A new game, a new horizon & a zero dawn. Yep that sounded better in my head but I'm not going to press back space, no sir, not me - anyway moving along lets talk about Horizon Zero Dawn. Was I excited about playing the game? Let me see, a future where machines roam the earth like animals, some of them are as big as buildings, you get to hunt & even ride some of them - yes, I was excited. Guerrilla Studios is best know for the Killzone series & this is there first attempt at an open world game so I was very curious to see what they could do. I actually got the game free when I bought my Playstation 4 Pro but my friend Nate kept distracting me from playing it.
So what food based analogy will I use this time? A tomato, cheese, white sauce, minced beef with pasta sheets one. Of course I'm talking about Lasagne, a tasty, meat filled pasta pie delight that is filling & healthy, well at least some of what I said was true. I have had many lasagne's over the years, some good, some bad. It's not just the ingredients used or the quality of them it's how they are arranged. Playing Horizon Zero Dawn I had to ask myself was I eating a tasty ensemble of meat, sauce, tomatoes & pasta or a sloppy mess of ingredients thrown together leaving a bad taste in my mouth. Let's find out the answer.
The story is set about a 1000 years in the future, the world we know is gone. It has been claimed back by the Earth, along with a ton of animal like machines & tribes of humans. Those of the past are referred to as the Old Ones & where they all are now or what happened to them is unknown.
Enter the protagonist Aloy, she is considered an outcast, this means she has been kicked out of her tribe (The Nora), in her case this was due to no one knowing who her parents were (seems a legitimate reason). The term 'outcast' being used in the game seemed strange to me especially as there seemed to be quiet a few outcast in the world & in many cases they banded together like a tribe, so maybe they are not really outcasts at all (insert thoughtful emoji). Anyway lets get back on track, so, Aloy is compassionate, a fighter in search of answers about her past & the Old Ones, she is also occasionally whinny. She is raised & supported by her tough but caring father figure Rost. Alright let's take a moment here, what is with names? I mean I'm all for different names but Aloy, Rost? Aloy is obviously a take on the word Alloy but some reason calling her Alloy would have what sounded weird? Rost? Call him Rust, the 'U' key is only two spaces left of the 'O'. I know it seems like a strange complaint but it just seems lazy. It's like a parents deciding to call one of their kids Larry & the other Barry, really? All the names in the world & changing one letter is as far as you are willing to go?
Mocking aside there is some really enjoyable story but I felt the best parts either came too late in the game or in some cases were not capitalised on enough. It's a game about giant machines roaming the world, the tribes stuff seemed small & unimportant by comparison. I felt it hard to feel much compassion toward some characters in the game especially as so many of them show disdain towards Aloy. That all being said the post credit story was interesting & certainly has me curious about what they could do with a sequel.
Visually speaking the game is superior to the actual story, everything from the character designs & outfits to the machines & scenery itself. Aloy's design was inspired & not the typical look of a central female character which I found to be a good thing. The outfits worn by the tribes were interesting, it combined a tribal look with a slight twist. The environments themselves were beautiful with many breath taking views especially those featuring mountain & forest areas. There are areas in the game later you discovered called Cauldrons, I can't go into detail but lets just say they look really cool. One of my favorite things visually were the machines themselves, the designs were interesting & the way they moved was fantastic. My two favorites were the Thunder Jaw & Rock Breaker. The Thunder Jaw is like a T-Rex covered in metal & loaded up with guns. The Rock Breaker is like a giant scary worm that's teeth can not only destroy rock but fling them at you with high speed accuracy.
The music features heavy use of stringed & wind instruments along with an occasional futuristic sound. The overall sound moves between a heavy, emotional & often somber tone to a more epic & action filled one. There were a number of artists who helped create the sound for Horizon Zero Dawn, they are:
Joris De Man; a Dutch Composer who has worked on a number of games including the Killzone games, Velocity, & some smaller features likes Raging Balls of Steel Justice & Code Hunters.
Niels van der Leest; is also a Dutch composer who worked on, Phoenix 2, Damian Filigree: The Book of Thoth & an interesting album called Percussive Adventures
The Flight; is made up of the duo Joe Henson & Alexis Smith who are based in the UK. They are not only composers & song writers but also producers. Their works include Alien Isolation, Assassins Creed 4 Black Flag & have worked on music by artists such as; Lana Del Rey, David Bowie, Elbow Rufus Wainwright & many others.
Johnathan Williams; who has worked with many artists including, Sugar Hill Gang, Mobb Deep, Tara Key & Thelonious Monk as a composer, artist, engineer, producer & a photographer.
Julie Elven; is based in Munich & has worked on a number of game scores including, World of Warcraft Legion, Star Citizen & Total War: Warhammer.
Some of my favorite pieces from the game included: 'Aloy's Theme', 'Motherland: Seal Your Lips', 'Years of Training', 'The Proving', 'Hologram Myth', 'The Good News' & 'Homecoming'.
As whole I really like game soundtracks, I don't think they get enough attention especially as they can help really shape a game & set the tone. That being said the soundtrack for Horizon Zero Dawn is just over 4 hours long which I think is way too long for a game that is only about 40 hours long & I often heard the same pieces played over & over.
Onto the meat, the gameplay. There were may things I liked about the gameplay & unfortunately quite a few that I didn't. I liked that you had the choice in some conversations to choose the answers, you could pick; aggressive, peaceful or thoughtful. Unfortunately the dialogue options you picked did not always sync up with what was then said, which I found to be frustrating. I also found the answers chosen had no bearing on the story or gameplay. When it came to what approach to take in combat I found stealth to be the smartest approach but after a while going balls out seemed to work out just fine - I died more but it was a lot more fun.
There were some interesting weapons but without a doubt the most useful for me was the spear & bow. I found upgrading you carry capacity for ammo was vital especially for the later battles in the game. I was not blown away by the modifications, there were far too many & often one did not seem any more exceptional than the other. Later on you get an upgrade for your spear that allows you to override machines but as a whole I did not find it that helpful, although it was fun on occasion to see one of your machines destroying another. The combat itself especially against machines was a lot of fun, without a doubt my favorite thing to do was take on a Thunder Jaw. They are so powerful that taking one down really felt like a victory.
Like all open world games the are plenty of side missions that really helped flesh out the game & added to the world itself. Each one felt a little different but I often found my interest wandering as it was never as interesting as the Ancient One's plot & felt like an unneeded distraction.
A game does not always have to have an end boss but when it does I want it to be epic, fun & really help finish the game with a bang. Horizon Zero Dawn did not do this & it felt like a rehashed enemy rather than the grand finale it should have been.
So after 40 hours of play how did I feel? Was I look forward to playing more & being a completionist or was I happy to hang up my boots & be done with it. Unfortunately & disappointingly it was the latter. There were many great things in the game but a slight lack imagination & some unutilised features stopped it from being all it could be. It was not a bad game but if I had to sum the game up with one word it would be meh.
No comments:
Post a Comment