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Horizon: Zero Dawn | Review Thread

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NHale

Member
Because would be super easy to push agendas giving zeros all around to make meta scores bad.

There's a reason they remove the highest and lowest scores when judging diving and figure skating. So a consensus can be achieved without the influence of outliers.

Removing an outlier review does not mean it doesn't worth as much as other reviews, it's just acknowledging that it is an outlier and does not represent the consensus.

I have a serious problem accepting that people would care that much about a metacritic score to implement a system that would disregard one person opinion just because it's more negative/positive than the rest. I think it's important to read and trying to understand every point of view even if someone doesn't agree with them.
 

Randomizer

Member
Really good scores, might pick it up in April. Slightly concerned after reading some of the reviews though. Seeing similar complaints about combat and encounter repetition along with the typical open world trappings.
 

Scrawnton

Member
A 5/10 is a barely competent game in the technical side of things touching being a broken game. Objetively at least this game should have a greater than that score only by being superior to the average from a technical point of view.Well, but is a tradition having such divergent scores in big launches, only it seems some reviewers are not ashamed of getting closer to give a game a score of zero for the sake of opinions subjectivity.
That does make a lot of sense in context. I noticed a lot of reviewers that do /5 reviews explore the scale a lot. If this game released two weeks earlier I'd be day one on a heart beat because I'm thirsting for something like this right now.
I'll probably still end up buying it day one and playing here and there until mid march, but this is the type of game I'd rather binge over a weekend.
 

Loudninja

Member
Arcade Sushi 9.5/10
Horizon Zero Dawn is compelling from the first minutes of the game, telling an incredible story and marking it with a deep crafting system and exceptional combat. Aloy is inspiring in her lead role, with the potential to become a new leading face in gaming for a long time to come. There are a few issues, particularly with moving around the map’s checkpoints, but nothing that will ultimately ruin the experience for anyone interested enough to see it through. Guerrilla may have taken a risk venturing into something new, but the move has paid off in spades as Horizon Zero Dawn is a triumph and a definite must-play for all PlayStation 4 owners.
http://arcadesushi.com/horizon-zero-dawn-review-playstation-4/
 

Alienfan

Member
So it's reviewing almost exactly the same as the new Tomb Raider games - a lot better than I was expecting.

Was the leaked ending true?
 

Riposte

Member
What exactly is your point? How do you think you are being perceived?
"Overly invested"? You have posted critiques of not only this thread, but the previous review thread on twitter lol.

I'm not a big fan of hype culture to begin with, I may be vocal on it, but I think this new trend of looking for old posts to laugh at it, when most are pretty benign to begin with, is a turn for the worse.

Let me put it like this: People seem to generally understand* it's really childish (and maybe ban-worthy?) attack reviewers for giving a lower score. I see "HEY LOOK WHAT THIS FOOL SAID IN SOME OLD THREAD!" to be around the same type of petty fanboy behavior. Passing it off as "friends having a laugh" is weird because that doesn't disqualify it from being something like console wars ("friends" are the fellow true believers) and the people getting ribbed are not in on the joke - or the thread for that matter. If it's just bumping old threads, it's petty in a goofy way. When people are picking out specific posts and naming posters, then it's a circlejerk.

*: Optimistic here, since there are many exceptions in review threads, including this one.
 
At first I was a little bit in disbelief of the scores being perfect scores, then I started rolling down the 9s and 8s. This game is probably a good game.
 
Not surprised to see these kinds of scores but I'll need to fully read some of these reviews however when I have time to see how it discerns itself from Far Cry as from what I've seen the games are very similar.
 
Looking at Sony franchises:

Bloodborne: Dystopian end times setting
The last of us: Post apocalyptic
HZD: Post apocalyptic
Days Gone: End of world setting


Are they trying to tell us something?

that's not anywhere near the amount of exclusive ps4 games so this makes no sense at all. if you take all the "end of the world/post apocalyptic" games out and make a list then yeah...but there are other games that don't have this setting. it's not like ALL their games are like that.
 

