s strong, independent, wry, and above all else, likeable. This is probably just as well, as you’ll be spending a lot of time in her world. This is a big game.

World design
With Horizon, Guerilla has somehow managed to construct a huge open world that is restrained and shows respect towards its players. Too many games, like Assassin’s Creed, Far Cry and the recent Tomb Raider games, mistake repetitive content - be it side missions, climbing towers to unveil more of the map, or collectibles - for quality offerings when in reality it’s no more than padding. Take a look at the map of the most recent Far Cry game, and you’ll notice it’s absolutely peppered with filler, with more ‘points of interest’ than Redditch needle museum.

Horizon still comes packaged with the standard tropes of the open world genre, but it’s a much more curated affair, with a variety of side missions and justified story reasons for existing beyond simply extending the playtime count. Yes, there’s collectibles too, but far fewer than you would expect in a game of this size, and they flesh out the game’s backstory. There are also towers here, which need to be navigated to fill out the world map, but considering they’re effectively huge mobile robot dinosaurs, they provide a refreshing change from anything you’ve had to climb in the past. There’s also very few of them.
http://www.independent.co.uk/life-s...ng/horizon-zero-dawn-review-ps4-a7589131.html
 

The Lamp

Member
Dark Souls isn't open world in the slightest. It's an incredibly linear game and is basically just a maze of corridors. That's not a slight against the game, but if you call Dark Souls open world, then Metroid is open world, Castlevania is open world, Final Fantasy 13 is open world, yadda yadda yadda.

It's an amazing game, and it's world is incredibly well designed both from an artistic and level design perspective, however, an open world game it is not.

It's open world/sandbox. There's no loading screens between areas and you can technically go anywhere.

Wait, before you respond, I just remembered I don't care to argue about this lol
 
It's open world/sandbox. There's no loading screens between areas and you can technically go anywhere.

Wait, before you respond, I just remembered I don't care to argue about this lol

It's neither of those things. If that's your definition for open world then Fallout, Witcher 3, Assassin's Creed aren't open world. Also neither is Dark Souls since you have a loading screen between the Asylum / Firelink and between Sen's Fortress and Anor Londo.

For reference, the standard definition for an open world game according to Wikipedia (citations are on the wiki page):

"An open world is a level or game designed as nonlinear, open areas with many ways to reach an objective. Some games are designed with both traditional and open world levels. An open world facilitates greater exploration than a series of smaller levels, or a level with more linear challenges."

Dark Souls is not "Non-linear". The entire game follows a critical path with the only option being the order you tackle objectives. The game does not feature open areas. The largest open area I can remember is Lost Izalith. There are not many ways to reach objectives. You can freely explore and hunt for secrets, but this has been an element in games since at least the Mario games. If we judge Dark Souls to be open world because of being able to backtrack then so is Resident Evil 1.

Also, if you don't care to argue, then don't. Kind of a dick move saying "Actually, you're wrong. But don't reply because I don't care." ^^;
 
So are the side quests and dialog choices meaningful or what? Seems to be one or the other depending on who you ask for something that should be fairly easy to answer
 

Loudninja

Member
Gamereactor UK 9/10

+ Looks stunning (especially on PS4 Pro), fantastic enemy encounters, incredible soundtrack, great design, compelling setting and overarching story.

- NPC facial animations aren't great (but a patch promises to address this), overall narrative sometimes overshadows Aloy's story.

Gamereactor Norway 9/10
Gamereactor Spain 9/10
Gamereactor Finland 9/10
Gamereactor Portugal 9/10
Gamereactor Denmark 9/10
Gamereactor Sweden 8/10
Did not see this but good to see they already working on it.
 

Speely

Banned
Hot DAMN it's not only good to see a big AAA game get a good reception from a wide swath of outlets, but also have it be a GG game. Good for them stepping up and delivering bigtime.

2017 off to a good start (for gaming.)
 

Inuhanyou

Believes Dragon Quest is a franchise managed by Sony
So are the side quests and dialog choices meaningful or what? Seems to be one or the other depending on who you ask for something that should be fairly easy to answer

apparently they have some effect but are not designed to allow for actual choice, just the illusion of it while teaching the player about the world and setting through question and answer
 
Yeah but Metacritic weights some sites differently and Edge has a lot of weight.



Yep, with Metacritics super top secret weighted scoring system, nobody can really predict what a different score would do to the metascore. You can only assume which sites have the weight to help anchor a score towards a specific digit.


That is why Opencritic is the best "critic."
 

Xaero Gravity

NEXT LEVEL lame™
It blows my mind that the story is getting so much praise. I expected that to be the weakest point of the game, but I'm so glad they finally delivered a story worth paying attention to.
 

The Lamp

Member
So are the side quests and dialog choices meaningful or what? Seems to be one or the other depending on who you ask for something that should be fairly easy to answer

Meaningful is subjective. I have said many times that the side quests reward you with lore, interesting character stories, XP, and often some good items to craft new gear with. The side quests are all centered around the main gameplay mechanics, no bizarre surprises there.

The dialogue mechanics come in two forms. Either they function as a sorting list to let you descend to different tiers of conversation topics and responses, which have absolutely no bearing on the plot. E.g. "ask about horses" > "where did you get horses" > "tell me about (person who gave you horse)"

The other type of dialogue mechanic is a 3-pronged choice between an intelligent/witty response, an aggressive/brave response, and a compassionate/disarming response. These happen at more pivotal plot points. It is unknown how significantly these could change the plot, but they give you freedom to have Aloy respond in different ways that elicit different ways to be remembered by NPCs.
 
