5 is reservered for unfinished buggy games not for something like Horizon. Caty Mcarthey sucks at her job.

I'm reasonable enough to understand that everyone isn't going to like the game and everyone isn't going to share the same opinion on things. I can accept a 7 or even a 6 but wow a 5? Anything below a 6 should only be reserved for games that are broken, buggy messes but this is not shocking. This is a no name site after all. There will be 3 or 4 more no name sites giving this game a really low score. Gotta get them clicks so you can make your ad revenue.. Metacritic seriously needs to start banning these no name sites that are giving games that clearly aren't broken really low scores like 1's, 2's, 3's, etc.

Don't give this guy attention. There is always those couple sites who like to try and ruin a games average and this is one of them. When most are giving it a 9/10 and this guy gives it a 5/10 that shows just how clueless this review is.

They gave Call of Duty Infinite Warfare a 80 though

There is always a few of these type of people who don't like what 9/10 others like. It's worth a read if you are really unsure about a game.

But from my own experience I'm one of the 9 not the 1.

Always the obscure website looking for a few hits.

If there where a few 6s here and there I'd understand it's not for everyone but a 5? That's poor form USAGamer and you'll be added to my list of unprofessional sites

If someone doesnt like a game thats fine, giving it a 5 is also fine but then your reason has to be more than " It has a story that I struggled to care about (complete with massive expository dumps—yay), a bland protagonist" Come on. KZ 1-3 didnt have stories to write home about but I absolutely love the series Was the game buggy? was the gameplay poor? etc. Seriously guy, your argument has to be more substantial than that to be taken seriously.

US gamer added to the "can't rake seriously" list

Unless the game is broken and unplayable than 5 or lower is fine. Nothing from all the reviews Ive read so far have stated the game was that unplayable or broken to justify the 5. So enjoy the small clicks you may get because after this most people won't be looking at your site for reviews.

"overtly repetitive and constraining missions that worked against its open world sensibilities. "

I doubt whether this dude even played the game.. There were number of previews where they praised the side quests and so on... There has to be one troll out there who seeks attention...

Well, that's one way to draw attention to your no-name site, mission accomplished, I guess.

Most reputable gaming sites are scoring Horizon:Zero Dawn in the 90's.

Problem is many reviewers chop and change the review scale they use even when working on the same website. In this case a 5/10 is probably deemed as "average" yet another reviewer might use 8/10 as "average". If you then cross reference what other reviews on USgamer.net you'll still find dodgy inconsistencies. Unless the site owner or editor sits down with his or her staff as a group and hammers home what review scale to use in accordance with the site policy (that's even if they have one) you get these inconsistent review scores.

It is expected. Not every game will cater to everyone's needs.
However congrats GG.

Well, I don't agree with the score tbh.... You haven't talked about the gameplay much. But your points like- bland side quests, repetitive missions, lacklustre story, I have seen in 3-5 reviews. Still a score of 5/10 is not justified. At least 7-8/10.

Haha, this was the first review I saw when the page loaded up, my heart sank a little.. then I scrolled down and saw almost constant 9/10s and 10/10s...

Who wrote this? A cabbage?

There will be always reviews like this. Cmon people, why even waste time and give clicks.

people shoudnt rely on reviews to buy games, for me i love open world with craft system it doesnt matter the story but if there's a good story than its a plus, i liked playing fable 3 and dead space 3 even with all the bad reviews the game got, i laughed a lot with Angry Joe the 32+wrong thing with fable, but i have my own opinion about games

US gamer huh? Whats the matter, not enough guns in the game? Not enough blood and gore to keep your attention?

Written by either A xbox fanboy to please Phil Spencer, or this person clearly has never played a game that deserves a 2/5 (cough cough) Sonic Unleashed.

US gamer gave Little Big Planet 3 a 79 out of 100 and that was a buggy mess, not sure what the hell they were thinking with this review.

you know what would be a good idea?

Metacritic compares low score with majority range if majority range is 8-9 and score gets 4 (uncharted 4 - washington) or 5 (horizon - usgamer) their algorithm should make the review as troll and if a site gets too many troll then Ban them permanently. simple and elegant.

