Something for the Weekend: PlayStation VR Black Friday EU Savings

It’s that special time of year again where every retailer goes discount crazy in the run-up to Christmas. Attracting customers with offers and discounts galore – some better than others. While Black Friday may still be a few days away, the EU PlayStation Store started its offerings on Friday just gone, so it seemed apt to feature those deals today. All these deals end at 11.59pm GMT on Monday 26th November 2018.

Astro Bot Rescue Mission

A platform title from the team at Sony Japan Studio, Astro Bot Rescue Mission was well received when it launched last month for PlayStation VR. VRFocus commented in its review: “While Astro Bot Rescue Mission isn’t quite as charming as Moss, or as superbly crafted as Mario Odyssey, it is a great old-school platformer for the VR era, bringing some of the best features of both 2D and 3D platformers of old and incorporating VR in a way that doesn’t feel awkward. This is a fun, lighthearted way to spend some time in VR, and worth checking out.”

Astro Bot Rescue Mission is on sale for £19.99 GBP, reduced from £34.99.

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim VR

Christmas 2017 proved to be a bumper year for VR content, with Bethesda releasing DOOM VFR and The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim VR. Even though the latter videogame was a few years old by then the addition of VR proved to be a wise choice, with VRFocus writing in its review: “for those who dreamed of a truly immersive role-playing experience, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim VRis simply the best opportunity available today.”

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim VR is on sale for £19.99, reduced from £47.99.

SUPERHOT VR

SUPERHOT VR originally launched on Oculus Rift with Touch support before being ported to HTC Vive and PlayStation VR. The title has seen near-universal acclaim due to its particular gameplay style where time only moves when you do. So there’s plenty of slow-mo bullet dodging and gunplay as you try to kill enemies.

SUPERHOT VR is on sale for £11.99, reduced from £19.99.

Eagle Flight

Eagle Flight is another Oculus Rift which arrived in October before making its way to PlayStation VR and HTC Vive by the end of 2016. Set fifty years after humans vanished from the face of the Earth, wildlife and nature have reclaimed the cities, with players taking to the skies of Paris for a selection of single-player and multiplayer modes.

Eagle Flight is on sale for £9.99, reduced from £34.99.

Eve: Valkyrie – Warzone

EVE: Valkyrie – Warzone is a first-person spaceship shooter that puts you in the cockpit for intense multiplayer space combat. The Warzone expansion also includes all five previous free updates: Carrier Assault, Joint Strike, Gatecrash, Wormholes, and Groundrush.

EVE: Valkyrie – Warzone is on sale for £9.49, reduced from £24.99.

Farpoint

Farpoint is a sci-fi adventure where you find yourself stranded on an alien world filled with all sorts of nasty hostiles. While Farpoint will work with PlayStation VR’s standard control methods when the title launched it tended to be packaged with the PlayStation Aim controller, which is still the best way to play the experience.

Farpoint is on sale for £7.99, reduced from £24.99.

Firewall Zero Hour

Another title that benefits from owning PlayStation Aim, Firewall Zero Hour is a team-based online multiplayer from First Contact Entertainment. Receiving a five-star review from VRFocus, we said: “Firewall Zero Hour has managed to avoid many of the common pitfalls of VR online multiplayer’s and add its own interesting twist to the military FPS genre. The lobby system could use some improvements, but otherwise its a finely crafted title that will be of great interest to FPS fans.”

Firewall Zero Hour is on sale for £15.99, reduced from £34.99.

Robinson: The Journey

Robinson: The Journey casts players as Robin, a boy that’s left stranded on an alien world called Tyson III after his ship crash lands. But Robin isn’t alone, he’s accompanied by an AI companion called HIGS, and together they must survive the harsh environment and dangerous inhabitants as they search for the lost crew, solving puzzles and unearthing the planet’s secrets along the way.

Robinson: The Journey is on sale for £9.79, reduced from £44.99.

Archangel

Archangel is set on a world ravaged by natural disasters. Players take on the role of a pilot in the United States Free Forces, a resistance group fighting a tyrannical United States government which has removed all freedoms from its citizens. Stepping into a massive mech, players will take the fight to HUMNX, a private conglomerate that controls what little is left of a ravaged America.

Archangel is on sale for £11.99, reduced from £29.99.

Star Trek: Bridge Crew

Star Trek: Bridge Crew features both single-player and multiplayer options – although VRFocus did state in its review that the videogame was all about the multiplayer. You get to play in one of four roles, Captain, Helm, Tactical or Engineering, each with its own particular job to do. Once chosen, you and your teammates then head out into space to complete a variety of missions.

Star Trek: Bridge Crew is on sale for £14.99, reduced from £29.99.

