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In Death: Unchained Review | Oculus Quest

23/7/2020

 
In Death Unchained Review Oculus Quest - Pass the Controller

In Death: Unchained brings the VR Rogue-lite to Oculus Quest for an untethered, wireless experience after its debut on PSVR and PC. Clever subtitle aside, the procedurally generated shooter has been expanded with all-new content to ramp-up the difficulty and keep players busy for longer. Packed with religious iconography, is this trip to the afterlife destined for heaven or hell?

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by Sam Sant


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@SlamShotSam


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Developer: Superbright
Publisher: Superbright
Platforms: Oculus Quest
Players: 1
Porting In Death to Quest has been handled by Superbright, in place of original developer Solfar. Though the game might look ever-so-slightly worse without a PC or PS4 powering it, it’s not hard to argue that this is the definitive version. The additional Abyss level takes the game’s total to a healthy three, while its hellish theme makes for a more complete tour of what may lie beyond the mortal realm.

As far as a storyline goes, that’s about the extent of it. You battle through purgatory, heaven and hell - in that order - whilst confronted by challenging enemies and randomised level layouts. You’ll die over and over again until you finally get proficient enough to reach a level’s boss encounter, then probably die again. Each time you’ll head back to the start and face an altered challenge, your choice of longbow or crossbow in hand.

Levels do adapt somewhat to mirror player proficiency, but there’s no getting around the fact that In Death: Unchained is difficult. In a VR market stuffed with lite “experiences” it can be bruising to begin with, though dying does actually facilitate progress. As you play, you’ll unlock a variety of in-game achievements (unfortunately, they don’t appear on a system level in the Oculus Scoreboards app) which grant different buffs.

Landing a certain number of headshots in one run rewards you with a permanent boost to headshot damage, for example. In addition to receiving these tangible benefits, your manual skills should also develop over time; the result is an engaging sense of progression that helps to take the edge off permadeath.
 
Earning some unavoidable achievements can work against you, however. Killing large numbers of specific enemy types will summon their meaner counterparts, which prevents you from just snowballing in, power unchecked. 
Since unlocks aren’t a complete crutch, developing your physical skill is key. Aiming takes genuine finesse without crosshairs or any form of aim assist, and getting a feel for the gradual drop of an arrow or bolt also takes some time. At first you’ll be whiffing shots at close range, before eventually hitting headshots over long distances like it’s nothing.

Solid motion tracking on the Oculus Touch controllers makes things painless, which is handy, as combat requires juggling way more than just archery. There’s a defensive shield (which can also be turned to offence with a close-range shield bash), though it often pays to physically dodge incoming projectiles and melee strikes so as to not obscure your vision. The Quest’s lack of wires can really help out here.

It’s possible to briefly trigger slow motion by bringing up the real-time arrow switching menu, which helps if you’re in a small play area and need to be careful with regards to how you move. If space is at a real premium, you can even opt to play stationary and seated. Firing teleportation arrows is probably the best movement option to match, though there is also a free locomotion setting available at launch.

Regardless of your preferred settings, a short-range teleportation shard also occupies your arsenal for clutch dodges and quickly popping around corners or through doorways. You can best use it to your advantage in attracting enemies’ attention and then retreating slightly to draw them into choke points. The AI is pretty exploitable if you pull enemies gradually, though things get hairy when you mess up and they bombard you all at once.
In Death Unchained Review Oculus Quest - Pass the Controller
Special arrows can save your afterlife in these situations, doing things like freezing enemies in place and sticking them with explosives, channelling the iconic Gears of War Torque Bow. They’re an absolute must during boss encounters as well; bosses annoyingly spawn in waves of minions, so your best bet is to end the fight before it has a chance to really begin using your heaviest artillery.

Emerging victorious will grant you access to the next level, though being able to start a run from that level (i.e. opting to begin from two at the menu instead of clearing one to get back there) requires hitting an arbitrary overall completion percentage first. Gating is probably intended for players’ own good, but when we’d nearly finished the final level and died it was annoying to learn that we’d need to backtrack and earn 7% more in order to spawn there for an immediate second crack of the whip.

Still, returning to the previous level, Paradise Lost, wasn’t all bad. Cathedral architecture is elaborately laid out amongst the clouds and we found that being mobile and aggressive worked best on the armies of flying cherubs and grounded witches. It can be easy to get lost in the lavish labyrinth and cherubs in particular have a nasty habit of appearing right behind you for cheap hits, but it's still a lot of fun to play the role of ordained executioner.
In Death: Unchained features an engaging sense of progression that helps to take the edge off permadeath.
In Death Unchained Review Oculus Quest - Pass the Controller
A major strength of virtual reality gaming is the use of 3D audio, but the implementation here is underwhelming. Enemy sound effects never really cut through the bog standard atmospheric background score, which makes it hard to instinctively pinpoint their locations and can lead to missing enemies standing right by you.
 
In Death: Unchained is immensely replayable and, impressively, a grander prospect than its higher powered PC and PlayStation 4 counterparts. It’s challenging and moreish, while also being a great fit for the Oculus Quest platform specifically. Permadeath and towering reliquaries – shrines that serve as in-game shops and save points – make the game easy to play in short bursts, lending itself well to the headset’s portable nature and limited battery life.

Pros

  • Challenging, involved and skill-dependant gameplay
  • Definitive version thanks to new content
  • Progression and procedural generation make for huge replayability 

Cons

  • Bosses are uninspired and rely on spawning in drones
  • Audio is limp, with enemies being especially underwhelming
  • Cherubs can teleport directly behind you and steal cheap hits

7/10
1 Comment

Lies Beneath Review | Oculus Quest

11/4/2020

 
Lies Beneath Review | Oculus Quest - Pass the Controller

Horror is a pretty overcrowded genre when it comes to VR, owing mostly to the platform’s greater level of immersion making it easy to provoke a reaction from players. Oculus exclusive Lies Beneath manages to differentiate itself by travelling the survival horror route while adopting a dark and pulpy comic book aesthetic. Throw in some exciting action gameplay and the team at Drifter (Robo Recall: Unplugged) could be onto a winner.

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by Sam Sant
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@SlamShotSam

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Developer: Drifter
Publisher: Oculus Studios
Platforms: Oculus Quest, Oculus Rift
Players: 1

Published by Oculus Studios and released first on the wireless Quest - it’s due 14 April on Rift, with one purchase granting access to both versions - Lies Beneath is intentionally framed as schlocky fiction. You play through three issues of the titular comic series, which promises “lurid lore to alarm and harm” throughout the eight-hour campaign.

