Cleared your schedule for the weekend? We hope you have, because the PSVR exclusive Marvel’s Iron Man VR is headed for launch on July 3rd. To drum up even more hype, developers Camouflaj released the game’s launch trailer featuring plenty of high-flying action and story.
We’ve seen a fair bit of Iron Man VR in the months since we first went hands-on with the game last year. From what we’ve seen and experienced, the game has huge potential, which is part thanks to its innovative flying mechanic that—without exaggerating—makes you feel like Iron Man.
If you’re looking for a better breakdown of everything you’ve seen in today’s launch trailer, Camouflaj actually released a bunch of gameplay and story info just last week, which should help you understand some of what you’re seeing here.
Provided you drag your eyes across this article before July 3rd, you can still pre-order Iron Man VR in either a digital or disc Standard Edition for $40, and a Digital Deluxe Edition for $50 which includes four Iron Man armor skins that are unique to the Deluxe edition, extra upgrade points, the full soundtrack (digital), and an Iron ManVR PS4 theme.
The release date for Iron Man VR is fast-approaching on PSVR! Marvel’s Iron Man VR, developed by Camouflaj and published in part by Sony, releases this Friday, July 3rd and you can read our full review on Thursday, July 2nd, at 5:00AM PT.
This is one of those rare instances where we actually have an extremely good idea of what to expect out of a game prior to its release. Not only were there several demos we got to attend, there is now also a demo on the PSN Store for everyone to try, we’ve spoken to the developers at length, and generally know what this game has in store.
We can’t say anything else right now about it, but if you’re looking forward to the game’s release you can check out our review and plenty of video coverage right here at UploadVR.com a day before it launches starting at 5AM PT.
As a reminder: Iron Man VR features a brand new story. This is not connected to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, any existing video games, cartoons, or even comics. The team looked to past stories from the comics for inspiration, but are building this as its own, unique story that’s totally standalone and is not an origin story.
Let us know what you’re expecting down in the comments below!
Last week Iron Man VR developer Camouflaj told us that the upcoming PSVR exclusive featured around ‘8 – 10 hours’ of AAA VR gaming. Now the Iron Man VR trophy list gives us an idea of how that time is divided up.
The trophy list debuted on Exophase over the weekend. If you want to avoid spoilers then we wouldn’t recommend reading it, but the list and icons indicate that Iron Man VR is comprised of 12 missions and an opening prologue.
We got to see that prologue and the first mission in the demo that released on PSVR a few weeks back. Remember, though, that Camouflaj is kitting out the game with optional extras and challenges, taking part in which is likely to push the game to the developer’s estimations.
Other trophies confirm that the game will feature more Flight and Combat Challenges and that you’ll have star ratings at the end of each mission. You’ll also be rewarded for killing a certain number of enemies with specific weapons and completing the campaign of different difficulties. There’s also a trophy for catching a grape in your mouth which will probably be as hard as the basketball trophy in The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners.
Not long to go now; Iron Man VR debuts on PSVR on July 3rd. Publisher Sony has been releasing a bunch of developer diaries for the game in the run-up to launch and Camouflaj shared plenty of other details with us in our interview.
Will you be chasing every trinket on the Iron Man VR trophy list when the game launches on Friday? Let us know in the comments below!
Iron Man VR releases exclusively for PSVR next week and we recently talked with Ryan Payton, founder of developer Camouflaj, about the game’s development. During the conversation he briefly touched on the game’s early prototyping phase and mentioned it began life as a PC VR title.
“When we first were prototyping the game, obviously we’re iterating on PC a lot and we were moving in 360,” says Payton. “But as the project developed and we first signed the game with Marvel, then Sony became a part of the conversation. Both Camouflaj and Marvel were really excited about having Sony as a partner to publish the game because we absolutely love PlayStation VR. We want this game to be played by as many people around the world as possible.”
Obviously every game begins life as a PC game since that’s the platform that contains the development tools studios use to create games themselves. But in this case it sounds like the game was playable initially on PC VR platforms due to the freedom of 360-tracking. But after Sony entered the picture as publisher, the team adapted to PSVR and embraced the headset as the new target.
“They have great motion controllers, they have a great headset, but as you noted [during the interview], they have only the single PlayStation camera,” says Payton. “But instead of backing down and deciding that our game was going to be only, for example, a seated experience, instead of doing that, the team decided to think really, really creatively about the capabilities of PlayStation VR.