August 9, 2018

Farpoint Multiplayer Livestream: Taking Shots With The PSVR Aim Controller

For today’s livestream we’re digging into our pile of PSVR games once again to take Farpoint for a spin. We’ll be focusing on the game’s addictive co-op and PvP multiplayer offerings. During the stream I’ll be joined by my UploadVR colleague, Jamie Feltham, as we fight back hordes of alien beasts using our trust PS Aim Controllers.

With Firewall: Zero Hour right around the corner and Evasion coming later this year as well, it’s high-time we get our feet wet with the PS Aim Controller again. Bugs and aliens are the first targets in our sights.

We’ll be livestreaming Farpoint on PSVR today using an El Gato HD60 S, PS Aim Controllers, and monitoring chat on a nearby PC. The stream will be starting very soon at approximately 11:45 AM PT and we’ll aim to last for about an hour or so. We’ll be livestreaming directly to the UploadVR Facebook page. You can see the full stream embedded right here down below once it’s up:

Embedded livestream coming soon

You can see our archived streams all in this one handy Livestream playlist over on the official UploadVR YouTube channel (which you should totally subscribe to by the way). All future and current streams will be on Facebook, which you can see a list of here.

Let us know which games you want us to livestream next and what you want to see us do, specifically, in Farpoint and other PS Aim Controller games. Comment with feedback down below!

Tagged with: Aim Controller, Farpoint, livestream, PSVR

July 20, 2018

Why Farpoint’s Best Moments Don’t Involve A Gun

It took me a little time, but last week I finally took the internet’s cruelly-delivered advice, manned up, and shot my way through Farpoint. There was some screaming, some jumping and some “lalalala I’m not really here”-ing, but by god I got there. By the time all the spider-slaying and pants-changing was done though, I have to admit it wasn’t my bravery that lingered in my mind, nor was it the PlayStation Aim Controller-fuelled action.

Believe it or not, it was that thing that’s so often forgotten when making a first-person shooter: the story.

Farpoint’s story is a little odd in that, though the player must trek through a hostile alien planet on their own, it’s not their tale that’s the focus. Instead, you retrace the footsteps of two scientists, Dr. Eva Tyson and Dr. Grant Moon, that landed on the planet before you. Between the game’s linear levels, you’ll discover databanks that piece together more of the pair’s time on this strange new world, while certain sections throughout the gameplay also allow you to play back moments from when they stood in the same place.

Though you may start off wondering exactly why you should be so interested in two strangers when your own adventures are surely enough to talk about, Eva and Grant’s story quickly becomes one of the most engaging aspects of Farpoint. Eva, a passionate and dedicated scientist in her own right, devotes herself to finding a way back home, determined to salvage a ship and make it back. As she makes her own journey across the planet in search of survivors, Grant stays back at a makeshift home base, studying up on the lay of the land. The two communicate over an intercom, revealing more about themselves as they go.

It may seem strange to create a VR game with a dedicated controller that delivers incredible immersion then take the viewer away from their own body, but in doing so Farpoint manages to grow a bond between two people you haven’t even met. What developer Impulse Gear instead creates is theatre; you watch two people that feel like they’re really there bounce off of each other with unparalleled intimacy, like you’re simply poking your head through a wall in a private space and watching what unfolds. Every frown, raised eyebrow and shake of the head carries much more weight than it does on the flat screen. Tellingly, the story is penned by Rob Yescombe, who also worked on the brilliant third-person VR narrative, The Invisible Hours, and recently joined Valve. If you enjoyed watching that game’s ensemble fight amongst themselves, you’ll know what I’m talking about here.

It’s not until deeper into the story, where things get a little more desperate, when things really start to come alive, though. At one point, Farpoint abandons is gunplay for a good ten minutes to tell you more about Grant and Eva, and that’s where it really shines. It begins with a sequence in which you embody Grant and must deliver some heavy news to Eva, who doesn’t take it well. The connection you feel to your distressed survivor in this moment is striking, with a pang of guilt surfacing on the brain as if you were actually letting this virtual human down yourself. There’s momentary eye-contact that just feels human, instantly signaling much more complex appreciations of the character that stands in front of you.

With a gut punch delivered, you watch the next ten minutes unfold almost completely forgetting about the task at hand. It’s not the most astonishing, revelatory piece of videogame writing you’ll ever see, but watching it unfold in VR adds tangible weight to the character’s actions. For my money, that’s the biggest contribution Impulse Gear made to VR with its debut.

Ultimately, like the gameplay itself, Farpoint’s story doesn’t quite hit it home, feeling more like a testbed for something bigger to come later down the line. But if Impulse Gear is able to isolate, extract and then expand upon what worked about its debut game’s narrative, then I’m far more excited for their follow-up game.