LOL so gvie it a 5 as if its a glitched game, yet give cod infinite warfare a high score LOL.

It's when you get reviewers that need the hits on their site so they give review scores that are way off the general consensus. Don't give them the clickthrough!

The desperation for Horizon to fail is real.

GTFO!

Can't wait for this game! It's been in my dreams ever since it was 1st revealed!

I usually don't submit these types of reviews but I thought it was worth sharing. I submitted reviews from US Gamer in the past which is why I didn't hesitate to submit this one.

With that said there will always be reviews that are poorly written or dishonest. The majority of reviews are extremely positive for this game so this one should be considered an outlier.

Well just checked metacritic again and the score actually went up from 88 to 89 that's just an amazing score. The sad thing is if it wasn't for this ridiculous review it would have a 90 metascore which would have been gg second such score behind killzone 2. Regardless it's extremely impressive that gg were able to go from a linear grey and brown fps which for the record I loved and always felt were underrated besides shadowfall to an open world rpg that they had no experience in and were able to handle well beyond most people's expectations and they deserve all the sales their most likely going to get

Pretty much all the reviews so far have been 80% or above...They must be desperate for clicks on this site...

" Horizon Zero Dawn pulls in every open world action RPG whim it can muster, and forgets the most important part of an RPG: justifying the existence of these many parts "

When it's doing a lot of sequences and mechanics also being present in other games how do you need justification for it being there?it's almost enforced as an industry standard.Seriously.this is why reviews that are supposed to be an opinion (ultimately it is) and give sub-par scores based on nothing substantial are not helping you as a consumer.

" Didn't care for the story ",sure..it seems like you were more interested in writing your own story.

Gotta have that one troll review.
Will get it later next month for sure. Im just not really into RPGs, gonna give it a try tho.

I guess the reviewer didn't like it? I'll get to decide if I like it or not once I get to play it.

So this guy's main gripes were he couldn't understand why the character would be motivated to do the mundane side quests and he was bored with the game?

I'd maybe give him some benefit of the doubt that it's a crappy game if the majority of professional reviews weren't so drastically different.

At this point this is clearly not a genre for this hack or they literally have no clue what they're talking about. Either way this is the first and last time I'll ever check out usgamer.net, what a worthless pathetic site.

That's why we cannot take "gamming journalism" seriously nowadays.

US gamer downplaying european game exclusive to japanese console. Seems legit.

USGAMER.NET...... never again shall i click a link related to your site! My time is far to precious to waste on your garbage.

iv read 6 reviews for horizon and this is the only one to say it sucks...click bait

What a poor quality interview.. certainly people are entitled to their own opinion, but the reviewer seems to be stuck in the world of one particular RPG. Just what kind of side quests does the reviewer expect?.. charades, clothes washing.. generally side quests will involve going someplace, fetching or doing something. This is an original and new ISP, there are not actually a great deal of original RPGs out there for the PS4..Fallout 4, The Witcher 3, Final Fantasy leading the pack, so what exactly was the reviewer expecting Horizon: Zero Dawn to be? The majority of other reviews from the more serious review sites offer a more credible and unbiased review, and judge the game on its merits and originality.

The creativity and open world is already worth 7 out of 10. There are games out there that don't even have a story and got better scores... :D

I'll trust giantbomb (gave it 5/5), ign (9.3), polygon (9.5), and gamespot (9/10) reviews over some noname website with a person who has clearly never written a review before and just looking to generate traffic.

If my girlfriend wrote reviews, every game would be 0 or 1 (nice artwork on box) out of 10; she hates games of any platform. So while a review is an opinion piece, people have to understand that an opinion could be valid regardless of the score. Nevertheless, you do hope that the "review" of a game is written by someone with that interest in games - particularly on a game site or in a game mag.
I agree - probably for hits in this case. But I think the majority of reviews have cemented my opinion...

sigh....this was her "first big game review".

https://twitter.com/yumecat...

Seriously, US Gamer? Putting a rookie on a game like this?

this review seems a bit extreme... bookmarking this review for when i play the game...

