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ReCore ReView thread

SOR5

Member
Ku9Q4Ca.jpg

Opencritic 60
Metacritic-63
Gamereactor 7/10
If you can live with the loading screens (or wait for the patch that fixes the problem), like to explore, and if you are a fan of challenging platformers, you should undoubtedly give Recore a try. It is also part of the Xbox Play Anywhere initiative, so if you buy the game on Xbox One, you can also play it on the PC and vice versa, and it carries a smaller price tag than most other console-exclusives. There's plenty of entertainment value to be found here thanks to an 18-20 hour campaign, even if there are some flaws that hold it back.

Gamespot 6/10
ReCore's missteps are a real shame, because it can be quite charming otherwise. It has the heart of a PS2 or Gamecube-era platformer, with its floating lifebars, bright laser beams that fill the screen like a Dreamcast shoot-'em-up, and glowing gems that bounce around. Amongst all the slick, modern day video game productions, it stands out as an endearing throwback.

I wanted to like it more, and had it not overstayed its welcome, I would have. But in the end, like its robots, ReCore is a game with a bright soul encased in parts that are used well past their prime.

Polygon 6.5
Recore isn’t a disaster, as much as the bizarre structure and hoops it made me jump through left a bad taste in my mouth. At its heart, there’s a game with some good ideas and great spins on action-game conceits that don’t see a lot of play this console generation. When it’s working, Recore is a game that feels evocative of a different era of action games. But in its final half, Comcept and Armature let collect-a-thon structure and a poorly realized open world drag the whole thing back down to earth.

Techraptor 3/10
There's a good game buried somewhere in ReCore, but it's lost somewhere in the massive inconveniences they throw at you. From constantly refusing to let the player move on until they complete side content (even in the middle of dungeons) to loading times that put Sonic 2006 to shame. This ensures that ReCore starts off interestingly and ends up horrid.

WCCFTech 8/10
Despite some issues, I have thoroughly enjoyed my time with Recore, thanks to its engaging gameplay experience, not counting the repetitive combat, and well done story, featuring some very interesting lore. The game developed by Comcept and Armature Studio isn’t perfect by any means, but it has so many interesting twists that it’s difficult not to like it, if one can overlook some glaring issues that ultimately bring the experience down a bit.

Jimquisition 7/10
It is good, though. In spite of everything dragging it down, it’s a fun ride packed with stuff to do, from optional areas to replayable dungeons to passive “hunting” quests that reward players for taking out certain enemies using certain attacks. New Eden isn’t as big as No Man’s Sky‘s universe or even Far Cry 4‘s mountainous terrain, but it’s got far more compelling reasons to stick around.

Plus that little puppy robot is too, too cute.

USGamer 3/5 stars
ReCore is a style of game we haven't seen in a while. Part Mega Man Legends, part Metroid Prime, ReCore puts exploration and platforming at the forefront. With your trusty corebot pals, you'll double jump and dash through an open world and some damned fiendish dungeons. While ReCore trips up a bit with some odd combat and gating mechanics, it's still worth your time if you remember how platforming was in the old days.

God Is A Geek 8/10
Wearing its influences so proudly is one of ReCore’s greatest strengths. It borrows unashamedly, but with such respect and ingenuity that it still manages to feel unique to itself. While the core mechanics will be familiar to any gamer with enough experience, there’s enough here to ensure that ReCore feels like something fresh and fun.]

Gamingbolt 8/10
ReCore is a game that has quite literally every element I look for in a hugely successful, triple A game; one that I know I will enjoy going back to when I just want to go out and explore or try something different, or find something I missed in my first run. The game has flaws aplenty, some are just downright unforgivable. So if you can overlook the flaws, or wait for a patch to come in I could not recommend this game anymore. ReCore is truly a diamond set deep in the rough.

Press-Start AU 7/10
The sum is lesser than its parts and nothing ever quite reaches the high highs that these games that came before it did. Everything is still enjoyable, mind you, but there’s just something missing. Some extra polish, the little details, that keep ReCore from being an instant masterpiece of guaranteed success. To come back to my question, it’s obvious that most of ReCore’s budget went into perfecting the gameplay. But with that came a sacrifice. And that sacrifice was visual presentation and polish. ReCore is a game for those who yearn for an experience reminiscent of games from the fifth and sixth generation of console gaming – and in today’s gaming climate, I think that’s incredibly brave.

