Horizon Zero Dawn - PlayStation 4 Collector's Edition

SPOILERS AHEADCollector’s Edition purchased on Amazon and played on a PS4 Pro with a Ben-Q 2560x1440 monitor.Much has been written about Horizon Zero Dawn’s jaw-dropping graphics and nearly perfect locked 30 FPS with barely any glitches. Indeed after 80 hours in completing and platinuming the game, I ran into one glitch where the killed machine continued to float in the air. That was the only instance in 80 hours of gameplay. This technological achievement was so impressive that Digital Foundry recommended the game, even though they only comment on the technological aspects of the game, and are not a game-experience review site.However, as impressive as the technical accomplishments are, the other elements--the character development, story, gameplay, the lore and the cohesive world--and how all the narrative elements offer a coherent interaction for the player, are even more impressive. Guerrilla Games didn’t just slap things together and call it a day, which they could have, especially as dinosaur/animal robots are all but universally appealing. Instead, they really thought through the character of Aloy, and I really can't see this game without her, so tied-in is she with the world and events. They also carefully thought through how the world came to be the way it is.Also impressive is the pacing of the game. I often got sidetracked into finding the collectibles, but once tired of collecting, I turned to side quests, and once tired of side quests, continued onto the main quest, and so on; I was never bored playing the game. In fact, I was sad when I got the Platinum trophy, but that's a good excuse to play the game again once I can afford a 4k OLED HDR television that the game demands to be played on.In terms of gameplay (to me, the most important element of a videogame), the combat is very tight, fluid and precise, and you have to be tactical to take down the more fearsome machines. Obviously, I do the R2 heavy attack on the low level Watchers, but for the higher-level, you need strategy, knowledge of their weaknesses and attack patterns, and the reflexes to dodge. A negative aspect of gameplay is that melee is a bit limited, and I hope in the sequel, they can add more machines that lend themselves to melee combat, as in Dark Souls (which remains my favorite game so far). However, in terms of fluidity of combat, precision and complexity, the ranged attacks in HZD are the best I have ever encountered.The most awe-inspiring and most-fun gameplay experience I’ve had in a long time are the encounters with the Cauldrons, especially the very first one. I feel that there are too few in this game, and hope that in the most likely sequel Guerrilla Games will include more Cauldrons that are longer and more complex.I also appreciated that it's very rewarding to get trophies organically while playing the game; one gathers the trophies in the natural course. That is, as long as you do most of the quests and errands (for the All Allies trophy). If you somehow do not get a trophy and even pass the point of no return and finish the game, it dumps you back before the point of no return so you can pick up any remaining trophies, with all of your stats, gears and items intact. The trophy system, and that I never once had to put down the controller and look at a guide, demonstrate the game's level of immersion. In so many games, there is very esoteric stuff that you will miss without a guide, so you might not get the full experience if you don’t know to look the stuff up. It’s not very immersive when playing a game to have to consult a guide to make sure you don’t miss any trophies. With HZD, you can play the game blind and experience everything the game has to offer, as opposed to needing multiple playthroughs. This is actually the only game I've seen which does that. (full disclosure: I’m not the best gamer, so I did look up YouTube instruction on how to beat the Hunter Trials, but most gamers won't need to).In conclusion, this is the first open-world game I have played where all the elements are superb. Often, open-world games might come up short in combat mechanics, or story, or character development, world/lore building, or other aspects, but not HZD. It cost $45 million dollars to develop, but it feels more like a $200 million game.If you have a PS4, you owe it to yourself to play Horizon Zero Dawn. An "instant classic" masterpiece.

Believe the hype: HZD is a strong contender for Game of the Year. Insanely detailed and lush environments, great controls, solid voice acting/animations and really fun gameplay. Somehow, Guerilla Games found out that hunting robot dinosaurs pretty much doesn't get old. I am not particularly a fan of open world games since they tend to lack cohesive central narrative and lots of really grindy sidequests but HZD tackled both of those problems easily.First, the main story is actually good and interesting. It takes a lot of standard sci-fi tropes and gives them a good polish and enough unique spin to suck you in. I found myself caring about the central story and Aloy. Secondly, the sidequests are very much optional and the fetch quests have enough of interesting story that you can easily get sucked in. The collectibles quest are mixed up enough to let you go from one type to another without getting bored. And you you can easily tackle them in whatever order you want: a friend of mine wanted to see the whole map so he went straight for the Tallnecks asap (the infinitely improved Ubisoft towers lol) whereas I got caught up in all the Hunting Ground trials and getting Gold marks for fastest times, which gave me tons of xp, money and weapon unlocks. GG has smartly structured it in the way that nothing ever feels likes a chore and the way you want to tackle the game really feels natural and intuitive. That made me like this game so much more compared to all the other open world games out there.Weapon variety is good enough to where you can play the game how you want. I went stealth and using slingshot bombs after picking apart robots piece by piece for their goods with bow. My friend went tying down with the Ropecaster and arrowing down mobs with the bow. Or you can go straight stealth with melee Silent Strikes or well placed arrow shots with the slower bow. There is no issue with ammo since crafting can be done on the fly, WITHOUT GOING TO A MENU THANKFULLY, and you will have no lack of resources due to the item economy and plethora of materials lying around.The only complaint I could even leverage is that even on hard mode, it was a little easy and the super armor really truly breaks the game and makes it easy to complete. Not sure how very hard plays but I would 100% recommend starting on hard mode, even for beginners.I sunk 66 hours into this game and loved every minute; very happy to have the Platinum for this and got a free theme from Sony even for it. The fighting and story are top notch, it has a lot of replayability because the world is just engrossing and fun to just run around in and take pictures and FIGHT DINOSAUR ROBOTS. Absolutely can't wait for the sequel/planned DLC and this is one of the best console exclusives around for sure.If you have a PS4, this is a must own in my opinion.Collector's Edition notes: the stature is well made and detailed and is sitting next to my Kratos statue from the Ascension collector's edition. The steelbox is well made and looks great, as does the artbook. One of the few games that I would recommend the whole package for, especially with Prime discount was an absolute steal. If it's not your thing, the base game will suffice, the preorder weapon/armor bonuses are not a huge advantage early on.