Support NeoGAF

[nowheretorun]

What Driveclub was intended to be is irrelevant for reviews scores.
Driveclub had little ambition (graphics aside), like i said it shouldn't be awarded 9's just because the devs perfectly achieved whatever unambitious goal they had.

A lot of journalists just wrote that driveclub only offers A, when other games offer A AND B. And tbh Driveclub's A isn't even exceptionally well done or fleshed out compared to other games's A.

Horizon offers closed circuits and p2p races as well as free roaming. Upgrades and tuning, you can just ignore or autotune in SP. Yes people who tune their cars will get better results, but you can restrict the race to stock. In Motorsport you can forget about the career and just jump in and race, turn assists and damage on or off to basically make it as arcadey as you like. Both offer greater variety and better and larger car selection etc.

So, no. This is not what journalists wanted, but they are aware and have to inform you that there are things Driveclub doesn't have compared to other racers.
Of course, it's stuff that you might never care about and that's why one should read the damn review. But a score is just a number and MUST reflect the fact that Driveclub doesn't offer as much content and variety as other racers.



See, you're part of the problem.
72 metacritic means nothing. Just go, read the reviews and try to understand whether you care or not about the stuff that determined the low-ish score.

This is a game on a console, relatively early into its life. It's also the first in the series. We all know how it works with budgets in relation to expected sales etc cos this is where the profit ratio's come in.

Would be interesting to see what a DriveClub 2 could offer in the future.....

For me, even though I've not even played it yet, the first entry looks to be quite ambitious in many many aspects - not least, catering to a certain kind of gamer that could easily be forgotten....

This obviously resonates with the developers and probably many other developers, albeit they don't all put their balls on the line and give them to us like Evo appears to have done.

As long as there has been no bullshitting with how I expect the graphics, this game is exactly what I expected from their early vision. To. A. T.

Well done Evo (as long as you haven't bullshitted on the graphics!).





edit: oh and the fact that it cost me £30.45 along with the free content that's going to be coming, Evo deserve even MORE respect. No microtransaction shit going on here which they considered and could have still done.

New Signature: are Naughty Dog ever gonna fix the matchmaking/broken bugs in TLOUL:R

 

[TEH-CJ]

Aside from a few issues i have with driveclub, its still one of the best racers i have played.

If it had more content it would be sitting on 85 on metacritict.

 

[nib95]

Aside from a few issues i have with driveclub, its still one of the best racers i have played.

If it had more content it would be sitting on 85 on metacritict.

Such a shame weather and photo mode didn't make release. I actually think weather will set this game above others. The atmosphere from its implementation of it will likely be unrivaled.

 

[nib95]

For a solid example of all of the above, this is a great video of one full race:
India: Munnar, point to point race

The AI is going for the line, as you'd see in any real racing, but they aren't on rails. There's a mixture of clean overtakes, aggressive cuts by the AI back into position, and some slight bumps and paint trading - none of which is penalized here as its very minor. Anything beyond this would demerit points though, or an acceleration penalty if the hits were significant.

Edit: There was one penalized collision I missed in there.

Good video. Not sure why people regurgitate the ignorant comments of some journalists in claiming the AI only rigidly stick to a line and don't avoid other cars, or deviate. It's utter nonsense. Even from the numerous streams and videos prior to release it was obvious this was not the case. The AI is actually very clever, just also sometimes too aggressive, much like many gamers are in these games lol.

 

[GribbleGrunger]

With points being deducted from Driveclub because of the lack of story and the inability to go off-road, how many points will be deducted from Forza 6?

 

[F-Pina]

I like it.

 

[Fortinbras]

There's another 5/10. 4players.de reviews also count for metacritic.
http://www.4players.de/4players.php...rtung/PlayStation4/34427/79994/DriveClub.html

 

[Toreal]

With points being deducted from Driveclub because of the lack of story and the inability to go off-road, how many points will be deducted from Forza 6?

 

[drugstore_cowboy]

With points being deducted from Driveclub because of the lack of story and the inability to go off-road, how many points will be deducted from Forza 6?

