The brand new PlayStation VR2 arrives and with it the Review of Horizon The Call of the Mountain, a virtual reality spin-off of Aloy's adventures where, however, Aloy is not the protagonist this time. Our alter ego will instead be Ryas, a former soldier who, between redemption, redemption and revenge, will have to do everything possible to be accepted by his new friends.
The other dimension
Finally inside the new Made in Sony viewfinder! The hands are squeezed inside these white sci-fi gloves and the headphones are properly inserted into the ears. All that remains is to press the teleportation button: after two deep breaths, we are literally catapulted. in the horizon world. Not in front of the world of Horizon, as we were happy to do in the past, but this time and for the first time literally inside it. If there is one thing that virtual reality has proven to do very well, it is giving you the feeling of being present in an imaginary place. You put on the helmet or the visor, call it what you want, and it's like traveling in hyperspace: not only are you there, but you feel there and you are afraid of the void, you get excited when you meet the gaze of another character. , you feel different vibrations than in "flat" video games. Of course, this sense of presence can also be scary at times, like when you come face to face with one of Horizon Call of the Mountain's biomechanical beasts.
does not suit you
Horizon Call of the Mountain puts you into the action without too many jokes, and it's a smart choice because when you have a headset on your head you want to play, be active, and not just sit passively watching and listening to videos and dialogue. But this is a scenario that really wants to tell itself and puts us in a political context that we have to know very well, after having played and replayed Zero Dawn and Forbidden West, in order to give it the appropriate weight. If you are not a big fan, every superfluous detail will become a blablabla that we would have gladly done without. Fortunately, Call fo the Mountain is not a long game, but it does pick one. narrative formula that doesn't have the timing or timing to work really well in VR.
Memorable climbs
Even this new protagonist called Ryas finally does not exist, because the real Ryas will be us in the first person. As heroes of the game we will essentially have to do two things: climb and fight. Much more the first to tell the truth, given that much of the time we will spend climbing mountains jumping between wooden scaffolding, ropes, bare and very hard rock and more malleable slopes, the latter to be tackled with ice ax blows. For us users, all this translates into exciting dizziness, and an exhausting shoulder exercise that after a few hours will start to become less and less fun. For those who have been in the world of virtual reality for a while, there isn't even a big novelty factor: the mechanics are basically those of The Climb and its sequel, a Crytek game originally released in 2016. In both titles, you stretch arm. It brings out a climbable wall and once you grab it, you pull it towards you simulating the motion of climbing. The Climb however was a small game, in two hours you had finished it...
Fortunately in Horizon Call of The Mountain there is much more variety, there are also fights, and the fantasy context allows us to offer several interesting tools that, however, in the end never really change the game system. Each instrument, like the solar disk used as a Frisbee, is the reflection of a new and simple environmental puzzle. The only difference will be the ice axes, which will serve different purposes, but mainly for tackling the more malleable walls. He ice axes They're also a lot of fun to use because they never make you feel confident, and then it's really satisfying to stick them into the rock - you hear and feel that "snort" in the controllers that conveys exactly the right idea. It's strange that they didn't find another solution to open the tool inventory: asking us to press the analog stick with our thumb, while trying to reach R2 with our index finger, didn't turn out to be a good idea.
Bow and arrows
With the bow, however, you play it safe and draw it, exactly like arrows, by placing one of your hands on your shoulder. The bow is a weapon present in many virtual reality games because it always works very well: you have to use it to aim the dominant eye as in reality, and it has a certain effect, in addition the use involves complex movements but that the sensors never have problems replicating in the game. It should come as no surprise that, with the latest generation headsets and controllers at your disposal, the Horizon Call of The Mountain arc is close to perfect. Don't expect a simulator, Sony's game is always dedicated to action and don't forget that you are heroes, but despite the presence of some aiming aid, getting it right is never entirely a given.
