And now don’t I feel like a fool.
I’ve rarely regretted a game purchase so much.
So many bugs. So many just… baffling design decisions. Terrible AI that blatantly cheats and can’t actually race. Races themselves that always stick you in the middle of the pack for no reason. Multiplayer that is laughable because it’s a very pretty, expensive looking demo derby.
Oh, and the gambling-crates. I thought I could look past it if it didn’t affect gameplay? But it totally does - gameplay difficulty settings are being locked away behind them now. “Pay to earn” nonsense.
I really wish, so much, that I had listened to the advice of the sensible reviewers of this world, the Jim Sterlings (Thank God for Him), and not broken my promise of never preordering. I almost didn’t place the preorder because of performance issues on Horizon 3, but I was having so much fun with that game that I stuck it out. The arcadey wackeyness and gloss let me overlook some of the other issues. This is far too much like a sim game, only now, we actually have fewer options. There’s less game here.
Not that any of this matters to the publisher or developer, seeing as you’ve had my cash now, so who cares, right? I should have waited until after release, and looked at the forums, and the metacritic user reviews. (Not the major magazine reviews, those are so far up big publisher’s rectum’s that they’re practically out the other side).
I have genuinely wanted this to work. I’ve wanted a racing game with a large car selection on PC since I got my first gaming rig and left the Playstation behind along with GT1 and 2. Like, 14 years. I thought this was it. I really thought this was it. A mature series, with raving fans, and two previous PC installments that seemed to go reasonably well.
And now don’t I feel like a fool. I am so genuinely disappointed.