One of the reviews I read found the motorcycle experience somewhat annoying. Both the driving and the maintenance. His did you find it?Days Gone
Easily one of the best open-world post-apocalyptic survival games. It does properly what I wished the Division would have been. Whereas that one went for the item grind and microtransaction heavy live service game, Days Gone emphasizes story and narrative, world building and strong character development.
While the story is good overall, it has a very slow burn for the first act, then starts a very strong middle, and unfortunately kind of drops the ball in the final act. It's not exactly bad, there's no cringe or anything like that, but it goes for a much too safe wrapup and ending. Actually bordering on the generic action movie tropes and ending. Which is unfortunate, as the first two halves are much more personal for the main character. And I wish it could've continued with that. Unlike other post-apocalyptic narrative games, like The Last of Us/2, this one didn't really want to risk much. Or maybe it was just rushed towards the end.
Leaving the story and narrative aside, the strongest element of the game is the "simulation" of a post-apocalyptic survival action game. The world is a great playground to explore, often shocking in the amount of detail put into everything, most of which will likely never be seen by most people. And the graphics and audio engine renders everything to such an extent that the atmosphere is almost unrivaled. Often you see vistas that just enchant and ask to be explored.
Related to graphics, another point that is often impressive, but other times not so much is the facial animation and rendering. Some of the characters have really had serious work put into them. Often the eyes are incredibly realistic, and are able to convey proper emotions.
The gameplay is strong, especially the gunplay. It's very familiar to those that have played the Division. The biking is also nicely done, and it really forces you to build a relationship with it. It ends up being your save point, your ammo cart and your absolutely vital means of transport, since the world is huge. I often had to ponder whether to go back for my bike, or just going forward to some point of interest, but risk stumbling onto a horde.
And speaking of hordes, this is easily the most recognizable element of the game. It impressively renders huge crowds of zombies, up to 500+ individuals. The hordes really are a sight to be seen. They behave very similarly to how zombies floods acted in World War Z, I believe. They really come at you like a flood, climbing over walls and buildings, trying to surround you. They really act like the main danger in the world, up until the final act when the game again drops the ball. Without going into too much detail, some happenings trivialize the phenomenon of the horde, which up until that point was treated with great reverence and fright. But up until that point, they superbly enhance the experience, and always make you be on your feet when exploring the world. Any cave you explore, you hope to god not to stumble onto some horde sleeping. But, another thing that saps at the horde element is the respawn feature of the game. Not sure if it's a bug or a feature, but often when I died to a horde, but still managed to accomplish the immediate goal, I was respawned somewhere near, with the goal still finished, but the horde gone. So it kind of made dying to the horde without consequence. Aside from the panic you engage in while trying to run away from them.
Music, is also pretty good. Some of the songs are really remarkable. Both some positive tunes, but especially the horror music when you're either attacked by the horde, or close to being discovered.
Some other negatives is the way they lock or limit you in the open world. Sections of the map are locked out until particular game events take place, but they couldn't develop a natural reason for why that area is not accessible, and just display a "Please progress the story further to be able to acces this area". The other worst thing is the, while in mission, limit to where you can actually move. It's not often, but when it happens it's annoying as hell. Seeing a "Please return to the mission area" while being chased by a horde inside a cavern system was not good at all.
So, overall a strong game, and it's amazing that Sony has allowed it to be ported to PC. I tried playing the game on a PS4, but it's unplayable for me, with the aiming levels required, without auto-aiming. It's also a great port. Runs beautifully, and very optimized most of the time. And is a real looker.
Now Sony just has to do the same treatment for Bloodborne and The Last of Us.
Heh, that's not very realistic. But on the other hand, neither are zombiesBike controlled fine for me also. Regarding the maintenance, I canâ€t I had too many issues with. I took it as part of the fantasy. I took very good care of the bike, and it took care of me. What I found more annoying is the random fauna that always attack me. Even on bike. Damn you wolves, bears and pumas.
Days Gone
Easily one of the best open-world post-apocalyptic survival games. It does properly what I wished the Division would have been. Whereas that one went for the item grind and microtransaction heavy live service game, Days Gone emphasizes story and narrative, world building and strong character development.
While the story is good overall, it has a very slow burn for the first act, then starts a very strong middle, and unfortunately kind of drops the ball in the final act. It's not exactly bad, there's no cringe or anything like that, but it goes for a much too safe wrapup and ending. Actually bordering on the generic action movie tropes and ending. Which is unfortunate, as the first two halves are much more personal for the main character. And I wish it could've continued with that. Unlike other post-apocalyptic narrative games, like The Last of Us/2, this one didn't really want to risk much. Or maybe it was just rushed towards the end.