Lies Beneath remains steadfastly true to its gimmick, boasting cel shaded visuals and floating text boxes in place of spoken dialogue. Combined with trademark verbs like “thwack” emanating from your actions, it might be the closest any piece of entertainment has come to having you step inside a comic book world. Fans of the medium will appreciate that massively, especially since there’s actual quality writing and sequencing to accompany the basic framework.

Players are cast as a young woman named Mae, who’s homecoming to the quaint Alaskan town of Slumber quickly goes wrong. Throughout the story you navigate twists and turns as the truth regarding the setting and its inhabitants gradually comes to light. It’s not all that big of a revelation due to a reliance on familiar horror tropes, but it's possible to dig a little deeper by taking the time to inspect environmental storytelling elements and collectible lore items.

While Lies Beneath looks great both stylistically and technically, choosing to convey the narrative through text occasionally proves troublesome. Small font sizes are used in places and are hard to make out without leaning right into them, which is, of course, an option that you’re afforded in VR, but it’s irksome when playing room-scale and plain irritating with a stationary setup.
Regardless, the game does a great job of building an unnerving atmosphere through eerie environments and lighting. It’s close to pitch black at times, with only the piercing red eyes of enemies visible in the distance and the faint glow of your trusty lighter illuminating the more immediate area. PSA: If that lighter goes out and takes a few attempts to spark back up, prepare for an unpleasant jumpscare. Otherwise, the direction of its flame is a handy means of setting you on the right path and it’s light also reveals enemy weak points.

Many locations are adorned with grotesque, ornamental butchery that melds animal and human body parts; meanwhile, frantic banging emanates from the next helpless victims that are trapped inside nearby crates. The soundscape in Lies Beneath is strong on the whole and using headphones is an in-game recommendation we’d echo, but, failing that, the built-in Quest speakers do a decent job of outputting fairly immersive 3D audio.

When time comes to combat the deranged townsfolk, there are three tweakable comfort modes and three difficulty settings to ensure everyone can do so enjoyably. Whatever you opt for, Oculus Touch motion tracking works pretty much flawlessly; a great test in any VR game is to throw something, and Lies Beneath gave us no trouble lodging axes in enemy heads from meters away.

There are plenty more melee weapons to wield beyond just axes, which do different levels of damage and cover various ranges. Unfortunately, however, their collision is wildly inconsistent. Weapons collide with and lodge into certain foes and surfaces, but clip right through others, which is distracting enough to pull you out of the experience at times. 
Similarly mixed is the amount of damage that specific enemy types can absorb, especially in the late stages of the game. Two identical nasties can take vastly different levels of punishment, which, in theory, could’ve served to ramp up terror through uncertainty, but is more annoying than anything else. With checkpoints being limited at that point in the game, it’s almost enough to have you pulling your hair out.

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If that tempts you to drop the difficulty a notch, know that Lies Beneath significantly steps up (or down) with each setting. Easy is a cakewalk, Normal can get pretty challenging, while Hard, above and beyond to its name, is absolutely gruelling.

The difficulty level doesn’t just affect incoming and outgoing damage, but also the resources available to you in ammunition and health-replenishing foodstuffs. There’s a hard limit on what you can carry, with your back designated to a hunting rifle and a non-lethal harpoon gun, while your right and left holsters can be used to store anything from a silenced 9mm pistol to a tin of tuna.

Covering all of the bases with a melee weapon, some food and a pistol is most often your best bet to prep for enemy encounters. That’s especially true for a few set piece holdout sections reminiscent of Resident Evil 4, in which you’ll also be afforded bear traps and gasoline cans to strategically place around the battlefield. That being said, the best laid plans quickly go awry when you’re charged by tankish pigmen and forget to do something simple, like flick your wrist to reload the six shooter or cock the hunting rifle with your spare hand.
Lies Beneath Review | Oculus Quest - Pass the Controller
Although there are no multiplayer or secondary modes to lean on after finishing the inventive final chapter, it’s worth going back to try and find all of the collectibles for the extra lore and greater access to resources they provide through unlocks. Beating the hardest difficulty can definitely be worn as a badge of honour, while multiple endings and achievements (which a lot of Quest games don’t have) should also help to keep you coming back.

Oculus Quest is a platform that’s largely packed with shorter VR “experiences” and arcade-type games suited to brief bursts of play. That isn’t necessarily bad, considering the generally more casual audience, but it can leave some owners wanting in terms of substance. Lies Beneath brings just that, providing spine-tingling scares that can be as challenging or accessible as you’d like. While it might be frightening at times, the action and comic book leanings impart the necessary mass appeal to see it stick the landing as a flagship Oculus exclusive available on Quest.

Pros

  • Satisfying action combat, with great motion tracking
  • Varied, often gruesomely gorgeous environments
  • Engaging comic book trappings

Cons

  • Inconsistent collision detection
  • Damage needed to bring down the same enemies is erratic
  • Text pop-ups can be illegible without physically moving closer

8/10
0 Comments

The Wizards - Enhanced Edition | PS VR | Review

12/3/2019

 
The Wizards - Enhanced Edition | PS VR | Review - Pass the Controller

Carbon Studio’s award-winning spellcaster has made its way to PlayStation VR in “enhanced” form - now featuring a new stage, new cutscenes, checkpoints, performance improvements and more - but do these tweaks see the game hold up one year after its initial launch?

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by Sam Sant

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@SlamShotSam


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Developer: Carbon
Studio

Publisher: Carbon
​Studio

Platforms: PlayStation
VR, Oculus Rift, HTC
VIVE
Players: 1
You’re a wizard, as you might have already guessed, on an action-packed quest to eradicate enemies infesting the fantasy realm of Meliora. Anything deeper than that is mere narrative fluff, despite efforts to flesh things out with additional cinematics, as you’re guided by a sagely narrator similar in tone to the boisterous voice of Rebellion’s Strange Brigade.

As you travel throughout three distinct regions - spanning an idyllic township, dark mines and a stormy desert - you’ll encounter a variety of nasties to be dispatched with your arsenal of six elemental spells. This is where we’d assert that battle mage better describes The Wizards’ protagonist, considering just how lethal they are.

Casting isn’t limited by any kind of mana resource, allowing you to unleash havoc as quickly as you can whip out the nuanced hand gestures required to summon each of the game’s upgradeable magic tricks. Utilising two PlayStation Move controllers, you’ll motion to weave the arcane into existence while channelling your inner sorcerer; without this simple step - which poses an initial learning curve, but fast becomes second nature - the game would merely feel like a colourful iteration of your bog-standard shooter.

The often tangible feeling of power only grows as you level-up each spell individually, courtesy of gems found hidden in the environment and awarded in proportion to your score at the end of each level. As you gain competence and become all the more invested, you’ll begin to look more and more akin to a complete goof, but, inside that headset, you’re a carefree kid on a playground.

