I'm not making a joke here, it just amazes me how many games, television, and films use the time after the end of civilization as the entry point to their plots. Such as it is with Horizon Zero Dawn, a game from the loving arms of Guerrilla Games and Sony. And if Guerrilla isn't familiar to you, don't worry, it wasn't to me either. Their most known for the Killzone series of games...which I haven't played.
Now, instead of the "sort of" future, we have the far future. In Horizon Zero Dawn, we are introduced to the infant child Aloy on her naming day by the badass mofo Rost, who is an outcast from a tribe called the Nora. It seems that humanity has regressed to a tribal state while occasionally applying the technology of old to their weaponry in order to hunt...the technology of old. If the cover wasn't a dead give away, robots are roaming the Earth like the dinosaurs of old.
I can practically hear Ubisoft facepalming at their lack of foresight in terms of DLC.
That being said, this game really does blend the best parts of Far Cry Primal and Blood Dragon, and I do mean that as a good thing. The game feels very much like a Far Cry game with both its mechanics and its level progression...as in, at least in the latter case, it's a carbon copy. But that's not a bad thing, since I really like the level up system in the Far Cry series.
Unlike the Far Cry series, Horizon Zero Dawn finds itself in my good graces right off the bat (besides in its premise) by not locking me into first person mode! I know that seems like a minor complaint, but it is really something you really appreciate only when you can't do it. Shooting from over the shoulder (bow combat is very much the attack of choice besides the few bits of melee) is actually a lot easier for me and Dawn provides. Also, one can appreciate the work the animators put into the character model, which is nice. There is a good bit of detail in every pull of the bowstring...even if the faces are more than a little...off...in some places.
Along with the bows (and there are actually a nice variety of bows), Aloy can also get a hold of a variety of tasty gadgets like a tripcaster, and starts with a lovely spear for light and heavy attacks. And, of course, there's the crown jewel of the set...a shotgun. Of a sort. And for the longtime readers of mine who know the joke well, let me allow Rocket Raccoon to express my feelings on the matter.
The combat is pretty involving and very much in the "hunter" vein of things. Aloy sneaks through the tall grass to stalk her prey and avoid their gazes, making this a post-apocalyptic game as a bizarre mirror universe version of the Pokemon games. Instead of catching them all, Aloy mercilessly takes down the robots opponents to gather scrap metal and wires and other components to either craft items with or to sell off for scraps of Metal.
Yes, metal scraps are the currency in this game. Like the bottlecaps in Fallout, don't think about it too hard.
Aloy's main bit of flair, however, is a Focus. Not the Final Fantasy XIII type, no no...it's basically a Dragon Ball Z scouter. Aloy can tag enemies for attack and use the device to track the movement patterns of enemies to make them easier to take down and/or work around. And while the scouter does not, in fact, let Aloy know her enemies power level (OVER 9000!!!!! or otherwise),
The story is good, if a little coconut and banana sandwich crazy (not Fallout crazy, but we're getting there). The combat is nice and involving and even the resource collecting is more than a little fun. The protagonist is engaging and her journey to discover her origins is compelling and wrought with peril.
If there's anything I can say I don't really like about this game (y'know, if you put a gun to my head), it's that it has the Bethesda problem of too many side quests popping up to distract from the Main Quest...and since I rather like that in Bethesda games since (nine times out of ten) it really helps to open up the world and give it more depth than just the Main Quest does on its own, as well as giving a reminder to the player that things do actually happen independent of their actions, that would really make me a hypocrite, wouldn't it?
(Go ahead and pull the trigger, Spunky)
It keeps me interested and is engaging, looking at the post-apocalypse in a surprisingly fresh way. Even if just about everything has been done before, it feels like new and it's a good first effort by Guerrilla in the RPG department. There have been teasings of extra plot to come, most likely as DLC. Believe me, I am more than ready for it!
Horizon Zero Dawn is now available from Guerrilla Games and Sony Interactive Entertainment for Playstation 4.
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