Review
Played on: SwitchReleased: 2024
To expand upon the Horizon franchise, Sony decided to jump in on the Lego craze and released Lego Horizon Adventures on the PS5, PC and Switch. A release aimed at a younger audience, or at least that's what I think, late 2024. It's in conjunction with Lego sets releasing March this year. No Xbox version, but then again it doesn’t surprise me with Sony's anti-Xbox attitude.
My kids were lucky enough to get the Switch version from a relative at Christmas and wanted me to play it in coop with them. It was an excellent opportunity to play something entirely different within the franchise which I’ve enjoyed very much. You can read my reviews of Horizon Zero Dawn here and the sequel Horizon Forbidden West here.
Let’s build Lego Aloy and take a look at this new Horizon release!
Story depicts a surprisingly humorous take on the original Horizon Zero Dawn's plot. Beginning with Rost teaching Aloy the ropes and learning her about the game mechanics. As with the first game, Rost passes but continues as a narrator for the story here. Along the way you'll team up with characters like Varl and Erend too.
I was pleasantly surprised as an adult to enjoy it as much as my kids did. Although Aloy is a different personality entirely from her main releases, she's sarcastic and upbeat here, it suits the atmosphere of the game well. There’s lots of jokes about the bad guys and a running gag that Erend really liking donuts from the past. I appreciate how they told the original story, but with such a funny take. Both me and the kids were laughing at many times during the cutscenes.
In addition to the humorous dialogue, I’m very happy that the whole game has Norwegian voice overs when playing with my kids. It made it easy for them to understand and the voice actors have done an excellent job too! I was not expecting this type of game to have audio dialogue at all.
Unlike the other Lego titles, which this Horizon release strongly bases itself up, is made by Guerilla who are the developers of the main series. Other Lego titles are made by TT Games, and I’ve never quite liked their visual combination of Lego characters and vehicles, set on top of a non-Lego world. Luckily, Guerilla have opted to recreate the typical Horizon styled environments all in Lego, it really helps give the game a cohesive look. They've nailed the typical aesthetic of their own games with the building bricks!
Gameplay feels a lot like the aforementioned other Lego titles by TT Games, which works fine for kids with little experience or expectations, but for someone who's been playing games for countless years I found it a little lacking. It has an overall floaty feel in movement, lacking that crucial precise control combined with the crude animations of Lego figures. It makes jumps and judging momentum tricky when platforming.
In addition to the humorous dialogue, I’m very happy that the whole game has Norwegian voice overs when playing with my kids. It made it easy for them to understand and the voice actors have done an excellent job too! I was not expecting this type of game to have audio dialogue at all.
Unlike the other Lego titles, which this Horizon release strongly bases itself up, is made by Guerilla who are the developers of the main series. Other Lego titles are made by TT Games, and I’ve never quite liked their visual combination of Lego characters and vehicles, set on top of a non-Lego world. Luckily, Guerilla have opted to recreate the typical Horizon styled environments all in Lego, it really helps give the game a cohesive look. They've nailed the typical aesthetic of their own games with the building bricks!
Gameplay feels a lot like the aforementioned other Lego titles by TT Games, which works fine for kids with little experience or expectations, but for someone who's been playing games for countless years I found it a little lacking. It has an overall floaty feel in movement, lacking that crucial precise control combined with the crude animations of Lego figures. It makes jumps and judging momentum tricky when platforming.
Amusingly, you can dress you Lego figure up in a large amount of clothing from other famous Lego franchises like City and Ninjago. Same goes for the main hub world, Aloy's camp where you access all mission levels, here you can decorate with various buildings and structures unclockable by paying Lego pieces you collect. Great customization for kids!
Combat has an interesting take, where aiming at vulnerable points on enemies gains you far more damage, just like the main Horizon releases. Aloy can use a bow, while the second player can choose a character with other weapons like a spear, hammer or bombs. As you use your characters they level up in linear fashion, granting you more damage or health for each level up.
Sadly, battles quickly turn into a chaotic mess, where it’s tricky to get in a shot at vulnerable enemy parts as the screen is flooded with robot animals and even small tribe soldiers. You're consistently trying to avoid oncoming fire from all directions and standing in red markers pre-warning you about imminent attacks. It often ends in mashing the attack button in hope of finally reducing the amount of enemies and regain control. Trying to revive your coop partner amidst this chaos feels like an impossible task.
Much to our annoyance, the camera is hard locked to Aloy and as such the second player will be spawned next to her if player two wanders too far away. It's really annoying on tricky platforming sections where player two may be past a difficult section, only to see Aloy fall to her death as player one, then respawning both players all the way back to where they began climbing. I recall that the Lego TT Games resolved this issue by having a dynamic splitscreen which kicked in once players went too far from each other, that's sadly missing here.
Story missions are unlocked at four main gates in Aloy's camp, each containing five missions with a connecting visual environment style. Although each of the four environments are distinct from each other they're repetitive in design. All evolving around the layout: wander down a linear path, find some hidden treasure and special weapons, then enter an open area to fight the robot animals. Rinse and repeat in jungle, desert and snow levels. The exception being the cauldrons beneath the ground, which depict a robotic world of cables and high tech equipment, ending in a boss fight.
It’s not a long game, admittedly short for its steep asking price, but it at least doesn’t outlast its welcome of it's repetitive nature too much. Although we received this game as a gift, I feel it should've retailed at half the asking price in comparison with mainline, triple A releases. It feels like a cash grab for a smaller title like this, aimed at kids.
When it comes to graphics it’s a very impressive Switch port, visually nailing the aesthetic of shiny Lego pieces depicting the Horizon world. It stands tall next to its big brother versions on PC and PS5. Obviously, it’s a 30fps capped game, but it runs at 900p and retains an impressively sharp picture. Probably one of the visually most impressive third-party titles on the entire system.
A downside on the Switch, however, are incredibly lengthy load screens, even midway in levels. Loading lengths of which I haven't seen in a good number of years. Normally I tolerate them, but these are painfully long. Guessing it’s a downside to cramming in such visuals on the limited hardware.
Overall, an entertaining take on the Lego franchise with a Horizon crossover. I'm a bit confused though, as to who this game is meant for. As a kids game the price is far too steep and based on a franchise for mature players. For Horizon fans, on the other hand, it's a fun, spin-off take on the first game's story, but is it a worthwhile play? For any of these two demographics? I'm not sure.
When it comes to graphics it’s a very impressive Switch port, visually nailing the aesthetic of shiny Lego pieces depicting the Horizon world. It stands tall next to its big brother versions on PC and PS5. Obviously, it’s a 30fps capped game, but it runs at 900p and retains an impressively sharp picture. Probably one of the visually most impressive third-party titles on the entire system.
A downside on the Switch, however, are incredibly lengthy load screens, even midway in levels. Loading lengths of which I haven't seen in a good number of years. Normally I tolerate them, but these are painfully long. Guessing it’s a downside to cramming in such visuals on the limited hardware.
Overall, an entertaining take on the Lego franchise with a Horizon crossover. I'm a bit confused though, as to who this game is meant for. As a kids game the price is far too steep and based on a franchise for mature players. For Horizon fans, on the other hand, it's a fun, spin-off take on the first game's story, but is it a worthwhile play? For any of these two demographics? I'm not sure.
Nevertheless, if you're a parent that loves the main series and have some kids wanting to join in on what's fun about, it's a solid enough coop title and easy for them to get into!