That’s an experience which has largely come to define the best that virtual reality has to offer, but, unfortunately, at times it can feel like The Wizards - Enhanced Edition is held back by the PlayStation platform, specifically the aged motion peripherals associated with it. Most motions translate well, though too often more complex spell gestures catastrophically fail in the midst of frantic combat. These situations aren’t excusable, but are at least understandable, though when a simple twist of the wrist fails to summon a fireball it’s hard to be as forgiving.
New to this iteration of the game is an optional head-tracked form of auto-aim, which is enabled by default and that’s definitely a good thing. Throwing is a motion that doesn’t often play well with the Move controllers, at least not with any real degree of accuracy, so the slightly sticky reticule is a must for reliably guiding your projectiles to their target. What’s more, it does a pretty good job of discerning exactly where you’re looking, allowing you to easily pick out priority targets in a crowd.

In-game movement and real-world comfort are handled well too, as The Wizards accommodates both teleportation and free movement, alongside seated and standing play. Expect to fiddle with your height settings if playing seated, mind, as we had to register at a minuscule 80 cm tall in order to align with the UI.
Utilising two PlayStation Move controllers, you’ll motion to weave the arcane into existence while channelling your inner sorcerer.
Getting this right also helps to achieve the perspective required to spot traps and puzzle elements, which litter the game’s eleven brief and fairly nondescript levels. Punctuated by a couple of visually impressive, but mechanically underwhelming boss encounters, the three-to-four hour adventure is fairly replayable due to the inclusion of Fate Cards. These gameplay modifiers are found hiding in chests and can be activated to turn the tides in or against your favour, most notably applying score multipliers to help with climbing the online leaderboards.
Then there’s Arena mode, which tasks you with defending three crystals, once again sights firmly set on outlasting the competition in order to climb leaderboards relevant to each of the three maps. It’s very familiar territory and, without co-op, it doesn’t really have legs.

At its best moments, when you’re fluently fighting off a swarm of ogres without feeling like the real battle is being waged with imprecise motion controls, The Wizards is an intoxicating realisation of any long-held magical fantasies. The PlayStation VR version can cause that illusion to crumble though, which is a burden not entirely shouldered by inferior hardware, as other games have managed to pull off the transition  just about seamlessly.

Pros

  • Satisfyingly gesture to summon spells from thin air
  • Auto-aim alleviates the pain of inaccurate throw gesture tracking
  • Accommodating comfort and movement options
  • Fate Card system lets you tweak difficulty to your exact liking...
  • … Combined with online leaderboards, that’s reason enough to come back for more

Cons

  • Motion controls are too often unreliable
  • Story falls flat, despite being “enhanced”
  • Run-of-the-mill boss encounters
  • Arena mode gets dull pretty quickly

7/10
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Downward Spiral: Horus Station | PS VR | Review

26/9/2018

 
Downward Spiral: Horus Station PlayStation VR review - Pass the Controller

Upstart developer 3rd Eye Studios have an incredible pedigree, its staff owning credits on a long list of classic films and games, so it should come as no surprise that Downward Spiral: Horus Station effectively channels sci-fi cinema - specifically the likes of 2001: A Space Odyssey and Solaris - whilst also crafting a mechanically engaging interactive thriller.

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by Sam Sant

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@SlamShotSam


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Developer: 3rd Eye
Studios

Publisher: 3rd Eye
Studios

​Platforms: PS VR,
Oculus Rift, HTC Vive 

​Players: 1 - 8
Made with what the team call a “narrative-first” design philosophy, players are offered no express context when they’re first unleashed on the titular space station. Boasting a familiar retro 70s aesthetic, the richly detailed hull interiors soon reveal Horus to be derelict and its crew members dead. There are no cutscenes or dialogue here, and a very sparing use of in-game text, leaving the environments to evoke a thick and unnerving atmosphere.

Further to that, limited access to in-game maps and a complete lack of objective markers ensures you’ll need to scour areas and pick up on subtle path finding tells that’ve been integrated throughout. Clever touches communicate with the player via universally understandable game design “language”, narrowing sprawling areas to relatively linear paths in such a way that keeps them intellectually gratifying to navigate.

Driven by an enticingly understated ambient soundtrack - from HIM frontman Ville Valo, no less - Downward Spiral continues to stroke players’ intellect with mysterious cutaways to interpret and decipher. Within the realms of reality, while a range of light puzzles never pose significant roadblocks, you’ll be taxed by a creeping paranoia resultant of the station’s mechanical groans and seeming technological independence that make it seem as though the inanimate is out to get you.

Provided you’ve chosen to play with combat encounters enabled, it may well be, as what are presumed to be malfunctioning drones attack and leave you with no choice but to weaponize a suite of repair tools. It’s very Dead Space indeed, though where Isaac Clarke carries a real heft, the unnamed protagonist of Downward Spiral is quite literally weightless.
Downward Spiral: Horus Station effectively channels sci-fi cinema, whilst also crafting a mechanically engaging interactive thriller.
The entire game takes place in zero gravity, which, to allay your immediate fears, isn’t the least bit nauseating in VR. It does take a bit of getting used to, but you always retain the same upright orientation and, as such, you’re never subject to that hopeless feeling of not knowing where’s up and what’s down. Once you’ve gotten to grips with pushing off of scenery to float around, you’ll acquire a grappling hook - which has a smooth, gradual reel to keep things comfortable - and a gun that’ll boost you onwards by expelling a charged shot of hot air.

Now that you’ve properly wrapped your brain around the revised laws of physics, it shouldn’t be long before you learn to string these initially disparate tools together into one seamless combo. There’s almost a balletic element of performance to it, which, had Marvel’s Spider-Man not just launched, we’d have said made it the best movement system we’ve seen for a while.

In similar fashion, the gunplay (toolplay?) takes a little while to really flourish, but as a steady stream of new toys come to comprise a complete arsenal, you’re actively encouraged to swap them in and out to counter the introduction of bigger and badder enemy types. We’d definitely recommend leaving the combat feature turned on, especially considering you don’t lose progress when you die.

Having a few battle scars won’t go amiss if you’re looking to play multiplayer, either. The campaign can be played in co-op, but if you want to venture into the PvP Deathmatch and/or PvE Horde modes, you’ll have to give up your pacifist ways. You’ll also very likely have to bring friends, as finding success with the barren matchmaking is unlikely.