Leaving the story and narrative aside, the strongest element of the game is the "simulation" of a post-apocalyptic survival action game. The world is a great playground to explore, often shocking in the amount of detail put into everything, most of which will likely never be seen by most people. And the graphics and audio engine renders everything to such an extent that the atmosphere is almost unrivaled. Often you see vistas that just enchant and ask to be explored.
Related to graphics, another point that is often impressive, but other times not so much is the facial animation and rendering. Some of the characters have really had serious work put into them. Often the eyes are incredibly realistic, and are able to convey proper emotions.
The gameplay is strong, especially the gunplay. It's very familiar to those that have played the Division. The biking is also nicely done, and it really forces you to build a relationship with it. It ends up being your save point, your ammo cart and your absolutely vital means of transport, since the world is huge. I often had to ponder whether to go back for my bike, or just going forward to some point of interest, but risk stumbling onto a horde.
And speaking of hordes, this is easily the most recognizable element of the game. It impressively renders huge crowds of zombies, up to 500+ individuals. The hordes really are a sight to be seen. They behave very similarly to how zombies floods acted in World War Z, I believe. They really come at you like a flood, climbing over walls and buildings, trying to surround you. They really act like the main danger in the world, up until the final act when the game again drops the ball. Without going into too much detail, some happenings trivialize the phenomenon of the horde, which up until that point was treated with great reverence and fright. But up until that point, they superbly enhance the experience, and always make you be on your feet when exploring the world. Any cave you explore, you hope to god not to stumble onto some horde sleeping. But, another thing that saps at the horde element is the respawn feature of the game. Not sure if it's a bug or a feature, but often when I died to a horde, but still managed to accomplish the immediate goal, I was respawned somewhere near, with the goal still finished, but the horde gone. So it kind of made dying to the horde without consequence. Aside from the panic you engage in while trying to run away from them.
Music, is also pretty good. Some of the songs are really remarkable. Both some positive tunes, but especially the horror music when you're either attacked by the horde, or close to being discovered.
Some other negatives is the way they lock or limit you in the open world. Sections of the map are locked out until particular game events take place, but they couldn't develop a natural reason for why that area is not accessible, and just display a "Please progress the story further to be able to acces this area". The other worst thing is the, while in mission, limit to where you can actually move. It's not often, but when it happens it's annoying as hell. Seeing a "Please return to the mission area" while being chased by a horde inside a cavern system was not good at all.
So, overall a strong game, and it's amazing that Sony has allowed it to be ported to PC. I tried playing the game on a PS4, but it's unplayable for me, with the aiming levels required, without auto-aiming. It's also a great port. Runs beautifully, and very optimized most of the time. And is a real looker.
Now Sony just has to do the same treatment for Bloodborne and The Last of Us.
I'm not sure I follow your logic here, but this isn't the place for such a debate.
If you think Sony does anything gaming-related without wanting to maximise profit, let's just say I can't agree
There's a reason we're not likely to get a Days Gone sequel
), the fact that they stuff progress skippers in there really corrupts my experience. I cannot but expect that they adjusted the progression curb to get me to use those microtransaction. Basically, the well is poisoned for me. Kinda of. I can enjoy the games, but that sort of treatment, in singleplayer games no less, really spoils my fun. And also takes me out of the experience when I see two currencies in the game, or see the item store right front and center.I think Sony, and maybe Microsoft are different as publishers, compared to Ubisoft. Especially Sony. Since they own the platforms on which most console games are played on, they have a strong incentive to invest a lot of money into AAA games, like the Last of Us and God of War, without stuffing them with microtransactions. I view these games as simple system sellers. So they afford to invest huge budgets, and I don't think they have the same expectation with regards to return on investment, at least not directly through the sale of the game, as with their other games.
Ubisoft really has none of that. While I agree that their games are usually decent to good (for great, where's my Prince of Persia and Splinter Cell?
Breakpoint was again a deal-breaker for me when I heard that they basically sell every item in the game, for real money. Not for me. I'm sorry.
t I had too many issues with. I took it as part of the fantasy. I took very good care of the bike, and it took care of me. What I found more annoying is the random fauna that always attack me. Even on bike. Damn you wolves, bears and pumas.