9 and above scores and plenty of 10's for this game. It's obviously a cracking game 👍

This is THE EXACT reason I don't bash games like Zelda. These type of games have high ambition with great pay out

There's always one. Haven't played it yet, so can't compare, but seeing other reviews, this one stands out as the click-bait type.

There's always one like this...WTF!!

Aka ignorant gamer.

And there's our clickbait review. There's always gotta be one to bring in all the clicks. It's all opinion of course, but from reading this review, the reviewer seems complain about every little detail and ignore the positive things. Seems like open world games are not his/her taste.

This is just shock and awe review so people can talk about them, nothing more here.

GTFOH!! Giant Bomb gave it a 5/5 but you're supposed to take this reviewer seriously. I get opinions differ but come on just because you don't like something doesn't mean it's broken, has glitches or is unplayable that is what 5/10 boarders on. Some reviewers just don't like video games or don't play them otherwise how are you not able to tell the difference between a good game and a bad one? It's more apparent than ever before that some reviewers just don't know how to review games and take opinions as facts.

Prime example of an opinion instead of a review.
You don't have to like a game to at least review it properly.

I dont like racing games but I can appreciate what people may want and like from such a game.

I dont care about opinions, I play games not opinions .Knocking 5 points off for not liking the character or story seems excessive obviously.

Has metacritic removed US Gamer yet?

well, unfortunately, this seem to be the real review of the game.
much like no man skies Expect big site like IGN and Gamespot to give super high marks (and of course it has nothing to do with the big splash page on the front ).
It seems all normal site at the moment praise the graphics but finds the game boring and generics with lots of noninteresting fetch quests.

But hey this must be click bait because it's exclusive to PS4 and was overhype to death so it must be different from NMS or the ORDER.

Now before you spam the disagree button remember you probably made the same comment about click bait for No Man Sky and the Order
And don't worry IGN will give it a 9 and same with Gamespot (maybe a 8 after consideration from review around the block).

This was the first review I saw and I got worried for a sec, then I realized it really stood out from scores given by other sites. This was a game I really want to be good and look a like it will be

Being controversial is the only way they can stand out, they are not serious in their way to rank a game, we simply have to check their previous reviews. A lot of inconsistency...

I don't click on articles, but I will add to the comments, this review is just a troll review, hope he's permabanned

I'm not one to take my pitchfork out quickly. But I think petitioning to remove a site like this from meta critic is justified if only to prevent sites from using review clickbaits in the future. There has to be some checks and balances.

....aaaaaaaaaand here's "that" guy. There's always one.

Lol.

It's actually a really well written review. The comments here are nuts.

I just find it hard to believe that when compared to other games, even considering aspects that may disappoint, that is is a 5/10! That makes it worse than so many other games.

But this review achieved its intended purpose! It's hot in N4G!

Why do you guys read reviews. A game shouldn't be judged by numbers. I'm buying Horizon no matter what because of what GG is showing us. Strong art direction and atmosphere/setting will always be a buy for me.

oh so dont click on link, got it

Welp, guess I should block usgamer.net and add them to my blacklist. This ain't simply someone's 'opinion' - it's clickbait made just to get views, 'Next possible big blockbuster series from Sony 1st party studios - lol lets give it a 'shit game' score!'

Yeahhhh, doubt it's 5/10 no matter how retarded or shitty the reviewer is.

It's one person's opinion... one bad review. Just enjoy the game if you like it and know that your opinion is what matters to you. Too Human was one of my favorite games of last generation and everyone pretty much hated it, but that didn't stop me from having a blast with it myself.

Must shill hard for Microsoft....I know, I'll slam a game that is getting great reviews everywhere else. Desperation, is what it is. Such is the brutality inflicted on the "journalist" by ps4 and it's exclusives.

Lesson learned. Do not put new people who have never reviewed a big game before to review the biggest game of the year. This is why nobody knows about USGamer. Got this rookie reviewer who drops the ball. Then you alienated a group of gamers because they don't trust your site now.

