The DreamWorks brand spirit has been around for almost 20 years, with only two more films released. DreamWorks Spirit – The Wild Mustang was able to excite horse fans, and the film was nominated for an Oscar in the “Best Animated Feature Film” category. With Spirit – free and untitled, a new film will be released in the second half of July. But it doesn’t stop there, because Spirit: Wild and Free has been running for over 8 seasons already, as well as other short series that have updated the Spirit brand in recent years. Now Spirit has also got a new video game adaptation. With the best adventure of DreamWorks Spirit Lucky, players can now enjoy a new adventure with the heroine Lucky and her Mustang Spirit. We tested the game on the Nintendo Switch, but it was released simultaneously for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC.
The villain Hendrix is not to be seen, he is smuggling a lung.
© DreamWorks Animation / Outright Games Limited
If you do not know about Spirit series and movies, it is not a problem because the game does not create any prior knowledge and takes everyone to adventure. In this game you go on a treasure hunt with Lucky and his friends in Miradero, the main part of the Spirit universe. You search for the treasure with the help of the treasure map that Lucky’s mother left you. A poem that Lucky’s mother often sang in the past also contains important information about the treasure hunt. However, in the game, you do not have to solve puzzles, because the adventure is told in a linear form. The tasks assigned to you step by step will always take you one step above the treasure. If you do not feel like doing important tasks, you can start one of the many side trips, for example, take photos with your camera or deliver packages. So the story in this game is successful and provides the motivation needed to continue playing.
The controls are really easy to learn and the button tasks are always displayed in the lower right corner of the screen. Short actions also explain the main allocation for new actions. However, enforcing control can be disastrous. The fact that I can’t ride in a straight line should trigger a warning signal to developers. Basically, the ride was a disaster. You will always be stuck with something, jump over some invisible fences and will always be happy when you finish riding columns. But riding is not the only problem, because in between you have to climb away from the spirit with luck and sometimes make jumps. This is a real drawback because you can never find the right position where the controls allow you to jump. Communication with people does not always work, you stand in front of a person and the opportunity to address that person does not arise. You can only address them when you step back a few meters and go back to the person. Such small mistakes ruin the whole game for fun.
The game can not shine with a beautiful landscape.
© DreamWorks Animation / Outright Games Limited
I really don’t want to start with technical processing out of control, because this, too, is at least as good as anything on the Nintendo Switch. The most notable thing is that in many places, especially in the small town of Miradero, the game hangs for half a second every 10 seconds. Possible patches to seriously troubleshoot the bug a month after release: None. Graphically, the game is not great, and alternating day and night is a scary idea because at night you feel almost blind because the colors are so poorly implemented. It is somehow questionable that even in a closed tunnel there is a change of day and night and you cannot see it even at night. If the critique is not enough: the system is terrible, because Lucky has to say the same sentence over and over again after riding on Spirit. Especially the phrase “Yee-ha, let’s go, spirit” burned in my head.
If you ignore the technical aspects, the game is actually quite successful. The story is relatively interesting, the dialogues are well written, but unfortunately only partially set to music, which can cause problems for younger players. Spirit must constantly brush in a fixed place, otherwise it can no longer sprint. The world of free accessible gaming has become huge, and a clear map will help a lot with orientation because the map in the game only shows water, land and some places. Once you reach these marked locations, you will activate a quick travel process that will take you to your respective destination. As part of the tours, I was careful that you could prepare for locations and eventually open them. While these are all beautiful features, unfortunately you do not have time to focus on them because the technical implementation is so pathetic that you just break your head while playing.
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