The jury was very much still out on Horizon: Zero Dawn until just a few days ago, but Guerrilla Games' open world role-playing release looks poised to become Sony's next big franchise. Reviews have been generally very positive, with only a couple of outliers raining on protagonist Aloy's robo-dino parade. GamesIndustry.biz have compiled a wider look at the critical consensus, but here's a more general round up for your perusal.
Giant Bomb - 5/5
Horizon: Zero Dawn is familiar but also really refreshing. It's not a short game (I spent around 30 hours with it), but the storytelling still feels concise and efficient. The combat has some nice options that make encounters fun, even when you're just stacking up stealth kills from the relative safety of a bush. And the presentation end of the game holds up its end of things with a solid soundtrack, great voice acting, and a cohesive design that makes all its disparate parts fit together. All in all, it's a great game, it's Guerrilla's strongest release to date, and I suspect I'll go back in after the fact to clean up whatever side quests and errands I have remaining, if only to spend a little more time in that world.
Polygon - 9.5/10
Horizon: Zero Dawn thrums with the energy of a creative team finally allowed to explore something new. It builds on elements of open-world and loot-and-craft gameplay that we've seen before, but it does so within a context, a setting and a style that feel fresh. Horizon: Zero Dawn discovers a stronger sense of its own personality in one game than Killzone ever managed across half a dozen. Guerrilla Games has long been developing some of the most buzzed-about games in the industry; with Horizon, it feels like it has finally found its own voice, one worthy of all that buzz.
IGN - 9.3/10
Across a vast and beautiful open world, Horizon: Zero Dawn juggles many moving parts with polish and finesse. Its main activity - combat - is extremely satisfying thanks to the varied design and behaviors of machine-creatures that roam its lands, each of which needs to be taken down with careful consideration. Though side questing could have been more imaginative, its missions are compelling thanks to a central mystery that led me down a deep rabbit hole to a genuinely surprising - and moving - conclusion.
Push Square - 9/10
Debuts don't get much stronger than Horizon: Zero Dawn. Guerrilla Games' latest borrows liberally from a variety of different sources, and yet it leverages these fundamentals to forge an experience that's daringly unique. The main quest tires a little towards the end, and the writing never hits the same highs as The Witcher 3 – but the tactical action stands leagues ahead of what we've come to expect from the genre, and the presentation is quite simply unmatched.
Eurogamer - No Score
Horizon: Zero Dawn is a work of considerable finesse and technical bravado, but it falls into the trap of past Guerrilla games in being all too forgettable. For all its skin-deep dynamism it lacks spark; somewhat like the robotic dinosaurs that stalk its arrestingly beautiful open world, this is a mimic that's all dazzle, steel and neon yet can feel like it's operating without a heart of its own.
USgamer - 2.5/5
Horizon Zero Dawn is disappointing. It has a story that I struggled to care about (complete with massive expository dumps—yay), a bland protagonist, and overtly repetitive and constraining missions that worked against its open world sensibilities. When Horizon Zero Dawn hit its rare strides—from its gloomy Cauldrons to travelling across its sprawling vistas—it only made me wish the rest of the game were as worthwhile.
Have the glowing reviews convinced you to pick up Horizon: Zero Dawn when it releases next week? Do you have any lingering concerns about the quality of the game? Form a tribe in the comments section below.
Comments 54
@Neolit ?
Wow US Gamer really didn't like it. I wonder what score they gave Nioh?
@3Above 4/5: http://www.usgamer.net/articles/nioh-playstation-4-review/page-2
@Neolit I was more responding to your use of colons in your comment!
Is it bad that i wanted this to be awful so my wallet could have a rest 😂😂
Do you guys feel the Eurogamer and usgamer criticisms are fair - my big concern about open worlds always rests on whether side missions are wasting my time. Loved FFXV, but even I will admit that the side quests are little more than fetch quests.
Ive read a few reviews and I remain very positive about this and cant wait to get stuck in.
"Though side quests could be better" - said every review of every game since the witcher 😂
@ztpayne7 no no no no no....Yakuza 0
Don't forget metacritic gave it 88 I'm convince now that this gave can be the next big franchise for Sony and its very different than the catalog games they have. My copy is already paid off can't wait just going to need time for horizon, Zelda and nier which they will be great
I was always getting it but these reviews turned it into day 1 purchase.
