Hindsight is a bitch. In this case the hindsight being I didn’t play Horizon Zero Dawn earlier. You’d think a fan of the Killzone games such as myself would jump at Guerrilla Games newest offering. I mean it has fucking laser raptors!!! I honestly can’t explain my decision but I held off for almost a whole year playing other games (Or Titanfall multiplayer forever I dunno memories a little spotty). Anyway, I’ve been pulled from my machine hunting stupor to write a little piece about it so yeah… Thanks Luke.

Where to begin? Shit’s pretty yo! As environments go it’s been a while since I’ve actually stopped to admire a view in a game. I found myself staring off into the distance at dinosaurs or sunsets or whatever was there i don’t know it’s all so gorgeous! Definitely a game worthy of a photo mode. Just for clarity I normally fucking hate photo modes.

So about those laser raptors in possibly the highlight of the whole experience the game world is inhabitited by amazingly designed machines based on various animals from horses to the MIGHTY TYRANNOSAURS REX!!! Too excited? Should I wind it back? No piss off. It’s fighting giant robo animals how is that not awesome?? With clever combat mechanics like targeting key areas of the machines to lower their combat effectiveness makes each scrap in the game feel more like a real battle. There are SOME enemies who feel like more trouble than their worth though I imagine with a few more levels I MIGHT be able to handle it or I might just suck and I’m having more fun than I am learning.

Now let’s talk about what I don’t like. Aloy. The leading lady has all the emotional range of a digestive biscuit. Even with a few dialogue trees in there and implied repercussions there’s nothing to gain from picking any option. Want to be nice? Aloy will sound as surprised as a person being told they have lungs. Want to be intimidating? Prepare to be afraid…of the shitty voice acting. I’m finding myself more interested in a few background characters than I am in the lead and that just poor writing and acting. Something Guerrilla doesn’t normally have much trouble with so it’s a shame to see such a misfire.

Gameplaywise HZD is definitely fun. With a lot to explore and easy to learn tricky to master combat you won’t be struggling to find a reason to go back again and again. Even the usual boring junk like map marking is made fun with a cool robo giraffe climbing mechanic… which yes definitely makes sense in context…

i haven’t done much of the story yet I mean I’ve been told it might be good but so far it’s all been mired by Aloy the most boring protagonist since Aiden Pearce from Watch Dogs. So far I’ve been enjoying the strange cross of fantasy and sci Fi that comes with the environment and setting.

So basically. You like open world games? You’re in for a treat! There’s not a lot to dislike about this game *ahem* Aloy *ahem* and I cannot stress this enough… FUCKING ROBOT TYRANNOSAURS REX!

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