ARK: Survival Evolved

 PlayStation 4
User Score
5.3

Mixed or average reviews- based on 365 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 138 out of 365
  2. Mixed: 69 out of 365
  3. Negative: 158 out of 365
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  1. Brajzah
    Nov 26, 2017
    4
    Game wants to be great but with a myriad of technical problems holding it back, it's hard to recommend. It's a glitchy, broken mess that can be awesome fun when it works. Sadly it feels like the developers needed to keep this one in the oven until it was done...
  2. FrostReaper
    Mar 2, 2017
    4
    This game would be more fun if they would fix the lag in the dedicated servers before adding new content to the game. They need to also fix an issue as to building bases because people build such big bases preventing people from getting resources or preventing them from building a base to do much of there own. Adding a build barrier would help fix the issue and limiting you to building 1This game would be more fun if they would fix the lag in the dedicated servers before adding new content to the game. They need to also fix an issue as to building bases because people build such big bases preventing people from getting resources or preventing them from building a base to do much of there own. Adding a build barrier would help fix the issue and limiting you to building 1 base an 4 check points and provide a more defined map that will show your buildings so that if by chance you get lost you can use your map and find your way home. There also should not be a distance barrier in hosted server because that forces people to stop anything that they are doing so there friends can go do something. This is a good idea game but it seems not much thought from a gamers point of view because no one likes being limited to what they can do. Adding a story line wouldn't be a bad idea ether and a NPC city full of npcs selling gear supplies and services also giving you missions and allowing you to hire NPCs to work your base like farming repair work harvest supplies hunting helping to tame dino's defined your base and much more. There is so much potential for this game if they just listened to gamers and ideas people give for the game. If you make a game where you can do the things i mentioned and more you would have a top selling game Arc could be a great game.… Expand
  3. Supremo182
    Mar 3, 2017
    4
    Valoración de 4 puntos... por que ? por que compre un juego a medio terminar... entras a un mapa con usuarios que te matan de 1 solo golpe, y vos venís con suerte juntando recursos... incontables las veces que morí intentando subir un poco.. y volver a comenzar todo el tiempo, para que todo se me borre después.
  4. fuzywzyboomboom
    Mar 16, 2017
    4
    Game is great when you're playing single player on a single player server. Official servers are complete trash though. If you're fine just playing by yourself and exploring what is around you then you should get this game. If you want a good pvp element don't buy this game. The lag is awful and everyone is already ten times better than you before you even start.
  5. DelWolf
    Apr 20, 2017
    4
    It's an open-world survivor, you can't go wrong with that, right?
    Well, the mechanics are uncomfortable and overused, and the world feels a bit like it was copy-pasted.
    This had potential, it really, did, but it was an overpriced mess.
    There are plenty better survivors out there, don't hold your breath for masterpiece here...
    And don't even get me started on the lag...
  6. Widowmakernt
    Dec 12, 2018
    4
    This game has a great setting, scope and actually offers some of the best (if not the best) experience for its genre, but also some of the most infuriating moments in gaming. Wildcard Devs clearly have good vision and ambition but its just never backed up a similar level of technical capability to deliver it.
    On one hand it offers an unforgiving grinding survival experience which does    This game has a great setting, scope and actually offers some of the best (if not the best) experience for its genre, but also some of the most infuriating moments in gaming. Wildcard Devs clearly have good vision and ambition but its just never backed up a similar level of technical capability to deliver it.
    On one hand it offers an unforgiving grinding survival experience which does feel rewarding when you achieve things, and any loss or setback is felt a lot. That would normally be fine and part of the challenge/attraction of the game, but at the same time the bugs and technical issue in the game will often lead to you losing many dozens of hours worth of progress/work randomly and on multiple occasions. On PvE you may constantly lose everything whilst not even playing the game which is infuriating.

    PvP and PvE are completely different gaming experiences altogether, but both require an incredible level of continuous time investment (like having to log in daily or every couple of days and spent time just feeding the tamed animals!). You can't pick up and drop this game as you please unless you do single player, which is really not to anywhere near as interesting or rewarding. The game is really meant to be played with groups of people to get the most out of it.