I want this so bad, but I have Mass Effect and Nier that same month. The next sale for sure though!
Currently on 88% on Metacritic from 74 reviews. Of those 74, 5 reviewers gave it full marks inc the Telegraph. A quarter of the reviews gave it 95% or above and 48 (around two-thirds - 65%) gave the game 90% or above. At the other end of the table, 4 reviewers scored 75% or less and only 1 review (USgamer) scoring the game less than 70 (7/10). 70 out of the 74 reviews scored it 8/10 or above.
I'm really not bothered about this game, so why did I preorder it yesterday? Something to play I guess. How can I not anyway? It's a big exclusive, I want to give it a crack and I might really enjoy it.
@3Above It's funny you mention that, actually. I go to that site every now and then, and the person who reviewed Horizon is not a regular. In fact, it was her first ever review on that site. I don't know who was in management that decided to give the AAA game to the rookie, but it was a bad move.
I get that people have different opinions, clearly that's not a problem. The problem lies within making sure the correct person is reviewing the correct games that coincide with their playstyle. I certainly wouldn't want someone who is burnt out on open world games, or doesn't like them at all, doing reviews for them. You'll get a jaded, lazily written review that doesn't go into detail about why they disliked the game so much....like we had at US Gamer.
To me, they screwed up. They gave the wrong person the wrong game to review. Sure, they seem to be getting a lot of attention over it, but it's 95% negative. I don't know what the editor was thinking, allowing it to be posted, but I'll be he/she will think twice about letting such a lazy piece of journalism slide again.
Eurogamer reads like a 6/10, but if they still had scores it would get 8/10😂😂😂
@3Above I know it's a different reviewer, but US Gamer gave Double Dragon 4 a 3/5. Looks like I'll have to cancel my pre-order and get DD4 instead, since it's clearly a better game. /s
If USgamer is wrong she should be fired. No one gave this Horizon Zero Dawn less than a 7.5. Most scores and I read at least 12 reviews gave it 9-10's with a few 8's. I read the 8.5 from gaming trend and he claim to have glitches no one else complained about. Then I read other games he reviewed and he gave gears of war 4 a 9.5 which makes suspicious of his intent as a potential Xbox fan. I don't know that gears 4 had such high scores. I am just saying to read the tea leaves.
What's amazing is this game score really well with giant bomb, jimquisition, ign, and polygon. These website usually rate ps4 exclusive lower than others, that they give horizon 9+ score is amazing!
@PapaShuffler
I study reviewers history of scores they give games when they give low scores on critical acclaim games. This women barely reviewed any games of significance. I am totally discrediting her. But if she gave a game with only 2 7's and she give it a 5/10, she better justify herself once gamers play it. I know the game isn't a 5/10 based on the quality. It could be a 7/10 but highly unlikely. I do have my concerns about the story, side quest and facial animations and voice acting from other than main characters detracting from the experience.
@Ewflex gears 4 did get pretty high scores but gamers didn't think it was all that great from concensus of Xbox fans.
I made my mind up on a purchase as soon as I saw the combat video a while back. The opinions vary a lot regarding the story but I reckon I'll dig it.
I think this'll be a true test of how much faith I can put into professional reviewers' opinions. I think I've said here before that, besides the unquestionably gorgeous visuals, nothing about HZD has got me excited at any point - in fact with each new video released my suspicions of its ultimate same-i-ness have only become more entrenched. However...the near universal praise coming out for it has convinced me to give it a shot at least. I hope my instinct's are proven wrong. Otherwise expect a parade of Taylor Swift effigies to be set alight outside Push Square Towers...
@Ewflex I totally agree with this. Also, for me at least, I am curious to see if their review of Zelda holds to the same standards they applied to Horizon
@PapaShuffler They should honestly have the same person review Zelda, since it's the same type of game. That way, we'll see if she just generally dislikes open world games, or if it was a way to get attention to the site by making herself and Horizon martyrs. They won't do that though, they're all very much Nintendo loyalists over there. Which is fine....if all games are treated equally. They're certainly not.
