Horizon Call of the Mountain knows what its job is: to ride the popularity of Horizon Forbidden West and spearhead Sony’s new foray into virtual reality gaming, the PlayStation VR 2. It really goes for it by placing less of a focus on the expansive story of Forbidden West and much more on spectacle, often wowing with the sights it places in front of you. On that level it’s a remarkable technical showcase that lets you have a good deal of excitement when taking the handbrake off and handing you control of its exhilarating combat. It’s therefore a slight shame that it often operates at a much more relaxed pace, which does allow you to frequently take in the beauty of its world, but prevents itself from thrilling consistently from start to finish. When it does all click, though, and those heights are hit, a very fun time is there to be had.
Similarly to how a Disneyland ride borrows from whichever film it’s based on, Call of the Mountain takes the Horizon experience and condenses it into something much more bitesize while trying to keep the same flavour. This is exemplified best by the Pirates of the Caribbean-like opening, in which your peaceful river cruise is rudely interrupted by the likes of a soaring Stormbird and towering Tallneck dino-bot. It’s a real credit to the work that developer Firesprite has done in translating Guerrilla’s original art design into something more impressive than any TV screen could do justice to – both in the stunning vistas this world offers and the trademark machines that populate it.
The first time you see the scale of some of these creatures really is a sight to behold, not only from the shift to true first-person perspective emphasizing their true size, but with their presence felt further thanks to the haptic feedback felt both in each controller and the headset itself: as you quite literally feel the ground shake with every step as these massive machines pass by. It’s a real showcase for the PS VR2 right off the bat, with huge spectacle blending with small detail – right down to the delicate ripples your fingers make in the water and the rude splashes made by the feet of giant machines.
Blockbuster opening aside, over the course of its roughly six-hour campaign Call of the Mountain takes the essence of Horizon’s gameplay and boils it down into a much more manageable set of tools that works in VR. Rocky landscapes to explore, hostile machines to take down, puzzles to solve – it’s all here. What’s notable, however, is that this is very much a linear experience that stands in sharp contrast to Zero Dawn or Forbidden West’s vast open worlds. An inquisitive mind is occasionally rewarded with fun side activities, such as stacking rock cairns or collectible archery targets to hit, but mostly you’ll be guided down a funneled path. This narrow approach naturally works well in VR, even if some of the inherent exploration that Horizon normally offers is lost.
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