horizon game review ps4
Test: Horizon Zero Dawn: One of the best open worlds of recent years
If there was only one event to remember from the E3 2015 conference from Sony, it is more the improbable trio of Arlesian Shenmue III / Final Fantasy VII Remake / The Last Guardian who would have a chance of winning the votes. Another outsider nevertheless pointed out during this same conference, and not the least: Horizon Zero Dawn has indeed forged in the space of a few months a solid reputation, to the point of fanning the envy of PlayStation 4 owners, ready to make it their game of the year 2017. Was the hype generated by the new title of Guerrilla Games justified?
Before launching, let us specify at the outset that the test was performed on both PS4 "classic" and Pro. Images and extracts of raw games are taken directly from the Pro version, while Gaming Live was filmed on the new version of PlayStation 4 released last September. We will come back briefly at the end of the test to the technical differences between the two versions.
The Horizon: Zero Dawn screenplay
This is a post-post apocalyptic story that the Guerrilla Games team tells us here. Civilization as we know it has died out on earth, letting nature reclaim its rights. But the men survived and regrouped in different tribes in order to survive in the face of the new dominant species, machines whose appearance strongly evokes different animal species well known to earthlings. What was the reason for the disappearance of humans? Why did the machines take control? What secrets are hidden under the vestiges of a civilization now belonging to the past? In the shoes of Aloy, a very curious young hunter from the Nora tribe, you are trying here to find answers to all these questions that act as pillars of the script for Horizon: Zero Dawn.
THIS IS THE STORY OF (ON) LIFE
It was expected on this point, and it did not disappoint us: Horizon offers a successful main scenario, with an intrigue around the origin of the machines that keeps us going until a sober conclusion, rich in answers and convincing. This one has above all the merit of not leaving us on our hunger while offering an opening for a second episode. But if the scenario is pleasant to follow, it loses a few feathers on the way because of narrative details: we will think in particular of the more down-to-earth red thread around the tribes, which without being devoid of interest proves less attractive than that around the mysteries of the evolution of the earth. The alternation between these two narrative lines tends to dilute the key revelations and therefore prolong the suspense a little artificially.
We will also think of these phases of revelations with audiologs, holograms and written documents, certainly interesting, but undoubtedly a little too long and inclined to break the rhythm of the adventure. Finally, the summary and limited facial animations of the characters do not always make it possible to accurately convey the emotions, evidenced by these sequences of disappearance of a character which, at best, will leave you unmoved, at worst, will tear away an embarrassed smile because of the unnatural nature of the scene.
ALOY IS ME
The only exception is the character of Aloy: curious but thoughtful, with good distribution and an assertive character, our heroine perfectly embodies her role during an adventure that will seriously manhandle her. One of Horizons greatest successes, it is to manage to make us evolve at the same time as its main character. From an introduction - very simple and effective, moreover - which sees her discover the world in which she evolves and learn the basics of hunting, the young woman will gradually cross the stages and borders, meet tribes, machines, allies and enemies at the same rate as the player. Evolution is therefore natural and extremely pleasant, since it provides a feeling of discovery and regular learning that we probably had not felt as strongly in an open world since the release of Red Dead Redemption.
THIS MACHINE IN MY HEAD ...
The most original part of the software undoubtedly remains the presence of machines and a hunting dimension around them. Aloy has a flexible grip here to hunt down his opponents: he can squat and hide at leisure in the tall grass, use a whole range of weapons ranging from rattlesnake to cable thrower through the bow or the sling, but also to make speak its climbing talents. This last point should however be qualified, the title only allowing you to climb in certain predefined areas. However, it offers a fairly flexible physique in the young lady's jumps - very close to those of Lara Croft, moreover - which allows from time to time to climb an area by slightly forcing the jumps, thus avoiding making the experience too frustrating. The stealth approach is most often preferred, our heroine quickly losing her health points when attacked. Beyond stealth, good preparation is not to be neglected: placing traps, using basic resistance potions and especially knowing the weak points of the machines will save you precious minutes during the fight to come.
… HEAVY AND STORM MACHINE
The damage inflicted on machines will indeed be greater if you favor attacks with an effective element against the enemy in question or one of its weak points. Likewise, it is preferable to use ammunition with a higher tear statistic, since this latter determines the capacity of your offensive to detach the various elements composing the machine. On modest enemies, the only interest is to complete the fight as quickly as possible, but detaching certain parts can also make it possible to recover additional objects useful for crafting, getting hold of a heavy weapon or rendering the opponent harmless : For example, detaching the disc launcher from a thunderstorm then allows you to use your own weapon against it, while destroying the legs of a rock breaker will prevent it from taking refuge underground.
Superbly animated and carefully designed, the machines in fact share the leading role in the adventure alongside Aloy and will offer you some intense and memorable fights. It is not uncommon to abandon for a moment its initial journey to meet a herd, prepare its strategy and engage in combat for purely playful reasons. The gain in experience and components that will result will even bring an additional interest to these stops, but we will come back to this point in more detail a few lines below. Before that, however, we must mention one of the main shortcomings of the title. Clashes with humans are indeed in the game, but the latter are much less interesting because of the little smart AI of fleshly opponents that you will have to meet. Able to spot you at 50 meters like not flinching when you eliminate a teammate in front of their eyes, they do task next to their metal companions and make these clashes significantly less inspired than those against machines. And if they are less present than the last mentioned, they occupy a sufficiently large part of the missions to be carried out so that this point is pointed out among the main faults of the game.