Let's wait for sales, that's what determines the next big thing
The USgamer is a clickbait article by a hobbyist, go and read there for honour review writing wise thay are worlds apart. I really don't get in a preview of Horizon thay played for 7 hours thay say, "the narrative was strong". But the review tells you "lacking in strong narrative", there preview & review contradict each other.
Save the best for last 😂
If US Gamer Reviews Breath of The Wild i wonder if they will find Link to be a "Bland Protagonists"?
@RedMageLanakyn Exactly! I hope she does Review BoTW. Often i wonder when reviewers say an RPG protagonist is "bland" if that doesnt signify that they cant project personality on to the character. Geralt is basically emotionless and Link doesnt even talk so you have to project some personality onto them to bring them to life. Like in most RPGs.
I have never even heard of USgamer.
@kyleforrester87 haha. Same here.
@Neolit your loss my friend looks like a promising title and more to come
@Splat one of their key reviewers is Julian "Jaz" Rignal who was one of the luminaries from the Zzap64 and C+VG days. He was a high score king and helped to launch Mean Machines magazine and IGN (when it was good). He's basically Sammy from 30 years ago
@Ewflex As an Xbox owner and 'Gears of War' fan, Gears 4 is 'good' but not to the same standard of the 'trilogy' made by Epic. Visually it ticks the boxes, the MP and Horde mode are certainly no worse than its predecessors but the campaign is lacking. The new characters are certainly not that great and the game-play lacks the heart, atmosphere and emotional punch. Gears 2 is still the stand-out in the series and 4 lags behind all of these. After the completing it, (the last mission is POOR), I was left thinking - is that it? A couple of the missions are literally 'Horde' mode pasted in as well and the enemies are certainly not a patch on the Locust. Don't get me wrong, its polished and looks stunning in HDR too and the MP/Co-op works well too but compared to its predecessors, the campaign story itself really isn't that strong at all. I would score it at 8 myself - a little lower than Metacritics 84%. I think a lot of fans of the trilogy will be disappointed by the campaign, although it does 'play' like the originals, and will therefore be a bit too 'harsh' in scoring it.
That's the trouble when you talk to fans of the franchise. Because the Story campaign doesn't live up to the predecessors from a 'story' perspective, the rest of the game, like MP, co-op, visuals, game-play and performance (i.e frame rate consistency, bugs/glitches etc) etc all get overlooked where as a 'critic' will take everything into consideration. At the end of the day, Gears 4 does deliver on what the developers set out to achieve and delivers that well. From my perspective though the campaign story doesn't live up to its predecessors but can't deny that its polished.
Considering Horizon now, ALL reviews have stated that the game delivers on what it set out to achieve and without bugs, glitches or major performance issues - something all open world games have suffered with at launch. Combat is much deeper and far more complex than most games, let alone open-world games offer. Visually the game is stunning too with a dynamic weather system (and fog that doesn't cripple performance) and day/night cycle.
Anyway, we can see for ourselves in a week and judge for ourselves whether Guerrilla Games have created something 'special' (as many reviewers have said) or not...
I can't wait!!!
@get2sammyb Maybe he was just speaking through his colon?! lol
I'm amped to play it, but I'll only get a couple days to really chip away at it before Switch and Zelda: Breath of the Wild fully takes over my existence for a good while... 😜
I haven't finished Gravity Rush 2 or Nioh but I'd still have bought this... If only Zelda wasn't out next week >_>
When games like CoD feel refreshing because you can actually finish the campaign quickly...
Could USgamer be a political vote? Ie... they are voting just to get clicks or ruin chances of success for new blockbuster franchises, but supporting others? Maybe it gave a Nioh decent score cos it's got a weird name for a small niche audience? Is that a realistic score? Sounds a tad to iffy for me
@Neolit you playing The Witcher 3 now it's going to be a while, enjoy!
Oh no.....Just bought watch dogs 2 in GAME shop in exchange for few old games . Great deal but it consumes all my time . I love it , did all side missions. It's so much better than wd1. Also have to go through witcher 3 datadisks.....and then this. Why Sony why ? There's no time left in my life for anything else then playing and doing my job! Gosh!