“The fact that they have the Move Controllers with these gyroscopes, that we have a general sense of what the player wants to do, even if their body is occluding the PlayStation camera…And so there’s a lot of great tech underneath the hood and a lot of great design thought that allowed us to offer 360 degree movement for players who so choose to play that way.”
In the past the developers from Camouflaj have described what they do to enable the illusion of 360 tracking as “black magic” and if you try out the free Iron Man VR demo on PSVR for yourself you’ll see that’s not far from the truth. Even though there is only the single camera and your hands / body occlude the controller easily, it seems like flight never really gets wonky even if you turn all the way around. Technically, it’s quite impressive.
“Ensuring that the game had world-class flight and combat mechanics, as Iron Man in VR, was paramount,” says Payton. “That’s exactly how we laid the foundation of the game. Back when the game was simply a prototype and we were pitching to Marvel and we told our partners, and we told ourselves, that throughout development, we were going to make sure that moment to moment gameplay and locomotion were going to be world class. And I think the team has done an incredible job delivering on that.”
We’re only just over a week away from the release of Iron Man VR, and so promotional material is ramping up ahead of the July 3 launch. The latest Iron Man VR video from PlayStation runs through some of the customization and adjustments you’ll be able to make to Tony’s suit as you play through the game.
In the video, Designer Ryan Darcey from Camouflaj notes that while flying and shooting is the “bread and butter” of Iron Man VR, you’ll also spend some time in the iconic Malibu mansion playing as and learning more about Tony. It’s here that you’ll be able to visit the garage to modify and upgrade the Iron Man suit in various ways.
According to Ryan Payton, Director of Iron Man VR and Founder at Camouflaj, the garage “allows players to kind of relax, just be Tony, listen to the radio, work out, but also be able tweak the suit and make it feel like this is your suit that you’re customizing and improving.” You can take a look at that customization system in the video embedded below — it looks like you’ll have a fairly high degree of control over not just the weapons, but also the aesthetic of the suit too.
You’ll be able to customize the repulsion and also craft additional weapons to add to your suit for equipping in auxiliary slots or augment slots, which allow you to craft different types of upgraded equipment. You can improve things like your thrusters and your HUD capabilities.
Iron Man VR is fast-approaching next month and after around a year and a half of time between its original unveiling and now, the anticipation is high. We recently interviewed two key developers on the team and chatted about the game’s length and depth.
During the interview we spoke with Ryan Payton, founder of Iron Man VR development studio Camouflaj, and Brendan Murphy, Lead Writer on the project. One of the main topics we talked about is the game’s structure. In the demo it’s hard to get a feel for what the actual gameplay flow will be like from one major story beat to the next and if it’s entirely linear on-rails, if it branches at all, or if there are any free, open areas to explore outside of the actual missions.
According to Payton, they’re designing it “like campaign driven games” people will be familiar with from outside of VR.
“So like, for example, like Halo, a big set piece, and then you kind of take a break from that set piece, go into the shoes of Tony Stark and then you’re back to another big new environment with another big, cinematic action-based mission,” says Payton. “So that’s kinda like the structure of the campaign, but in between each mission, for the most part, we bring players into Tony Stark’s garage, which kind of acts as a hub and then players can access a globe where they’re able to see a lot of the different threats that Tony’s under.”
On top of that there will be optional missions as well, such as objectives revolving around free flight, free roaming, specific flight challenges, combat challenges, and more. You’ll earn research points to unlock and customize your impulse armor and gradually experiment with new things over time.
“One of the things that we did when we pitched Marvel is that we promised them that Marvel’s Iron Man VR was not going to feel experimental,” says Payton. “It wasn’t going to feel like a short demo. It wasn’t going to feel like an ‘experience,’ it was going to feel like a full-fledged, high-quality, AAA VR game that was built off of the previous lessons that we learned by playing other VR games. We’re kind of standing on the shoulders of giants, of other great VR games.
“We’re learning from them and then we’re growing. We’re using that as a baseline. And then we feel like in some ways we’re pushing the medium forward a little bit as well. Because it’s all part of this process of medium that is relatively young. And it’s such an exciting time to be releasing a game. So we also feel very privileged and lucky to have that amount of time and resources that were provided to us, to, to give this game, to give this IP, the proper amount of content and quality that I think all the fans really, really want.”