Tagged with: Farpoint

The post Why Farpoint’s Best Moments Don’t Involve A Gun appeared first on UploadVR.

July 6, 2018September 11, 2018

The 15 Very Best VR Shooters For Rift, Vive, PSVR, and Windows VR

Over the last two and a half years we’ve gotten a lot of VR shooters. From zombie-slaying adventures and sci-fi romps through the stars, to hardcore military simulations and hunting dinosaurs on a lonely island, there’s been something for just about everybody.

Now with quite a few promising VR shooters on the horizon we’ve decided to round up our list of the very best 15 VR shooters that you can play right now on Rift, Vive, PSVR, and Windows VR headsets while you get ready for the next wave of intense FPS action.

All entries are listed alphabetically, any past entries that may have been removed are listed at the bottom before the “Coming Soon” section.

Arizona Sunshine (Rift, Vive, PSVR, and Windows VR)

Our Review

Vertigo Games’ zombie-killing adventure, Arizona Sunshine, is still the best game featuring the walking undead. It’s got a solid campaign, cooperative multiplayer, and an addictive horde mode. Everything is ultra-polished and it’s just a joy to play. Can’t recommend this one enough.

Compound (Rift, Vive, Windows VR)

Our Preview

Your eyes are not deceiving you: that video above is actually what Compound, a 2018 VR shooter, looks like. It’s honestly like you’ve set foot inside of a classic 90s-era PC FPS like Wolfenstein or Quake. From our preview: “[Compound] recaptures the revelatory 3D thrills of sneaking around Castle Wolfenstein, hugging a pixelated wall and quickly poking around a corner for a few pot shots at unsuspecting enemies, opening a door and leaping in fright at the sight of an armed goon opening fire, or the relief that comes with discovering a cache of health. But there’s renewed enthusiasm in unearthing the core of the first-person shooter that takes Compound far further than a faithful love letter.”

Farpoint (PSVR Exclusive)

Our Review

Farpoint was released as the flagship title for Sony’s PSVR Aim Controller and it does a great job of showcasing the device. We wouldn’t recommend playing it without the controller, in fact. What you’ll get is a decent campaign, 1v1 PvP maps, solo challenge maps, and co-op wave-based maps to play with a friend. It’s a lot of content and you’ll be hard-pressed to find a VR shooter that just feels better to play than Farpoint.

Firewall Zero Hour (PSVR Exclusive)

Our Review

I’ll just quote my review here: “Firewall Zero Hour defies the odds by delivering a multiplayer-focused VR shooter that actually lives up to its potential. If you don’t have a PS Aim controller yet, then you should buy one for this game even though it technically supports DualShock 4 as well. If you don’t have a PSVR headset yet, then you should buy one for this game. With a few improvements and additions, First Contact could turn what is already a must-have PSVR game into a genre-defining one.”

From Other Suns (Rift Exclusive)

Our Review

Imagine if you took the ship management aspects out of something like FTL then married it with a procedurally generated roguelike with a Star Trek Away Team-style skin. That’s basically From Other Suns. It’s a blast on co-op and is basically infinitely replayable.

Gunheart (Rift, Vive, and Windows VR)

Our Review

This is about the closest you’re gonna get to something like Borderlands in VR right now. The drop-in, drop-out co-op works great, missions are fun and replayable, and there’s a ton of stuff to unlock in terms of guns, weapon mods, and cosmetic items. The movement features a mixture of free locomotion, teleporting, and excellent floaty jumps. Oh — and there’s PvP!

Island 359 (Rift and Vive)

Our Review

Hunting dinosaurs is terrifying, but it’s also fun. That’s the underlying premise that Island 359 was founded on. Think of it as a survival shooter that drops you into a jungle and asks you to hunt deadly dinos for survival. With a lot of weapons and game modes to pick from, it’s the kind of VR game that keeps on giving.

Onward (Rift and Vive)

While still technically in Early Access, this was really the original hardcore VR shooter to put competitive FPS games on the map for the immersive medium. It’s got excellent mechanics, a strikingly realistic gameplay feel, and it does a great job of making you really feel like you’re in the middle of a war. Highly recommended.

Pavlov (Rift and Vive)

Read Our Impressions

Pavlov is what you get when someone looks at a game like Onward and says, “What if that, but a little less hardcore?” That’s the long and short of it. Pavlov is basically Counter-Strike VR and it totally works.

