Lego Horizon Adventures Review : Lego Horizon Adventures is a new game that we reviewed Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered It’s the second game that I said “I didn’t expect them to do this” along with Horizon. One of the series that Sony focused on the most for Playstation 4 and 5 was Horizon, and I really couldn’t have imagined that a Lego game would be made, and that it would be released on Nintendo Switch as well as Playstation. Let’s see how the Playstation 5 version turns out.
Lego Horizon Adventures Review: Post-Apocalyptic Dance Party
Lego Horizon Adventures is actually a game that follows the events that took place in Horizon Zero Dawn, telling the story from an alternative perspective, a little differently. It starts with baby Aloy, who appears in Nora village under unknown circumstances, and again, while trying to get information about our family, we make many different friends and go on an adventure against machines. But this time, the action takes place in a more “lego-like” way.
I don’t want to spoil the fun by giving too many spoilers because sometimes unexpected things happen and you can’t help but laugh while saying “oh that wasn’t supposed to happen like this”. We are used to Lego games telling stories in a more entertaining way, but I have to say that I enjoyed this game extra. I can even say that they brought more prominence to characters who don’t normally get much screen time (Teersa) and handled some obscure types (Varl) better. Sylens’ new characterization blew me away, I wish we could have seen him voiced by Lance Reddick.
Although the main lines of the story are still the same, the events that take place have been changed to reduce drama and present them less complicated. The motivations of the characters who join our team have been slightly modified and some events have been completely removed from the story. As a Lego game, I don’t complain about this, in fact I even liked the fact that most of the game takes place in Nora village. But if you plan to learn the Horizon story from this game, don’t get your hopes up too much. I found it quite successful for a fun adventure, not a very good story. However, I was a little annoyed that they started well in some parts and said “we couldn’t finish it”. The Storyteller and the Mysterious Merchant could have been used much better, for example, they didn’t see the need.
Lego vs. Machines
The Horizon games are in the action adventure genre, especially based on ranged combat, so I was curious about how Lego Horizon Adventures would play. After all, using Focus to identify and aim at enemy weak points seems like a difficult system to implement in the Lego universe. But they seem to have succeeded.
In the game, you progress through various areas, smash the environment to collect Lego pieces, hide in the grass and prepare to attack the enemy when the time is right. The enemies consist of the same cast you see in the main Horizon games, almost everyone from simple scouts to Deathbringer, even cultists who are obsessed with tanning. You should use Focus to determine the weak points of the enemies and throw whatever you have there. Of course, the enemy’s hand does not collect pears during this time, especially when they are crowded, they are attacked from all sides and you can return to the loading screen even on normal difficulty.
The difficulty of the game is very simple at first, I almost didn’t even track down weak points, but after a while, despite all my attention and equipment usage, I started to struggle. Machines attack from one side, cultists attack from the other, traps on the ground, bushes I accidentally set on fire, deterioration, etc. I was losing life quickly. This is where different types of weapons (at least 3 different types for each character), general equipment and features come into play. In addition to the rope traps we know from the game, fake targets, ice bombs, drones and explosive hot dog carts (yes) are things that seriously turn the tide of the battle in your favor.
The battles in the game seem to be designed for two players and it shows. They are not impossible, but they can be challenging even when the character level is suitable. The reason for this is partly that there is no escape button in the game. Our characters cannot escape by rolling or anything like that. The closest thing to escape in the game is the dash movement we make with the boots we buy as equipment. This is also limited in number and we have to sacrifice other equipment in return. Still, there are fun battles in the game, battles that are much more enjoyable for two players but you can pass even if you have difficulty alone. Boss battles are especially memorable but they are not many in number.
Speaking of character levels, let’s take a look at the characters. First, we start the game with Aloy, and as the story progresses, it has new characters and a variety of gameplay that suits them. Varl’s spears and boomerangs and Teersa’s poultry allow for different gameplay styles compared to Aloy’s arrows. The real fun begins when Erend joins the story and swings the machines around with his hammer. It’s a good thing that Erend is our first proper melee character in Horizon, which is a series focused entirely on ranged combat, and his inclusion in the story is also great.