PCWorld 2.5/5 stars
As I said, the most disappointing part of ReCore is that it starts so strong. I haven’t spent nearly enough time on what ReCore gets right, so numerous and egregious are its failings. But your robot companions? Adorable. The platforming? Extremely responsive, and as entertaining as anything in Tomb Raider or Uncharted. But ReCore is a chore. A needless chore, with gates so artificial it ruins what’s otherwise a lovingly crafted universe. Go here, fetch a random collectible—that’s not enough nowadays, and especially not when the game doesn’t even bother to dress it up with a hint of motive. Couple that with the lengthy load times and the overall lack of polish, and I’m going to have to recommend avoiding this one.

Gamesradar 4/10
Somewhere in ReCore is a good game. Joule and her companions are instantly likable. Far Eden's tale is an intriguing one. Thanks to her agility and rocket boots, Joule is a satisfying character to control. The game's core (apologies for using a pun I'd avoided this whole review) is solid. It's just too bad that the frame supporting it isn't.

Windows Central 4/5 stars
Despite its imperfections, ReCore is exactly the type of game I want Microsoft Studios to take seriously. ReCore leans on some beloved gameplay conventions while injecting injected some of its own, gloriously unique and fulfilling elements. The RPG layer provides boatloads of additional gameplay and the setting, story and characters are just something I want to see more of.

Destructoid 4/10
It's all a shame because ReCore shows so much promise in its opening hours. It's easy to envision a way in which all those ideas could manifest into something great. They don't, though. Instead, it's just a jumble of mechanics that never jell, gameplay that grows stale far too quick, and insulting design. System failure.

WeGotThisCovered 2/5 stars
Some of ReCore's ideas show promise, but its repetitive combat and cumbersome platforming will prove too much for most players.

ICXM 9/10
On a separate note, I would like to say that after Quantum Break—which was a personal disappointment for me even though many others on our staff loved it—I somewhat lost faith in Microsoft exclusives. Games like Quantum Break felt unfulfilling because they demanded sequels. Halo 5’s campaign was the same way. ReCore is not only fun from the start, but it leaves you satisfied. That has to be the best part of the overall package.

HardcoreGamer 3/5
While not lackluster enough to be considered a bad game, there are enough stumbles and hiccups here to prevent this effort from Armature and Comcept from living up to its potential. It remains to be seen whether or not there’s going to be enough love for this odd exclusive to get a sequel, but considering the foundation in place, a ReCore 2 wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world.

IGN 7.3
I didn’t expect ReCore to be quite as big as it is, and from the looks of things, it’s possible its developers didn’t either. Its world, while interesting to explore for a good while, is ultimately too big with too little happening in it to be a totally serviceable housing for the strong combat and platforming gameplay within. It feels like a great, arcadey action platformer spread across too big a canvas, and it asks you to draw back over the same lines a few too many times

After writing my impressions I decided to make a video review.
https://youtu.be/DIgtjXrh8kg
Hope you guys enjoy!
 

McDougles

Member
My staffer from App Trigger gave his review a 6/10.

App Trigger said:
ReCore has a fairly solid and enjoyable, if simple and easy, gameplay loop as a foundation on which to build. The trouble is, it fails to build from there, dragging out tiny plot details as long as possible, while suffering from numerous design flaws and technical issues throughout. ReCore is by no means a game that deserved to be buried, but it also isn't an entirely successful start as a franchise hopeful for the Xbox One.
 

Coxy100

Banned
I really wanted this to do well - as an Xbox owner I'm jealous of the Sony first party titles (but buying a PS4 Slim to counter that soon...) and apart from Ori (which was amazing) xbox haven't had a big hitter for a long time. I miss Fable too.

Will still buy this - but gutted it isn't the release I hoped it would be.
 
I gave the game a 3/5 over at USgamer. The gating mechanic with the Prismatic Cores and Levels just kills the game's flow by trying to pad everything out. For the most part I enjoyed it though.
 
'the heart of a PS2 or Gamecube-era platformer' is a great quote to see.

However, I'll have to hear general impressions. It still needs good game design along with having that heart.

I gave the game a 3/5 over at USgamer. The gating mechanic with the Prismatic Cores and Levels just kills the game's flow by trying to pad everything out. For the most part I enjoyed it though.

Like this ^

Hate padding and bad pacing...
 

munroe

Member
Reading some of the reviews, I don't feel it warrants the scores it gave them, had this been either a more established IP or something coming from say Bioware, Bethesda etc then it would have scored higher. I pre-ordered before the reviews and and I'm still happy with the pre-order, looking forward to playing from Friday
 
Destructoid's reviewer (Brett) ripped into it.