    All in all the game can be a great experience and is incredibly addictive, however due to the technical shortcomings, quality controls that have never been addressed, it will always be a good, but not great game, which is a shame to see.    … Expand
  7. DERPmaster7
    Jan 31, 2020
    4
    This game would probably be my favorite game ever if it the optimization wasn't straight up horrible and the devs actually cared about the game. Unless you really like dinosaurs and survival games do not buy this.
  8. AaronAC
    Feb 24, 2021
    4
    The game is quite buggy and the graphics are quite good at their best i find the game play quite boring and repetitive. This game is for a very specific type of player that does not suit everyone i recommend watching some game play videos before buying this to make sure this is for you.
  9. TicketStubs
    Jul 3, 2021
    4
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I may be a bit biased because of my distaste for survival games, but I really did not enjoy playing Ark. Pros: you get to catch and ride cool looking dinosaurs. Cons: you have to spend hours of real-life time to tame most of the bigger dinosaurs. Building in this game is a nightmare. Your food will spoil when you aren’t in game and your dinosaurs could die as well. It’s a lot of maintenance to keep your possessions once you have obtained them.
    Not a big fan    … Expand
  10. stupidopinion
    Jun 22, 2022
    4
    This game is quite poorly optimized. Despite its age my computer (which is decently powerful and can run Ori will of the wisps fine) heavily lags even at the lowest settings. The game itself is decently fun, though it is also unintuitive and I feel like I need a guide for anything I want to do. Dinosaurs are cool though and a game that lets you ride them is almost always going to haveThis game is quite poorly optimized. Despite its age my computer (which is decently powerful and can run Ori will of the wisps fine) heavily lags even at the lowest settings. The game itself is decently fun, though it is also unintuitive and I feel like I need a guide for anything I want to do. Dinosaurs are cool though and a game that lets you ride them is almost always going to have value in my book. Oh yeah and the character creator is a total joke, it was a waste to invest resources in that.… Expand
  11. Maurisback
    Dec 6, 2017
    3
    The idea of the game itself its actually not to bad,but its worse with everything else. If you wanna play on your own it takes hours and hours to get anywhere, and yet if you play with friends its a nightmare also because to save money they used potato servers instead of proper ones. I ve bought this game when it was in alfa realise, today this game is officially released but nothingThe idea of the game itself its actually not to bad,but its worse with everything else. If you wanna play on your own it takes hours and hours to get anywhere, and yet if you play with friends its a nightmare also because to save money they used potato servers instead of proper ones. I ve bought this game when it was in alfa realise, today this game is officially released but nothing really changed since then, the servers are still lagging and take ages to load while in the game and its not only ps4 having this problems, its in all the platforms like that. Overall i could be more happy with the game if they make it a bit faster and of course the servers need extra touch as well, the last thing would be grinding.. Unless you have 5 people in your tribe its no problem but if you deicide to play on your own... well you can't and you won't, trust me. I wouldn't recommend anyone to spend your hard earned money on this game… Expand
  12. Stormtroopers02
    Jan 28, 2018
    3
    Maximum Survivor trophy on ps4 wont unlock without dlc as they added 15 more levels but you can only get them through dlc which you have to pay for.
  13. Drifter616
    Jul 10, 2019
    3
    As a new player it’s not even enjoyable. And the controls are way too complicated and it doesn’t explain anything to you. Doesn’t run great on PS4 either. And I couldn’t get console commands to work after trying forever so yeah I don’t recommend.
  14. The_Undula
    Oct 13, 2019
    3
    In a sentence: It can be a lot of fun, but if I could refund my £16, I would do so.

    Ark is a terribly broken, laggy, clunky, and badly designed game, with a fantastic masterpiece hiding inside. Gameplay (general): Ark really is the ps4 equivalent of a primark clothing garment: it looks pretty cool, but scratch beneath the surface just a tiny bit and you find the abysmal laziness of    In a sentence: It can be a lot of fun, but if I could refund my £16, I would do so.

    Ark is a terribly broken, laggy, clunky, and badly designed game, with a fantastic masterpiece hiding inside.

    Gameplay (general):
    Ark really is the ps4 equivalent of a primark clothing garment: it looks pretty cool, but scratch beneath the surface just a tiny bit and you find the abysmal laziness of the manufacturing.

