Jorge S Fernandez
It’s somewhat cathartic to discover the single worst launch game in a new hardware’s lineup, but simply calling Ace Banana a rotten fruit that spoils the batch does not do its awfulness justice: this is, simply put, VR poison, the kind of low-budget and poorly optimized trash that would put newcomers completely off VR gaming just as it has began its console infancy.
VR space exploring is an inspired concept, but a good game idea matters little if the gameplay doesn’t measure up, and Space Rift fails doubly as a VR experience due to its lackluster aesthetics and unrefined VR controls.
That right there is probably the best analogy to summarize Loading Human: a cluttered mess that tries to pretend it is high-quality immersion.
Despite the good intentions of the developers, Arizona Sunshine is yet another PSVR game that is plagued by unoptimized controls, queasy camera movement and an overall brief and unremarkable experience that barely qualifies it as a rental, where such an option even possible.
In the end, Mini-Mech Mayhem's charming aesthetic might win kids over, but whether or not they'll have the patience for the tedious controls and length of matches is another thing entirely. The concept of a strategy game playing out on a virtual board is an intriguing one, but like many PSVR experiments, this one fails to execute its ambitious concepts effectively, much less create an alternative experience to traditional console-based strategy games played with a controller.
Overall, SNK Heroines: Tag Team Frenzy suffers the same problem that many of the most recent fighting games have: barebones content.
In the end, horror aficionados will probably prove the harshest audience for Weeping Doll: the potential for VR horror has already been seen in various demos and titles, creating a deep hunger for more fleshed-out and frightful experiences.
It is unknown if the developers can patch Battlezone to reduce the nauseating feelings its perspective emits (reports indicate the game was even more discomforting during press previews before receiving some fine-tuning before launch), but that alone is a big enough reason to caution players from purchasing it.
Simply put, Kholat fails to properly balance its moody aesthetics while keeping the player actively invested. It is yet another case of an experience that is beautiful to witness, but boring to actually engage in.
As of this writing, Ubisoft has created a live blog that promises to address all of the technical issues that is plaguing their high profile game. Considering their misplaced priorities, however, they hardly deserve a pass for releasing Assassin's Creed Unity in the miserable shape that it's in, which damages both this decent entry in the series as well as the very AC brand itself.
When all is said and done, for anyone who has a desire to pick up a VR magic-casting simulator, The Wizards: Enhanced Edition is the better-controlling option, though it lacks much of the overall polish found in The Mage's Tale, particularly when it comes to exploring areas (there have also been a few cases of progress being halted due to the occasional glitch, forcing a restart of the level).
All in all, The Mage's Tale is an ambitious title that incorporates a lot of neat features that would prove charming in a perfect VR environment, but instead demonstrates the infancy of the technology when so much of it fails to register properly. There are still fun moments to be had during the instances where everything works, but an uneven control scheme results in an uneven experience regardless of intentions.
Overall, "average" is the perfect descriptor for Akiba's Beat. While there is nothing particularly bad about it, it does little to stand out among the most recent releases that truly revitalize the JRPG genre.
In short, Lethal VR is a basic game concept that does exactly as advertised.
At this early stage, it seems that Oasis Games Limited might end up being the LJN of VR game publishing, releasing low budget games of questionable quality. Still, one could do worse than Pixel Gear, and it would have even been more highly recommended if it just had a bit more to do. Nevertheless, the game’s functioning controls and imaginative boss battles do place it a few steps above the more mediocre of PSVR launch titles.
That said, it would have been nice to have the best of both worlds.
Like many of the other VR experiences in this launch, Hatsune Miku: VR Future Live is an impressive technical showcase that opens the imagination for future VR games, but is currently bereft of meaningful content or replay value.
Overall, Pinball FX2 VR does exactly what is advertised, and it does so adequately.
All in all, Hyperdimension Neptunia U: Action Unleashed was a decent distraction on handhelds, but a harder sell on PC when compared to the number of alternatives available, both from its own franchise and the Musou genre in general.
Simply put, of the three Umihara Kawase games now available on Steam, Shun feels like the weakest link in the series.