This year is becoming more and more depressing- after so many high profile flops this year (we’ve already had Destiny, to name the most recent one, and Alien: Isolation received mix reviews too), and now, there’s another one to add to the ever growing list. Evolution Studios’ DriveClub, which has apparently been in development for a very long time, and even got delayed a year to be polished so it would meet the developers’ vision, has released to a sound round of panning from the critics.
IGN gave it 7.9, saying that ‘the overly aggressive AI grates, the difficult drifting seems at odds with the accessible handling, and the single-player loses zest once the solo content runs dry.’ This was one of the more charitable reviews- Eurogamer gave it 6/10, Gamespot gave it 5/10, and GiantBomb, in its damning review, gave it 2 stars (scaled up to a 4/10), saying that ‘It just isn’t much fun to play. The core act of driving a car feels off in a way that completely put me off of playing the game. Without that in place, the rest of it just falls apart. The PlayStation 4 has been without a serious racing option since launch, and Driveclub doesn’t fill that gap.’
The game’s Metascore tells the whole story, rated at 72, and much lower than Forza Horizon 2 (its closest competitor, which sits at a healthy 86), Destiny (a high profile flop), and even Hyrule Warriors on the Wii U. Yes, a Dynasty Warriors reskin beat out DriveClub.
All in all, this has not been the best year for exclusive software on PlayStation, that’s for sure.