    I've had brilliant moments where I rode in on a huge giganotosaurus to defend my base, slaughtering the enemy dinosaurs. Sadly these are outweighed 100 to 1 by endless tedious grinding, getting stuck in rocks and having to have a friend kill me to escape, losing dinosaurs to laughable offline hunger mechanics, and even having tamed dinosaurs bug under the map after spending hours acquiring them.

    The new player experience: When you begin this game, you're usually greeted by being immediately spawn killed by a raptor several times (why this is the caseI do not know). The solution is actually quite easy: just make a bed in a small house once you spawn somewhere safe, but the problem is there are ABSOLUTELY NO INSTRUCTIONS WHATSOEVER. Ark is a very complicated game - after over 100 hours I still feel like a noob, and for a game this complex to have literally no tutorial at all is yet another example of the extreme laziness at Wildcard.
    If you do come to love this game, it will certainly not be until you've played for 10s of hours and spent more time than that watching youtube guides - this is not an exaggeration.

    Pay-to-win: there's also the issue of apparent pay to win mechanics. You buy the game only to realise that in order to stand a chance in pvp you need to spend the same amount again to get the latest expansion, or else remain hopelessly outclassed by the new unbalanced dinosaurs only available behind a second pay-wall.

    in summary: as other reviews say (and I think this particularly applies to console), Ark is an extremely frustrating experience, as the gameplay can be really very fun, but it's ruined by all the problems caused by the laziness of the developers.

    Note: if you do buy this game - do not bother playing official servers unless you have 10s of friends to help you - you will not survive against the massive dominating tribes otherwise. I would strongly recommend playing a private server.    … Expand
  15. Eeemmi
    May 12, 2020
    3
    Arc is a game with great promise and phenomenal concepts, however it fails to execute in these ideas through poor playability
  16. Mathilda94
    Dec 28, 2020
    3
    I had high expectations for this game & I was massively disappointed. The quality on ps4 is extremely bad, the controls are awful as well as the UI & the lack of a real mini map or even a map of the island are ruining the experience. I can’t for the life of me understand how the developers were thinking.
  17. yertre
    Feb 8, 2021
    3
    This game really could have been good.