And I didn't mention that we are rebuilding our flat and second baby is coming. Oh no I need to figure out how I can live without sleeping ))))
Oh and I totally forgot last of us... oh no
so if you take out the top 5 and bottom 5 scores from metacritic, it sits pretty close to 90. even without the scores/reviews, the general buzz from youtube etc. is pretty positive.. i'd still be getting it regardless of the metacritic scores, but there seems to be a general trend this generation of lower scores in general compared with the last gen. not sure whether expectations have shifted well beyond most developers capabilities, or whether there is much more reproach for the minutiae of games - a technical foible here or there, and games are getting knocked down a point, something that was less prevalent last gen.. e.g. some of the top rated PS3/xbox360 games like skyrim, mass effect 2, bioshock.. ran like a dog.
i'm currently about 70 hours into skyrim, and i still haven't done any of the stormcloak/imperial civil war questline, none of the dark brotherhood questline, nor close to finishing the thieves guild. honestly i think it throws way too much to do at you in an unfocused way, plus the main story is pretty rubbish. i'm kinda glad HZD is closer to the 30-ish hour range.. hopefully i'll be able to 100% it before mass effect andromeda comes out.
Polish and Fresh, yawn. The marketing for the game is all wrong, they need to at least tease the hidden area. I'd like to play this but I'm in no rush. Feels like the hype I used to hear for God of War and for me that was just a bit rubbish. Placing my money on Mass Effect at the moment.
@Neolit yeah, I'm with you, I hear the side quests ain't all that great, the dialogue choices are kinda meaningless in the progression of the story etc, for an epic AAA RPG I just want more. Will still play it but Robot Dino's had me rolling my eyes since they announced it.
I wonder what the execs at MS are thinking when they see PS4 get wave after wave of exclusives... I mean it's like they're not even trying!
@JesWood13 Let me know how that goes. Im genuinely interested know what it will be like playing Horizon theb playing BoTW
@Dodoo MS seem 'confident' in their exclusives and releasing a 'new' consoles at the end of the year. Sea of Thieves, Halo Wars 2, Crackdown 3, State of Decay 2, Cuphead as well as Voodoo Vince and Phantom Dust. No doubt there will be a new Forza game as well. Its not like the Xbox One won't have any exclusives this year. You can argue that these are 'not' exclusives as many will also be on Win10 PC through the Win10 store (not to ALL PC's) and linked to their 'Xbox' style account. If you don't have a Win10 PC, Don't have a Xbox style account or buy digitally from their Store, you can't play their 'exclusives' which often gets overlooked. Its still tied into MS of which the Xbox is part of.
Maybe they don't have as many due out as Sony - especially not with all the 'Japanese' games. Phil Spencer himself though acknowledges Horizon (and Zelda) as good for the games industry. Based on the Switches line-up, it seems MS may well match them for exclusives in terms of numerically at least.
It wasn't all that long ago that MS were releasing a lot of exclusives whilst many Sony fans were asking where all the big AAA exclusives were...
Personally, of those confirmed for 2017, only Horizon: Zero Dawn appeals. I am not a fan of the Japanese games like Nier, Ni No Kuni, Gravity Rush, Yakuza etc Nioh is possibly the only game that I may get but not a fan of Dark Souls/Bloodbourne which this has drawn comparisons with. Hellblade, if it finally releases, may also appeal. Until Scalebound was cancelled, that appealed more than all of Sony's (known/confirmed) 2017 exclusives apart from Horizon (which appeals more than any 2017 release). Crackdown 3 also appeals more to me than these so in terms of 'numbers' there are (at the moment) more that appeal. It could all change of course as E3 usually brings a few surprises although MS tend to announce the next year of gaming with most releasing before the next E3 where as Sony tend to announce Games in development. Of those shown at E3, how many will release before E3 2017 - just the Last Guardian and Horizon as far as I remember. Of course RE7 and CoD also released but they are not exclusives.
I am not criticising Sony BTW, but its not like MS doesn't have anything to offer. Whether they appeal to you is a different matter. Its great that we as gamers have a lot of games coming out this year and beyond. Another expensive year!
