Lego Horizon Adventures Review - For Buildin' Jest

After 20 years of tie-in games made mainly in one specific shape, players have been conditioned to know what to expect when they see the word Lego at the front of a game's title. Lego Horizon Adventures, however, diverges from some of what that naming convention may conjure in one's mind. It's not a stark departure from the dozens of games that precede it, but Lego Horizon Adventures alters the formula in a few noticeable ways. In the process, it cleverly reinvents its universe for a new base of players, though it struggles to build on its own revised formula consistently.

Despite using a zoomed-out third-person perspective familiar to Lego game players, Lego Horizon Adventures is a far more cinematic Lego game. This might not come as much of a surprise, however, considering how PlayStation has defined its brand by chasing Hollywood for the past 15 years. Gone are several Lego-game tropes, such as unlocking dozens of characters, or replaying levels with those characters to solve previously unapproachable puzzles. In fact, you'll hardly solve puzzles at all, save for a few very light platforming puzzles. Though you'll collect Lego studs to spend on rewards in-game, you won't be chasing collectibles like mini-kits or hidden items. Lego Horizon Adventures is instead a linear action-adventure game.

That has both advantages and disadvantages. On the brighter side, the game looks incredible. Lego Horizon ditches the series' typical style of brickifying only the playable area and giving the rest of the landscape, like backgrounds and foregrounds, a more lifelike look. In this game, everything is Lego bricks. It's somewhat subtle, but once I noticed that change, it partly helped explain how pretty it all is. By presenting a singular style, it feels like a real Lego set come to life in a way other games of this sort have never offered.