The ultimate question though, at the end of the day, is what does that translate into for players. I personally despise judging a game on its length to dollar ratio, but at the same time a AAA platform exclusive based on one of the most ubiquitous IPs on the planet carries a certain weight with it.
“I’m always hesitant to talk about playtime because everybody is different and some players love to speed run through things,” says Payton. “That being said, based on playtest data that we’re seeing, on average the first-time campaign length ranges between about 8-10 hours. But we’ve seen much longer play times than that too.”
Did you miss out on the UploadVR Showcase: Summer Edition last week? Check out every trailer, article, announcement, interview, and more from the UploadVR Showcase right here.
We recently got the chance to interview Ryan Payton, founder of Iron Man VR developer Camouflaj, and Brendan Murphy, Lead Writer on the project, about their unique take on telling an original Tony Stark story. Iron Man VR is a PSVR-exclusive releasing this July 3rd.
I first got the chance to play Iron Man VR right when it was originally announced almost a year and a half ago. At the time, I only got to do some practice flight in the Iron Man suit flying around Tony Stark’s mansion and then a quick mission in the sky where I defended an airplane that was about to crash. It was quick and action-packed as a good showcase of gameplay, but didn’t tell me much about what the game as a whole is actually like.
To be clear: this is not related to any active comic book storylines, although the team did look there for inspiration, nor is it connected to the Marvel Cinematic Universe or any other video games. Iron Man VR is, from top to bottom, a standalone title we’ve been told.
During a video chat interview last week, Payton and Murphy talked to me about what it was like to try and establish an original take on Tony Stark and Iron Man in the wake of Robert Downey Jr.’s run as one of the most globally recognized, celebrated, and adored movie franchise characters of all-time in the Marvel Cinematic Universe of films.
“Yeah, well, they certainly cast a long shadow,” admits Murphy. “…But, all the stuff about what has come before and the performances by other people before, we didn’t really concern ourselves too much with that. We use the comic books as reference and we set out to start fresh and create a new take on the character…We had talked about not wanting to tell an origin story.
“It just seemed obvious that it had been done and done well, but we still wanted to tell what felt like the essential Tony Stark story. And how do you do that with a character that’s been around since 1963 and there’s, you know, countless iterations of them? When we met with Marvel and it went well and, you know, we started to collaborate with them, the first thing they said was, ‘Yeah, please don’t make an origin story.’ They urged us to tell an original story, not just a retread of something we’ve already seen.”
Everyone knows the origin of Superman, Batman, Spider-Man given their lengthy history of feature film releases, so with the MCU still fresh in the mind of fans, a retread of Stark’s origins just isn’t needed. So, in the case of Iron Man, what does an origin story actually look like?
“Part of trying to make it a quintessential Tony Stark story, without it feeling like something that you’ve seen a bunch of times or at all, was hammering down on this theme of: Tony Stark being his own worst enemy,” says Payton. “I would say it’s probably the main theme of our game. And it’s such an essential, like Tony Stark thing to create a problem and then have to solve it basically. I would say, without spoiling anything, we kind of drove down on that theme.”
Did you miss out on the UploadVR Showcase: Summer Edition? Check out every trailer, article, announcement, interview, and more from the UploadVR Showcase right here.
There’s now less than a month to go until Marvel’s Iron Man VR finally arrives on PlayStation VR (fingers-crossed). In the run-up to launch developer Camouflaj has been releasing a series of behind the scenes videos looking at title’s creation, the latest called Creating Iron Man in VR.
As Ryan Payton, Iron Man VR Director says right at the start: “It all started with a challenge,” and that was to showcase how a smaller virtual reality (VR) studio like Camouflaj could create an immersive experience that closely replicates that feeling of being the famous Marvel character.
There’s a lot of pressure on a project like this thanks to the massive IP and the history of videogame/movie tie-ins. Iron Man (2008) was the building block for the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) with two sequels as well as all those appearances in the other films. And history has shown that for the most part, when a film is turned into a videogame the outcome rarely lives up to the expectations of fans.
Marvel’s Iron Man VR doesn’t look like it’s going to suffer that same fate. VRFocusviewed an early demo last year as positive and hopefully, you’ve now tried it thanks to the free demo currently available on the PlayStation Store. This provides a basic training mission alongside a couple more, giving a feel for the flying and combat mechanics.
