So what has VRFocus got in store for its last two videogames that all HTC Vive owners should have in their libraries? One is a fantastical puzzle experience that’s a visual and audible treat, while the other is one of the best action titles available, they are FORM and Battlezone.
FORM
Puzzle titles are ten a plenty on HTC Vive, ranging from the cute and cuddly to the weird and wonderful. Charm Games’ FORM definitely falls into the latter category, mixing up sci-fi elements with surreal visuals.
Set on a remote Alaskan research facility, you play the role of Dr. Devin Eli, a physicist with superhuman powers of geometric visualization, taking a journey to uncover the secrets behind a recently discovered ancient artifact, The Obelisk. As you explore the strange environments built from Dr. Eli’s memories, dreams and fears you’ll have to assemble puzzle pieces, unlock doors and open rifts to alternative realities.
FORM is one of those videogames that seems short – it’s not a massive RPG by any means – but that’s mainly due to its engrossing nature. It’s completely linear, with one puzzle unlocking the next, but it looks and sounds that gorgeous that you probably won’t care.
Just like Syren it didn’t receive VRFocus‘ top marks in our review, sometimes however that doesn’t necessarily mean you shouldn’t try it out, and that definitely goes for FORM.
Battlezone
Lastly VRFocus had to include Rebellion’s tank-based battler Battlezone. It featured on the Oculus Rift best of feature and quite frankly had to appear on here. It’s the only one on the list that’s a dedicated seated experience, requiring a gamepad to play rather than the HTC Vive’s bundled motion controllers but that’s no bad thing.
VRFocus has covered Battlezone quite extensively since it first launched on PlayStation VR last year. If somehow you’ve managed to miss all the coverage, the videogame is a homage to the original 1980 title by Atari where you take control of a heavily armoured tank. Featuring procedurally generated maps that can be made small, medium or large, you’ll have to fight through other tanks, mine layers, gun emplacements, UFO’s and more to succeed.
To aid your destructive onslaught there are a range of tanks to choose from – light, medium and heavy – all with the usual attributes you’d expect for each class. Along the way you’ll be able to collect credits that can be used to swap your weapon load outs, upgrade the tank or by extra lives should you need them.
To say VRFocus enjoyed Battlezone is an understatement. The review gave it five stars and said: “Battlezone is arcade VR action at its finest, with options galore allowing players to uniquely hone their combat strategies. With both extensive single-player and multiplayer modes there’s enough here for countless hours of gameplay, so you can comfortably sit cocooned inside these rolling machines of destruction and never get bored, because quite frankly, it’s too much fun.”