Tbh I don't know how much longer Forza and GT can keep releasing updated versions of the same games. Forza's career mode could do with a reboot for sure.

 

[travisbickle]

With points being deducted from Driveclub because of the lack of story and the inability to go off-road, how many points will be deducted from Forza 6?

Titles with legacy won't have a problem.

 

[goonergaz]

I wonder how this would have reviewed with the reply, weather & photo mode updates.

 

[GrizzleBoy]

For a solid example of all of the above, this is a great video of one full race:
India: Munnar, point to point race

The AI is going for the line, as you'd see in any real racing, but they aren't on rails. There's a mixture of clean overtakes, aggressive cuts by the AI back into position, and some slight bumps and paint trading - none of which is penalized here as its very minor. Anything beyond this would demerit points though, or an acceleration penalty if the hits were significant.

Edit: There was one penalized collision I missed in there.

95% of that video is just AI following behind other AI, with the pack only destabilising once you get near to it.

Also regarding aggressiveness, you can play bumper cars in this game. The only way to get a penalty through contact is to do a hard dive bomb, but constant bashing or even pit manoeuvres are fair game without penalty.

I wonder how this would have reviewed with the reply, weather & photo mode updates.

Replay mode is half of a racing game to me. I have no idea how it wasn't a launch feature.

My favourite thing to do in racing games is to do a faultless clean race and watch it back afterwards. Being booted straight to a menu after a race feels like something's missing.

 

[drugstore_cowboy]

I trust NullPointer, if he says they are fun and decent to race against then that's that imo.

Stuff like that is hard to gauge on videos, just got to play it I suppose.

 

[GrizzleBoy]

I trust NullPointer, if he says they are fun and decent to race against then that's that imo.

Stuff like that is hard to gauge on videos, just got to play it I suppose.

If he says anything less than slight bumping gets a penalty, he is wrong.

 

[goonergaz]

Replay mode is half of a racing game to me. I have no idea how it wasn't a launch feature.

My favourite thing to do in racing games is to do a faultless clean race and watch it back afterwards. Being booted straight to a menu after a race feels like something's missing.

Well maybe they just thought that we can record the races anyway so no urgent requirment?

 

[dark10x]

I'm sure the reviewers have their reasons but they almost succeeded in keeping me from buying it. I haven't had this much fun with a racing game in years, though. The handling, track design, progression, and presentation are exactly what I want in a racing game but I can very easily understand why it wouldn't work for everyone these days.

Still, it takes me back to the days of Ridge Racer V and PGR. I just want to keep playing.

 

[travisbickle]

95% of that video is just AI following behind other AI, with the pack only destabilising once you get near to it.

Also regarding aggressiveness, you can play bumper cars in this game. The only way to get a penalty through contact is to do a hard dive bomb, but constant bashing or even pit manoeuvres are fair game without penalty.



Replay mode is half of a racing game to me. I have no idea how it wasn't a launch feature.

My favourite thing to do in racing games is to do a faultless clean race and watch it back afterwards. Being booted straight to a menu after a race feels like something's missing.

Well you can always capture your race and put it up on Youtube, the bonus being we can all see the AI in your games too.

 

[Krilekk]

There's another 5/10. 4players.de reviews also count for metacritic.
http://www.4players.de/4players.php...rtung/PlayStation4/34427/79994/DriveClub.html

You might wanna specify that they would have given the game a 7.8 but because of the server problems they see it at 5.0 for now.

 

[Milestoned]

There's another 5/10. 4players.de reviews also count for metacritic.
http://www.4players.de/4players.php...rtung/PlayStation4/34427/79994/DriveClub.html

I expected a 60/100 from Krosta, since it's well known that he is the Ryan McCaffrey of Germany, but this Review is even worse. It reads like a 70-80/100 but they decided to give it 50/100 because of the server problems.

 

[-Snooze-]

With points being deducted from Driveclub because of the lack of story and the inability to go off-road, how many points will be deducted from Forza 6?