Resident Evil 7: Biohazard (PSVR Exclusive)

Our Review

About a year and a half after its release, this is still hands-down the scariest experience I’ve had in VR to date. Everything from the slow-building narrative, perfect shooter-based gameplay, gorgeously grotesque world, and horrifying violence make this a must-play for all PSVR owners.

Sairento (Rift and Vive)

Our Review

If Raw Data and Robo Recall are a bit too tame for you, then Sairento may be able to scratch that itch. It’s got more high-flying action, time-slowing powers, and an excellent mixture of ninja elements to make you both look and feel like a badass superhero.

Serious Sam 3 VR: BFE (Rift, Vive, and Windows VR)

Croteam’s Serious Sam series is one of the longest-running pure adrenaline-based action shooter franchises on the market. It’s all about pure action with tons of enemies on-screen and lots of back-pedaling. Serious Sam 3 VR cuts no corners and even features online multiplayer.

Stand Out: VR Battle Royale (Rift, Vive, and Windows VR)

Watch Our Livestream

I don’t like rip-offs. That’s a blanket statement that covers my feelings on the topic…for the most part. In the case of Stand Out: VR Battle Royale I’m willing to make an exception. For all intents and purposes, this game is a rip-off of PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG) by taking that exact premise, art style, and even many minor rules and mechanics, and just adapting it for VR. In fact, even the logo looks about the same. It’s shameless, but damn if it isn’t a ton of fun despite the lack of polish.

Superhot VR (Rift, Vive, PSVR, and Windows VR)

Our Review

Calling Superhot a shooter isn’t really accurate, but we had to include it on this list since it does feature lots of guns. In Superhot time only moves when you do, so it’s actually more of a puzzle game as you figure out how to take out all enemies without getting hit in this cerebral thriller.

Until Dawn: Rush of Blood (PSVR Exclusive)

Our Review

This was a launch title for the PSVR and remains as one of the platform’s very best in terms of fun you can have behind a pair of dual-wielded guns. It’s actually just one 3-4 hour long roller coaster ride full of jump scares and bad guys waiting to be filled with lead. Beyond featuring some of the best sound design we’ve seen in a horror title yet, it’s also just a treat to play through.

(9/11/18 Update): This is a living, ever-evolving list. As of September 11, 2018, we’ve bumped Raw Data, Robo Recall, and Killing Floor: Incursion off of the list to make room for Stand Out: VR Battle Royale, Firewall Zero Hour, and Compound.

Coming Soon

Zero Killed (September 26th, Rift and Vive)

PC VR users already have Onward and Pavlov and PSVR users now have Firewall Zero Hour, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t room for more realistic military shooters out there. This one is shaping up to be a mixture of Rainbow Six and Counter-Strike with tactical combat that still leans heavily on fast and intense gameplay. We’ll have impressions of this one very soon on the site.

Evasion (October 9th, Rift, Vive, and PSVR)

There are lots of single player-focused shooters on this list and the handful of multiplayer ones are mostly all about slow-paced tactical warfare — but not Evasion. Described as part co-op VR shooter and part “bullet hell” game, this one is all about staying mobile, leveraging your class abilities, and dodging enemy fire. The PSVR edition will support the Aim controller as well so this is one worth keeping your eye on.

Echo Combat (2018, Rift Exclusive)

Since it’s already gone through Open Beta, we imagine it’s not far off from release. Echo Combat takes the innovative movement system from Lone Echo and Echo Arena and marries it with Overwatch-style payload-moving FPS action.

Space Junkies (2018, Rift, Vive, and Windows VR)

Having just come off of a Closed Beta last weekend, Space Junkies is likely not far off from release either. This one feels a bit like the VR spiritual successor to Unreal Tournament with lots of zero-G jetpack flying action.

Defector (2018, Rift Exclusive)

If you’ve ever wanted to feel like the star of your own Mission Impossible film, then Defector could be the perfect game. Like, seriously. That’s what this is.

Zero Caliber (Early 2019)

We don’t know much about this one yet, but it already is on our list of most-anticipated VR shooters for sure. The art direction is beautiful and the co-op action looks like a great implementation of the sci-fi setting.

We undoubtedly missed some of your favorite VR shooters. Let us know what they are down in the comments below!

Tagged with: arizona sunshine, Compound, Evasion, Farpoint, Firewall: Zero Hour, onward, raw data, robo recall, serious sam, Until dawn, Zero Killed

The post The 15 Very Best VR Shooters For Rift, Vive, PSVR, and Windows VR appeared first on UploadVR.

April 6, 2018

Farpoint Dev Is Hiring To ‘Redefine AAA VR Gaming’ With Next Project

2017’s Farpoint was one of the rare VR shooters that showed the genre could evolve beyond wave-based combat with a full campaign. It wasn’t perfect, but thanks to support for PSVR’s Aim Controller, it was one of the most immersive VR games released last year. It sounds like the developer Impulse Gear’s next project will be just as ambitious.