The videogame is due to launch on 3rd July and depending on which territory you live in there are a couple of different bundles you can still pre-order. In Europe, there’s a deal including Marvel’s Iron Man VR and two PlayStation Move controllers for €99.99 /£84.99. While across the pond the offer is for a PlayStation VR, the videogame and controllers for $349.99 USD.
With this continual buildup to launch hopefully, there won’t be another delay which has plagued the title. Check out the behind the scenes video below. For further updates of Marvel’s Iron Man VR, keep reading VRFocus.
Earlier today VRFocus reported on the likelihood that Marvel’s Iron Man VR would be getting a demo ahead of the videogames’ official July launch. That’s happened soon than expected, as the demo is now available on PlayStation Store. Plus there’s a new controller bundle coming.
If you head to the PlayStation Store right now (here for UK/ here for US) you can download the free Marvel’s Iron Man VR – Demo and see what all the fuss is about – and whether the full experience is worth waiting for.
Interactive Stark Jet cinematic starring Tony, Friday & Pepper Potts
“Out of the Blue” Stark Jet gameplay mission
Flight Challenge optional mission
Advanced Combat Challenge optional mission
This should give a nice taster of the action and how it feels to fly, shoot, and Rocket Punch using Tony Stark’s famous armour. As an added incentive to download the free demo (as if you needed one?), doing so will unlock the exclusive Molten Lava Armor Deco when you purchase Marvel’s Iron Man VR.
To play Marvel’s Iron Man VR you’ll need a pair of PlayStation Move controllers which can be difficult to come by should you not own a pair. So alongside the videogame launch on 3rd July a special bundle including the highly sought after controllers will be released, retailing for €99.99 /£84.99. Available to pre-order today this bundle will be available inSwitzerland, Austria, Eastern Europe, UK, Croatia, Bulgaria, Germany, Italy, Greece, Cyprus, Israel, Malta, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Benelux, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Norway.
Those in US, Canada, Columbia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, Panama, Peru, and Republica Dominicana will have a different deal. For $349.99 USD / $449.99 CDN the bundle includes:
Marvel’s Iron Man VR videogame
PlayStation VR headset
2 PlayStation Move controllers
PlayStation Camera
VR Demo Disc
Placed inside the famous superhero, the storyline revolves around a mysterious villain called Ghost. A hacker and anti-corporate activist who repurposes old Stark tech, Ghost aims to topple Tony’s empire and you need to stop her.
VRFocus will continue its coverage of Marvel’s Iron Man VR, reporting back with further updates from developer Camouflaj.
Marvel’s Iron Man VR has been plagued by a number of delays but that should all be coming to an end in July. Back in March details leaked that a possible demo would be released and now further information seems to add credence to these findings.
As spotted by Gematsu over on Twitter, PS4Patches.com – which maintains an archive of PlayStation 4 videogame updates – has posted that a 1.02 update for a Marvel’s Iron Man VR – Demo recently went live across EU, US, Asia and Japan regions.
While there’s no official confirmation of a demo just yet, it’s the best indicator that one is coming soon. VRFocus speculates that the demo would likely be similar to the one showcased at several events last year, having tested a short introductory experience at Gamescom 2019.
This provided a demonstration of the flight and combat mechanics in a short training sequence set around Tony Stark’s Malibu residence. That impressed VRFocus enough to write: “Iron Man VR could very well be one of PlayStation VR’s biggest hits.” So the title is certainly one to look forward to.
Developed by Camouflaj – the team casual stealth experience République VR – Marvel’s Iron Man VR has the famous superhero battling a mysterious villain called Ghost. A hacker and anti-corporate activist who repurposes old Stark tech, Ghost aims to topple Tony’s empire.
Marvel’s Iron Man VR is now slated for release on 3rd July, exclusive to PlayStation VR after previous launch windows for late 2019, February 2020 and May were shelved.
That’s not all PlayStation VR owners have to look forward to. For those that like for buy physical copies Perp Games announced six titles coming to retail this summer. These included Rush VR,Budget Cuts, Headmaster: Extra Time Edition and Mini Motor Racing X.
VRFocus will continue its coverage of Marvel’s Iron Man VR, reporting back with further updates on this demo.