In the White
In each level there are several hidden targets to find and destroy, great for shooting off a few arrows now and then, but you'll naturally get the best of the bow in combat. In battles, Horizon Call of the Mountain blocks the enemy's view, or the center of the arena, allowing us only lateral movement. It's a clever solution and is a bit like what happens in a billion games, usually against the biggest bosses. Using the keys and the movement of our arms we can take small steps or a big dodge that will keep us safe from enemy shots most of the time. The actual battle is decidedly galvanizing: nocking the arrow and waiting until the last minute to hit the right spot on a lookout ready to pounce on us, for starters. with this graph, is a specific emotion.
However, things don't always go well: beasts with a large range of motion suffer from the reduced size of the arena and may remain stunned for a few seconds before fighting again. It happens with the smallest and most agile beasts, which we can find in groups; On the other hand, it goes much better against the solitary and larger biomachines, always ready to offer us great battles, always in conjunction with the best moments that Horizon Call of the Mountain offers. There are also stealth phases in which we will have to try to climb without being seen by the beasts around us, and silent approach phases in the middle of tall grass that are directly reminiscent of the gameplay of previous games.
The hunter's fun.
There is also quite a bit of exploration in the game. Progress is mostly linear, but occasional junctions and related detours are offered along the route. Here it is also important to search everywhere, especially to find the parts of the arrows that will be used to create the special ones (thunder, fire...). By exploring it is also possible to find many gadgets with which to play and exploit the multiple nuances of virtual reality: tambourines, juggling torches, brushes and paints, to treat ourselves by creating cave paintings. You open the lid of a barrel and find two maracas... so why don't you spend ten minutes singing mambo jambo in the living room? It is a bit of everything that cannot be missing in a virtual reality game, especially if it is designed for an audience that does not yet have much experience with technology and is willing to be surprised by every trick.
Free movement
Horizon Call of the Mountain does not support movement with teleportation, but we can move using the normal analog stick or simulating the movement of our arms. The latter is an atypical solution but has already been seen in the past, for example with the VR transposition of L.A. Noire, and in addition to being functional it really reduces to a minimum the risk that the visor can cause some problems, such as the dreaded dizziness effect or motion sickness; The disadvantage is the movements that are not exactly agile during exploration, but that can be mitigated by turning (in reality and therefore in the game) on oneself to change the direction of the walk. Of course, remember to periodically look through the viewfinder to see where you have gone and thus avoid unpleasant accidents.
Between graphics and hammer
Horizon Call of the Mountain stands out above all for its graphics. If this was intended to be a test of what the PlayStation VR2 can do, combined with the PlayStation 5, then it can be said that the objective has been perfectly achieved. To increase the detail, much of the landscape is a distant background, and the traversable and therefore more detailed area is always very limited. The audio sector, however, is strange: the effects seem very good and layered, but the sound is subdued, not very bombastic even where it could, and perhaps should, have been. But these are details, Call of The Mountain is a beautiful game to look at also from an artistic point of view, very colorful also thanks to a beautifully saturated HDR. The problems of the game lie elsewhere, for example in its unconscious predictability. With virtual reality you can create experiences that are impossible to replicate without headphones, we have already had proof of this, Horizon Call of The Mountain is instead the attempt to transpose the classic (literally) modern two-dimensional video game to the medium that should be the most revolutionary, which here shows twice its limits and is too slow in the new context. The climbing is fun to a point, the bow fights are very few and in the middle is this. somewhat uncomfortable exploration which is not surprising at all.
Conclusions
Holygamerz.com 7.5 Readers (28) 7.3 your voteHorizon Call of the Mountain is a spectacular game to look at and decidedly unsurprising to play. The climbing mechanics are solid, but constantly standing with your arms raised is tiring both physically and playfully. The combat has its great moments, but the formula only seems to contain a limited number of them before showing its clear and insurmountable limitations. It takes six to eight hours to finish, depending on how much time you spend walking or looking into Aloy's eyes. Ultimately, Guerrilla is just undermining what this technology should be able to offer, and 2015 is already behind us.
PRO
- Stunning graphics and some very exciting fights.
- Bow, ice axes, frisbees, maracas, brushes!
- How nice to meet Aloy in person
AGAINST
- Some questionable command options
- We scale too much and have done so in the past.
- Fights don't always work out