Destruction - 4/10

This part sounds really kind of bad:

But, the minute-to-minute of ReCore amounts to hardly anything more than fetch quests. Almost all progress is walled off by collecting a few of something to move forward. "Find two cores to open this door." "Collect the four robot parts to learn to fly." ReCore quickly falls into a repetitive gameplay loop that it never really breaks away from. More importantly, that loop never does the narrative justice.
All of these systems could make for a tolerable, if not bloated, game, but the developers' wanton disregard for the audience's time is a deal-breaker (independent of the fact that load times can take upward of two minutes on Xbox One). For the most part, ReCore progresses the player at a consistent rate. Simply playing the critical path levels Joule up in a way that's manageable with the challenges that will soon be presented. There are some instances of minor grinding, but it's mostly fine.

Then, once ReCore initiates its end-game events, the developers send you out into the open world several separate times to finish the story. Each trip requires finding five more Prismatic Cores, the game's most valuable collectible. Getting one Prismatic Core is a noteworthy event. Suddenly, ReCore wants you to find 40 of them total. It's a ridiculous number when you consider that the player was positioned to gather maybe 15 to 20 of them to that point, often through story events.

What this amounts to is a fundamental misunderstanding of what an open-world game should be. Giving the player the option to scour every nook and cranny for collectibles is a viable method of unstructured game design. But, requiring them to do this to finish the game (with a near-worthless map, to boot) is unforgivable. If you still had good will stored up for ReCore, it will most likely be gone when you get here.
 

GHG

Gold Member
The greatest games.

Sorry I had to. It's actually a shame considering the reveal trailer filled us all with such great hope.
 
Mediocre scores as expected. It looks like a poor man's R&C.
Not defending this game because I don't have a ton of interest in it but, I wish people actually knew what mediocre meant. As in people stop using the modern review scale of "If it's less than an 8 it's horrible."

That said, as I made this post. I see the 4's and 5's so I guess I was proven wrong lol.
 

maxcriden

Member
Hm, lots of mentions of platforming but my impression of a lot of 3D platformers from the GCN/PS2/XB gen was that they often were called that but that a lot of actual platforming was involved in the games. So I'm wondering if any reviewers reading this thread can shed some light on how much platforming is in the game. Thanks all!
 

Mdk7

Member
Exactly what I expected from what I saw/played at E3, lots of 6 and some 7 at best.
I still don't understand how this game got very positive previews after E3, honestly.
 

Recreat3

Member
Im probably going to buy this either way. Was hoping the scores were higher :/ wont let that impact my enjoyment of the game though..ill make my own decision on it.
 
I don't trust reviews since I always try to play games by myself and make my own jugdment, but the game does have some serious issues for what I've read.
 
Reading some of the reviews, I don't feel it warrants the scores it gave them, had this been either a more established IP or something coming from say Bioware, Bethesda etc then it would have scored higher. I pre-ordered before the reviews and and I'm still happy with the pre-order, looking forward to playing from Friday

Neither of those developers make this kind of game, so I'm not sure that follows.

This is basically the epitome of the B-tier adventure game that was a lot more common in the PS2 era. It reminds me a bit of things like Primal. They never review especially well, but I don't doubt some people will love it and a lot of others will play it and never think about it again.
 

vaderise

Member
Not defending this game because I don't have a ton of interest in it but, I wish people actually knew what mediocre meant. As in people stop using the modern review scale of "If it's less than an 8 it's horrible."

That said, as I made this post. I see the 4's and 5's so I guess I was proven wrong lol.

I see 7's for highest and 4-5-6's all over the place. It's mediocre.
 

Karak

Member
Damn it, that backs up the quote I posted previously.

Why do devs do this. Just make your game shorter.

:(

I explained it to someone as a gameworld that feels like it used to be a hub system then someone threw open world into it and cut off the hubs(though you still have to build).
Its like the many aspects of the game are all at odds with one another.
 

shandy706

Member
But i thought the impressions from this game were great from E3 and other events?

Many were. They're called opinions. That's what a review is.

FYI

I got the game for $34. Haven't decided if I'm opening it yet. I really like what I've seen of it. Hmm
 

FelipeMGM

Member
Ever since Opencritic had an update, the site got a lil bit worse

A bunch of reviews missing, even from big Outlets like Gamespot, it used to be so fast

EDIT: lol. they added at the same time I wrote this
 

Ceallach

Smells like fresh rosebuds
Destructoid

4/10

It's all a shame because ReCore shows so much promise in its opening hours. It's easy to envision a way in which all those ideas could manifest into something great. They don't, though. Instead, it's just a jumble of mechanics that never jell, gameplay that grows stale far too quick, and insulting design. System failure.
 
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