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My Little Pony: A Zephyr Heights Mystery Review

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A Magical Adventure or a Pony Plod?

Outright Games have tried to make their mark on the family-friendly part of the gaming market in recent years. And while they regularly do a good job with the raft of well-known licenses at their disposal, some aren’t so well received. Take My Little Pony: A Maretime Bay Adventure for example; an underwhelming experience without much substance that probably had many folks feeling short-changed.

Now though, there’s a chance for redemption in the next instalment, My Little Pony: A Zephyr Heights Mystery, with Outright Games handing development duties for this one to Drakhar Studio. Let’s find out whether it’s a magical adventure for young fans to enjoy, or if it’s actually pony and should be avoided.

My Little Pony A Zephyr Heights Mystery Review 1
Upping the quality of adventure

A Mystery Unfolds

Something strange is afoot in My Little Pony: A Zephyr Heights Mystery, with all sorts of peculiar anomalies popping up across the kingdom. Gravity is destabilised in places, certain objects have transformed into food, and areas are awash with colours that weren’t there beforehand. Fortunately for residents of Zephyr Heights, Sunny Starscout and Sheriff Hitch Trailblazer are on the case to uncover the source of this unusual magic phenomenon. This mystery is too big to solve by themselves however, and so they’ll need to round up a few of their friends to lend a helping hand too.

A Lighthearted Story with Child-Friendly Humour

As far as the narrative goes, it’s essentially about friendship and togetherness, but there’s also enough of a mystery present to piqué the interest of a young audience without bogging them down with anything too heavy or complex. Nobody is dying from dark magic here or anything, there are just giant ice creams, oversized wedges of watermelon and floating Jammie Dodgers (other strawberry-filled shortbread biscuits are available) causing a nuisance.

The silliness continues in the script, featuring sprinklings of childish and occasionally deadpan humour throughout, which absolutely fits with the light tone they’re going for. It’s very well voice-acted too, with lines delivered to a great standard for the recognisable My Little Pony characters.

In terms of gameplay, A Zephyr Heights Mystery is a semi-open world adventure with an array of platforming elements. It eases you in by keeping things simple initially, allowing you to move around, jump over obstacles and get to grips with the special abilities possessed by the controllable ponies. Sunny is blessed with the capabilities to glide through the air, turn flowers into useful bounce pads, and fix anomalies at their sources. Hitch meanwhile, uses his head quite literally to break open boxes, smash barriers down, and – if the task requires it – to follow hoofprints.

My Little Pony A Zephyr Heights Mystery Review 2
All the gang are in tow

Fetch Quests and Friendship

Essentially, you’re shown a place you need to reach or an item that must be acquired, and you have to find a way to accomplish the task. What it feels like is fetch quest after fetch quest, which would be painstakingly bleak if it wasn’t for the obstacles you must overcome in the process. You see, slowly, but surely, the platforming becomes a little tougher and new mechanics are brought into play alongside the arrival of playable ponies to the pack.

Before you know it, Izzy is on board with a telekinetic power to move things out of your patch and repair damaged constructions. The utterly fabulous Pipp gets crowds to disperse through the art of taking selfies and can conjure up clouds to use as a makeshift platform. The latter ability is also possible with her sister Zipp, with the added bonus that she can activate electric fans to float up into the air. And then there’s Misty, the empathetic pony who can fix the minds of any confused ponies.

Mini-Games and Misty’s Mishap

By the time you unlock all the ponies, you’re almost at the final stretch of the three-to-four hour campaign where almost everything peaks. And, rightfully so, it’s also the most varied portion of proceedings with the different aforementioned mechanics being implemented, as well as a couple of stealth sections. One of the real disappointments in these latter stages though, is waiting for Misty and then realising she has the most underwhelming powers in a gaming sense.

Another aspect that doesn’t quite hit the mark are the mini-games littered throughout. They include the likes of floating through hoops whilst up in the clouds, delivering smoothies, matching button inputs in a rhythm activity, and herding rabbits. Such mini-games are fine once, but even then, they start to feel stale and those that occur multiple times are just boring.

My Little Pony A Zephyr Heights Mystery Review 3
My Little Pony – flying high

Accessible Gameplay and a Magical World

What I will praise however, is how the difficulty seems spot on for the intended audience, with clear instructions for everything that’s new to the player. During quests it shows you where to go and there’s an in-game hint function that guides you to where you need to be if you do happen to get stuck. While you can cycle through the ponies at the press of a button, it automatically changes to the correct one upon interacting in specific places where their abilities are essential.

Outside of the main story, and upon completion, you can further the adventure with yet more side quests and collectibles to hunt down. Exploring the Zephyr Heights palace, the theater, the station, and the rest of the well designed areas is certainly a viable option to prolong game time. Collecting Magic Bits lying around is also a must for those wishing to purchase accessories for ponies as well as furniture to decorate the Crystal Brighthouse residence.

A Fun and Friendship-Filled Adventure for My Little Pony Fans

On the whole, it’s clear that My Little Pony: A Zephyr Heights Mystery delivers an enjoyable and magical adventure suitable for the young fandom it’s catering to. For a few hours, they’ll be engaged by a fun little story, a fantastical environment, and a regular influx of fresh ideas. The mini-games are a tad boring however, and it seems like poor Misty’s ability was a bit of an afterthought.

Still, there are enough positives to suggest My Little Pony: A Zephyr Heights Mystery will satisfy fans.


My Little Pony: A Zephyr Heights Mystery is now available – https://www.thexboxhub.com/my-little-pony-a-zephyr-heights-mystery-is-now-available/

Buy My Little Pony: A Zephyr Heights Mystery on Xbox – https://www.xbox.com/en-GB/games/store/my-little-pony-a-zephyr-heights-mystery/9pmcmr52j1b5


SUMMARY

Pros:
  • Fun and magical narrative
  • Consistently adds new ideas
  • Ideal difficulty for youngsters
  • Post-story exploration
Cons:
  • Mini-games
  • Misty, poor Misty
Info:
  • Massive thanks for the free copy of the game, Outright Games
  • Formats - Xbox Series X|S (review), Xbox One, PS4, PS5, Switch, PC
  • Not Available on Game Pass Day One
  • Release date | Price - 17 May 2024 | £34.99
James Birks
James Birks
Been gaming casually since the SNES as a youngster but found my true passion for games on the Playstation 1 (the forbidden word ooo). My addiction grew to its pinnacle with the purchase of an Xbox 360 & Xbox Live Service. A recovering GS hunter that will still play literally any game.
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<b>Pros:</b> <ul> <li>Fun and magical narrative</li> <li>Consistently adds new ideas</li> <li>Ideal difficulty for youngsters</li> <li>Post-story exploration</li> </ul> <b>Cons:</b> <ul> <li>Mini-games</li> <li>Misty, poor Misty</li> </ul> <b>Info:</b> <ul> <li>Massive thanks for the free copy of the game, Outright Games</li> <li>Formats - Xbox Series X|S (review), Xbox One, PS4, PS5, Switch, PC <li>Not Available on Game Pass Day One <li>Release date | Price - 17 May 2024 | £34.99</li> </ul>My Little Pony: A Zephyr Heights Mystery Review
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