Well considering Forza's car mechanics are far better than Drive Club, has far more cars, deep tuning system with aftermarket performance parts, deep customization, just as much social options (except they work) I'd say it'll fair quite well ... Considering it does pretty much all a Driving Sim can do in the confines of it's genre... Unlike Drive Club, which struggles with simple things like replays.

 

[Nyx]

Well considering Forza's car mechanics are far better than Drive Club, has far more cars, deep tuning system with aftermarket performance parts, deep customization, just as much social options (except they work) I'd say it'll fair quite well ... Considering it does pretty much all a Driving Sim can do in the confines of it's genre... Unlike Drive Club, which struggles with simple things like replays.

By the time you are done with your deep tuning system with aftermarket performance parts and deep customization, I already have driven 3 races in DC.

My point is, there are many people who do not want all the extra stuff but just want to race.

 

[dark10x]

Well considering Forza's car mechanics are far better than Drive Club, has far more cars, deep tuning system with aftermarket performance parts, deep customization, just as much social options (except they work) I'd say it'll fair quite well ... Considering it does pretty much all a Driving Sim can do in the confines of it's genre... Unlike Drive Club, which struggles with simple things like replays.

It's interesting but for some reason the lack of those features is partially responsible for my greater enjoyment, I have to admit.

I really just enjoyed the clean, simple, stripped back approach these days. It's the same reason I regularly return to a fair number of retro games.

It's fair to take a review hit for missing features, though, since I realize most people view it as a bad thing.

Still, at release, I actually felt that Forza 5 was much more limited than DriveClub when it comes to the things I care about. It had a very limited set of tracks, a simple selection of single player events, and huge barriers before acquiring new cars meant that you'd be driving the same cars for a long time. It felt as if I were racing the same tracks constantly and they always looked identical. The quality of the tracks is just really important to me - more than just about anything else. Good handling plus great tracks is all I want in a racing game.

 

[drugstore_cowboy]

By the time you are done with your deep tuning system with aftermarket performance parts and deep customization, I already have driven 3 races in DC.

My point is, there are many people who do not want all the extra stuff but just want to race.

Then you can do that too. The tools are there and game is whatever you make it.

 

[goonergaz]

It's interesting but for some reason the lack of those features is partially responsible for my greater enjoyment, I have to admit.

I really just enjoyed the clean, simple, stripped back approach these days. It's the same reason I regularly return to a fair number of retro games.

QFT

 

[Nyx]

Then you can do that too. The tools are there and game is whatever you make it.

Yes I know, but why give a game which never was supposed to have all that deep tuning/customization options a lower rating because other games do have it?

It's like comparing a Mini Cooper with a Bentley Continental T and saying the Mini Cooper sucks because it doesn't have all the options and enginepower the Bentley has.

(and yes I know that it's not an entirely fair comparison cause the Bentley costs a lot more than the Mini Cooper)

 

[Marlenus]

It's fair to take a review hit for missing features, though, since I realize most people view it as a bad thing.

I disagree with this to a degree.

Features that are missing that should have been in at launch and are a valid reason to drop review scores: (In my opinion of course)
Replays
Photo Mode
Maybe Weather but that was a later announcement after the delay so maybe not and I am torn on it.

Features that are not included but should not affect a review score.
Open World
Setup
Customisation
Tuning

You can mention these things and say that if you are a fan of one, all or a combination of these features the game might not be for you but to knock it because it was designed as a game where the difference between 1st and 2nd is skill not Tuning, Setup etc is just bad reviewing.

It is the same as a car reviewer knocking the 458 Italia because it does not have a large boot, more than 2 seats or it consumes lots of fuel. It is not designed for that and any car magazine that published a review that did so would be laughed at.

If the reviewer dislikes the tracks, the handling model, the car selection and so on then it is fair to state that and deduct from the final score on that basis. The problem is that many reviewers did not do that and it is really bad.

This is why I think the review at ars is the best. It talks about those missing features and mentions if they are a core part of the experience for you in racing games this might not suit you but it does not knock it for choosing to do without them.