I had one problem with the characters, each of them leveling up separately. When I play with Aloy for a long time and then say “Let me try Varl”, the enemies take the spear from my hand and start splitting it in two. Each character comes with a level appropriate for the level they participate in, but it is very difficult to level them up without playing with them, this situation causes the low-level player to be knocked down with a single hit when playing with two people. If I say they did it to extend the gameplay time, special hunts are opened in the old areas as the story is finished, it is a feature that will provide the same time.
The thing that bothered me the most and caught my eye in the game was the other Lego brands being included in the universe very quickly. Okay, Ninjago, City’s and the others are very entertaining, even seeing these in the village, having ninjas and zombie cheerleaders walking around among the people seems funny, but this situation comes to us very early and very quickly. I would have preferred to continue with a bit more Horizon theme in the beginning and have other brands come to the forefront as the story progresses. It seems strange when you suddenly put a Space Shuttle next to the cafeteria while developing the village. The whole game is a parody, but I wish it had reached this level later.
Another complaint I have is the exploration aspect. The main series is open world oriented and I agree that it has used it a bit too much, but it has been completely eliminated in Lego Horizon Adventures. There are some chests around, you just have to go off the path or have the right material (usually fire) to find them. The levels look pretty nice, but the level designs are often repetitive. In some levels we chase Tallnecks, which starts off as a fun and exciting activity, but the excitement disappears as soon as you realize that you can’t lose.
Technical Details
I can say that the PlayStation 5 version of Lego Horizon Adventures, which I tried, looks very nice visually. Everything is rebuilt from Legos, and they have done a successful job of recreating the post-disaster universe of Horizon with Lego pieces. In fact, when I looked at these, I thought that there would be new sets in addition to Tallneck. The monsters look amazing, the characters are beautiful, the environments are beautiful, the dance floor in the village… everything is in line with the Lego concept and looks good. I played the game in performance mode at 60 fps, there was also a visual mode, but there was not a big difference in the graphics, and for this reason I couldn’t say no to a smooth gameplay.
All the characters in the game are voiced, our main character Aloy is voiced by Ashly Burch and this time she reflects the spirit of the character in a great way. I didn’t find her voice acting very good in the original Horizon, but this was more of a problem with the character in general, here she was able to carry the Tiny Tina atmosphere from the Borderlands series and did a great job. Aloy’s dialogues, reactions during fights, etc. are quite entertaining. The voice acting and reactions of the other characters are also very good, for example, Sylens’ voice acting did a job very close to the original.
The music of the game initially sounds familiar but foreign, then you realize that these are remixed versions of the Horizon Zero Dawn music and they are very good. Especially after the dance floor opened, I did not neglect to leave the character there for a while and listen to the music. The remix of Aloy’s Theme Post Apocalyptic Dance Party, which was also used in the trailer, has been one of my favorite songs for a while.
I haven’t had the chance to try the game online, but we played it once with two people on the same console, and we had some trouble with the character levels, but it was a smooth game session in technical terms. The only technical problem I experienced throughout the entire game was the game suddenly crashing with a blue screen at the end of the long final boss battle. Considering the 12-odd hours I spent with it, a crash isn’t a big deal.
I wonder how the game will perform on Nintendo Switch when it comes out, but I think it will do well there as well. By the way, let me add that although this game has very similar gameplay and technical features to a standard Lego game, this game is being made in collaboration with Guerilla Games, who also produced the original game, and Studio Gobo.
Conclusion
Lego Horizon Adventures is a fun Lego game that can introduce the Horizon series to more people. Maybe the content is oversimplified and they changed too many things to appeal to a younger audience, which may upset fans of the series. My personal opinion is that it is a more fun and enjoyable adventure than the first game that I played again recently. I want to say the same and much better God of War!
If we look at the game as a Lego game, the number of playable characters is low, the main story is shortened too much, the content is simplified so that children can get used to it, and the sections start to repeat themselves quickly. Other Lego brands are a little too fast ahead of Horizon, and there are more different types of models from the series. I wish they had achieved a better balance.
PlayStation Store on Lego Horizon Adventures, which is offered for sale with a price tag of 2500 TL, is a nice game and I can recommend it to both those looking for something fun and Horizon lovers to try it. Of course, when the game time and content are considered, we may have second thoughts about whether it is at the level of a $60 game. If you are interested in Legos, if you like Lego games, if you have a second person at home to play these games with, and if you also like the Horizon series, you will love this game. You may want to wait for a discount, but definitely check this game out.