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Horizon: Zero Dawn | Review Thread

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G

GeeTeeCee

Member
I was expecting good reviews (I'm one of those people who genuinely likes the Killzone franchise, but acknowledges the faults that other people might not like so much), but when I opened the thread I didn't expect to see so many high-scoring reviews of that calibre.

I'm gonna have to storm through the second half of Yakuza 0. The release schedule at the start of this year is insane.
 
B

bunkitz

Member
Feel like I got a bit spoiled reading some reviews. GamesRadar, for one, mentioned what a Cauldron is. I've been doing my best to avoid finding that out, but oh well. Not that big of a deal.
 
K

KyleOnTheRun

Member
JayB1920 said:
I wonder when they will be allowed to talk about them. Seems strange as they seem to be one of the better parts of the games side content.
Click to expand...

Livestreams, Let's Plays, and gameplay clips without editorial are embargoed until Monday the 27th at 8 am PT.

We're still being asked to respect the same spoiler guidelines for the Feb. 20 review embargo when posting such content. At that point, I'd actually just encourage you to play it for yourself, just in case.
 
N

nelsonroyale

Member
BRocknRolla said:
The very notion of an "objective review" is a fallacy. People may attempt to do so as much as they wish, but it simply isn't possible.

A review is a personal judgment. Entertainment products are necessarily going to involve emotional responses, personal standards, etc. It's impossible to remove these, or remove enough of them, to somehow build a "fair" review.

As for using a set of "criteria and weighting," these things are most certainly still subject to personal standards unless you've set some sort of arbitrary, "Graphics are worth 20% of the score" kind of standard. There's zero logic to that kind of approach.

We can agree or disagree with someone's review, but short of proving that someone a) didn't play a game, b) played a game incorrectly (as in, didn't understand how to actually experience the product and therefore couldn't honestly evaluate it, and even then, there's room to debate whether that could still be a valid take), you can't claim, "Someone's emotions influenced them too much" and dismiss a review.



While I can see dismissing a review for not being "professional," I'll restate that making a review that is "professionally objective" is an impossibility.
Click to expand...

Objectivity in reality is a fallacy sure, rigour isn't. In say the USGamer review, the use of language for instance is rather loose. It is painfully obvious that the reviewer didn't enjoy the game, which is fine. However, to me there was very much the impression that her overall lack of engagement with Horizon, coloured her appreciation of various aspects of the game, which she generally dismissed with little analysis, i.e., the soundtrack, visuals, etc. Now, these don't particularly need to be worthy of praise to her, but she she isn't really writing for herself is she? Or maybe she is...There is a review, I think it is by Paste? Posted later which also graded the game low - a 6. Now, I doubt my opinion will allign with much of the criticism therein, but I feel it is a better argued and backed up, and brings up some interesting insights regarding the presentation versus the treatment of nature in the game.
 
X

X-Frame

Member
Game looks too good to have so much stuff on the UI. I think at first I may use the Dynamic UI settings to get used to everything but then see how much I can get away with turning off for good.
 
T

Thebeardofknowledge

Banned
Ricky Ricardo said:
"This game deserves nothing less than 8s. The fact that the reviewer disagrees with me denotes her lack of professional objectivity."
Click to expand...

Im not saying it deserves all 8's ,9's or 10's

but for fucks sake there is no way this game deserves a fucking 5

they have scored these higher

Assassin's Creed Unity
Street Fighter V
The Sims 4
No Man's Sky
Battleborn
Evolve
Call of Duty: Ghosts
The Order: 1886

Which is a fucking travesty
 
T

TimeEffect

Member
SandwichMeat said:
Titanfall 2. Jeff also gave Killzone 2 a 5/5
Click to expand...

You know, I think GG's popularity and love will bring in a ton of new fans... and that we need Killzone 2, and just Killzone 2, and just the campaign, remastered.

I want to play through it again because I have an itching for that game's enemy encounters and gunplay.

Let people know Killzone 2 was one of the GOATs.
 
C

CrimsonEclipse

Member
Got a $20 PSN card I've been saving, gonna pre-order the digital deluxe edition tonight. Been looking forward to this since it's reveal, glad to see it's well received.

This, Zelda: BoTW, Nioh, Halo wars 2, and Fallout 4 (X1) gonna keep me busy for a good bit.
 
