It’s hardly stunning simply how a lot Horizon content material is being produced by PlayStation proper now, within the wake of Hermen Hulst’s rise to the highest of Sony.
Whereas its monster gross sales numbers seemingly have way more to do with it, Hulst, who oversaw unique Horizon developer Guerrilla’s transfer from blood and bullets with Killzone to robotic dinosaurs, can also be now the top of PlayStation Studios, and oversees a roster that features Horizon Forbidden West, Horizon: Name of the Mountain, Horizon Zero Daybreak: Remastered, an untitled Horizon multiplayer challenge, a Horizon TV challenge, a a lot hinted at third entry within the Horizon collection… and now this, Lego Horizon Adventures.
Developed by Guerrilla and UK-based Studio Gobo, Adventures is a retelling of the occasions of the primary Horizon recreation through the medium of Lego. Many of the unique recreation’s forged returns for an isometric motion recreation that, whereas largely quite simple, is a humorous, charming household recreation in an period largely devoid of them.
Ditching the open-world method, Lego Horizon Adventures takes on a hub-and-spoke degree design, with Aloy working to rebuild Mom’s Coronary heart, the sport’s residence base.
She does this by gathering gold bricks, which might open new ranges and new areas of Mom’s Coronary heart. Mom’s Coronary heart itself is the place new outfits could be unlocked, stats could be upgraded, and the participant can swap between the sport’s 4 playable characters.
Lego Horizon Adventures doesn’t take the traditional TT-style Lego recreation method. It’s not a collect-a-thon, and also you’re not swapping characters to finish puzzles or work together with components that just one character class can take care of.
As a substitute, the sport is far more centered on fight. Later ranges do turn out to be considerably repetitive in consequence, however the recreation itself isn’t massively lengthy, and youthful gamers – who the sport definitely feels geared towards – seemingly received’t thoughts.
Later, some Apex ranges open up that give gamers the possibility to face off towards some robust bosses. These are the sport’s solely actual problem, however they’re a welcome addition to vary up the tempo.
The fight facilities round Aloy’s bow, with different sorts of bows and numerous devices being picked up as limited-use objects particular to the degrees you choose them up in.
The fight is okay, and there’s some depth tailored from the primary collection concerning focusing on the weak factors of the enemy creatures, nevertheless it by no means feels difficult.
This is among the areas the sport is rapidly prepared to get bizarre with, as one of many first objects you’re in a position to deploy towards your enemies is to rapidly construct a scorching canine cart, and have the seller launch explosive wieners in each route. Sizzling dog-based humor is a well-liked chorus in Lego Horizon Adventures.
Maybe the sport’s best energy is how effectively all the creatures from the primary collection have been tailored in Lego kind. Whereas a real-life Lego set of the Tallneck from Horizon was launched years in the past, Lego Horizon Adventures adapts just about all the creatures, together with the staggering Thunderjaw, into Lego kind.
The entire items used to create not solely the characters, however each factor of the sport, are actual Lego. The one deviation is that a number of the items used within the recreation have by no means been launched in these colours, however the items themself are professional.
The Lego items themselves are extremely detailed. Shut-ups of characters reveal plastic imperfections that are a staple of actual Lego. There are blemishes the place printed components of costumes haven’t been utilized correctly. You’ll be able to see strains the place the plastic molds had been separated. It provides the entire recreation a sense just like that of The Lego Film, proper all the way down to the fake stop-motion animation.
The sport is visually detailed, whereas nonetheless sustaining the visible language of Lego. When grass goes on hearth, it’s little Lego flame items that dance round within the brush. This, paired with the sport’s spectacular lighting engine, makes the entire recreation look extraordinarily real looking.
Even the water, which in some Lego video games is represented with a practical water texture, is as a substitute changed with an animation impact primarily based on a number of totally different shades of blue, recreating stop-motion waves. Smoke results are white, circle tiles to symbolize the clouds of smoke.
It’s all very charming and effectively thought out – we’re positive a devoted fan might construct Lego Horizon Adventures brick by brick, with sufficient time and money.
The sport’s constancy mode options spectacular shadows that bounce off the shiny Lego brick surfaces. The shortage of a devoted PS5 Professional mode on the time of writing is a disappointment, nonetheless, particularly given the sport’s proximity to the console’s launch.
The sport’s writing can also be a excessive level. Whereas the unique collection has moments of humor, Lego Horizon Adventures is genuinely humorous, with nice cross-generational humor.
The slapstick of the Lego video games is in full impact right here, and regardless that the characters are totally voice-acted (which is a sticking level for some Lego followers) each member of the forged provides full effort in the direction of a legitimately entertaining efficiency. The sport’s story is a free, much less violent retelling of the unique with loads of cheeky winks and nods to followers who’ve been with the collection since 2017.
Lego Horizon Adventures is an pleasant household recreation with witty writing and nice visuals. The gameplay received’t scratch the itch of gamers who had been launched to Aloy through the primary collection, however for youthful players, this is among the vanishingly few household video games out there on fashionable consoles that’s of legitimately top quality.
Witty writing and a cheeky humorousness make the sport really feel like Gurrella letting its hair down earlier than heading off on the journey of Horizon 3. Some repetitive gameplay apart, it’s an pleasant palette cleanser in the midst of 2024’s lengthy checklist of epic experiences.
