Review of Horizon Call of the Mountain – climbing challenge

It was obvious to everyone all the time, right from the name of the game – but it still didn’t occur to me beforehand that the VR addition to the Horizon series would fall into the genre of so-called “climbing” games. Subconsciously, I expected an adventure similar to the number games in the series, albeit without an open world, but still more focused on walking, riding on robo-dinosaurs and, of course, fighting. But the reality is that most of this game you will be climbing some mountain. And I don’t know about you, but it really hurts your hands.

• Platform: PSVR2
• Publication date: 22.02.2022
• Manufacturer: Guerrilla Games (Netherlands)
• Genre: Climbing simulator
• Czech localization: No
• Multiplayer: No
• Data to download: 46 GB
• Game time: 10+ hours
• Price: 1849 CZK (PS Store)

Safra, this is height

The latest addition to the Horizon series was quite obviously intended as a showcase for the new PlayStation VR2 platform, and it does the job more or less perfectly. I deliberately arranged for this to be the very first game I’ve included a new headset in and I wasn’t disappointed, the experience of being on the terrace of a mountain temple high above the countryside for the first time while the sounds of beautiful title music of the subtitles with the name of the game was extremely strong. I looked around in amazement at this introductory menu of the game and marveled at the HDR effects of sunbeams shining through the fringe of decorations hanging on the roof above my head.

The game is full of dialogue, characters, and events, but its story doesn’t have much of an impact on the fate of the Horizon world. Your role is a disgraced soldier named Rias, who is forced to climb the highest peaks of the Sun Kingdom in order to find his brother, unravel the mystery of the new aggressive machine attacks and atone for his past sins. Most of the time, you’ll be traveling alone, in the form of rock climbing, so you’ll only hear Rias muttering under his breath both comments about the plot and hints at moving forward in the game. It’s not as annoying as it might seem, since Rias’ voice is low, soft and pleasant, and his remarks are moderate. Unfortunately, I can’t say that I like his character or anyone else in this story. One character made the biggest impression on me at the time of her death, partly because of the last fatal verdict and because of the way she died. You can complete 12 chapters of the story in about ten hours, but in addition, you will unlock a few mini-games or be able to go and collect the “collectibles” that you missed in the chapters you played.

As with the numbered installments of the Horizon series, the most fun part of the gameplay is the battle with dinosaur robots. Just seeing them walk “around you” in VR is a great experience, these “living” machines are really beautifully designed and the smaller ones seem like velociraptors appearing next to you. What if a gigantic Stormwind flew over you or a Thunderjaw or Longneck roared past you? Unfortunately, during combat, the creators clearly prioritized precise control of your bow at the cost of limiting your movement – until then, smooth movement of the levers during combat only translates into dodges to the right or left. However, monster encounters are definitely the best this game has to offer. I don’t want to give away too much, but some of these clips are like the best big movies, except you’re “standing right in front” of these giant monsters.

Proper warm up

I didn’t measure exactly, but I have the impression that approximately 70% of the total playing time will be spent climbing, whether that’s straight barehanded or ice ax climbing, or swinging on one of several ropes. launch anchor systems. You have to physically extend your arms for the next grip, so after a few minutes they can easily start to hurt (from the shoulders, not from the palms). Like real rock climbing, it’s really quite hard work, so there were a few times when I had to stop in the middle of a longer climb on some rock, hold on to one hand and stretch, or at least let the other rest a bit. Bye. I’m pretty sure you’ll be sweating and stretching no matter what your actual body type is.

While I ended up in a slightly different genre than I “dreamed” for Horizon VR, walking through this whimsical world was undeniably a powerful experience. The story makes sense on its own, but don’t expect it to be anything major for the series as such. From a technical point of view, for things like graphics, sound, or even music, the game deserves a very high rating, but the relatively stereotypical gameplay – rather tedious, in fact – is unlikely to make you want to come back too often after playing. This. However, this is a very good way to get familiar with the performance and features of your new PlayStation VR2 headset.