US Gamer, don't be that guy xD

This is the first game review, from someone who has only worked for the site for 6 days, obviously someone wanted to get a little attention. And it's crap that she had to do it during Horizons review window...

Troll review alert!!

There's always that one retard....

I get the feeling that this score is just click-bait. No, I won't give in.

lol I keep saying it, there's always the one that just has to be so far below the threshold just to get hits.

Omg, stop giving this site attention, lol.

I never agree with 5/5 or 10/10 or even 20/20 scores.I can even live with this 6/10 score(other review) based on an opinion.I wouldn't really listen to it as a guideline for my purchases because in the end you still don't know if your opinion is going to differ from it or not.When you grade a game below average though i want to see some really negative
aspects of a game in technical terms or the mechanics just not working properly.

People clicking in this article are just making it more popular. Stick to the people that review games professionally or make up your own mind about it. I can't believe this article got so much attention.

This guy either is a moron or he is a pissed off misogynist who hates the female character in the game!

Why should this at like a 1000 degrees

Move along.... This review is shite

Here come the fanboys...

IS the reviewer related to Crapgamer or something?

I go on metacritic...see the 100's, the 90's and then this 50 at the bottom and think to myself - were the clicks worth it to trash a new IP that is getting almost universally praised? USgamer.net you've resigned yourself to the dustbin of history...good job.

I figured it would get this score. It didn't look good and there were already reports of it being repetitive.

Don't click!

People who write fake reviews and damage other people's hard work and property should be jailed. Its high they pass a law against this. Sick of seeing crap like this on Yelp and now the game industry is starting to be flooded with trash sites like this.

This review is bogus

I'll be picking it up. But at least the reviewers points aren't some made up BS

I struggled to see why Aloy would go on these needless side tasks along the way of her ambitious quest. She doesn't have an all-encompassing job, like another grey-haired RPG hero. And growing up as an outcast, Aloy was openly shunned by other adult strangers even as an innocent child. Because of this, it's puzzling as to why Aloy would literally risk her life for the welfare of randos and that of the local tribe (and other tribes) that disregarded her mere existence throughout her childhood. There are painfully few instances over the course of the game where Aloy stands up for herself and grows a personality outside of the cookie cutter “sarcastic hero” that video games are prone to embedding in their protagonists. And the rare times it does happen, it’s oddly refreshing. But then the game reverts back to the grind, and back to the bland, eye-rolling wise cracks.

All great reviews. You people give all the attention to one bad one. Good work N4G!

Spot on review.

LMAO smh, look @ all these zealot fanboys under the spell and enchantments of there media masters, reciting the same programed jargon they think are there own thoughts....smh.

A pack of mindless drone zombie army troopers, ADDICT's, who will do anything , say anything, for a fix.

As they say...Don't know your Head from your A__s. lol smh

The game is average @best..

Morpheus

" You have to understand, most of these people are not ready to be unplugged. And many of them are so inert, so hopelessly dependent on the system that they will fight to protect it. "

So ... clickbait?

I give it a solid 7/10

Its an opinion. The reviewer felt let down. Fine.

Comparing the comments here to the comments on the 93% review just show that readers want confirmation of their own hopes and opinions and aren't at all interested in what a game is really like.

It might be great, it might be terrible, it might be somewhere in between. What i know is that first day scores are rarely to be believed good or bad.

Majority of 10s & 9s to a 5 is a large enough difference in score that the site or reviewer becomes suspicious.

This reviewer is just a typical derptard at play..... Probably played it for 1 hour and only reviewed that amount of the game. don't let these derptards change your mind vs all other reviewers or if you had any "interest" in this game then buy and try if you don't like it like this derptard then take it back nuff said.

I'm pretty sure this isn't going to affect sales...

No don't let the click bait win

Always be there some Microsoft supporter. They was there before, and they will be tomorrow. Always.
(ESL Guy Here)

Can I just say something? We all knew there would be at least one review like this.

so all the big outlets and indie rags alike all dig it, but whoever these guys are say its a disappointment?? i mean i guess to each their own but this definitely feels like the minority viewpoint.