The studio recently posted a recruitment tweet, noting that the team is “redefining what a AAA VR game can be” for its next project. They didn’t provide any hints as to what they could be working on next, though.

We’re looking for a few veteran game devs to work on a new project at Impulse Gear. Impulse Gear is redefining what a AAA VR game can be. Join us in creating the future of interactive entertainment.
— Impulse Gear (@ImpulseGear) April 6, 2018

Currently the team is looking for four people: two artists, a Senior Game Designer and a Senior Gameplay Programmer. Based on the listings, the game is set to feature combat of some sort, with one artist set to work on a “variety of weapon, and vehicle models.”

Farpoint was published by Sony for PSVR, but it’s not yet clear if Impulse Gear is partnering with the company again on this latest project, though the mention of AAA certainly suggests the team isn’t going it alone. The game released in mid-2017 but the developer supported it with new content drops post-launch (including a full PvP mode).

Whatever Impulse Gear is working on, we’re excited to see it.

Tagged with: Farpoint, Impulse Gear

January 14, 2018

Something for the Weekend: Ten Best PlayStation VR Discounts

It’s the weekend, and you want to spend some time plugged deep into your PlayStation VR head-mounted display (HMD) and enjoy some virtual reality (VR) gaming, right? Right, so we’ve collected a bunch of interesting VR videogames and experiences that you can enjoy right now at a discounted price.

Just take a look below and see if something catches your eye…

NBA 2KVR Experience

Being an all-star on the court is a tough job, but someone has to do it, and in NBA 2KVR Experience, it can be you. You can play a variety of basketball minigames with, um, Gatorade product branding included. Paul George will give you tips too, so that’s nice.

NBA 2KVR Experience is £6.49, down from £11.99.

Gran Turismo Sport

Does this need an introduction? Gran Turismo Sport brings all the realism the series is known for into VR, with high speed races and tense overtakes included. Definitely the most immersive VR console racing experience.

Gran Turismo Sport is now 30% off at £34.99, but you can save an extra 10% with PS Plus.

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim VR

Skyrim VR: VRFocus' Adventuring Life screenshot

Yep, it’s Tamriel, but not quite as you know. Cutting across the snowy mountains on a horse is a completely different experience in VR, as you swing your PS Move controllers to cut down enemies and wield fiery spells in the palm of your hand.

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim VR is now £39.99, down from £49.99.

Resident Evil 7: Biohazard

Resident Evil 7 - Family

The return to horror roots in Resident Evil 7 was a great success, and the creepy Baker family is beloved by a legion of fans, although ask someone who played the game in VR how they feel, and their reaction might be different. The intense immersive experience just might give you nightmares because of how scary it can be, and now you can get spooked at a discounted price.

Resident Evil 7: Biohazard is now £14.99, down from £19.99.

SUPERHOT VR

superhot vr - first screenshots 8

The inventive FPS SUPERHOT is even more intense and immersive than ever in VR, and now you can get it at a discounted price. Fire guns and move in slow motion as you predict your enemy’s movements to overcome any challenge.

SUPERHOT VR has a 42% discount putting it at £11.49, but with PS Plus you can get an extra 15% discount.

Batman: Arkham VR

batman arkham vr screen

Batman is self-explanatory. The caped crusader takes a more methodical approach in this VR investigative caper, where you put yourself behind the mask.

Batman Arkham VR is now £9.49, down from £15.99.

EVE: Valkyrie – Warzone

EVE: Valkyrie - Warzone art

The complete and expanded version of the most impressive and intense space shooter around, EVE Valkyrie, is now cheaper than ever, with all 5 previous updates. Not bad at all.

EVE: Valkyrie – Warzone is now £11.99, down from £24.99.

Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes

You’ll need good friends for this one. You need to deactivate a bomb, but solving the various puzzles and contraptions in order to make it safe is going to require a lot of teamwork.

Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes is now only £5.79, down from £11.99.

Farpoint

Farpoint screenshot

Farpoint is the impressive alien shooting romp through space that’ll make you feel like a futuristic space marine, especially if you use the PlayStation VR Aim controller.

Farpoint is now only £15.99, down from £24.99.

Tekken 7

Tekken 7 Akuma screenshot

Well, Tekken 7 certainly isn’t much of a VR experience, as you only really get to view a few battles in VR, and can’t expect that to entertain for long – but it’s a great fighting experience, and one well worth the money at this price point.

Tekken 7 is now only £29.99, down from £49.99.

