#59 - Days Gone (PS4)
28th June 2019
One Percenter
2 months, 4 hours
This won't be a glowing review like most of the reviews I usually post... be warned.
I started playing this on Launch Day, 2 months ago, and I tell you this game had a lot of issues.
I know this game has been a few years in the making, but it feels like this has been rushed out the door to meet a "deadline" that no one cared about.
Studio Bend, I am sure, meant well and was trying desperately to create the best game that they could, but this game had too many flaws in it.
This is actually pretty surprising, especially seeing the plethora of exclusive hits that Playstation has been releasing that last couple of years, and the quality of those games.
To tell you the truth, that was probably the most disappointing part.
I was expecting this game to hit a home run, much like GoW or Spiderman before it, a beautiful game with a great story and great game play.
Days Gone was not one of those games.
The world is beautiful, the story is so-so, and the game play is mediocre.
I am sure I could come up with a laundry list of excuses for why this game was so broken, but I have heard them all before and I know Studio Bend could have done better.
But, this game isn't totally without merit and as time has gone on the software updates have addressed a lot of the early bugs.
So, even with this game constantly crashing, randomly spawning zombie hordes, and game breaking bugs, I still had fun riding my motorcycle around Oregon.
When it is working, this game looks beautiful.
Living in BC, we are only a few hundred miles away from that beautiful state, and you can tell that Studio Bend is definitely proud of the state they are in.
Riding across this map from mission to mission almost always had me floored by how beautiful the environments were.
It reminds me, that I need to go to Portland for a weekend.
The story for this game could have been great, but I think the acting was a little wooden and when it mattered the, the climactic moments were a little bit of a let down.
I did feel that as the story progressed it did get a little better, but it never really moved the needle emotionally for me.
Finally, the game play, this game is just another open world 3rd Person shooter.
Nothing here was really new or innovative, if you played Last of Us, you have already played a better version of this game.
The open world environment is really the only difference in game play and I think the open world hindered this game more than it helped.
For the trophy hunters out there, the platinum is pretty easy to get.
There is a little post game grinding, but even that doesn't take too long, maybe an extra 2 to 3 hours of play.
That was definitely a huge plus for this game and easily one of the motivating factors to finish this one.
For Days Gone, my final verdict is:
This game may not be the Last of Us, but it definitely is a good way to fill that gap until LoU2 comes out.
Also, let's just say that running around mowing zombies down is always a really good time.
BOOZEMAN!!!