A LITTLE GAME OF CRAFT MECHA?
To dress the whole, Horizon is adorned with a slight RPG dimension that is found in almost all mechanics. Equipment, craft, quests, talent trees and consequent lines of dialogue will punctuate your journey. The title remains however light and rather easy to apprehend on these points, which especially allow to bring a hint of appreciable depth to a soft which gives pride of place to action and infiltration. To fill the care bag used to restore Aloy's hit points, but also to make arrows, potions and traps, you will have to collect the different plants, branches and resources found in nature. It is also possible to hunt the rare harmless animal species that have survived; foxes, rabbits, boars, turkeys, in order to increase the capacity of the various bags of resources - via the only not very intuitive interface of the game, moreover - or obviously to attack the machines to obtain even more components. As for the purchase of outfits and weapons from merchants, it will most often be done in exchange for a combination of rare elements drawn from different types of machines and a few pieces of metal, the currency in force in game.
Interface and HUD
We mentioned a few lines ago the interface of the resource bags, know that apart from the example cited, the title never fishes on this point thanks to simple and intuitive menus. It is the same for the HUD, a little more bulky basic, but which can be configured at leisure or even placed in dynamic mode in order to only disappear outside of combat. A rich idea that should be appreciated by lovers of pretty pictures, who can also have fun in the photo mode offered here.
LIGHTWEIGHT TRAVEL, GO HUNTING AI
The equipment obviously has a direct interest in your fights, since it has statistics most often offering a bonus of resistance to an element or a type of attack, even a more limited ability to detect by enemies. Similarly, it is possible to embed one or more additional pieces in it to improve protection or damage statistics. It will obviously have to be regularly renewed to avoid being faced with large peaks of difficulty, but the game is not particularly devious on this point, being by nature rather generous in resources if you take the time to collect them from the path. The lure of hunting also makes it easier to collect items and therefore regularly upgrade your weapons and armor.
Finally, the presence of several skill trees also makes it possible to refine Aloy's capacities between infiltration, combat skills and survival skills (increase in the amount of resources recovered, hacking of robots to use them as mounts or turn against their fellows ...). No crucial choice in perspective, since it is relatively easy to fill all of the 3 trees if you take the trouble to look into the additional content, which will bring sufficient experience gains to pass the levels and accumulate points. skills to spend.
QUESTS TO THE OF RIV
We have already mentioned the script's qualities and shortcomings of the title, without however addressing the subject of quests using a typical role-playing structure. These offer limited objectives, most often alternating between tracking and investigations in the Witcher 3 way, and fighting against machines. It is more through the playful dimension of these that Horizon manages to vary the situations and never get bored. We also salute the real effort of scripting side quests, which, without reaching the level of RPG CD Projekt, have the good taste to offer us mini-scenarios in no way clashing with the main adventure and even sometimes offering some well-known twists and turns.
The presence of numerous optional discussions as well as some choices directing the character of Aloy in a defined direction between sagacity, impulsiveness and compassion also adds a hint of interaction and enrichment of the dialogues, which prove to be of good quality while remaining a tone below the finesse of those of a pure role-playing game. The last good point to grant comes from the different elements to collect or additional places to explore, which deepen your knowledge of the gameplay, provide additional information about the universe or even allow you to obtain objects to exchange for different weapons. No abuse of Fedex quests or off-putting collection to report therefore, and it's a good point for an open world. In total, it will take you no less than sixty hours to complete the game at 100%, and twenty in a straight line if you are content to complete the main missions as quickly as possible. Allow 35 to 40 hours for a balanced game, mixing main and secondary quests.
A TECHNICAL AND ARTISTIC REFERENCE
We touched on all aspects of Horizon, but if there was only one thing to remember, it would undoubtedly be its incredible universe, so pleasant to travel. Visually fantastic, the game takes us from start to finish in a succession of landscapes that take our jaws down. The result is all the more impressive since it rises, on this point, almost up to a title like Uncharted 4, which however does not have the technical constraints of an open world! He is just as impeccable on his inspired artistic direction, evidenced by the design of the machines, the variety of his landscapes and the successful integration of the remains of the ancients in the heart of a new world offering areas of impressive visual richness. .
Impossible not to also salute the work done on the sound design and the soundtrack of the title. The latter, predominantly based on melancholic themes and impeccable from start to finish is however too discreet despite its undeniable qualities: We would have appreciated being able to enjoy it a little more. Finally, from a purely technical point of view, the title benefits from the contribution of the PS4 Pro and especially from the HDR highlighting the rich color palette of the game. However, it does not have to be ashamed on classic PS4, despite some slowdowns and clipping effects. The latter are however rare and do not spoil the experience.
The notes
+ Positive points
Technically and artistically at the top
Fighting against machines
Pure exploration pleasure
Scenario side quests
Aloy, endearing heroine
Rich universe
Pleasant scenario.
Negative points
… Despite some narrative laziness
Summary, even nonexistent facial animations
Human AI
Carried by an engaging heroine, a fascinating universe and particularly successful machine battles, Horizon: Zero Dawn easily enters the best open worlds of recent years. However, it is not free from faults, as evidenced by its facial animations, human AI often with strawberries or some narrative laziness. But they quickly fade in front of the adventure which is proposed to us, carried by a pleasant SF scenario which has the good taste not to leave us on our hunger ... While offering an opening for a potential sequel. A rich idea, because without insulting its Killzone saga, with Horizon: Zero Dawn, Guerrilla Games has a license whose potential is more likely to bring it into the big leagues.
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