Horizon: Zero Dawn

[sportdan30]

Anyone picking this game up for the PS4 on the 28th? This game was completely off my radar, but it's been getting very good reviews. May be hard to pass up!

http://www.metacritic.com/game/playstat ... ic-reviews

[TCrouch]

Preordered and quite excited about it. When a company sends out review code with no embargo more than a week before release, you know they're confident in the product. And when those reviews come back almost all in the 8.5-9.5 range, you understand why.

[Danimal]

Probably my #1 game I want with all the stuff coming out in the next couple of weeks. It looks incredible.

[sportdan30]

Well, I passed on Nioh. I'll wait for a sale on that , but I'll most likely be picking this game up. I've been watching a lot of reviews and it definitely looks quite impressive.

[Danimal]

This might even tempt me to get a PS4 Pro.

[10spro]

Yes, I am really looking forward to this one. When they start advertising the game in the same category as 'Last of Us' and 'Uncharted 4", you can't really go wrong. And if there's a game that may show the raw power difference boasting amazing visuals, I think this is it. Looks like a futuristic version of FC Primal, meet Tomb Raider hunting for mech dinosaurs in a massive open world.


http://www.polygon.com/2017/2/20/145760 ... illa-games

[GameSeven]

This is one of my most looked forward to titles for this year.... but, I might delay for a bit looking to get it on sale or as an eventual GOTY edition since I'm sitting on a considerable backlog at the moment. Also may keep an open mind towards PS4 Pro with this game, but Scorpio on the horizon may factor into such a wait as well.

I'm absolutely certain this will be quite the hit, though. Looking forward to it whenever I do get it.

[TCrouch]

Part of my eager anticipation is the possibility of playing it in 4K on the PS4 Pro and the Samsung KS8000 TV. According to DigitalFoundry, it's the best 4K support that the console has seen to this point.

[Diablo25]

I dont know why but I'm just not feeling this one. I do look forward to impressions from you guys. s***, its probably good I'm not feeling it because I have a backup of games to play plus Ghost Recon, Mass Effect Andromeda and MLB 17 The Show all come out in March.

[fanatic]

I assume my digital pre-order downloaded last night. Really looking forward to the lush graphics and challenging combat. I've never played any of the Monster Hunter games, but Horizon is giving me that vibe - battling huge beasts in the wild, improving skills/tactics over time. I'm a huge sci-fi fan, so the huge mechanical dinosaur thing is just too tempting to pass up!

[TCrouch]

I got about 90 minutes into it last night, and the storytelling is exceptional. Even their method of implementing a tutorial was pretty creative.

By the time you get out into the first 'starter' open zone and start learning your move set, it's already got its hooks in deep.

And it might be the prettiest console game I've ever seen. Not a jaggie, shimmer, or stuttered frame rate in sight, running in 4K.

By the time I got my first few weapons and was exploring the world, I had to go to bed to be up at 5AM for work--but first impressions, it certainly didn't disappoint. Had a few battles with relatively weak dinos that would charge me, and they charge QUICK. You have to be ready for it, for sure.

[10spro]

Damn BB preorders. Usually they are pretty good at shipping games on release dates but no luck for Horizon. When I asked them why, looks like they were unable to meet the demands.

[sportdan30]

So far so impressed. Really enjoying the story and this game is absolutely beautiful. This has the makings of another PS4 jewel.

[Danimal]

I played maybe 45 - 60 minutes before the power cut out due to storms. Graphics were incredible, best looking console game I've seen so far. Love the story so far, absolutely crazy about the skill trees some of the stuff you can do is crazy.

Game has a total Tomb Raider feel to it, and I'm sure it borrows from many other games as well but I don't really care about that because the story hooked me fast.

[Diablo25]

I played maybe 45 - 60 minutes before the power cut out due to storms. Graphics were incredible, best looking console game I've seen so far. Love the story so far, absolutely crazy about the skill trees some of the stuff you can do is crazy.

Game has a total Tomb Raider feel to it, and I'm sure it borrows from many other games as well but I don't really care about that because the story hooked me fast.

Damn! I'll keep my eye on this. Too many games this month.

[Diablo25]

I just watched some cat playing this on Twitch and even at the lower resolutions streaming it looks superb. It definitely has a Tomb Raider vibe as stated above...and I LOVED The latest Tomb Raider. Must resist. Ghost Recon will be my go to come friday. This one will definite be in play at some point.

[TCrouch]

I've spent probably 6 or 7 hours with this at this point, and I can say that unless it COMPLETELY falls off the rails, this game has its hooks in so deep that the only game I can compare it to is The Last of Us. When I started playing TLOU, within a few hours, I knew I was playing something special, and years later it's still probably the game I'd name if somebody held a gun to my head and said "give me the best game of all time, in your opinion". Maybe not mechanically or "I got X hours from Y dollars", but as far as the game that had the greatest impact or achievement on what is possible in the medium...that would be it, for my answer.

Horizon Zero Dawn is a DIFFERENT kind of game, but the story is on a level that you don't get from most games. Once it starts rolling, you just want to find out what the Hell A) happened to the world, and B) is going on with Aloy and the current tribal politics. I can't really go into too much without spoilers, but it's all starting to make sense why reviewers a week+ ago were all so cautious in mentioning story beats.

