![]() ![]() The chalk-outlined ledges that define what can and can’t be gripped feel like another overly safe design choice – a traditional gaming trope forced into a fresh VR perspective. Call of the Mountain makes rocks as fascinating as possible to look at, because, for a large part of the game, they’ll be hovering inches from your face. Individual rope fibres can be made out, as can the individual glinting flecks of shiny minerals embedded in the stone you’re holding on to. The artists behind Horizon Call of the Mountain know this too, because the game has the most graphically detailed moss of any game ever made. So, you’re mostly staring at nothing but rocks and dirt. ![]() ![]() When climbing in virtual reality, you’re necessarily facing forwards. The fixation on climbing as a game mechanic feels like a hangover from traditional third-person action games, where scaling a sheer cliff was a relatively simple set-piece to implement, and could be loaded up with as much dialogue and as many tightly controlled and choreographed action sequences as the designer wanted. The mismatch between what you’re seeing and what you’re feeling is biologically unpleasant, and the action of repeatedly reaching and grabbing for the next rope or ledge ends up feeling less like a thrilling test of high-stakes endurance and more like a seniors’ aerobics class. It must be how astronauts feel when they scramble around outside the International Space Station. This makes climbing in Horizon Call of the Mountain feel bizarre, floaty and nauseatingly weightless at first. Your hands and arms, though holding on for dear life in the game, aren’t supporting a single gram of your bodyweight. Read more: Here’s where to buy the PS VR2 in the UKīack in the real world, your physical body is obviously standing still. This is the core of the game, and you’ll spend a lot of time doing it. As the title suggests, by far the biggest part of the experience is climbing, which you do by reaching out with the sense controllers to find a handhold, then pulling yourself upwards or sideways towards the next bit of cliff you can grip on to. It’s strange that the game feels restrictive in some other ways. You feel present in the world, an actor rather than a spectator. While levels pretty much proceed in one direction, you’re free to run around the environment by swinging your arms by your side like a speedwalker, finding secrets, exploring hidden areas, or just positioning yourself closer to a chest so you can reach its handle. Then there are the small details for those who are curious enough to look, such as the thousands of individual strands of fur trim that line your character’s gloved hand, which you can hold up to your own face and investigate from an inch away.Ĭondensing an open-world, third-person adventure into a seven-hour VR experience necessarily means changing things up a lot, but it’s impressive how much Horizon Call of the Mountain feels like a coherent part of the Horizon universe, and not yet another on-rails VR themepark ride. ![]() There are showstopping vistas, such as a series of skyscraper-tall waterfalls plunging hundreds of feet into the mist. Horizon Call of the Mountain is an unrelenting series of VR spectacles both epic and small. Read more: PS VR2 review – Sony gets VR right at last What it turns out the PS VR2 is capable of is dropping you eyes-first into an impressively detailed and beautiful world of ancient ruins, dense forests, snowy ridges and sun-beaten cliffs. Instead, it’s a directed, level-based adventure through the same lush post-apocalypse, designed to naturally showcase what the virtual reality headset is capable of. Unlike the main Horizon games, this isn’t a free-roaming quest. ![]()
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