Bar a few jarring frame drops, which are admittedly a cardinal sin in VR, playing Downward Spiral with a headset and a pair of Move controllers is a pretty great experience. That’s a big caveat for those without the proper equipment, however, as it’s also playable on a television and with the DualShock 4. Should you be required to play the game in one of those ways, it‘s an immediate no go.
Perhaps it’s a symptom of having explored Horus Station both ways, but, by comparison to VR, it’s incredibly drab to play on a flat screen. While that’s inherent to a degree, having lost a dimension in the transition, also losing the intuitive and tactile motion controls is a final nail in the coffin. Downward Spiral is a game quite literally designed around reaching out and pulling yourself into its world, which makes a stand-in button press both cumbersome and unsatisfying. It also negates the scope for creating memorable little asides, like instinctively grabbing a dart and launching it at a nearby board, only to find it hanging at the exact point you let it go - duh!

It’s swell having options and all, though when they harm the experience for anybody playing in the optimal fashion, it’s questionable as to whether they’re justified. The game doesn’t auto-detect when it should boot in VR mode, which means you’ll need to use a DualShock to activate it from the main menu, as Move inputs aren’t tracked in TV mode; we can easily live with that minor inconvenience, but a not-insignificant annoyance stems directly from it. If that standard controller is then disconnected, the game will pause and throw an error up, even when you’re actively using the Move controllers instead, meaning you’ll need to remove yourself from the atmosphere Downward Spiral so painstakingly works to preserve in order to reconnect a pad you aren’t even using at regular intervals.

Hopefully that’s something that can be hotfixed, as, when equipped with the right kit, we otherwise thoroughly enjoyed floating around the dark and mysterious halls of Horus Station. Unique movement, satisfying tools and an enthralling location sadly aren’t enough to salvage the experience for anyone without the PlayStation Move controllers and VR headset that are compulsory to a good time.

Pros

  • Unique & satisfying movement mechanics
  • Engaging shootouts with a variety of weapons & enemies
  • Effective environmental storytelling
  • Subtly guides you without holding your hand
  • Supremely immersive in VR with two Move controllers...

Cons

  • … Massively less so when played with a DualShock , be that in VR or even more so on a TV
  • Have to keep a DualShock connected, even when not using it
  • Occasional dropped frames stick out like a sore thumb in VR

7/10
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Esper | PS VR | Review

6/7/2018

 
Esper PlayStation VR review - Pass the Controller

Coatsink’s puzzle room ponderer has been perplexing non-PlayStation players for a period, but now, thanks to a better-late-than-never port, owners of Sony’s budget-friendly headset can finally get in on the fun.

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by Sam Sant

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@SlamShotSam


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Developer: Coatsink
Publisher: Coatsink
Platform: PS VR, Oculus
Rift
, HTC Vive, Samsung
Gear VR 

Players: 1
Esper is an acclaimed early VR title in which you find yourself confined to a chair in an office, positively dripping with 50s Art Deco, for around a couple of hours. While that might not sound very exciting, you soon learn that you’re there at the behest of the government and their mysterious ESPR division; having shown signs of “extra sensory abilities”, or telekinetic powers, an enigmatic and lightly comedic narrator unravels the story from afar as you’re left guessing right up to the very end.

Once you’ve also accounted for the clear, concise visual design and an animatronically shifting environment, comparisons to Valve’s Portal are inevitable, though, honestly, what modern puzzler truly escapes them? While the encompassing immersion of VR and motion-controlled inputs that anchor you in the simulation are the most obvious differentiators, when it comes down to mechanics, the two games are really very different.

Fans of contraption-based board games like Marble Run and Mouse Trap will appreciate the intricate and tactile feeling of playing with Esper’s many moving parts, which imbue its series of head-scratching enigmas with a playful sense of discovery. You’re encouraged to tinker with the tools at your disposal and learn from each unjudging failure, ultimately reaching logical conclusions grounded in real-world physics.

Beautifully smooth difficulty progression delivers frequent “Aha!” moments as you learn to out-think obstructive barriers that sever your psychic link to items, build makeshift ramps, bridges and catapults to overcome increasingly complex obstacles, account for individual items’ weight, buoyancy and propulsion potential, flip switches to operate multi-part mechanisms and more. Its depth of variety makes what (let’s be frank) could easily have amounted to little more than tediously lugging objects through mazes, instead feel like an ever-evolving test that’ll put your grey matter and trigger finger to equally good use.
You’re encouraged to tinker with the tools at your disposal and learn from each unjudging failure, ultimately reaching logical conclusions grounded in real-world physics.
That’s no mistake, as the development team were careful not to outstay their welcome, limiting the game's length to less than the latest Marvel blockbuster. With a £6.49 price tag to compensate, Esper is an easy recommendation for fans of the genre, provided they can stomach its few faults.

Regardless of your chosen method of input - be that Move, DualShock 4 or head tracking - the game’s motion controls can lack fine precision and this occasionally leads to fumbles that are out of your hands, which can be extra frustrating in the rare event you’re forced into restarting the (admittedly short) section at hand. We also encountered a bug in the very last moments of the game that put a dampener on the otherwise intriguing finale, poised to lead into the currently-Oculus-Rift-exclusive sequel, though that’s another downer in itself for those without Facebook’s brand of 3D goggles.

Still, it’s hard to hold a grudge when Esper is such a well-executed little game. It’s thoughtful and requires a reasonably high level of execution at times, but consistent in being low intensity and incredibly laid-back, making it a great choice for novice through to journeyman VR voyagers.

Pros

  • Removed narrative perspective makes the mystery compelling
  • Exquisitely balanced puzzle progression
  • Priced to match its appropriately brief runtime
  • Simple, stylish aesthetic
  • Easy-going VR accessible to all

Cons

  • Some control and minor physics engine quirks
  • Sequel is currently exclusive to Oculus Rift

8/10
0 Comments

Killing Floor: Incursion | PS VR | Review

11/5/2018

 
Killing Floor: Incursion PS VR Zed decapitation - Pass the Controler

Having hit HTC VIVE and Oculus Rift late last year, Killing Floor: Incursion has finally made the transition to more budget-friendly hardware in the form of Sony’s PlayStation VR headset. Bringing the Killing Floor series’ gory brand of sci-fi horror to a new dimension, Incursion is a mix of old and new that achieves varying degrees of success.

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by Sam Sant

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@SlamShotSam


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Developer: Tripwire
Interactive

Publisher: Tripwire
Interactive

​Platforms: PS VR, HTC
VIVE, Oculus Rift 

​Players: 1 - 2
Franchises tend to condense themselves down to their core mechanics on a first foray into virtual reality, all too often taking the form of wave-based shooters in the process. Already having a couple of those under their belt and not content to rest on their laurels, the team at Tripwire Interactive chose the opposite approach and used Incursion as an opportunity to build the first Killing Floor story campaign around that foundation.

