If you’ve yet to immerse yourself in the realm of Horizon which all sounded like a whole lot of nonsense, fret not. While it’s handy to possess a general concept of what’s going on in this world, especially where familiar faces appear on occasion, the narrative in Call from the Mountain is as simple as and enormous just an excuse to shoot you around various locations within the Sundom from one exciting encounter to another. Ryas like a character is a little ho-hum, but as a moderately blank slate for players to embody in virtual reality he does the task.
More important than what’s happening in Horizon Call from the Mountain, is what you’re doing, that is a good deal of traversal, climbing, puzzling, combat and tinkering in VR, and that’s where farmville shines on a totally new level.
While the particular act of climbing is somewhat easy and pretty much precisely what you would expect from virtual alpining, it’s the climbs themselves within this game that are routinely exhilarating. Hanging from dilapidated towers mounted on cliffs hundreds of metres in the air and looking out over the enormous and richly detailed landscapes is definitely one of the coolest gaming experiences I’ve had. You’ll genuinely seem like a badass as monkey-bar your way across makeshift rope bridges or hurl your Ropecaster across a ravine and swing to another side just like a 1997 Brendan Fraser.
Most from the missions you’ll go on and areas you’ll explore in Call of the Mountain will also task you with figuring out light environmental puzzles that are typically very hands-on. All the opportunities that the game gives you to have interaction with things in a nearly 1:1 fashion are a heap of fun and feel incredibly tactile and natural – even the optional gesture-based movement that has you walk by gingerly swinging your arms is effective as a stand-in for actual ambulating and doesn’t feel nearly as goofy as it probably looks from the outside. One of the best touches is the way the sport has you physically craft the brand new weapons and gadgets you find blueprints for along the journey, putting the different components into position and binding all of them with rope.
As great as the climbing and puzzles have been in Call of the Mountain, arguably the weaker link is its occasional set combat encounters against recognisable machines in the games. Aside from a number of semi-stealth based Watcher sections, many of these occur in contained spaces with movement restricted to strafing left and right while you fire various arrows and bombs at your foes. Firesprite has been doing a very respectable job of translating the strategically shooting off each machine’s crucial components and utilising elemental damage to exploit their weaknesses, making the core area of the combat notice a thrill, however the limited movement and awkward and unreliable dodging controls can result in frustration. The fights are still exciting, especially from the most formidable from the machines, but they’re less successful overall compared to game’s other portions.
There’s no denying the development values here are immense, using the game looking every bit as accomplished as a most of “flat” AAA games. Sure, it’s not quite the technical powerhouse that something like Horizon Forbidden West is on PS5, as well as the VR space it’s downright astonishing. Sweeping vistas, lush and detailed environments, gorgeous lighting and precise physics interactions all come together to mind-blowing effect here. Though I’m yet to have tackled any super-high end PC VR gaming on astronomically expensive equipment, this is easily the most visually impressive virtual reality title I’ve had the pleasure of obtaining. From a sound standpoint it’s also very impressive with a fantastic soundscape and score, all heightened by the Tempest 3D Audio Tech.
As far as other unique PS VR2 features go, the sport also does a fantastic job of showcasing such things as haptic feedback, adaptive triggers and eye tracking. Haptics within the controller and the headset convey both immense feedback like the crashing of a Thunderjaw’s tail into a nearby turret or even the force of the Stormbird’s beating wings, as well as small subtleties like the difference in the way a rope or perhaps a heavy stone feel within the hand. Eye tracking is used to great effect with techniques that increase the immersion and augment gameplay nicely. NPCs will actively catch your gaze, which really took me aback initially when i first realised it had been happening, and you can navigate menus just by looking at the options you would like. There’s even a choice to add extra aim help enemies and objects you’re focusing directly on, which I think is super neat.
READ OUR FULL REVIEW OF THE PLAYSTATION VR2 HERE
As someone who’s sunk easily over 100 combined hours in the two mainline Horizon games, possibly the biggest draw here for me has been the possibilities of seeing the numerous machines close up and private, and Call from the Mountain definitely doesn’t disappoint. The sheer scale and detail of these things is really a sight to behold and really applies to (literal) perspective precisely how fearsome and powerful the likes of Thunderjaws, Stormbirds and Fireclaws are nowadays. A special extra mode available once you’ve gone through the onboarding area of the campaign, called Machine Safari, that takes yourself on a five-minute boat tour where one can see the game’s svelte choice of machines carrying out their business without anxiety about being destroyed. If you’re looking for a fast and simple method to introduce someone new to VR via the PS VR2 it’s possibly the best little experience I’ve encounter yet.
It’s also full of numerous wonderful little touches, like the way NPC characters dynamically respond to you getting too close for comfort, even when they’re already speaking and animating in dialogue scenes, or even the fact that you can accidentally burn yourself with a torch if you’re not careful about where you wave it. The team at Firesprite wasn’t afraid to allow players have a little fun along their journey, with lots of instruments, paintbrushes, breakable pottery along with other distractions dotted on the way.
What’s crucial with Call of the Mountain is that, while the suggestions above is very exciting and fun, it could have easily come off as nothing more than a very expensive and well-polished tech demo. It manages to feel like in addition to that though, not just serving up a well-paced, 8-10 hour campaign full of engaging mechanics and progression but also giving players plenty of reason to return with things like collectibles, extra challenges, the excellent Machine Safari mode and just by virtue of its world as being a fantastic spot to immerse yourself in.
The PlayStation VR2 and Horizon Call from the Mountain release last month 22nd, 2023.
PLAYSTATION VR2 PRE-ORDER LINKS:
- PlayStation VR2 Standard Kit – $878 with free shipping
- PlayStation VR2 Horizon Call of the Mountain Bundle – $958 with free shipping
- PlayStation VR2 Charging Station – $79 with free shipping