    The game is so poorly optimised that it's pretty much unplayable in its current state. You really can't play this game.
  18. Kisylya
    Aug 9, 2021
    3
    Пожалуйста, перед покупкой этой игры, обратите внимание на еë цену. Это важно. Это игра в жанре выживание с кучей других людей. Игра которая вышла на пс4 в 2017 обосралась с графикой, физикой, ИИ, кастомизацией персонажа. Главное в этой игре по моему мнению - динозавры ведь если тебе это не интересно иди в раст. Динозавры здесь тупые, при спаривании ты хочешь отвести динозавров в одноПожалуйста, перед покупкой этой игры, обратите внимание на еë цену. Это важно. Это игра в жанре выживание с кучей других людей. Игра которая вышла на пс4 в 2017 обосралась с графикой, физикой, ИИ, кастомизацией персонажа. Главное в этой игре по моему мнению - динозавры ведь если тебе это не интересно иди в раст. Динозавры здесь тупые, при спаривании ты хочешь отвести динозавров в одно место - они тупят. Шрифт убогий. И с плохой графикой - 30 фпс. Хочешь 60 фпс смотри в текстуры камня. Хотя если ты это сделешь ты умрëшь. И цена в 2000 рублей… Expand
  19. NoobnGrelou
    Aug 21, 2021
    3
    hmm what can i say about this game is that's just a piece of s*** that's all.
  20. iafanasyev
    Apr 26, 2022
    3
    Great game, but its absolutely unplayable. PvE servers are overloaded with users buildings, and it lags every second. PvP servers better, but there is one tribe on every server who have a lot of dinos and resources, they will not let you build a base and tame dinos, you will be destroyed when you offline.
    Only one way to play this game is play alone in single player.
  21. Brolith
    Jan 5, 2022
    3
    I have over 2,000 hours on PC and Over 6,000 on ps4, a Youtube channel that use to be dedicated to ark and a collaboration. So when i say i am a little bit of a expert here, I can say so with confidence. But this is the first time i reviewed it on steam and it saddens me very very deeply that I can not recommend ark to any person or any game ever made by Wildcard.
    To be very honest the    I have over 2,000 hours on PC and Over 6,000 on ps4, a Youtube channel that use to be dedicated to ark and a collaboration. So when i say i am a little bit of a expert here, I can say so with confidence. But this is the first time i reviewed it on steam and it saddens me very very deeply that I can not recommend ark to any person or any game ever made by Wildcard.
    To be very honest the companies greed and lack of descent customer service is by far and away the worst I have seen. I have played mmorpgs since the late 90's so when I started to play ark i chalked it all up to they are new just getting their footing. This excuse no longer holds water for them. They have in fact proven time and again they care far more about expansions and money than good game quality. They have lived by wringing the last dollars out of their fan base rather then improving their game. To add insult to injury they employ some of the worse programmers and implement things like anti-mesh very poorly, they will do things that will accidentally wipe out hundreds of hours of your hard work at no fault of yours. Then when you contact them they will simply tell you that it is your problem and if you don't like it you can just stop playing because they won't set right what they themselves did and YES most other Mmorpgs will investigate and compensate.
    But they are all to happy to allow large groups of cheaters who openly cheat, to take up residence on their servers, and do nothing about it. They have no professionalism or desire for improvement. It is 2021 and their log in system and player management would not look good in even 2001. They do things in the cheapest laziest way they possible can and get mad when called out on it. We have seen GMs come on servers and taunt players. The fact they use a first person GM system at all speaks of how bad they have done.
    The game itself is an amazing concept but I have never in my life seen one executed so horribly that a mass refund should be required of them and to think they are ready to create a squeal is mind boggling. None of this is to say Ark can't be a great game, it can be, you can lose yourself for hours on end in this game. Only to be snapped out of it by a game breaking bug that has been here since alpha.
    There is nothing wrong with a game where you can lose everything due to pvp that is part of the fun. Nothing wrong with a game you can lose everything from your own carelessness. But to sell and not fix a game where your biggest obstacle is poor coding is not OK. There is nothing worse than spending hundreds of hours only to be defeated by bad coding, it leaves you frustrated and disillusioned and to receive a aggressive response from the companies CS after just leaves you angry.
    But to be honest I think the thing I find most frustrating is that Ark could have been so much more, it could have been something truly special that endured and grew for years to come for the fans of the genre, if only it and been handled by almost anyone else. This is just a honest review.    … Expand
  22. Jdotdeedot
    Jun 23, 2022
    3
    I'd rather play minecraft than this ark, and that's insanely disrespectful to minecraft. Ark is such a boring game. The game looks bad it looks like it came out in 2010 rather than 2017. The UI is also just clunky to look at and is just bad. I don't recommend this game at all. Just play minecraft.
  23. sclark13
    Dec 9, 2016
    2
    This game barely runs on a high-end computer let alone on the ps4. Ignoring the performance issues, the underlying gameplay is not very fun at all, and is just a grind. I would wait for it to actually release and professional reviews to come out before purchasing the game.
  24. TheShak
    Dec 19, 2016
    2
    The game has soooo much potential but its essentially broken. To start off its incredibly glitchy and there is nothing worse than taming a Pteradon only for it to glitch into a wall or mountain and then lose it. The PvP is virtually unplayable once you reach a certain point as higher level players will constantly raid you and build huge heavily protected forts around major resourceThe game has soooo much potential but its essentially broken. To start off its incredibly glitchy and there is nothing worse than taming a Pteradon only for it to glitch into a wall or mountain and then lose it. The PvP is virtually unplayable once you reach a certain point as higher level players will constantly raid you and build huge heavily protected forts around major resource locations. This has lead to multiple servers with very few people as one tribe just patrols around and destroys any fresh bases and run people from the server. I moved to at least 5-6 servers and found the same issue. On one server we found the perfect base location (4 of us). Built a huge stone wall, Behemoth gate, defences and even a frabicator over time. We had tamed multiple dino's but in the end it meant nothing. A bunch of high levels brought there 200+ Pteradons, flew over the wall and destroyed literally everything. All the best base locations are always taken as the game has been out on PC for years so plenty of youtube videos out there. I mean I like a challenge and yes you die in PvP games but Arks PvP is essentially broken as one tribe can just take over a server and kill it dead if they root themselves in one of the better locations. Even on PvE you are not safe as people can get Carnivores to chase them to your location.