It’s meta narrative explains away all of the familiar quirks that currently accompany VR gameplay, while at the same time complementing the series’ goofy sense of humour. Guided by Node, a hovering robot companion, you’ll solve simple puzzles and dismember hordes of zombie-like Zeds across four missions, each set in their own unique locale.

Environments are reasonably interactive and traversed by utilising short-range teleportation by default, however an annoying cooldown feature disallows performing multiple warps in quick succession and wasted no time in convincing us that free movement was the only way to go. We’d definitely recommend making the switch, provided you can stomach VR locomotion, as it’ll also prove very useful in kiting bosses and crowds of lesser enemies when things start to get more difficult down the road.

In fact, using free movement to walk backwards whilst shooting forwards is an almost infallible strategy that can feel cheap. This is especially true of the boss encounters that conclude each mission, which are unfortunately robbed of any fear factor despite their undeniably horrific appearances. It’s pretty disappointing that the arrival of a Fleshpound elicits almost no emotion in VR, of all things, but is often met with bum-clenching terror when playing Killing Floor 2 on a 2D screen.
An annoying cooldown feature disallows teleporting multiple times in quick succession, wasting no time in convincing us that free movement was the only way to go.
Fortunately, the game fares better at instilling chills in other areas. In spite of some graphical pop-in and general fuzziness, the largely dark and moody settings make for tense and grimly detailed places to explore, aided every step of the way by incredibly effective use of 3D audio. The sound works best in confined spaces, which also happen to be locations where the aforementioned cheese strategy won’t do you any favours, making for a potent mix.

While the campaign is relatively brief at around four hours, bringing along a friend for co-op and/or graduating to the higher difficulty level are motivators for at least a second playthrough. That said, most of your time with Incursion will likely be spent engaging with Holdout mode, which is more the survival onslaught you’d expect going off Killing Floor’s past form.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, considering it centers on the series’ bread and butter, Holdout is the highlight regardless of relying on such a prevalent trope. Playable solo or two-player, just like the campaign, the mode introduces a range of power-ups and an over-the-top announcer that grows more and more excited as you build a score multiplier by chaining headshot kills.

Here any semblance of ambiance is dumped in favour of piping in Killing Floor’s signature heavy metal soundtrack, its breakneck tempo mirroring the frantic pace at which you’ll need to physically swing melee weapons or dual-wield firearms in order to survive the intensity. Two Move motion controllers are required to play, which you can do either seated or standing, and they mostly do a sterling job of keeping up with the frantic flailing as you make use of the game’s narrow selection of murder implements.

The overwhelming nature of Holdout’s pulse-racing encounters can easily get you flustered, causing you to fumble the somewhat button-heavy controls as your brain struggles to process inputs on top of inputs, inevitably seeing you mobbed and mauled by the ugly enemy troop with no concern for personal space. It’s here a few desperate weapon whips, punches or pushes come in handy, but not nearly as much as having a co-op partner capable of a well-timed rescue.
Holdout mode dumps any semblance of ambiance in favour of piping in heavy metal, its breakneck tempo mirroring the frantic pace at which you’ll need to act in order to survive the intensity.
Combat is satisfyingly visceral as standard, though there’s something supremely pleasing about cutting the arms off an enemy that’s reaching out to grab at your teammate; it’s also hilarious when said teammate then picks those severed limbs up and wiggles them around like wet noodles… Puppeteering the sagging jaw of a decapitated head for one another was a similarly macabre hoot, though more human interactions like simply reciprocating a wave to an online stranger or swapping weapons with one another is pleasing in itself.

Unfortunately, our time online has been hampered by spotty connections, which, coupled with a sparse selection of just five small maps (one of which is a timed PS VR exclusive), calls longevity into question for all but the most ardent highscore chasers.

When a simple horror shooter in the vein of The Brookhaven Experiment would’ve fallen so easily into place with the Killing Floor property, it’s a pleasant surprise to see Incursion go the extra mile and prove an adventurous experience more akin to Arizona Sunshine. Despite the comparisons, Incursion carves out it’s own niche by translating the Killing Floor series’ dark humour, heavy metal stylings, and sparing use of slow motion to highlight its most gloriously gory moments to a new format. On the whole, it’s an enjoyable VR shooter that unfortunately finds itself in the middle of a very crowded market.


Pros

  • Introduces the first Killing Floor story campaign
  • Holdout mode is bonkers fun
  • Gorily rewarding combat
  • Varied, detailed & iconic environments
  • Online co-op across both modes...

Cons

  • … Hampered by spotty connections
  • Clearly balanced around using teleportation, rather than free movement
  • Teleportation is needlessly limited & unattractive as a result
  • Disappointingly limited selection of weaponry compared to mainline games

7/10
1 Comment

Moss | PS VR | Review

6/3/2018

 
Moss PS VR screenshot - Pass the Controller review

With a star-studded team of Rockstar and Bungie alumni at the helm, as well as a pint-sized protagonist that’s cute as a button, anticipation for PlayStation VR exclusive Moss has been riding high since it was unveiled. Now that it’s out, does the storybook tale of an unlikely heroine on a grand adventure deliver? Or does it not quite measure up?

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by Sam Sant

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@SlamShotSam


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Developer: Polyarc
Publisher: Polyarc
​Platforms: PS VR
​Players: 1
Moss begins weaving its narrative as you find yourself in a grand, yet homely, library and open the eponymous book laid out in front of you. Its lovingly animated illustrations are accompanied by a sultry, disembodied narration that fills you in on necessary exposition: Darkness has fallen over the land of Moss, bringing with it beasts that have slain the king and taken one of the kingdom’s powerful glass relics.

Transported into the book’s living pages to intervene, players join Quill as she finds a glass relic of her own. The relic’s magical properties allow the little white mouse to see and directly interact with you, a powerful spirit known as the “reader”. Existing as a separate entity to Quill means that, while you do control her, you also look down from your own perspective and are capable of reaching into the game world to interact with environments, characters and enemies in a variety of ways.

Using the DualShock 4 to work in tandem - or as “twofold” - you’ll guide Quill through a journey that takes her far away from home in order to save a loved one. The asymmetry involved in juggling two roles will test your coordination, if only slightly, as you work through platforming, puzzle solving, combat and stealth situations along the way.

Gameplay otherwise develops in familiar fashion, channelling the defining flow of a classic Zelda title. Traversal is limited by a reliance on signposted handholds, and swashbuckling combat by a sparsity of maneuvers, but Moss’ incredibly fluid controls and the ability to interject as the reader make for a satisfying experience nonetheless.