December 23, 2017

The Best PlayStation VR Games of 2017

The PlayStation VR is the most youthful of all the leading virtual reality (VR) platforms, and while the HTC Vive and Oculus Rift have the benefit of powerful PC systems behind them the PlayStation 4’s unique VR offering can stand tall thanks to a hugely impressive software line-up. A mixture of AAA titles and indie releases makes the PlayStation VR a space for both impressive and innovative gameplay design.

2017 was a big year for the PlayStation VR; the head-mounted display (HMD) celebrated its first year of consumer availability and hosted the VR debut of huge franchises such as Resident Evil and The Elder Scrolls. The below selection of videogames, in no particular order, represents the best that the PlayStation VR currently has to offer.

DOOM VFR – Bethesda Game Studios

Arguably the best first-person shooter (FPS) videogame currently available for PlayStation VR, DOOM VFR showcased that it’s wholly possible to have a fast-paced, action-heavy experience in VR. Misgivings about the control systems aside – a common issue with the current-generation of VR hardware – DOOM VFR is a balls-to-the-wall adrenaline rush.

The Lost Bear – Oddbug Studio

Conversely to DOOM VFR, The Lost Bear is a slow-paced 2D side-scrolling puzzle/platform videogame that prefers to challenge the player’s logical dexterity over their trigger finger. It’s less about chaos and more about careful consideration, and in VR the showcase piece is how that consideration affects your surroundings: the entirety for The Lost Bear is played out upon a stage with the player as the solo audience member. It’s unique and innovative approach to VR deserves as much commendation as the inviting gameplay mechanics.

Farpoint – Impulse Gear

While DOOM VFR posits to take the crown from Farpoint as best FPS on PlayStation VR, Impulse Gear got there first. And ranking highly amongst the PlayStation VR community Farpoint remains, thanks in no small way to the development team’s continued commitment to bring updates and new features to the videogame.

Resident Evil VII biohazard – Capcom

One of the first AAA titles launched on PlayStation VR remains one of its best. Resident Evil VII biohazard rebooted the gameplay of the Resident Evil franchise in a way not seen since Resident Evil 4, and with it brought the thrills of survival horror into VR for the first time. Resident Evil VII biohazard’s PlayStation VR exclusivity period is set to close in January 2018, and many PC gamers are hoping to get the chance to play the videogame on their Oculus Rift or HTC Vive soon thereafter.

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim VR – Bethesda Game Studios

Bethesda Game Studios second entry in this feature and also the other of the two PlayStation VR titles released by the publisher thus far. See a common theme? Despite ongoing grievances with Oculus VR, Bethesda Game Studios’ efforts to progress VR as a medium are unquestionable. Even if they chose a six-year-old videogame to do it.

Manifest 99 – Flight School Studio

Manifest 99, like The Lost Bear, takes the VR medium in a wholly unexpected direction. The player is taken on a journey in which the storyline unfolds around them; interaction is limited to player position, but the choices they make therein have an impact on the events that play out in Manifest 99.

Polybius – Llamasoft

A visual feast as only Jeff Minter and his team at Llamasoft can do, this unique VR experience plays on your nostalgia glands by taking inspiration from the 80s arcade scene in ‘the best of ways’, as stated in VRFocus’ review of Polybius. It’s a frenetic shoot-‘em-up that challenges the player with steadily increasing difficulty as much as it does with the weaving of dynamically timed colours and lighting.

Statik – Tarsier Studios

A puzzle videogame in which your hands are tied and hidden? Tarsier Studios obviously has a creative mind, but your better be a logical one in order to successfully beat Statik’s many challenges. Your hands are kept within a box upon which you must assess and correctly execute the solution to a unique puzzle, without the typical holding hands of clues and hints. Instead, Statik will do it’s best to break your concentration. Tarsier Studios lay out a challenge, and then do the best they can to prevent you from accomplishing it. Pride is what Statik will earn you.

Sparc – CCP Games

A sad goodbye to one of the most adventurous development teams in VR, CCP Games’ Atlanta studio had grand ambitions for Sparc. A title with the potential to define VR eSports, Sparc pitches two players in a competitive arena not to dissimilar to tennis, relying on your own physical ability more than your knowledge of videogame convention. Sparc remains an enjoyable experience, but the possibilities for what it could’ve been in two years will forever remain a shameful reminder that jumping into VR this early has had its consequences.

The Solus Project – Teotl Studios

A first-person exploration videogame set on an alien planet. Does anything scream VR ambitions louder? Teotl Studios don’t seem to think so. The Solus Project is a videogame that relies as much on the player’s own ambition and curiosity as it does the depth of the world Teotl Studios has created for this passion to exist within.

