Lauren Ouellette

I was so excited for this to come out but find myself far less impressed than with the first game. The jump/climbing mechanic is beyond maddening. The forced camera angles and effects often cause you to get “caught” in trees or unable to see through whatever it is you’re maneuvering in front of. The story is significantly less compelling. Much of the actual experience is spent being prisoner to the artistic vision of the visual direction such as excessive lens flares, occasionally having a flashlight in dark places but then no longer having access to a light source and trying to navigate cauldrons in near complete darkness. Aloy’s responsiveness when dodging attacks, jumping from handhold to handhold and recovering from hits is GLACIAL at best. This is the only time I’ve seen the mechanics worsen with the newer game. Perhaps next time more concentration should be placed in creating a rich interactive experience for your audience as opposed to letting directors’ desire for realism and artistic presentation back gamers into a corner where they have to negotiate with themselves as to whether the new game is worth it or more frustration than they’d like to deal with.