Windstorm Start of a Great Friendship Remastered XSX Review
Summary: If you loved the original, Windstorm Start of a Great Friendship Remastered almost feels like a different game and best of all its an affordably priced title. In the end, it is tailored at the younger gamer who loves horse riding of the Windstorm franchise that has been nicely recreated on the XSX.
4
Solid riding
Based on the popular movies and books, the story of Mika and her black stallion Windstorm return to the gaming world with the remastered edition of Windstorm Start of a Great Friendship. It’s basically the next-gen version of this game which features greatly improved graphics and tweaked gameplay to make the experience a more enjoyable one. This is achieved thanks to the Unreal Engine 5 which adds a new photo mode to capture some beautiful in-game photography. The remastered edition is also available on PS5 and PC as well.
The story revolves around Mika, a young girl who could be considered a horse whisper and has a special connection with her black stallion, Windstorm. Although Windstorm Start of a Great Friendship Remastered feels like a pet simulator in that you need to keep Windstorm happy and healthy, there are also other activities such as racing and quests like retrieving lost farm animals that are part of the gameplay which makes exploring this virtual alpine world a treat, especially on horseback.
Remastered Highlights
- Updated graphics, featuring more details to the characters you know and love
- All animals, including Windstorm, have been updated with new animations
- Complete World Map overhaul with new trees, plants, lighting and weather effects
- Explore every corner of the game world to find new collectibles
- A new photo mode to take beautiful pictures; edit and add filters to make your photos unique!
- 30 FPS support and 4K upsampling
- Full controller support (Steam)
- Smoother controls
- Dynamic Lighting with Unreal’s Lumen System
- New Trophies and Achievements, among them:
Discover notable Places of Interest and new Hiking Trails throughout the Kaltenbach Estate
Fully upgrading each of Windstorm’s primary Attributes
Recovering all of Mika’s lost Polaroids scattered through the region
It should also be noted that this game is aimed at a different cohort of gamers and if you have a younger gamer girl in your life who loves horses or the Windstorm series, then this title is definitely for them. As you explore the farm and its surroundings, you are tasked with certain objectives to complete, including finding hidden items and the highlight of the game is exploring the world on horseback as you never know what you will find or who you will bump into in this open world game.
There are some limitations with the open world mechanics that break the illusion of riding when you bump into a bush or a tree but for the most part it is relatively fine. As you become familiar with the “wild horse” Windstorm, your friendship will soon blossom and become easier to control. The highlight for our younger gamer were the training sections which is virtual horse riding done right. All in all, lots of horse riding, exploring and caring for Windstorm.
Graphically and as mentioned, this game has received a next-gen remaster which creates a realistic alpine environment with decent animations. Windstorm does move well from his walking to galloping and goes hand-in-hand with the XSX controller. Add in an ambient soundtrack, background sounds plus professional voice acting and the developers have created a well versed world for players to explore.
Final Thoughts?
If you loved the original, Windstorm Start of a Great Friendship Remastered almost feels like a different game and best of all its an affordably priced title. In the end, it is tailored at the younger gamer who loves horse riding of the Windstorm franchise that has been nicely recreated on the XSX.
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