 

[goonergaz]

Yes I know, but why give a game which never was supposed to have all that deep tuning/customization options a lower rating because other games do have it?

It's like comparing a Mini Cooper with a Bentley Continental T and saying the Mini Cooper sucks because it doesn't have all the options and enginepower the Bentley has.

(and yes I know that it's not an entirely fair comparison cause the Bentley costs a lot more than the Mini Cooper)

This is the point, will it be acceptable to drop review points from Sunset Overdrive because the story isn't realistic enough or that the weapons are too OTT?

A game should be reviewed on it's merrits, by all accounts mention the lack of such features but unless the features are included but broken/not good enough then it shouldn't affect the review score.

DC seems to do exactly what it set out to do. Interesting that Forza 5 for all the extra features scores just a few points more overall.

 

[drugstore_cowboy]

DC seems to do exactly what it set out to do. Interesting that Forza 5 for all the extra features scores just a few points more overall.

That was mainly due to the lack of content compared to F4. Again I don't expect Forza to score highly forever though without a kick up the arse.

 

[Kssio_Aug]

By the time you are done with your deep tuning system with aftermarket performance parts and deep customization, I already have driven 3 races in DC.

My point is, there are many people who do not want all the extra stuff but just want to race.

Yeah, of course.




Except that tunning and custom features dont prevent you to race.

 

[ekim]

I expected a 60/100 from Krosta, since it's well known that he is the Ryan McCaffrey of Germany, but this Review is even worse. It reads like a 70-80/100 but they decided to give it 50/100 because of the server problems.

He lowered the score because of the server problems. Original score is 78/100

 

[GuessWho]

Is it true that there are no replays? If so, lol. What a fuck up. This game should of been cancelled. I never had faith in it anyways. Looked shit from the start.

 

[SgtCobra]

Is it true that there are no replays? If so, lol. What a fuck up. This game should of been cancelled. I never had faith in it anyways. Looked shit from the start.

Huh

 

[Loudninja]

Is it true that there are no replays? If so, lol. What a fuck up. This game should of been cancelled. I never had faith in it anyways. Looked shit from the start.

Replays are coming in a patch.

 

[papersleeves]

Still, it takes me back to the days of Ridge Racer V and PGR. I just want to keep playing.

Exactly my feeling. While I only played for 30 minutes yesterday, I had the exact same feeling playing it as I did back then with PGR2. The constant urge to keep playing, to beat another challenge. Just one more! The same wow factor attributed by the driving physics and the visuals. The same excitement I get from racing of these amazing tracks... I eventually had to leave for my girlfriend's place and while I had a really great evening/night with her, it didn't stop me to think about the game once in a while. And now this morning, I really wish this Friday will pass by at work like a rocket flies through the atmosphere.

I really want to play Driveclub right now. Like, Baaaaadly......

 

[goonergaz]

Is it true that there are no replays? If so, lol. What a fuck up. This game should of been cancelled. I never had faith in it anyways. Looked shit from the start.

lol, heard of a share button!?

 

[GrizzleBoy]

Yes I know, but why give a game which never was supposed to have all that deep tuning/customization options a lower rating because other games do have it?

It's like comparing a Mini Cooper with a Bentley Continental T and saying the Mini Cooper sucks because it doesn't have all the options and enginepower the Bentley has.

(and yes I know that it's not an entirely fair comparison cause the Bentley costs a lot more than the Mini Cooper)

Why score a game that can offer straight forward racing and more depending on your preference higher than a game that only offers straight forward racing?

Self explanatory?

DC is a cake without icing. The cake to some people is beautiful. To some it isn't. Impressions are naturally going to be more polarised. The cake is nice in their opinion or it isn't.

Forza is a cake with icing that the person eating can change the taste and colour of as they feel.

If a person doesn't fancy the cake in Forza too much, they may feel that being able to tailor the icing just how they want it can make it either just as or better than a very nice cake with no icing.

This is the point, will it be acceptable to drop review points from Sunset Overdrive because the story isn't realistic enough or that the weapons are too OTT?

