Lego Horizon Adventures, PS5 Review
Lego Horizon, I suspect it is bit of a coup for Sony, getting Lego so on-board with their Horizon franchise. Up until now Lego games have been reserved for the biggest of IPs, like Marvel, Lord of the Rings and Star Wars. And with a couple of caveats, I can say Lego: Horizon Adventures is a worthy entrant into this storied sub-genre of games, especially with how next-level gooooorgeous it is.
The absolute first thing that struck me with Horizon Adventures is that it is the first Lego game to feature a full Lego world. Akin to the Lego movies, where every part of the level and world is made with Lego pieces. The ground, plants, water…everything, is made from Lego bits. The environments in particular look amazing, the merging of grass and trees with bits and pieces, makes the who thing look like a Lego kit-set come to life.
So far, so goody
This unfortunately opens up to one of those “caveats” I mentioned above. With all this amazing Lego in the work, the actual destructibility, which previous Lego games are known for, isn’t a feature. Unlike the Traveller Tales Lego titles, where everything smashes in a cloud of bits, Horizon Adventures has a very select few items in the world that can be smashed up. To the point that once I knew the features of the destructible items, I would b-line for them and move on, ignoring the rest of the world. I’m sure smashing everything in sight may have destroyed the world envisaged by the developers, but it would have been fun as hell!
Horizon Adventures does an excellent job of repurposing and repackaging the first Horizon games world and story, into a more compact and approachable way. Basically making it super kid-friendly. The original voice cast are here, including Ashly Burch returning as Aloy. Burch has comedic chops and they show, with her lightening the mood and dropping some great one-liners all through the game. I honestly had a couple of chuckles aloud while playing.
errr..Hot Dog What?
That said, some of the other elements of the game don’t land as well, in particular some forced jokes or humour without context, like “Hot-Dog Guy”. Which for some reason is used on more than one occasion as a comedic subject, but as a Horizon player, it meant nothing to me. The prolific referencing was so much, that I even had to go google him to find out if I had missed a trick while Platinuming the original games…turns out, I didn’t. It is just a made-up mascot which doesn’t fit…so must be funny?
This leads into my only other caveat. As an adult gamer, it is clear this Lego game is really for the kids. The isometric combat looks flashy. And is certainly Horizon inspired. The Lego beasts and dinosaurs look great, but after a few hours the gameplay mechanics are revealed as very shallow. Also, there is no reward for exploring, and the levels are extremely linear. There is no risk of becoming lost or side tracked, as there is one way forward with no difference in playing a level with one of the five playable characters, except for their attacks in combat.
Kids will love the Co-op gameplay, but anyone who has played the Traveller Tails games, like the Star Wars collection, will bork at the lack of a smooth split screen experience. A system mastered by TT over 15 years ago. The Co-op screen will just drag or teleport the 2nd player along, depending on how far ahead the other player gets. Once again, exploration is scarified for a linear experience.
Lego Horizon stacks heavily on the young gamer appeal
The hub world you return to after each linear mission is Aloy’s Village, areas of the village unlock as the missions are completed. It can be customised into all sort of colours, designs and even different Lego sets. Obviously, Horizon sets, but also Lego City, Ninjago and others can be unlocked with ‘bits’ collected on missions. A tad “world breaking” for adults, but kids will love to go crazy changing shit up. At one stage I had turned Aloys hut into a Police station with a satellite dish and a Helicopter hovering over-head. Aloy and others can be customised with appearances and costumes too, which are maintained in all the levels, cut-scenes and dialogue sequences.
While Lego: Horizon Adventures doesn’t boast the smooth co-op experience and replayablity of the previous Lego games, its looks absolutely stunning.
As Xmas rolls around and gamers want to have something to play with there kids, this would be the absolute sitter for a stocking stuffer…..along with Astro Bot obviously.