TheSolusProject_Screenshot114

December 22, 2017

Road to VR’s 2017 Game of the Year Awards

It’s been a fantastic year for virtual reality games, and with VR titles hailing from ambitious indie studios and well-established developers alike, the prospect of having truly great games in VR is decidedly here. We at the Road to VR editorial staff, having explored content across VR platforms over the last year, have deliberated over the past few weeks and have come to a decision on 2017’s top honors.

Because the medium is still in its infancy, we felt it wasn’t possible to provide a meaningful set of awards based around individual genres at this time. Instead, this year we focused on the much broader task of weighing games according to the most immersive platforms available: Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, and PlayStation VR.

Games eligible for Road to VR‘s Game of the Year award must be available to the public on or before December 1st to allow for ample deliberation. Games must also natively support the target platform as to ensure full operability.

Without further ado, here are this year’s winners.

Lone Echo

Developer: Ready at Dawn

Available On: Oculus

Release Date: July 20th, 2017

As an Oculus exclusive title developed specifically for Touch, this first-person sci-fi adventure amazingly grounds you in the story while letting you fly free in zero-G. The game seems to have everything going for it too; incredible visuals, lifelike motion capture, quality writing, quality voice actors, excellent object interaction, detailed hand presence thanks to dynamic hand poses… we could go on. And we will.

Sometimes VR games overstep their bounds into territory the medium just can’t make good on right now. Lone Echo respects these boundaries while offering a locomotion style that is so freeing—while also being widely nausea-free—that it can even be used for its fast-paced multiplayer counterpart Echo Arena. It’s not only easy to control, but also contributes to immersion; you’re able to easily internalize how the world works and accept it without really thinking after only a few minutes of on-boarding. That’s an important part of the Presence equation for sure.

The game may feature cinematic sci-fi settings seemingly pulled from the set of Gravity (2013), but the star of the show is without a doubt Olivia. The early part of the game is filled with engaging ways to interact with her, creating a genuine feeling that she’s actually there—something that’s easy to screw up with poorly executed mocap, bad dialogue, or lackluster voice acting—basically anything that reveals her to be a hollow simulacra and not the living, breathing, ball-busting starship captain she is. Yet, the developers did a great job of making Olivia real enough for the player to connect with.

Lone Echo isn’t without flaws; nothing is. Puzzles show a great affinity for wow-factor and make good use of motion controls, but ultimately could be more complex. Despite this, Lone Echo it represents a shining light pointing towards greater, more in-depth games that don’t necessarily rely on old gameplay styles. Lone Echo has embraced the medium fully, searching for the most compelling way to deliver deep immersion.

SUPERHOT VR

Developer: SUPERHOT Team

Available On: Steam, Oculus, PSN

Release Date: May 25th, 2017

Since the launch of Touch in December 2016, the distinction between the sort of games made available on Oculus Home and Steam has become less pronounced over time. Undoubtedly, the company’s ‘walled garden’ approach has been unpopular for its creation of exclusivity where open standards would better serve the public. Though it’s hard to deny that Oculus’ concerted investment in motion controller-supporting VR games in 2017 hasn’t resulted in some incredible titles that may not otherwise exist. Case in point, the Oculus-funded SUPERHOT VR that later found a resounding success on Steam.

It’s honestly hard to believe that the original flatscreen Superhot (2016) wasn’t conceived for VR in the first place, considering how well the game’s slow motion, red guy-shattering premise works with a headset and two motion controllers. Built from the ground-up for VR headsets, Superhot VR isn’t a lengthy game when playing through story mode, but its ability to immerse with its low poly style and physical movement-based gameplay immediately make it one of those “easy to learn, hard to master” games that are undoubtedly worth coming back to—if only to perfect your trick shots, and delve deeper into the feeling of being some sort of badass from The Matrix (1999).

Stylish, addictive, immersive. All of these words come to mind when we think about Superhot VR. Now that the developers have pushed their ‘Forever Update’, several challenge modes make the game that much more difficult, and ridiculously fun.

Farpoint

Developer: Impulse Gear

Available On: PSN

Release Date: May 16, 2017

Farpoint made its debut on PlayStation VR as one of the first ‘full’ AAA titles to delivery an engaging single player campaign to didn’t feel like it ended just as things were getting started. The VR FPS also launched with full support for the PS Aim controller which worked seamlessly with the game’s two-handed weapons, including an intuitive method for switching between them with a quick and funcional gesture.