    This game has been in early access for nearly 7 years and it was released on ps4 as a full priced game.
    Sony you should be ashamed for putting a buggy, unbalanced game on the psn store and selling it at AAA price.    … Expand
  25. Verosho
    Dec 29, 2016
    2
    Do not buy this game until they fix it! This is a No Mans Sky mk 2 but worse.

    I couldn't stand by and let another gamer be caught out by another broken game like this one that I just had to set up this account to express my disbelief at how badly this game runs on the PS4. Yes it has potential and I wish it truely worked but the game is broken at the time of writing this and yes! this    Do not buy this game until they fix it! This is a No Mans Sky mk 2 but worse.

    I couldn't stand by and let another gamer be caught out by another broken game like this one that I just had to set up this account to express my disbelief at how badly this game runs on the PS4. Yes it has potential and I wish it truely worked but the game is broken at the time of writing this and yes! this is another no mans sky stunt, no sorry... that was more stable of a game and Sony's shadey way of keeping your money because of their self set rules of digital content is disgraceful. (Which are null and void in the UK if the content is faulty)

    You cant play on the original Ark world as server support is limited so half of the game you cant even play with other people because they are always full. So in effect you are forced to purchase the the dlc as well if you want to play online and enjoy the game in any way (thats if you can get over the various game crashes). The only problem with the dlc is that the scorched earth map is MUCH! harder to survive in and you are given zero directions on how to play the game, you cant find water in a desert and the game is impossible to survive alone, did I mention you cant invite your friends online? Fine I accept its a learning process and 'get gud' and all but this is a poor port of a game and should not be on Sony's shelf with the state it's in.

    Forget about setting a private server up and play with your friends, if the freezing of the game just by sending an invite wont stop you, the constant NAT types issues that the developers havent fixed for the last few weeks will stop you.

    All my friends who were excited to play this said it was broken and got their refunds, so am I and you should avoid it for at least a year.

    PLEASE AVOID!    … Expand
  26. Daniel0809
    Aug 15, 2020
    2
    Minecraft with better graphics
  27. Commander_Wolf
    Jan 13, 2020
    2
    Ark is a game that has a good concept but the devs stuffed it up for a game that has been out for almost 5 years you would expect most of the major bugs and flaws of the game to be fixed but the devs decided to add dlcs to the game to hide the flaws instead of fixing them. adding new context to a game will never work if the groundwork for the game is not finished, i would love to play aArk is a game that has a good concept but the devs stuffed it up for a game that has been out for almost 5 years you would expect most of the major bugs and flaws of the game to be fixed but the devs decided to add dlcs to the game to hide the flaws instead of fixing them. adding new context to a game will never work if the groundwork for the game is not finished, i would love to play a game like this if it was made better it doesn't matter how many maps you have if the game is a buggy mess. the game is poorly optimized so it doesn't matter what you do it will always be laggy, the UI is horrible and needs a rework and don't get me started on the servers it is impossible to play not only because of the framerate but also because of pillar spammers which make impossible to build anywhere this could of been fixed if they added a system liming the amount of stuff you could build of make it so you can only clam a certain amount of space. and for people who don't have someone to teach them the game it would almost be impossible to play without looking everything up on the wiki because of the lack of a basic tutorial.
    I would only recommend this game if you are desperate for a dino game and it is on sale or if the devs decide to listen to user feedback and fix there game.    … Expand
  28. fallenazael
    Mar 27, 2022
    1
    UI is terrible. Controls are a nightmare and you can clearly tell this is a pc game which has been forced into consoles. Buggy as hell. Things won't work. Items can't be picked up or used. A total nightmare. Even as a free game I feel I've been conned
  29. Injun
    Jan 28, 2017
    1
    Awful, continual lag will drive you mad. A plethora of other glitches and bugs listed in other reviews here. Overall the worst, un-optimized game I have played on PS4.
  30. kaymick
    Jan 14, 2017
    1
    This is a genuine review of the game based on around 10+ hours of gameplay on the PS4. The short story? DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY ON THIS GAME. Out of 10 people who buy this game, I can guarantee you that only 2 out of the 10 will actually enjoy the game in the long run. The majority of us? Not so much. Not only does this game have horrific performance issues (anyone who says they get noThis is a genuine review of the game based on around 10+ hours of gameplay on the PS4. The short story? DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY ON THIS GAME. Out of 10 people who buy this game, I can guarantee you that only 2 out of the 10 will actually enjoy the game in the long run. The majority of us? Not so much. Not only does this game have horrific performance issues (anyone who says they get no lags or freezes is lying), but the game itself is just...bad. The UI is buggy and tedious to manage. There is absolutely NO tutorial of any kind, the Dino's rarely work as intended, and even if you manage to learn the games ridiculous controls and get a foothold in a server, you WILL be killed and raided by one of the few "Alpha" tribes just for **** and giggles. Do not bother joining any official server considering they are all EXTREMELY unbalanced, not to mention toxic. Even unofficial servers are mostly terrible, what with the inconsistent admins, hackers, unbalanced gameplay, and constant NAT issues. (PVE will not solve all your issues, as players can still find ways to grief you.) New players, you will CONSTANTLY be **** upon, so get used to dying due to the stupidest reasons. Also, if you have sensitive eyes or epilepsy, do NOT buy this game, as the PS4 screenshots are very misleading. The game has a bizarre contrast/saturation setting that you cannot change in-game. The skies during the daytime are unrealistically blinding, as well as any sunlight reflecting off of water, which can cause great strain to anyone with eye problems. Working your way up is a tedious grind, and even once you reach the top, the game becomes boring as there is really nothing else to do except await the inevitable ass-beating you are going to receive from another tribe invading the server.