Anyway on a separate note, Sony and GG must have known they had something special on their hands with Horizon: Zero Dawn. Its not often you see review embargoes lifted over a week before review and they obviously sent out copies in advance of that date as most reviews I read said they have spent 30-40 hours on the game to complete the main Story and can't wait to jump back in to spend time in the world
6days and counting...
@BAMozzy Fair enough points but when was "wasn't all that long ago that MS were releasing a lot of exclusives whilst many Sony fans were asking where all the big AAA exclusives were..."
I don't ever remember this being the case except for maybe during the original Xbox when there were games like Halo (new then), Crimson Skies, Fable, PGR etc. What period do you mean?
I had a 360 and enjoyed being an xbox gamer until half way through the 360's life but when MS came out with Kinect and largely abandoned their "hardcore" crowd I was looking over at the Sony camp with envy at all their awesome exclusives. So much so I sold my 360 and bought a PS3 to catch up.
The way I see it Xbox did an amazing job when they came on the scene, but lost their way and haven't really recovered to how good they used to be. Maybe Phil is turning the ship around but I'm not even convinced he is. Remember he tweets (on what feels like a daily basis) how "confident" he is and how "unprecedented" the X1 lineup is and how "this will be the best year ever for Xbox" but that ultimately doesn't compare in my opinion to the competition. To me he talks the talk while Sony walks the walk.
Of course that's just my point of view, which clearly differs from yours and that's cool, but put it this way - I was a happy Xbox gamer and now I'm not. The proof is in the pudding eh?
@Dodoo Holiday 2016 for example saw Forza Horizon 3, Gears 4 and Dead Rising 4. PS4 got The Last Guardian -(as well as VR releases I know but you needed to buy the peripheral on top to play those games) Holiday 2015 Xbox had Forza 6, Halo 5, Rise of the Tomb Raider... PS4 got? I know soon after PS4 got Uncharted and Ratchet and Clank whilst Xbox ReCore and Quantum Break. Most Holiday seasons, the Xbox has 3-4 AAA games releasing and its not like MS save them all up for then. PS owners tend to have to make do with games releasing in the first half of the year or make do with 3rd party releases in the run up to Christmas - the busiest time of the year. I could go back further and talk about the time MS released Sunset Overdrive, Halo Collection, Forza Horizon 2 compared to Driveclub... Of course this isn't including all the indie exclusives but PS owners could go months without getting a big AAA game release - especially over the holiday season whilst Xbox owners were getting at least 1 a month.
Apart from 'indie' exclusives, which I admit do count too, the PS4 hasn't had a plethora of exclusive titles until this year. I admit that quite possibly on average though, most of Sony's exclusives have scored higher on Metacritic and more likely to be in Critics Game of the Year lists
Its not that I differ from you, I guess I do, but I do own BOTH systems. I don't consider myself an Xbox or PS gamer specifically - a console gamer maybe. I can't help it if you are not interested in the games that MS are releasing anymore and have more affinity with Sony's releases but that doesn't mean that MS are not releasing ANY exclusives at all - which was the point I was making. All it proves to me is that you are out of touch with what MS are producing for gamers (understandably) where as I who own both, try to keep up to date with both consoles scheduled exclusive releases. Point I was trying to make is that MS still has exclusives planned for this year and already released Halo Wars 2. Whether these franchises appeal to you or not anymore is irrelevant as the games are still being made and still giving xbox owners a fairly steady stream of exclusive games.
@BAMozzy Yeah fair points again. Maybe I am out of the loop of what MS are bringing to market.
When I looked to swap consoles all MS we're bringing to the table were the same old franchises. They'd stopped PGR, I was never into Gears, found Halo boring and the only franchise I really miss is Forza. Sony had such more variety and I still think they do.
I guess maybe where we seem to disagree is just a matter of perception. I feel MS just release Halo, Forza etc over and over. Maybe Sony do this too but it doesn't feel like it to me. On PS3/4 I've played a much more varied library than I ever did on Xbox.
Also I prefer the spread out nature of Sony's releases. While you may state Sony have dry periods (nothing like my poor Wii U did!), since "jumping ship" my backlog has probably trebled compared to when I played on Xbox so maybe they just have more games that appeal to me personally and that's why it feels like Sony have so many more exclusives?