K

KyleOnTheRun

Member
X-Frame said:
Game looks too good to have so much stuff on the UI. I think at first I may use the Dynamic UI settings to get used to everything but then see how much I can get away with turning off for good.
Click to expand...

When your health is full, Dynamic will hide everything except the compass. Otherwise, your health bar and item menu appear during combat.
 
L

Lifejumper

Member
Thebeardofknowledge said:
Im not saying it deserves all 8's ,9's or 10's

but for fucks sake there is no way this game deserves a fucking 5

they have scored these higher

Assassin's Creed Unity
Street Fighter V
The Sims 4
No Man's Sky
Battleborn
Evolve
Call of Duty: Ghosts
The Order: 1886

Which is a fucking travesty
Click to expand...
Different person. Different set of tastes.
 
F

Fancy Clown

Member
TimeEffect said:
You know, I think GG's popularity and love will bring in a ton of new fans... and that we need Killzone 2, and just Killzone 2, and just the campaign, remastered.

I want to play through it again because I have an itching for that game's enemy encounters and gunplay.

Let people know Killzone 2 was one of the GOATs.
Click to expand...

Just the campaign?? Bruh, the multiplayer is the good part of the game.
 
P

Pachinko

Member
mreddie said:
That USGAMER gamer seems like Armond White reviewing Toy Story 3
Click to expand...

I didn't get that vibe from reading it at all myself. People can dislike a game folks. It was a well written and concise teardown of what that particular person didn't like about the game - side missions felt emotionless and gamey , main quests were all structured identically , Storyline has too many exposition dumps and the basic gameplay has too many widget hunts. It looks great and generally plays well control wise but Casey found it all a boring waste of time for at least half the experience thus it got half a score.

Instead of dwelling on the 1 scathing review focus on the 99 good to great reviews from people that didn't get burned out playing through a story they didn't care about.
 
J

JayB1920

Member
KyleOnTheRun said:
Livestreams, Let's Plays, and gameplay clips without editorial are embargoed until Monday the 27th at 8 am PT.

We're still being asked to respect the same spoiler guidelines for the Feb. 20 review embargo when posting such content. At that point, I'd actually just encourage you to play it for yourself, just in case.
Click to expand...

Oh ok thanks. I guess it makes sense to avoid spoilers.
 
T

The Pope

Member
USC Trojan said:
I really enjoyed the us gamer review.

A lot of people get angry at dissenting opinions which is really unfortunate.
Click to expand...

But a 5 is usually given to a broken terrible messy budget game. Game review scores are positively skewed with everything below 70 being atrocious. 50 is not average - it is terrible..even USA gamer subscribes to this principle historically.
 
B

BRocknRolla

Member
nelsonroyale said:
Objectivity in reality is a fallacy sure, rigour isn't. In say the USGamer review, the use of language for instance is rather loose. It is painfully obvious that the reviewer didn't enjoy the game, which is fine. However, to me there was very much the impression that her overall lack of engagement with Horizon, coloured her appreciation of various aspects of the game, which she generally dismissed with little analysis, i.e., the soundtrack, visuals, etc. Now, these don't particularly need to be worthy of praise to her, but she she isn't really writing for herself is she? Or maybe she is...There is a review, I think it is by Paste? Posted later which also graded the game low - a 6. Now, I doubt my opinion will allign with much of the criticism therein, but I feel it is a better argued and backed up, and brings up some interesting insights regarding the presentation versus the treatment of nature in the game.
Click to expand...

I agree that any review still needs to back up its conclusions with evidence and commentary. Without it, I believe an opinion is worthless. And I think this is a logical manner in which to attack a review. A review is an argument and still needs to attempt to prove its conclusions.

What I rebuffed was the idea that someone being too "emotional" could be the basis of dismissing a review. One could provide a very emotional, impassioned argument for why something is good or bad, and it can likewise be deeply personal, all while still being a wholly valid review.
 
J

Jawbreaker

Member
Thebeardofknowledge said:
Im not saying it deserves all 8's ,9's or 10's

but for fucks sake there is no way this game deserves a fucking 5

they have scored these higher

Assassin's Creed Unity
Street Fighter V
The Sims 4
No Man's Sky
Battleborn
Evolve
Call of Duty: Ghosts
The Order: 1886

Which is a fucking travesty
Click to expand...

Different reviewer. If you want to get a better idea of the reviewer's taste, here are her archived reviews.
 