When you factor easily solved puzzles into the equation, which often revolve around clever little iterations on sequential button presses and other tropes, it becomes clear that accessibility was at the forefront of Polyarc’s overall design. In keeping things simple they open the door for all manner of players to fully experience what really lies at the heart of Moss - your relationship with Quill.
Whether she’s offering a high five to reward a job well done, performing actual sign language in an attempt to communicate, or even chastising you for wasting too much time on petting her, Quill is an incredibly sweet and personable mouse who’s pretty much impossible not to love. I’m not the soppy sort when it comes to virtual animal companions (you could fill a pet cemetery with the Tamagotchis, Fable dogs and Mass Effect fishies I’ve left in my wake), which demonstrates the care and attention poured into bringing her very literal three-dimensional character to life.

Quill’s charmingly stout stature also serves to imbue locations with a mesmerising sense of scale, absolutely dwarfing her, yet at the same time being detailed down to the smallest minutia. Each exquisitely lit area, from lush forest to marble-clad castle, ties into a cohesive whole without sight nor sound of an intrusive loading screen or menu to hamper the presentation so painstakingly built. This is a colourful world in which mice ride tamed and saddled squirrels, but it’s so beautifully grounded as to be believable.

Environmental storytelling hints at echos of human habitation within the realm of Moss, as does the mechanical nature of many enemies you encounter; whilst no definitive answers to these sorts of larger contextual questions are offered, the whimsical soundtrack compels you to linger on them in humanity’s apparent absence. The game does reach a neat conclusion on the more immediate front, however, whilst also extending the tantalising promise that there's more from this world to come.
Quill is an incredibly sweet and personable mouse who’s pretty much impossible not to love.
More Moss is definitely welcome, not least because the three to five hour runtime will probably leave you wanting. Beyond the opportunity to spend more time with Quill, trophies and collectibles are really all that might serve to draw you back in for a second playthrough.

While it lasts, Moss is a charming, magical and gentle-natured adventure which establishes a compelling setting and an absolutely adorable protagonist that’ll bring a smile to even the sourest of faces. Though its simplistic gameplay sees the experience fall short of matching the Hylian escapades that inspired its core design, the team at Polyarc have brought a winning formula to virtual reality along with bucket loads of unique character. If that isn’t a strong foundation on which to build the upcoming sequel, we don’t know what is.

Pros

  • Mouse heroine Quill is an absolute delight
  • Land of Moss is exquisitely realised
  • Fluid controls & motion tracking make the twofold mechanics a treat
  • Charmingly straightforward storybook tale with some deeper themes to explore​
  • Fixed perspective, general simplicity & gentle nature make Moss very accessible

Cons

  • Could be argued combat, platforming & puzzles are a little too basic
  • Short runtime & not much in the way of compelling replay value

8/10
0 Comments

Blasters of the Universe | PS VR | Review

1/3/2018

 
Blasters of the Universe PlayStation VR review - Pass the Controller

As its He-Man and the Masters of the Universe-inspired name and neon vision of the future suggest, Blasters of the Universe is a humorous homage to the VHS era. Grandmaster Alwyn, an arcade gaming savant, is so dominant a player that he’s become one with the eponymous game, prompting you to challenge his throne across four levels of intense shoot-‘em-up action.

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by Sam Sant

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@SlamShotSam


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Developer: Secret
Location

Publisher: Archiact
Interactive

​Platforms: PS VR, HTC
​Vive, Oculus Rift

​Players: 1
While you may have already played a dozen wave-based VR shooters if you’ve owned a headset for any period of time, Blasters puts a spin on things that serves to separate it from the crowd. By tapping into the bullet hell subgenre, which tasks players with avoiding increasingly complex patterns of incoming projectiles to stay alive, the game takes on both a fierce urgency and an enticing element of performance.

Rather than moving a 2D, top-down sprite around the screen in typical bullet hell fashion, players adopt a first-person perspective and need to physically dodge a range of enemy weapon fire. Your head serves as your hitbox and is, as such, all you need to worry about protecting; this might lead you to counterintuitively lean towards danger in order to squeeze your noggin through the narrow space between a net of bullets, or, less elegantly, throw yourself on the floor to nip under an intimidating barrage.

My legs are burning as I sit typing this (and even now as I sit publishing this) from the (quite literally) hundreds of squats I’ve performed whilst playing Blasters of the Universe, so do be aware that you’re in for a real workout, whether that’s appealing or not. Casual mode extends a helping hand to those less mobile or with small play spaces, but at the same time somewhat negates the well-tuned challenge that works with the inherent thrill of watching projectiles sail by your face to make Blasters compelling at a base level.

Unfortunately, on whichever difficulty setting you play, the realities of cable management that go hand-in-hand with playing VR standing (and that’s pretty much a necessity with Blasters) can pull you out of the experience. Whether you’re tripping over the PlayStation VR power cable or getting tangled in your headphones’ wire, not being able to pause the game whilst you reconfigure can lead to an untimely death or two. There’s already so much to juggle in-game that a real-world distraction is totally unwelcome, but it’s hard to really hold a grudge when the hardware, and not the developer, is mostly at blame.
By tapping into the bullet hell subgenre, the game takes on both a fierce urgency and an enticing element of performance.
This cumbersome issue isn’t something the pulsing synth soundtrack and sharp presentation can’t remedy, the pair drawing you back for another hit in tandem, but perhaps not before altering your loadout. Guns are crafted by choosing a frame and associated special ability, barrel, magazine, ammo type, and a module that provides a passive buff. A lot of possibilities open up as you progress and unlock new weapon elements, allowing you to rock an arcing beam rifle, explosive shotgun, ricocheting assault rifle, or really whatever you can dream up to fit your play style.

The game can only be played with two Move motion controllers (which are tracked particularly well here), one corresponding to your bespoke gun and the other being used to deploy your choice of ammo clips and a limited-use shield. This opens up a further layer of customisation, allowing you to, for example, equip a recharging magazine and focus exclusively on shielding with your off hand, or a small magazine with increased damage output that’ll need reloading on the regular, but should, in theory, eradicate enemies before they ever give you reason to deploy your shield.


If you’re anything like us, bigger will be better when it comes to the magazine, as the manual reload process is quite particular and differs depending on your choice of frame. Such is the precise art of reloading that we’d actually recommend using your dominant hand for it.
A lot of weapon crafting possibilities open up as you progress, really allowing you to rock whatever gun you can dream up to fit your play style.
Though swapping hands can initially prove disorienting, it ultimately lead us to slay all of the game’s long-form, large-scale bosses and emerge victorious on the other side. These battles require specific aiming and avoidance techniques that make them a challenging treat, though a glitch we encountered whereby each loss to the final boss caused an obnoxious buzzing sound until the game was rebooted did make the final leg slightly laborious. Fingers crossed that bug is squashed, which seems likely enough judging by the patch support already offered since launch.
Completing the campaign should take around three to five hours, though the exact number is really dependant on player skill and fitness levels, and that’s without taking into account time spent climbing online leaderboards and interacting with a couple of additional modes that round the package out. Challenge mode hands you a pre-built loadout and an objective to complete as quickly as possible, with the task at hand rotating after a set period of time, whilst Endless mode sees you, shockingly, survive for as long as possible to gain the highest score before meeting an inevitable end.