While Farpoint’s story didn’t enrapture us, it was a serviceable foundation for immersive and fun gunplay. The game’s weapons didn’t do much to break new ground—mostly falling into the usual tropes of shotgun, assault rifle, sniper rifle—but there’s something to be said about great execution of a known formula. The weapons themselves wouldn’t be much fun without the right mixture of enemies; a slew of interesting enemies with well-defined roles was a great match for the weapons on offer, giving the player clear and fun ways to develop a strategy and prioritize enemies in the midst of battle. And what’s more, just as things start to feel a little too familiar the game throws a curveball at the player, introducing new and quite different enemies, as well as a number of new weapons to use against them.

Farpoint already felt substantial at launch, but the game recently got a free ‘Versus Expansion Pack’ which added a brand new PVP mode—which takes advantage of a 15 new weapon variants for 1v1 combat—further rounding out the title’s value proposition.

We’re looking forward to next year’s awards with the expectation of even more great games and platforms to choose from.

The post Road to VR’s 2017 Game of the Year Awards appeared first on Road to VR.

December 17, 2017

PlayStation Japan Release Farpoint Video, a Trailer it is not

Here at VRFocus we do enjoy the odd Japanese videogame trailer or two, especially the ones that go beyond the basic gameplay showcase adding that humour and originality that only the Japanese can provide – just look at the party political style promo video for V! No Heroes Allowed R! for example. One of the latest to be released by PlayStation Japan is for first-person shooter (FPS) Farpoint, and as usual it’s great fun to watch whether you understand it or not.

Farpoint screenshot

As VRFocus can neither speak nor write in Japanese, knowing what exactly is going on in the video is a little tricky but for our readers we’ve dug a little deeper into what the heck is going on. As you may well be aware earlier this month Farpoint developer Impulse Gear released a new update for the PlayStation VR exclusive title, called ‘Versus Expansion Pack’.

The update is centred around the two new PvP modes: Deathmatch and Uplink which the guys in the video are promoting. They are comedy duo Drunk Dragon with the third chap being former mercenary journalist Masaki Takabe. The basic premise seems to be that Drunk Dragon are fighting one another in one of these new modes without much success. So in comes Takabe to help offer some pointers to beat each other.

I that’s not right or you want to elaborate further please do let us know in the comments section below.

The ‘Versus Expansion Pack’ also saw three new maps added: Underworld, Pipeline, and Permafrost, each with 3 areas, 15 new weapons and three new skins, all unlocked by gaining player and weapon XP awarded in Challenge, Co-Op and PvP game modes.

For the latest updates on Farpoint, keep reading VRFocus.

December 6, 2017

Farpoint für PSVR: Kostenloser DLC Versus steht bereit

Der vor einigen Wochen angekündigte kostenlose DLC für den beliebten Shooter Farpoint auf der PSVR ist jetzt erschienen: Das Versus Expansion Pack bringt zwei neue PvP-Modi, bei dem man auf neuen Karten gegeneinander zum Duell antreten kann. Außerdem gibt es beispielsweise neue Waffen und Spieler-Skins.

Versus für Farpoint bringt PvP-Duelle

Der Kampf Mann gegen Mann steht beim Versus Expansion Pack für den PSVR-Shooter Farpoint im Vordergrund: Zwei Spieler duellieren sich in den zwei Modi Deathmatch und Uplink. Dafür stehen die drei neuen Karten Unterwelt, Pipeline und Permafrost bereit. Jede Karte bietet drei Bereiche, in denen die Kämpfe stattfinden, womit man auf insgesamt neun Kampf-Bereiche kommt.

Farpoint Versus DLC

Besonders spannend ist die Möglichkeit, an bestimmten Punkten Feinde heraufbeschwören zu können, die anschließend für einen kämpfen. Das eröffnet durch die unterschiedlichen Fähigkeiten der Kämpfertypen viele taktische Feinheiten. Wer zuerst zwei von drei Runden gewinnt, geht aus dem PvP-Duell als Sieger hervor. Der Uplink-Modus erweitert das Gameplay um Funkverstärker, die der Spieler einnehmen und verteidigen soll. Dafür gibt es dann ebenso Punkte wie für das Eliminieren von Gegnern. Um in den Online-Duellen gegeneinander antreten zu können, ist eine PS Plus Mitgliedschaft notwendig.

Außerdem enthält das Versus Expansion Pack noch 15 neue Waffen und drei Spieler-Skins, die man sich mit Erfahrungspunkten aus allen Multiplayer-Matches verdienen kann. Weiterhin bringt die Erweiterung für Farpoint beispielsweise noch neue Einstellungen für die Drehung sowie den Schwierigkeitsgrad Chaos im Ko-op-Modus, der seinem Namen alle Ehre machen soll. Noch mehr Informationen erhält im PlayStation Blog.

(Quelle: PlayStation Blog)

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