R

RampagingSoul

Member
FarFromAnyGame said:
Nintendo games are reviewed by Nintendo fans most of the time so I take them with a grain of salt.
Click to expand...

That's like me saying that "Sony games are reviewed by Sony fans most of the time so I take them with a grain of salt" or with Microsoft as well when something is reviewed highly like Horizon or Forza or other highly praised exclusive franchises. There are fan sites or review places specifically for certain console makers. Those websites/places have ripped games by their designated affiliation. So, I should dismiss sites like PlayStation Lifestyle or Push Square because they focus on PlayStation content only? Just like Nintendo Life for Nintendo content? Shouldn't say that Nintendo, Xbox and Playstation based magazines are great, because they have people in their publication that are probably fans of that company providing reviews for games?

I wouldn't rate some of those Zelda games as highly as others have, but that doesn't mean their scores aren't valid if they have played the game through and enjoyed it. It's all opinions after all and having a bunch of reviews to go through, seeing the good and the bad is best in order to see how people feel about the game in question. The more reviews and opinions, the better it is to see how the majority feels about a game. Not everyone is going to feel the same about a game as others do. There is always a risk in people getting a game, even if it's acclaimed and praised by a lot of people. The only thing I don't like in reviews is if they didn't finish the game and rated the game before finishing it when that unfinished content could have an effect on the final score.
 
S

SandwichMeat

Member
TimeEffect said:
You know, I think GG's popularity and love will bring in a ton of new fans... and that we need Killzone 2, and just Killzone 2, and just the campaign, remastered.

I want to play through it again because I have an itching for that game's enemy encounters and gunplay.

Let people know Killzone 2 was one of the GOATs.
Click to expand...

oh dude if they did a remaster of Killzone 2 I'd be so down. I would want the multiplayer too tho. The campaign rules for sure, but I have some great memories playing warzone too.
 
M

Mubrik

Member
Thebeardofknowledge said:
Im not saying it deserves all 8's ,9's or 10's

but for fucks sake there is no way this game deserves a fucking 5

they have scored these higher

Assassin's Creed Unity
Street Fighter V
The Sims 4
No Man's Sky
Battleborn
Evolve
Call of Duty: Ghosts
The Order: 1886

Which is a fucking travesty
Click to expand...

true.
that 5 is a bit ridiculous.
i mean yeah its the reviewer opinion and all, but still the game has alot of good point to warrant more than just a 5.
i'd like to see what would come in as a 6 from the same reviewer
very subjective. lol
 
D

Deku Tree

Member
Easy Allies said the game is kinda grindy?

I hope the gameplay is not too repetitive.

I am worried that a month from now after the hype dies down the GAF will turn on this game like they did to Shadow of Mordor.
 
S

Skux

Member
Lifeline said:
Horizon v Zelda isn't even a competition. By every metric, Zelda is going to come out on top.

For reviews you're comparing:
A new IP from first time open world devs vs one of the most beloved and nostalgic IP in all of gaming.

For sales you're comparing:
Sales of a new IP in a season crowded by other well reviewing exclusives and massive third party franchises vs the only AAA launch title on a brand new console.


And in the end, the amount of people that will own both a switch at launch and already own a PS4 is so low, that there is no direct competition apart from fanboy ammo.
Click to expand...

Nostalgia and a brand name will only get you so far. If it's a bad game I fully expect reviewers to call Nintendo out on it.

And it's entirely possible that Horizon will outsell Zelda, given the relatively tiny Wii U and Switch install base, and Horizon's reviews and marketing.
 
Arkage

Arkage

Banned
Really surprised by the 50% by USGamer. They're usually one of my favorite sites. Seems like the game was reviewed by someone they just put on staff in the past week. Kind of a strange choice for such a huge exclusive, and I doubt the other staff would've given such a low review if they were covering it.
 
T

Tratorn

Member
I had my first prediction at 85% for the game, then after the previews I was torn between 87 and 88% but I went for 87.

Edge, please give us a 6/10 to save me.

jk. At least a bit

Edit: Goddamn, I just saw I only increased it to 86... I need even more <=8/10 reviews now.
 
C

cilonen

Member
Holy Shit, I wasn't expecting this much positivity. Finally PS4 holding it's own this year with Yakuza 0 and now this, fingers crossed for Persona 5 too.
 
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