    This game is O.K on PC (it is slowly dying out though, due to the devs being incompetent), but on PS4 it is utter **** If you purchase this game you HAVE to buy it full price with the DLC, no exceptions. The game isn't even finished yet, but for some reason Sony thought it would be a good idea to release this game as a AAA title anyways. Not only that, but if you bought this game on accident thinking it would be a fun play, tough **** Sony will throw their terms and conditions in your face and let you know that there are absolutely no refunds on digital content if you already started downloading it. (Ironic how the only way to buy this game on PS4 is through DIGITAL DOWNLOAD ONLY hmmmmm.....) This is obviously yet another bad decision on Sony's part in an effort to grab cash from suckers who think this is a good game.

    Maybe this game can be good in the future when it's actually DONE, but as of right now, Ark Survival Evolved on the PS4 is a buggy, lackluster mess that is unplayable until the devs pull their **** together.    … Expand
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Awards & Rankings

36
#36 Most Discussed PS4 Game of 2017
48
#48 Most Shared PS4 Game of 2017

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
69

Mixed or average reviews - based on 15 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 4 out of 15
  2. Mixed: 11 out of 15
  3. Negative: 0 out of 15
  1. Digitally Downloaded
    Oct 25, 2017
    70
    Like a lot of of titles in this genre, Ark: Survival Evolved has a steep learning curve and requires quite the time - and possibly financial - investment. But once you get into the rhythm of it, the endless need to survive, set against the simple satisfaction of slowly building up your capacity to do so, makes this a game that could well turn into a hobby for you, all in itself.
    Read full review
  2. Meristation
    Sep 27, 2017
    70
    ARK: Survival Evolved is a complete survival experience. It could be a little frustrating at the beginning, but once you learn the mechanics and get used to the gameplay, the player has multiple options to develop their characters and enjoy the beautiful but dangerous open world created by Studio Wildcard. However, the console interface isn't intuitive enough, and the performance isn't perfect, with some framerate issues. Even so, it´s very enjoyable to interact with the wild creatures living in this prehistoric island.
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  3. GamingTrend
    Sep 20, 2017
    70
    If you have friends, Ark: Survival Evolved is a fun survival game, with options such as PvP or PvE servers to make every player happy. If you primarily play alone, however, this game will require a heavy set of grinding and repetition, turning off any players hoping to just get a taste of some dinosaur action.
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