Horizon Zero Dawn - PS4 Review
Posted on: 2017-03-15
Our rating:
It’s been a while since I’ve been surprised by a new game franchise. Horizon Zero Dawn is one of those games and, considering I don't usually like the gameplay, it's a breath of fresh air in the sea of first person shooters.
Horizon Zero Dawn takes place in the future where the Earth has been over ran by robotic creatures that act in an animal like state. This has resulted in the collapse of modern society and the human race has reverted back to their tribal and primal routes. You play as Aloy an outsider in the Nora tribe she was born motherless which is frowned upon in the tribe.
She is brought up by her father figure Rost who shows her the ropes of hunting the machines. She then has to prove herself to get into the Nora tribe by completing a task; she eventually does and is then accepted into the tribe despite some negative comments. During the completion of the task she and her comrades are attack by an enemy tribe and she must embark on a quest to find out who they are and take revenge on them. The story is really interesting with its premise with a futuristic science fiction story combined with a Stone Age inspired setting.
Gameplay is an open world survival game and the world is absolutely huge with different areas ranging from dry deserts to frost laden tundra’s. It really emphasises survival and crafting which would usually turn me off but it is done so well in this game as everything is quick and easy and you’re not hammering at a wall for 10 minutes when you want to make a new weapon. It helps also that the gathering animations are quick and not drawn out like Far Cry Primal which was not a good example of this genre.
You’ll encounter the machines when you’re on your travels you can decide if you want to attack or sneak past, when you’re a low level it is highly recommended that you sneak past the machines because they will destroy you. You can scan the machines with a device called a focus and this will highlight weak points on their body such as explosive canisters which will cause extra damage and you can then salvage parts from the machines to make new weapons and armour.
You can use a vast array of weapons such as bow and arrows with different roles such as a bow designed for range which shoots slower but causes more damage to faster firing bow. However each weapon comes with a different ammo type such as fire arrows, sonic pulse arrows, ice bombs and the list goes on this adds an extra layer of depth to the game and keeps encounters fresh as you have to change up strategies.
The game looks amazing but I don’t expect anything less from the developer who gave us the Killzone series which stretch what the PS2 and PS3 could do in the graphical department. The environments look beautiful there is so much detail with the foliage with grass swaying in the wind to the blizzards in the mountains.
The only problem I have with this game is that the voice acting can be hit or miss where it can be really good in one scene for it then sound forced, but overall the voice acting in the game is mostly good so it wasn’t a deal breaker.
Horizon Zero Dawn is a beautiful and engaging game. It is another reason for you to own a PS4 in 2017 with yet another superb exclusive for the system. Go out and buy this game!
5/5
Article by:
Sam has lived in Bristol all his life. A keen cyclist he speeds around the city but video games are his bread and butter. Whether the old Nes and Snes games or the XBox One and Playstation releases he loves them all. Sam runs his own gaming blog called Bristolian Gamer where he had been reviewing indie games, doing retro reviews and venting his anger at the industry when it does wrong since 2010. Sam joined the 365Bristol team in December 2014.