Altairre

Member
*sigh*

I'll say this one last time, and then I'm done explaining myself. First, my impression wasn't based off of two reviews but the conglomeration of a majority of the reviews I read. Story impressions varied vastly from each outlet, some heralded it as the best thing since TW3, others merely found it okay, and others found it severely lacking. Thus, the consensus that the narrative is purely amazing is not true. Second, I trust certain reviewers and sites more than others, Easy Allies and specifically Brandon Jones (a person whose taste in game I actually know) are going to hold more weight to me than whichever IGN person is brought out to review the game. Thus, when Jones says the narrative highs are few in the game and mostly only picks up until the end, I'm going to trust his opinion a little bit more than a person I don't know that simply says, "everything is great."

Third, story/narrative is difficult to critique and most game reviewers are either ill-equipped or don't care much for it in the first place. FFXV was given great review scores while reviewers either said the story was merely okay or barely decent. Now, whether FFXV is a "good" game is beside the point, I'm talking about what I like in a good game or RPG. Thus, when FFXV gets a 9/10 despite having a terrible, incomprehensible story it tells me where the reviewers priorities lied. As a result, as hard as it can be I prefer a more nuanced break down as to why a story was good or bad in a review. The USGamer review was impressionable to me because of this, a nuanced and detailed breakdown of the narrative faults by this specific reviewer. The same goes for Jones' review.

Okay. This is why I typically avoid review threads, too much fanboyism and stakes in the ground over games that aren't even out yet. I'm judging my thoughts based on the reviews I read, which is what reviews are for. My impressions of the game will likely continue to evolve past release. It may actually turn out to be a game I really enjoy after seeming more and hearing more, but at the moment, these reviews didn't not allay my concerns.

I think that is an entirely reasonable point of view. As much as I want the game's story to deliver I can't help but be sceptical. I am extremely tired of open world games like Far Cry that give you a ton of stuff to do yet so much of it feels completely meaningless and I'm still not sure that Horizon has enough to offer in that regard. I am willing to take the plunge because I like the setting, what I've seen of the main character and the (mostly) positive feedback from the reviews certainly helps (especially from Jim Sterling who is fairly critical of open world sandboxes as well).

That being said, if you trust Jones' judgement and if the story is that important to you then why wouldn't you wait for a price drop or until you've seen enough of the game to decide for yourself. It's good to have a couple of reviewers where you know how to interpret their opinions based on what is important to them and how that relates to your own tastes. Probably more helpful than a random 10 from somebody you don't know anything about.

Sure hope Horizon can surprise me in a way Watchdogs 2 did where I was expecting to hate the story and characters but ended up enjoying that part the most.
 
Damn. I was planning on picking it up after Breath of the Wild but now I'm not so sure. I can probably get it later this week... decisions decisions.
 

ISee

Member
What about Knack?

Knack isn't a game. Knack is the essence of gaming. Every game is just shallow and bitter in comparison to the beauty and sweetness that is knack. Knack is above all other games, we all know that, therefore there is no need to mention it. ;)

that's not anywhere near the amount of exclusive ps4 games so this makes no sense at all. if you take all the "end of the world/post apocalyptic" games out and make a list then yeah...but there are other games that don't have this setting. it's not like ALL their games are like that.

It was a joke and 99% of people treated it as one. But of course one person felt the need to rush in and point out that I cherry picked games. Thanks for that, we weren't aware.
 
Guys just please remember everyone isn't going to like the game and guess what...that's OK!

Quoting this pearl of wisdom again.
Sad that this needs to be even said. Every single great game this generation has had a 'bad' review or two. 88 meta is an amazing achievement and everyone who was wishing this game and it's developer well ought to be chuffed right now.
 

CoolOff

Member
88.

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TI82

Banned
This and Nioh area really making me want to dust off my PS4. Hopefully I can wait until tje summer, so many good PC games and the switch is coming ughh
 
Dammit, I wasn't expecting this to do so well now I'm extra tempted to pick it up. Zelda's gonna keep me busy way into April though, super happy for GG!
 

QaaQer

Member
Every single great game this generation has had a 'bad' review or two. .

I don't think gat v did even though it should have. Part of that probably has to do with the fan base. I doubt reviewers are willing to go out on a limb with a game series that has a slew of angry rabid fans.
 
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