The more I play of this the less I like it.  It takes an age to mop up enemies in the battle bottlenecks, then a single corruptor can hop about until it lands on you, or chuck a boulder at you while you're running away and kill you.  Then it's back to square one after a full minute of reloading the area, with all 15 or so enemies back in place. 

I just sat through a story section that involved watching three holographic conversations in a row.  Did Edge really say this game pushes videogame storytelling forward, or something along those lines?  The dialogue in the second one was atrocious.
It's a gorgeous game, and certain things work very well, but the combat strikes me as poor and there don't seem to be enough patches of long grass for the stealth to be worth bothering with, especially considering how long it takes to load.  I've ended up adopting a very gung-ho approach, which feels a bit shit.  I'm probably 7 or 8 hours in now, and unfortunately I just want it to end at this point (the credits are presumably 10hrs away).  It started well and I've enjoyed a fair chunk of it so far, but it's got its work cut out to settle on anything higher than a [7] based on my last two sessions.

All these amazing games are bound to cause some burnout. I want this if anyone wants to offload....

Blocks100 wrote:

Agree about Edge going ott re the storytelling

I only spent a couple of days with it, but 'OTT' doesn't even begin to cover how catastrophically wrong they are on this particular point.

Blocks100 wrote:

@Moot_Geeza Have you tried shooting Corrupters with the rope gun?, because that tethers them to the spot and prevents them hopping about. Agree about Edge going ott re the storytelling, but then again I'm not really paying that much attention to the plot, just having fun killing Robot Dinosaurs. I'm finding the combat v. solid and robust. Stealth almost feels overpowered and sliding into long grass has got me out of many a tough scrap. Mind you, I am sporting a top of the line purple stealth garb with extra stealth mods. Things can get a bit samey after a while, but then I turn the corner and up pops a new exotic metallic beastie for me to slay.

I'll try the rope gun, thanks.  I bought it fairly recently but haven't assigned it to a weapon slot yet (which would mean removing something else, which I'm wary of doing in case I bump a superior weapon).  Too much hand holding is a complaint I see quite regularly when people criticise games, but I like to a) have it held, and b) have my character yanked towards the correct course of action.  Horizon isn't at fault for not doing this, it's probably one of the reasons it's been so well received, but it's also one of the reasons why I'm struggling.  It allows the player to discover its intricacies in an unforced way - either that or I'm just not used to this level of item management.  I'd quite like these games to have an idiot button in case of emergency, AKA the infamous Navi prompt, or even a 'click here to auto-tune stats' option.           

With regards to the combat, the close quarters stuff is particularly poor imo, and although there's not much wrong with the shooting mechanics I'm not particularly taken with it.  The climbing sections are weak too.  My last session mostly involved holding either up, left or right, or watching holograms perform scenes from a sci-fi Sunset Beach.  I don't want to be too down on it (Sunset Beach was harsh, it's more A Quorn Antiques), because I was really enjoying it for the first four hours or so, but it's taken a bit of a nosedive.        

Perhaps I shouldn't have tackled this immediately after Mad Max.  I'll need a palate cleanser before Zelda.  Less can be more for a while.  One thing's for sure, it's absolutely stunning to look at.

Also (plot):

It sounds minor, as 10 years ago getting plonked outside the door you died behind would be considered a luxury, but it really ate into my hour.  Plus that boss is routinely destroying the shit out of me.

Go fight a Storm Hawk and then tell me this is nothing but a solid [8]

You don't get this in Zelda do you?

Horizon [0] Dawn

Completed shite.

Appalling.

half the budget went on securing those review scores.

It's £60 of content that's worth a shiny chalice.

I finished the story last night and I thought it was a great game.

There's some stunning vistas out there and the way you can approach some of the open world set pieces in a variety of ways is also cool.  Some of the story/side mission quests that have you taking on big bads are cool but, for me, stumbling across 2 thunderjaws and working out the best way to take them out typifies what the game has hidden away.

Not sure if I'm going to go back and complete all side missions etc but I'll make a start on it and see how it goes.

Enjoyed reading a lot of the data logs to get the flavour of what went on.

Impressed.

I'm at the end(?) bit where you're outside the city walls and have some hand cannons at your disposal to mow down waves of enemies. 'Cept I've got no fookin' potions left and there ain't no mushrooms for me to eat either.  So I keep on dying.  Bummer.

I enjoyed my two days with it before the Switch launched. Looking forward to continuing, some day.

Good to see you back.

I needed something fun to play after finishing demons souls tbh.
If it continues like it's going I'll be happy to Potter about in the world.