​
Despite relying on a played out concept, Endless is a highlight, placing trophies just out of reach to encourage a ‘one more go’ mindset. It randomises spawn patterns with each attempt to keep things fresh, though this does also affect balance, as luck of the draw can vastly impact your performance.

Still, with this mode in its repertoire, Blasters of the Universe might actually prove endlessly entertaining. Its thoroughly rewarding combat encounters can’t be bested with a lackadaisical approach, resulting in not just a fantastically fresh take on the bullet hell shooter, but also a workout regimen that makes you feel like a virtual deity... until your humanity comes a-knockin’ and the lactic acid takes hold.


Pros

  • A unique take on the staple VR shooter
  • Intensely challenging without feeling unfair
  • Smooth-as-butter motion tracking
  • Wide range of loadout customisation options
  • Longevity for your money (on that note, at the time of writing, it's available at a 15% launch discount)

Cons

  • No pause function for when cables become a hindrance
  • Reloading can feel finicky

8/10
0 Comments

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim VR | PS VR | Review

29/11/2017

 
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The fact I’ve never played Skyrim has been a dirty little secret of mine for more than half a decade now; the role-playing game that took the world by storm, and its re-releases, have simply passed me by. While shameful, this does make me almost uniquely qualified to approach Bethesda and Escalation Studios’ Skyrim VR without Sony’s future goggles taking on a rose tint. With nostalgia out of the question, how does The Elder Scrolls’ fifth instalment hold up on PlayStation VR?

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by Sam Sant

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@SlamShotSam


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Developer: Bethesda
Game Studios

Publisher: Bethesda
Softworks

Platforms: PlayStation
​VR

Players: 1
Well, getting straight to the point, not only does Skyrim endure six years later, but it excels. Immediately drawn into its grounded fantasy by the bellowing main theme, the game’s hooks were firmly in place by the time we emerged from the grim tutorial dungeon into the vastness of its colourful open world. In every direction there are detailed locations to discover and explore at your leisure, taking the time to enjoy being consumed by the richness of the region’s varied biomes in 360-degrees along the way.

Points of interest house side quests, or tell stories through their environments, which often prove just as memorable as the narrative’s main thread. When this is coupled with the intoxicating sense of constant progression that comes from simply performing tasks to improve at them, just like in real life, Skyrim becomes - and you’ll have to excuse the tired clichè, but it absolutely is - a living, breathing world. It’s the rare kind of game that you think about all day at work or school, eager to get home in order to reprise the exciting role of your in-game character.

If you’ve already played Skyrim, this isn’t news to you, so what is there beyond that to justify shelling out for a second, third, or maybe even fourth time? The game’s add-ons are seamlessly knitted into the base experience here, should you never have purchased them in the past, offering up the full suite of official Bethesda content from go. On the unofficial front though, there’s unfortunately no form of mod support.

We can hear the cacophony of groans, but don’t let that put you off - of all the game’s reiterations, this is undoubtedly the most significant. Translating a tens or hundreds of hours long RPG epic for virtual reality was certainly ambitious, and, whilst the execution isn’t perfect, Skyrim VR makes an impressive go of it.
Skyrim VR is the rare kind of game that you think about all day at work or school, eager to get home in order to reprise the exciting role of your in-game character.
The technical foibles hampering its execution include a familiar, but no less irritating, image drifting issue that sees your display gradually migrate to the side now and then. If you turn to follow it it only gets worse, and holding start to realign doesn’t do the job, so a quick and easy fix is to cycle your headset’s power with the inline control. The otherwise strong motion tracking on our PlayStation Move controllers also tended to go awry as they started to run low on battery, but that’s probably more to do with the hardware’s ancient tech than the software itself.

Provided you can tough these issues out and stomach the omission of a third-person camera perspective - which isn’t a big deal in VR, but it does mean you can’t fully appreciate that swanky new armour set - the positives you’re presented far outweigh the comparatively insignificant negatives.

It’s the little things that stand out, like approaching a mammoth and bolting when the towering beast postures as though about to attack; getting a real-life shiver when clouds conceal the sun and rain starts to pour in-game; nearly dying of a heart attack when a swinging log trap abruptly falls from the ceiling and crashes directly into your face. The sense of scale and depth creates an immersion that transforms the run-of-the-mill into the extraordinary, plastering a smile on your face as you internally exclaim “Now that was cool!”

Rock solid fundamentals evoke a similar response, whether you’re playing with motion controls or a standard DualShock 4. In addition to this initial choice, you're also able to adventure either seated or standing, and can tweak a range of comfort options, meaning just about everybody can jump in regardless of their virtual reality prowess.


Menus in VR can often be much less accommodating, due to finicky motion scrolling and illegible low resolution text, so it’s a real relief that Skyrim - a menu-heavy game by any account - doesn’t fall victim to these pitfalls. Both a high level of polish and some beautiful reworking make it much less of a hassle to, for example, ditch any useless items you pick up at the game’s mercy, as its point-and-click method doesn’t quite boast the finesse necessary to pluck individual gold pieces from a bowl.
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VR's sense of scale and depth creates an immersion that transforms the run-of-the-mill into the extraordinary, plastering a smile on your face as you internally exclaim “Now that was cool!"
While the menus are great and all, favourite shortcuts help you bypass them to access your arsenal toute sweet, and stay in the thick of the fight. Dual-wielding Move controllers is a perfect fit for Skyrim’s mix-and-match combat, in which you can combine a range of spells, melee weapons and shields across both hands. For the first time you’re afforded total independent control, meaning you can simultaneously attack different enemies in different directions, perhaps after anticipating a flanking manoeuvre thanks to PS VR’s 3D audio output.

Getting to grips with combat can be like spinning plates at first, juggling motion and button inputs across both hands at the same time, but once you’ve got your head around it you’ll start to feel like a truly badass death dealer. The conventional system is still passable, but very stiff by comparison; it’s simply so much more involving to physically swing a sword, raise your shield to block a loosed arrow, or shoot arcane elements from the palm of your hand.