Just realized Horizon has the same Metascore as my beloved The Talos Principle. Sadly, not a lot of people have enjoyed that masterpiece. If someone reading this thread somehow haven't played Talos, consider grabbing a copy after finishing Horizon because that game is awesome. I played it after The Witcher 3 and there's something about it that just makes it the perfect palate cleanser after big explosive lushful open world extravaganzas.

It will be worth it.
 

The Lamp

Member
It's neither of those things. If that's your definition for open world then Fallout, Witcher 3, Assassin's Creed aren't open world. Also neither is Dark Souls since you have a loading screen between the Asylum / Firelink and between Sen's Fortress and Anor Londo.

For reference, the standard definition for an open world game according to Wikipedia (citations are on the wiki page):

"An open world is a level or game designed as nonlinear, open areas with many ways to reach an objective. Some games are designed with both traditional and open world levels. An open world facilitates greater exploration than a series of smaller levels, or a level with more linear challenges."

Dark Souls is not "Non-linear". The entire game follows a critical path with the only option being the order you tackle objectives. The game does not feature open areas. The largest open area I can remember is Lost Izalith. There are not many ways to reach objectives. You can freely explore and hunt for secrets, but this has been an element in games since at least the Mario games. If we judge Dark Souls to be open world because of being able to backtrack then so is Resident Evil 1.

Also, if you don't care to argue, then don't. Kind of a dick move saying "Actually, you're wrong. But don't reply because I don't care." ^^;

I'm not being a dick I just realized after my post that I've had a long day and I really don't care to argue about that topic. I pick my battles with the little energy I have after work. No hard feelings.
 
It's neither of those things. If that's your definition for open world then Fallout, Witcher 3, Assassin's Creed aren't open world. Also neither is Dark Souls since you have a loading screen between the Asylum / Firelink and between Sen's Fortress and Anor Londo.

For reference, the standard definition for an open world game according to Wikipedia (citations are on the wiki page):

"An open world is a level or game designed as nonlinear, open areas with many ways to reach an objective. Some games are designed with both traditional and open world levels. An open world facilitates greater exploration than a series of smaller levels, or a level with more linear challenges."

Dark Souls is not "Non-linear". The entire game follows a critical path with the only option being the order you tackle objectives. The game does not feature open areas. The largest open area I can remember is Lost Izalith. There are not many ways to reach objectives. You can freely explore and hunt for secrets, but this has been an element in games since at least the Mario games. If we judge Dark Souls to be open world because of being able to backtrack then so is Resident Evil 1.

Also, if you don't care to argue, then don't. Kind of a dick move saying "Actually, you're wrong. But don't reply because I don't care." ^^;

I kinda disagree man. Of course it's not GTA, but the openness of its design is part of why it blew up. There is no single designated path to go to first after the first level, if some minimal and speed runs are to go by. If you are "gud" there are a couple paths you can go at the first bonfire I believe.

I can't wait to play horizon. These reviews are making it hard to play anything else. Anyone else have this problem?
 
Brian Altano from Podcast Beyond FB page...

So, Horizon: Zero Dawn. My God.
First off, anybody who talked shit on the PS4 Pro or called it a useless upgrade needs to pay Horizon on a Pro + 4K TV immediately. There's no going back. It's the best looking console game ever made. Yes, it even tops Uncharted 4's visuals, which I didn't think was even possible this generation. I had my moments of buyer's remorse as a I played through a bunch of old 4K upgraded PS4 games at the Pro's launch, but this is the new standard.

Also I'm 20+ hours in this weekend and plan to spend the entirety of this rainy San Francisco day playing Horizon, much to the chagrin of my loved ones. If it was gorgeous and sunny outside and Wu-Tang was performing at a Pizza Festival down the street from my apartment, I'd still stay inside to play Horizon.

I can't stop thinking about this game. I'm completely hooked on it.

I'm not as enthused by the story as many others are and the radar/mini map/mission structure can be a little cumbersome at times, but I am completely in love with nearly everything else. The world is stunning. A gorgeous blend of mechanically mangled used futurism and vast, breathtaking natural vistas that make me wonder how Red Dead 2 will compete. The enemy designs are exciting, brilliant and terrifying, like Dinobots meets Xenomorphs with vivid splashes of neon energy thrown around everywhere. Combat encounters are almost always completely fucking exhilarating and rewarding.

And did I mention just how completely fucking massive this game is? It feels like it takes hours to travel across this world with dozens and dozens of side quests and main missions to take on, hunts to conquest and secrets to untangle. This game might actually be too big. You will get more than your money's worth if you're looking to stretch your $60 as far as possible.

If you own a PS4, you need to play this game. If you're worried about finding the time to play this and Zelda in the same week, start shopping for neck braces or leg casts on Amazon and start faking an injury so you can get out of work for a week. It's that good and every PS4 owner owes it to themselves to experience this master class in game design.

Sony has another fantastic exclusive in its hands and it joins the likes of Bloodborne, The Last of Us and Uncharted as a franchise I hope we're experiencing for a very long time. And now, I must go play more <3

So, he was talking about Horizon in that tweet (that people were scrutinizing in the early impressions thread) after all.
 
Everyone seems to love Aloy

Oh fuck yeah! I love female protagonists for some reason. Everything I'm seeing about this just screeaaams like a perfect game for the type of games I enjoy. Big but not too daunting world, good story and lore, strong female protagonist, Far Cry-esque gameplay.

It's checking all the damn boxes.
 
I will be getting this game and play it as soon as the Switch launch stuff is over with, and I've gotten through Zelda. I'm particularly poor at the moment but as soon as I get the chance I'll pick it up. Looks like a super unique experience. I'm a little sad I only have the standard PS4 paired with a 4k TV, but I can't buy another console at the moment, especially one into which I've already invested money. Still, I would love to see the upgrade in person somehow.
 
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