Anyway truth is there's loads of games out there on an ever-increasing number of platforms so as gamers we're all catered for and all winners!
@Dodoo I agree to a certain extent that MS do tend to rely on Halo (so far Halo Masterchief Collection, Halo 5, Halo Wars definitive and Halo Wars 2 as well as Halo Wars Spartan thing), Forza (Horizon 2 and 3, Motorsport 5 and 6 with 7 no doubt releasing this year) and Gears (Ultimate edition and Gears 4) but they have also had games like Dead Rising (3 and 4), Quantum Break, Sunset Overdrive, Ryse, Rare Replay, Recore, Zoo Tycoon, State of Decay and Titanfall was an Exclusive as well. It has Sea of Thieves, Crackdown 3 and remasters of Voodoo Vince and Phantom Dust out this year as well so not just Halo, Forza or Gears.
I am not denying that Sony have released a fair few Exclusives but they have also kept to their big known Franchises like Killzone, Infamous, Uncharted but yet to release Gran Tourismo, a new God of War or Last of Us 2 which appears to be a franchise now as opposed to a one off.
Generally gaming though has seemed to become more 'narrow' with a lot of big companies sticking to known properties - at least that's the general perception - although games like Watchdogs, the Division, Destiny, Titanfall, Alien Isolation, Evil Within etc are all new franchises this generation but people just see Battlefield/CoD, Fifa, Assassins Creed and the numerous remasters. Point is people see what they want to see. Maybe Xbox fans only see Uncharted, Infamous and Killzone, like Sony fans only see Forza, Halo and Gears.
Like I said I am more excited by Sony's upcoming Exclusives in general but I doubt most of those (Days Gone, Spider-Man, Last of Us 2) will release this year. MS exclusives may have 1-2 more at the moment that appeal to me but they can't match the excitement I have for Horizon:ZD or Uncharted: Lost Legacy.
I will watch both companies E3 showings and look forward to seeing how MS respond. I am sure Sony have some things up their sleeve as they must know MS are going to reveal Scorpio so want to hit back - primarily with games I expect.
When it comes to exclusives though, these are, at least as far as I am concerned, nothing more than bonus extras - at least generally and numerically speaking. I buy a lot more 3rd Party releases in a year so these are relatively minor in terms of numbers - not saying that they aren't often some of the best games either. Owning both systems allows me to get the best of both.
It does annoy me though when one group has a go at another system. I defended Playstation on Xbox sites when Xbox fans were having a go at PS4 - comments like all that power and no games to release - similar to what I see from some PS fans when the subject of Scorpio comes up.
Anyway, 6days and my most anticipated release of 2017 arrives!!
@BAMozzy "It does annoy me though when one group has a go at another system."
Yeah I should have maybe pointed out that I'm not actually against owning an X1 it's just I only tend to have either a PS or Xbox at one time as I just don't have time to play enough to justify owning both when a large majority of the games are 3rd party and the same.
If I bought an X1 it would basically be a Forza machine! I always have Nintendo as my second console and between that and PS I have too much as it is!
Anyway was refreshing to have a friendly debate with another gamer, that's why I love PushSquare, the community is (mostly) awesome!
@Dodoo Its one reason I like this site too - the community. Its well marshalled but it seems its unnecessary a lot of the time as the community are 'generally' well mannered and accepting that others may have a different opinion as well as game on other systems and accept that.
Arguments rarely happen, but discussion and exchanges of opinion are quite frequent. Most of the community are knowledgeable or open to listen which makes discussion a lot more pleasurable. I know we can't all agree on everything but the fact that we are able to share our opinion and accept that others have different views is a breath of fresh air on the internet - especially on gaming sites. Some dedicated sites (like a PS, Xbox etc or even those to a Franchise) can be very toxic places full of fanboyism and aggression to those that 'don't' have similar opinion. So its great that most here get on regardless and probably the best 'gaming' community united because of a love of 'gaming' and all that encompasses - albeit with a big focus on Playstation... LOL
Tap here to load 54 comments
Leave A Comment
Hold on there, you need to login to post a comment...