Reviews are in for the last major PS4 exclusive “Ghost of Tsushima” and the reaction is very good, but not quite the highs of “The Last of Us Part II” before it.
With 70 reviews counted, the game has snagged an 84/100 on Metacritic – that’s on par with games like the “Hitman” reboot, “Uncharted: The Lost Legacy,” “Deus Ex: Mankind Divided” and “Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor”. It’s also in the range of developer Sucker Punch’s usual output – the three main “Infamous” games scoring 85, 83 & 80 respectively.
Sucker Punch helped launch the PS4 with “Infamous: Second Son” which was praised for its visually beautiful open world rendering of Seattle, fun powers with good upgrade system, and enjoyable personality – but was criticised for its repetitive missions, narrative cliches, derivative storytelling and some quirky controls.
Those criticisms seem to stay true for ‘Tsushima’ where even the most negative reviews describe the visuals and aesthetics as breathtaking with an astonishingly rendered and visually lush world, good combat (and upgrade system), but all weighed down by familiar tropes, “Assassin’s Creed”-esque open world grind, and overall shallowness.
Here’s a sampling of quotes:
“If you need to get lost in over 30 hours of heroic gameplay right now, in a single-player adventure with no online connectivity gimmicks or content locked away as DLC, Sucker Punch has you covered with an instant contender for 2020’s game of the year.” – Ars Technica
“By steadily introducing new abilities instead of stat upgrades, its swordplay manages to stay challenging, rewarding, and fun throughout. A few aspects are surprisingly lacking in polish in comparison to other first-party Sony games, especially when it comes to enemy AI and the stealth part, still this is an extraordinary open-world action-adventure game that solves several issues that have long gone unaddressed in the genre.” – IGN
“Once I successfully reconciled my expectations with my reality, the game revealed itself as a compelling, masterful work of art. Nothing feels useless or extraneous. The story wastes little time, the fights are all exuberant and engaging, the exploration is addicting, and the entire game is gorgeous” – COGconnected
“The game hits a lot of fantastic cinematic highs, and those ultimately lift it above the trappings of its familiar open-world quest design and all the innate weaknesses that come with it–but those imperfections and dull edges are definitely still there. Ghost of Tsushima is at its best when you’re riding your horse and taking in the beautiful world on your own terms… It’s not quite a Criterion classic, but a lot of the time it sure looks like one.” – Gamespot
” After I caught myself repeatedly checking my phone out of boredom during the story missions, I decided to abandon them entirely for a while and had a great time chasing foxes, bathing in hot springs, composing deeply average haiku and climbing mountains in search of a legendary bow instead. This is the most beautiful version of Japan ever conjured in code, and when running errands and slashing Mongol spearmen to bits gets tedious, you can always just drink in the view.” – Guardian
“Ghost of Tsushima” will be released exclusively for PS4 on Friday July 17th.
Source: MetaCritic
