I’ve seen some fine views in my time on this planet. The Mavora Lakes in New Zealand, the Tokyo skyline, the reflection in my bathroom mirror of a morning… They’re all beautiful and memorable sights in their own right, but when it comes to video games, I’m pretty sure Horizon Call of the Mountain delivers some of the greatest virtual vistas I’ve ever witnessed.
Horizon Call of the Mountain reviewDeveloper: Firesprite/Guerrilla GamesPublisher: Sony Interactive EntertainmentPlatform: Played on PSVR2Availability: Out 22nd Feb on PSVR2
For many of PSVR2’s early adopters Horizon Call of the Mountain will not only be their first experience of Sony’s new headset but perhaps VR in general, and what an experience it’ll be. There were times during Firesprite and Guerrilla Game’s collaboration where I was simply boggled by how beautiful it all was; where panoramas of distant waterfalls and snowy mountains wrapped in the wreckage of long dead machines took my breath away, and where lush forests and glittering rivers made me forget the real world beyond my headset.
Aside from maybe Kayak VR: Mirage, I don’t think I’ve ever played a VR game with visuals as gorgeous as this one. So it’s a shame then that the world and mechanics propping it all up are distinctly average. In between the ‘wow’ moments (and don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of them), I just couldn’t help but feel slightly bored.
In Call of the Mountain you play as the internal monologue of Ryas, a man so uninteresting I soon learnt to tune his voice out until it became nothing more than an annoying hum in the background somewhere. Fans of the Horizon series will find lots to enjoy about the story and the way it links in with the main games, but for people like me who were left cold by the interactions in the mainline Horizon games the story in Call of the Mountain is by far the weakest part of the game.
In between levels, NPCs spouted incomprehensible lore at me for lengthy periods while I was locked in place unable to move anything but my arms and head, a pet peeve of mine when it comes to VR immersion. On the plus side, it’s a great opportunity to try the Sense Controller’s finger-tracking with which I was able to flick the V at everyone who spoke to me. I don’t know what a ‘Shadow Carja’ is, but I lost count of how many times I was called it by someone who was either angry and/or disappointed in me.