GRcade

Unlikely ever to grace the same hardware, these two games seem to share more than a few similarities, which led me to wonder about the strengths and weaknesses of each, especially in relation to each other.

Having seen both, I don't think anyone could seriously maintain that Zelda is the better looking of the two, art style or no... but what about the gameplay, depth, longevity, sound and whatever other factors might be relevant?

One doesn't need to be better than the other to see at which points one might fail where the other succeeds - or are they just not as similar as I seem to think? Is anyone lucky enough to have had the pleasure of enjoying both?

Disclaimer - I'm currently making my way through Zelda on the switch, but haven't played Horizon because I don't own a PS4.

mic wrote:Having seen both, I don't think anyone could seriously maintain that Zelda is the better looking of the two, art style or no...

Horizon is a fantastic looking game, but I prefer the art style (and hence, the look) of Zelda, a game I'll never play.

I've got both. Really wish I hadn't bought Horizon at launch and played that first as I haven't touched it since I got Zelda. It's a really, really good game but Zelda just makes it feel like every other pretty open world AAA game but with a slightly better story than usual.

I'm going to say Horizon because I'll probably never get to play Zelda and it makes me feel better about that fact.

Horizon:
Embarrassingly better looking
Story worth a gooseberry fool
Much more combat variety
No ridiculous weapon wear
Regular encounters aren't utterly pointless

Zelda:
Lots of puzzles
Much more freedom
Larger, more varied world
Greater sense of exploration
Much more interplay of layered systems

If you're burned out on the Far Cry formula, Zelda is a breath of fresh air, but if you're not, Horizon is probably more straight-up entertaining.

Hopefully BOTW will revolutionise the Open World genre.

Great time to own an Xbox One.

mic wrote:Having seen both, I don't think anyone could seriously maintain that Zelda is the better looking of the two, art style or no...

There's no doubting that technically Horizon is the better looking game...but have you played Breath of the Wild? Because that sounds like a statement from someone who hasn't played the game.

There's a feeling of life in Zelda that (from what I played which was admittedly limited) Horizon just can't match. There are parts in BotW where despite the relatively simple graphical style you just have to take it all in and marvel at the beauty of it all.

Personally I'd say BotW beats Horizon in any relevant factor you might care to name.

HSH28 wrote:

mic wrote:Having seen both, I don't think anyone could seriously maintain that Zelda is the better looking of the two, art style or no...

There's no doubting that technically Horizon is the better looking game...but have you played Breath of the Wild? Because that sounds like a statement from someone who hasn't played the game.

Keep reading

mic wrote:Disclaimer - I'm currently making my way through Zelda on the switch

Still sounds like a comment from someone who hasn't played the game.

I think one of the most interesting points in Horizon's favour is that it comes from a developer trying something radically outside their comfort zone and nailing it first time. Nintendo have been perfecting the Zelda formula over the course of 6 console generations so it stands to reason that they are always gonna be at the very least decent whereas Guerrilla have made nothing but Killzone games so making something like this and making it well swings it in Horizon's favour for me.

IAmTheSaladMan wrote:I think one of the most interesting points in Horizon's favour is that it comes from a developer trying something radically outside their comfort zone and nailing it first time. Nintendo have been perfecting the Zelda formula over the course of 6 console generations so it stands to reason that they are always gonna be at the very least decent whereas Guerrilla have made nothing but Killzone games so making something like this and making it well swings it in Horizon's favour for me.

I can't wait for Hugo to read this.

NickSCFC wrote:Hopefully BOTW will revolutionise the Open World genre.

Be interesting to see Blethesda's reaction to this.

IAmTheSaladMan wrote:I think one of the most interesting points in Horizon's favour is that it comes from a developer trying something radically outside their comfort zone and nailing it first time. Nintendo have been perfecting the Zelda formula over the course of 6 console generations so it stands to reason that they are always gonna be at the very least decent whereas Guerrilla have made nothing but Killzone games so making this type of game and making it well swings it in Horizon's favour for me.

This is absolutely what Nintendo have done with Breath of the Wild. It's nothing like the other Zelda in terms of structure or gameplay. I've played it for at least 55 hours according to my Switch and it's legitimately the best open world game I've ever played and one of the best games I've ever played. Horizon just feels like another AAA, story-heavy game. BotW will be remembered as a landmark game in ten years or so, can't say the same about Horizon.

I haven't played Horizon yet but it looks stunning and I'm looking forward to playing it. It may be a year or two before I get to it though as I have an enormous back log and unlike Zelda I don't feel compelled to drop something else to play it. It'll also come down in price long before Zelda does which is another reason.

One of my favourite things about Zelda is the attention to detail, it feels like a real living, breathing world which reacts to the way I interact with it. I saw a comparison video which seemed to suggest that isn't quite the case in Horizon. Daft things like unbreakable, unmoveable wooden boxes and npcs letting you swing your sword - not game breaking in any way but definitely immersion breaking. It would definitely count against it if I was comparing but that's all I really can compare right now.

the eponymous bollock wrote:

IAmTheSaladMan wrote:I think one of the most interesting points in Horizon's favour is that it comes from a developer trying something radically outside their comfort zone and nailing it first time. Nintendo have been perfecting the Zelda formula over the course of 6 console generations so it stands to reason that they are always gonna be at the very least decent whereas Guerrilla have made nothing but Killzone games so making something like this and making it well swings it in Horizon's favour for me.

I can't wait for Hugo to read this.

Yes I admit haven't played BotW but it is one of the only Zeldas I haven't played and I do intend to play it at some point this year once I get a Switch.

NickSCFC wrote:Hopefully BOTW will revolutionise the Open World genre.

I think Witcher III got there before Zelda but both are contenders to the throne. I don't think I can accept anything less in my open world games going forward.

Mafro wrote:

NickSCFC wrote:Hopefully BOTW will revolutionise the Open World genre.

Be interesting to see Blethesda's reaction to this.

IAmTheSaladMan wrote:I think one of the most interesting points in Horizon's favour is that it comes from a developer trying something radically outside their comfort zone and nailing it first time. Nintendo have been perfecting the Zelda formula over the course of 6 console generations so it stands to reason that they are always gonna be at the very least decent whereas Guerrilla have made nothing but Killzone games so making this type of game and making it well swings it in Horizon's favour for me.

This is absolutely what Nintendo have done with Breath of the Wild. It's nothing like the other Zelda in terms of structure or gameplay. I've played it for at least 55 hours according to my Switch and it's legitimately the best open world game I've ever played and one of the best games I've ever played. Horizon just feels like another AAA, story-heavy game. BotW will be remembered as a landmark game in ten years or so, can't say the same about Horizon.

I'm not suggesting it isn't different just that I can't see BotW being as different from existing Zeldas as Horizon is from Killzone.

I mean it has a horse, swords and I'm assuming shields, hearts, something that looks like a deku leaf and I'm sure a wealth of other features of past Zelda titles whereas outside of a broken mug that I found I haven't found hide nor hair of Killzone's red-eyed space Nazis anywhere.

Well one of those games is a new IP in a different genre so of course it's going to be drastically different

jiggles wrote:No ridiculous weapon wear

I think this alone makes Horizon the better game.

Mafro wrote:Well one of those games is a new IP in a different genre so of course it's going to be drastically different

That's what I meant in the first place. I feel a fully open world Zelda game is something of a logical progression for the series as they've really been building to it from day one but for Guerrilla simply making something that isn't Killzone just seems a bolder move to me.