Final Horizon Review

Final Horizon puts you in the delightful position of defending your base and colonists against the impending attack from The Swarm which are mechanical insectoids. Being the saviour of mankind you must make your way across the universe and save as many as you can against The Swarm, remember they take no prisoners and so neither will you!

In sci-fi laymans terms Final Horizon is a tower defence strategy game set in space. Final Horizon is played over 3 solar systems (from the deserts of Nhandu, on the sub-zero Ushtuk to the alien worlds of Kondoi) containing 15 planets and there are than 50 playable levels. The basic premise is to defend your bases most valuable buildings by repairing them i.e. radars etc whilst improving your base defences by building more guns, repairing/upgrading current defences and boosting them if and when needed.

You generate power points that are used to build/repair/upgrade/boost buildings so you need think tactically on when and where you will spend resources. Bear in mind you have a limited number of areas to build so you need to balance accordingly. You don’t want to have too little power being generated because you won’t be able to upgrade or build the necessary buildings to ensure survival from The Swarm and their onslaught.

As you progress through Final Horizon the levels get harder, the Swarm gets stronger in both numbers and strength and you need to be able to react on the fly and use your initiative quickly. Luckily Final Horizon slowly eases you in by utilising VR tutorials to explain new units whether it’s your units or the enemies. Unfortunately for Final Horizon, besides the main game there isn’t much besides hitting the top of the high score leader board to get to grips with.

There are also ‘Killstreaks’ available such as Orbital Bombardment which generate even greater damage to The Swarm and it’s many mechanical insectoids. Once you’ve completed the main mission of Final Horizon, that’s practically it, you can go back and try to engineer a higher score but there’s no real point because it won’t be as fun as the first time you played that mission.

There’s lot’s of explosions and graphical side effects which really add to the whole Final Horizon experience. The buildings lack a little imagination, whilst the landscapes are a tad bland but there’s no noticeable slowdown when the screen is full of enemies, buildings and explosions. Navigating and accessing the buildings is very easy, you will need to jump between the building very quickly otherwise The Swarm will overcome you. The soundtrack has a sci-fi feel that fits perfectly well within Final Horizon.

Final Horizon is an entertaining game that unfortunately ends too quickly even if you take into account achieving all the targets. It’s a fast paced strategic tower defence games that’s definitely worth looking at especially if you enjoy the genre. Final Horizon is short but explosively sweet, hopefully you’ll get a chance to swarm all over it before The Swarm finds out and decides to turn its attention on you!

REVIEW CODE: A complimentary Sony Playstation 4 code was provided to Bonus Stage for this review. Please send all review code enquiries to press@4gn.co.uk.