Similarly, VR’s proclivity for creeping terror makes travelling the stealthy route just as intense. Nocking an arrow, pulling back the string, aiming and releasing is incredibly rewarding, as you’ll more often than not hit your mark without any kind of HUD element to serve as a visual aid. Just don’t get too comfortable sniping from a perch, as being caught unaware by the incoming axe swing of a virtual assassin-come-executioner isn’t the nice kind of surprise...
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Skyrim does show its age in places, particularly with regard to its ugly and stilted NPC interactions, but small sacrifices to visual fidelity had to be made across the board in order to hit the necessary 90 frames per second for a non-nauseating time inside your headset. Just rest assured that, at its core, the game is perhaps more so than ever an incredibly in-depth and engrossing RPG with many meaningful choices of approach.

Whether you’re revisiting The Elder Scrolls V or venturing into its snow-capped mountains, vibrant countryside and deep, dark dungeons for the first time, Skyrim VR is an essential play for PlayStation VR owners. There’s more game for your money here than anywhere else on the platform, and, in spite of a few flaws, it’s pretty much all killer and no filler. With Bethesda bringing Fallout 4 and DOOM to virtual reality just next month, this is a very promising insight into what’s to come from one of the few major players supporting the burgeoning technology, and single player games along with it.

Pros

  • Just about nails bringing the full-fledged RPG to VR
  • Well-tracked motion controls are fantastically involving
  • Full of memorable moments that would go unappreciated in the vanilla game
  • A varied, vast and beautiful region to explore
  • Constantly rewarding progression system

Cons

  • Image drifting issue is incredibly distracting when it rears its ugly head
  • No mod support

9/10
0 Comments

The Solus Project | PS4 | Review

29/9/2017

 
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Grip Digital and Teotl Studios’ first-person, single-player survival game released on PC and Xbox One to a middling critical reception last year. The addition of virtual reality support helps to elevate the PlayStation 4 release in many ways, though some issues still hamper the otherwise engaging and atmospheric adventure.

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by Sam Sant

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@SlamShotSam


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Developer: Grip Digital
Publisher: Teotl Studios
Platforms: PlayStation 4 (PS VR), PC (Vive & Rift),
​Xbox One

Players: 1 
The titular Solus Project is launched just prior Earth’s destruction, seeing you and a crew of scientists set out in search of a new planet to colonise. When your spaceship is struck and destroyed however, you crash land on an alien planet as the seeming sole survivor and potential final hope for humanity.

It doesn’t take long for it to become apparent that you aren’t alone, bizarre fauna and creatures reacting to your presence, while, more unnervingly, hieroglyphics, architecture and mechanisms provide eerie signs of intelligent life. Amongst the technology is a damaged communications tower, which it’s your main objective to fix and use to reach out into the void.

The narrative serves as a driving force throughout this more linear take on the survival game, but isn’t as compelling in itself as the thick air of mystery that ebbs and flows as you explore environments and begin to peel it back, often only to uncover more secrets.

Whilst The Solus Project isn’t the best looker inside the PlayStation VR headset, mainly due to the current absence of PS4 Pro support, that’s definitely the mode in which the game’s defining ambiance best translates. The effective implementation of 3D in both the visuals and audio is enough to send shivers up your spine merely through the power of suggestion. There’s no combat here, and so little harm in being brazen, but that doesn’t stop strange noises emanating from pitch blackness being unnerving and prompting caution all by themselves.

You’ll use the DualShock 4 to play on a television, but VR mode is only compatible with dual Move controllers. Though it’s unfortunate that those without are left in the lurch, given the option it’s always preferable to use them thanks to the truer-to-life experience they provide. Something as simple as moving your arm to proportionally wield a flaming torch in-game and dynamically light your way provides a powerful feeling of connection, though it works particularly well here because of the ever present PDA. Held in your left hand, the PDA is your best friend, conveying all manner of vital information at a glance - or mostly at a glance, small text and PS VR’s fuzzy resolution don’t always mesh - while leaving the other hand open to tackle any and everything else.
A thick air of mystery ebbs and flows as you explore environments and begin to peel it back, often only to uncover more secrets.
With that said, the absence of a formal tutorial means it’ll take a little while to get used to the button-heavy control scheme; once you wrap your head around it however, you’ll be walking, turning and teleporting comfortably without need for an analogue stick. Other VR issues include lengthy, awkward 2D loading screens that somewhat break immersion, and the galling oversight that you can clip your hand through many locked gates and use the teleporter (an item separate to the standard teleportation for travel) to bypass the game’s simple puzzles.

You can’t get up to similar tricks playing on a TV, which might be a good or a bad thing depending on how you’re inclined, but there are also definite boons to playing in our humble, real-world reality. There’s a closer connection to the protagonist as you hear more of their musings and see scenes cut for comfort from the VR experience, plus there’s a sharper presentation in terms of both resolution and a clearer UI, which can serve practical purpose in helping to find obscure collectibles that boost resistances and fill in the wider narrative.

Anything other than a temperature resistance buff is frankly a waste, as that’s the only one of the game’s survival elements that ever really comes into play. Food and water are plentiful, and getting enough sleep is easy done, but staying warm when outdoors at night is near impossible. While the straightforward crafting system can be used to start temporary fires that offer slight respite, the only real solution is to ride out the night somewhere safe. With no means to tell the exact time, you’re only ever acting on a best guess while judging an alien day/night and dynamic weather cycle, so, should you misjudge or spend too long exploring, you might be doomed to get hopelessly caught out from the moment you set off. Due to the game’s manual save points and infrequent auto-saves, it’s possible to lose a lot of progress to this - even totally bugger your save file - leaving you feeling decidedly cheated in the process.

Thankfully, the survival elements are fine tunable, so you can tone them down, turn them off completely, or, if you’re some sort of sadist, make them stricter. This goes a long way to remedying the issue, but being tempted to turn a survival game’s survival aspect off so that you can fully enjoy it is far from ideal.
While The Solus Project isn’t a great survival game, its focus on setting, atmosphere and storytelling make it more immediately engaging than its crafting-obsessed peers. Overall, the game succeeds in spite of failing within its genre - especially when played in VR, with the mode providing a fully-featured and lengthy campaign for headset owners to absorb in affecting fashion.

Pros

  • VR implementation contributes a lot to the game
  • Fascinating setting & environmental storytelling
  • A different take on the traditional survival game
  • Survival aspect can be tweaked to your liking
  • Lengthy campaign at a budget price (some VR tech demos cost more)

Cons

  • Have to judge venturing out & risk losing progress on best guesses
  • Too easy to get hypothermia & find yourself in an unrecoverable position
  • Being able to cheat your way past puzzles in VR mode is a big oversight

7/10
0 Comments
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