A game should be reviewed on it's merrits, by all accounts mention the lack of such features but unless the features are included but broken/not good enough then it shouldn't affect the review score.

DC seems to do exactly what it set out to do. Interesting that Forza 5 for all the extra features scores just a few points more overall.

I don't think you're making a very good point here.

DC as a game in the racing genre, simply provides the basics necessary. Tracks, cars, challenge.

SO as a gAme in the......whatever genre it's in (zombie killing genre?) SO goes over the top and tries to offer loads of stuff people wouldn't even dream of. Lots of imagination. It offers the basics, be even the basics you can say it's doing in its own way that you can say differentiates it from zombie killing games.

That attempt to differentiate besides only offering the basics is what DC lacks and what it gets pulled up on when those basics aren't to a persons taste.




Oh, and since when did low operating system captured game clips become an adequate replacement for a fully featured replay mode that you can rewind, watch in slow mo, watch from the view of AI cars etc etc etc in the games native quality without degradation?

 

[Milestoned]

He lowered the score because of the server problems. Original score is 78/100

Ok, that seems a lot more reasonable. I just don't get why they deducted about 30% from the score because of two days of server problems. He even said that he really liked the MP back when it was working.

 

[Kssio_Aug]

lol, heard of a share button!?

Share button is no excuse for no replay! Also, I dont know how is it with DC, but as far as I can remember Share Button was broken and not recording exactly all the time how it should.

 

[Ingueferroque]

Is it true that there are no replays? If so, lol. What a fuck up. This game should of been cancelled. I never had faith in it anyways. Looked shit from the start.

Nice, thanks!

Share button is no excuse for no replay! Also, I dont know how is it with DC, but as far as I can remember Share Button was broken and not recording exactly all the time how it should.

Combo!

 

[papersleeves]

Is it true that there are no replays? If so, lol. What a fuck up. This game should of been cancelled. I never had faith in it anyways. Looked shit from the start.

Drive-by hating, how original!

 

[boredandlazy]

Having started playing it today, the relative simplicity of not having to buy parts for my car and tune it is great. I can just concentrate on beating times and if I don't beat them it's because I screwed up somewhere.
Also, the handling feels great to me.

 

[kyser73]

Fuck the haters, it's pure fun.

 

[Spottiettiedop]

I wonder how this would have reviewed with the reply, weather & photo mode updates.

Sad we have to wonder.

 

[Nyx]

Yeah, of course.

Except that tunning and custom features dont prevent you to race.

Correct, but someone who HAS tuned and upgraded his car will beat you who didn't do anything with tuning every time.

In DC, the only thing that differentiates me and my opponent, are our drivingskills.

 

[-Snooze-]

This is the point, will it be acceptable to drop review points from Sunset Overdrive because the story isn't realistic enough or that the weapons are too OTT?

A game should be reviewed on it's merrits, by all accounts mention the lack of such features but unless the features are included but broken/not good enough then it shouldn't affect the review score.

DC seems to do exactly what it set out to do. Interesting that Forza 5 for all the extra features scores just a few points more overall.

If games were reviewed like that then every game not fundamentally broke would receive a 10

 

[Mascot]

This game should of been cancelled.

Have.
Should have been cancelled.

Spoiler

Should not have been cancelled.

 

[BradleyLove]

Is it true that there Is no substance to this post? If so, lol. What a fuck up. This post should of been cancelled. I never had faith in it anyways. Looked shit from the start.

Fixed.

 

[boredandlazy]

Is it true that there are no replays? If so, lol. What a fuck up. This game should of been cancelled. I never had faith in it anyways. Looked shit from the start.

GuessWhat?

Spoiler

You're full of shit.

 

[Jamesways]

Strange, I don't remember the complaints about lack of tuning and aftermarket parts in PGR4 discussions. Or tuning in Burnout and NFS.

I guess there's no place for a pick up and play arcade/simcade circuit racing games anymore?

 

[JoeNut]

wow this is not looking so great on metacritic :/