But graphically, it's definitely the best thing on a console I've ever seen in 4K and HDR. Gameplay seems to be nothing completely innovative--you can feel its roots all over the place. It's like a "Greatest Hits" of gameplay systems, with the sneaking/luring whistle of Assassin's Creed, the crafting and resource gathering (and, really, skill trees) of Far Cry, the IMPECCABLE controls of a Halo, the story scenes from The Last of Us, and even a little post-post-Apocalyptic "just riding my horse through the world, amazed at what I'm seeing" vibe from Red Dead Redemption. Add in the precise timing required of a Dark Souls game, when you have a dino charging you and you are trying to get that last arrow shot off before rolling away at the last instant, barely avoiding an instant-trample-kill (or, you go all "Dances With Wolves" and get that last shot in that leaves the beast sliding to your feet, dead, like the buffalo in that old classic).

There are times when I just look around from a mountain peak and I'm absolutely blown away by what I see. But if the game played like sh*t, the graphics wouldn't matter. But that control--there's never a single instance of 'fighting with the controls', as most of you will be familiar with. When the controls just "work", you don't even think about them. Riding full speed on a robo-horse, and head-shotting a moving dinosaur, in real time? Totally doable. You start to feel like Legolas in a Lord of the Rings scene, because the controls are SO incredibly precise, you can sweep 180 degrees, and at the last moment realize you're a couple of pixels too high/low, and instinctively correct in the final few milliseconds to nail a perfect headshot before that person gets an arrow off at you (or that machine launches lasers/fireballs/whatever at you).

But when it looks that good, the controls are that precise, and the STORY just completely and totally sucks you in--it's a masterpiece. I have not been this impressed with a piece of software in I don't know how long. It's changed the developer in my eyes, and yet at its core...it's nothing revolutionary. It's just an unbelievably polished, well-written (even though the voice acting sort of cracks me up, with them using slang and subtleties of the English language that primitive tribes not raised around our current day would use---although even THAT sort of gets answered in the opening tutorial, if you read between the lines).

And my wife has only ever once watched me play a game from start to finish, upset if I pause for some reason, and won't let me play when she's not watching...and that was The Last of Us. The second time so far is HZD. Even she keeps commenting how amazing this thing is, and every game sort of runs together for her. I buy so many, and fly through them (or lose interest) in days, that none of them really stick. So it's got me fully convinced it's going to be on my short list of "best of all time" games by the time I'm done with it, and my non-hardcore-gamer wife's, too.

This thing is an absolute masterpiece.

[sportdan30]

Couldn't have said it any better Terry. There is something very special about this game, and it's due to the fact of what you said. It pulls many excellent titles together in to one complete game. I don't know if it'll eclipse The Last of Us as my favorite all around game, but it's certainly a top 5 contender. It's truly brilliant thus far.

[fanatic]

Terry - great impressions, thanks! Can't wait to play this tonight.

[Rodster]

I'll be getting this along with the new Zelda during Targets B2G1 free deal.

[Danimal]

I'll be getting this along with the new Zelda during Targets B2G1 free deal.

What now? When is that?

[Rodster]

March 5-11.

[Danimal]

I'm absolutely blown away by this game, it is so hard to convey how good the story telling is without giving things away but I so want to discuss it with people. My wife and daughter watched me play for 2 hours because they were so hooked by what was going on, trust me this never happens. We laughed, they got misty eyed and I've literally just scratched the surface. There is one sequence I swore I was watching real life video.

Honestly this is a system seller, I have no idea why they didn't give this more PR. I'll tell you right now, Game of the Year winner because nothing else is coming out that will compare to this.

[sportdan30]

I'm absolutely blown away by this game, it is so hard to convey how good the story telling is without giving things away but I so want to discuss it with people. My wife and daughter watched me play for 2 hours because they were so hooked by what was going on, trust me this never happens. We laughed, they got misty eyed and I've literally just scratched the surface. There is one sequence I swore I was watching real life video.

Honestly this is a system seller, I have no idea why they didn't give this more PR. I'll tell you right now, Game of the Year winner because nothing else is coming out that will compare to this.

I don't think I've ever read you gush about a game this much. It truly is an outstanding game.

[TCrouch]

I almost posted the same thing. Dan usually takes a while to get into a game, but if ever there was an exception to that rule, it WOULD be Horizon Zero Dawn. I hit level 20 last night and ran into some Snapmaws (the big crocodile dinos), and was like "OK, time for bed".

The game continually forces you outside of your comfort zone. Just as I feel invincible, taking out grazers and the steer-looking dinos with a couple of shots, clearing herds without much effort....fighting off a pair of Sawtooths at the same time, and generally just kicking a lot of ass...Snapmaws come along, and force me to come up with entirely new tactics.

The story continues to clip along at a very cool pace, although I'm sidetracked constantly by sidequests and hunting to increase my bags. Little-known tip:

Any time you gather a new weapon, there is a "tutorial" quest automatically created in your list, but not displayed anywhere. If you fire through those, you'll level up quickly.

Also, the "create job" option is stellar when you want that shiny new piece of gear. See something on a vendor, but don't have the special resource used to barter for it? Create a job, which will send you to a hunting zone for it, and then loot the piece and come back. You get XP, and the gear! Crazy.

Honestly, it just seems to get better each day I sit down to play it. Again, nothing but The Last of Us has had this sort of pull over me to just play another hour, play another hour, play another hour without changing games or feeling the desire to restart, because I screwed up some choice/system early on and want the play through to be perfect (this is why I rarely finish games. I usually know the first 20 or 40 hours by heart, because I play through it like 15 times until I have the entire sequence down to a science....Autistic trait).

I have no desire to do anything but push forward and get more story, get more gear, get more powerful, and move through the world. It's an all-time great.