Review: Voxel Shot VR

Everyone likes shooting stuff in videogames, right? And zombies have become a massive phenomenon because everyone seems to enjoy seeing or blowing their heads off. So mixing the two together should be a safe bet for videogame success. Well that’s not always true, zombies are so prevalent in videogames that for one to be good it needs to be very good at everything, while hopefully offering something unique and engrossing. Well Degica Games has has created Voxel Shot VR, a voxel themed first-person shooter (FPS) with – you guessed it – zombies. And while it is charming, it doesn’t quite hit its target.  

First and foremost this is a waveshooter (most experienced virtual reality (VR) players will likely stop reading at this point), so you’ll find yourself fixed to one position with enemies coming at you from most directions depending on the level. In terms of levels there are only four, plus an additional Endless mode and training area. These four locations are City (easy), Desert (medium), Base (hard) and Airport (hard), offering different weapons and enemies so you can mix up tactics somewhat.

Voxel Shot VR image 1

The weapons on offer are your standard affair, pistols, sub-machine guns, assault rifles, shotguns, rocket launchers, sniper rifle, a minigun and grenades. For some reason only the pistol and sniper rifle are reloadable, the other weapons have to be thrown away when emptied – but they do respawn on crates located around you. So while this mechanic does mean you get to mix your weapon choices, if you start to get overrun then it tends to become a ‘dead-mans click’ scenario as you then look for another weapon.

And some are only available on specific missions. The minigun for example can only be found on the Base level, while the sniper rifle is just for the Airport (see the image below). This is because Degica Games has added certain elements to each area for those particular guns. In the City you’ll find yourself in middle of a street mowing down waves of undead with normal weapons, while in the Desert you’re in the back of a truck with a tank to deal with so you’re provided a rocket launcher. While the levels do show some variety they tend to be over way to quickly, usually just as you’re getting into your stride.

Again, trying to add that mixture of difficulty, each level has standard shambling zombies, then as you progress these turn into giant boss zombies, or there are helicopters and tanks to watch out for. It’s all just a bit rudimentary FPS 101 gameplay, it all works nice enough but you might play for 30-40 minutes and then be done with it. Sure there are scores and a global leaderboard but that’s not nearly enough to keep players coming back.

Voxel Shot VR image 2

Voxel Shot VR feels like it’s playing on its novel, quirky characteristics. It can be fun to begin with – and younger players will certainly like it – but for HTC Vive gamers who’re used to titles like Raw Data, Space Pirate Trainer, Island 359, Serious Sam, Zombie Training Simulator and many more, Voxel Shot VR just doesn’t offer enough.

60%
Awesome
  • Verdict

Review: Blobby Tennis

Virtual reality (VR) sports titles can be highly immersive experiences, getting players really immersed in whatever actions the particular sport requires. If you’re a fan of tennis then indie developer SlinDev has a simple little title to try your hand at, Blobby Tennis, which has arrived for HTC Vive (reviewed) and Oculus Rift.  

Putting you on a sun-soaked beach, Blobby Tennis is just as the title describes, a tennis simulator that partners you against a big red blob. The title actually mixes up tennis with the look and feel of beach volley ball, with a large marked area, an oversized net and masses of sand – which isn’t exactly known for its ball bouncing properties.

Blobby Tennis screenshot 2

As stated in the first paragraph, Blobby Tennis is simple. In fact it’s so uncomplex that it errs on the side of barren. With tennis ball in one hand and racket in the other you can start serving away to your red gelatinous opponent straight away, there’s no intro screens or anything. Get your shot near the blob and it’ll return it so you can start having a rally, but don’t let the ball drop, if it hits the sand then it’s time to start all over again.

While you may want to go at it hell for leather, playing a tennis videogame in VR does have its limitations – namely the amount of space you have to play in. Be to keen and start almost diving for shots and you’ll be hitting real-world walls/ceiling lights, furniture in no time. The actual physics of Blobby Tennis are very good, hitting the ball feels to your opponent feels solid, or just bouncing the ball on the racket showcases the attention to detail.

But this doesn’t help in the fact that apart from having a rally, bouncing the ball on the racket, or just randomly trying to hit things – there’s an achievement for hitting the radio – there’s just not a lot to keep you playing for any length of time. There’s no score board, no multiplayer or even a different location, just you the blob and a racket. The only real thing to keep you playing are the achievements which extend to bouncing the ball on the racket and the length of the rallies.

Blobby Tennis screenshot 1

There is one massive upshot to the lack of content, and that’s the fact Blobby Tennis is free. And it needs to be or players wouldn’t be too happy if they paid for this. So is Blobby Tennis bad, actually no it isn’t. It’s not glitchy, everything looks and plays well, it just feels like an early access title that’s good for first-timers to VR. If the developer can expand the experience adding further replayability and more features then it’ll be more the better for it.

40%
Awesome
  • Verdict

Review: VectorWars

It’s becoming something of a trend; adapting retro arcade gameplay into the very modern world of virtual reality (VR). Austin-based Gyoza Games performed such duties with debut release Inbound while the likes of Mega Overload and Super Pixel Smash have made it their raison d’etre. Red Iron Labs is the latest studio to try their hand at it, with VectorWars now available for HTC Vive, Oculus Rift and the OSVR Hacker Dev Kit (HDK).

 

VectorWars screenshotThe gameplay premise is very simple: think a vector graphics styled Geometry Wars or, for those a little longer in the tooth, Robotron. The player takes control of a vehicle within an arena and must evade the enemies and their shots whilst returning fire to take out increasingly difficult waves. It’s a familiar premise of course, but one that works in VR due to the simplest of gameplay ingredients: fun.

When playing on Oculus Rift, HTC Vive or HDK (VectorWars is also playable in non VR mode) the player stands behind the action with the arena laid out in front of them. When playing with the HTC Vive (or Oculus Rift with Oculus Touch) the left controller commands the player’s ship while the right determines the angle of the mounted turret. It’s not long before the player is able to command some impressive manoeuvres to avoid incoming fire whilst simultaneously lining themselves up to take out an enemy unit.

Of course, VectorWars is a modern take on the formula and as such features unlockable upgrades purchased with in-game currency, leaderboards and a number of other bells-and-whistles. But it’s the core gameplay that will keep players returning as, while far from the best showcase of VR currently available, VectorWars is a true and fun example of its genre.

 

VectorWars screenshotProblems so exist within the difficulty curve, however. While the player is able to tailor their experience to a degree, once skilled you may often find that the first 10-or-so waves provide no challenge. This is fairly typical of the genre, but remains a greater frustration when playing with the HTC Vive (or Oculus Rift with Oculus Touch) as the hardware typically calls for a standing position, and with no use of roomscale you’re simply guiding a vehicle around a seemingly lifeless arena for 10 minutes-or-so until you actually begin to face a challenge; arguably the entire point of such an action-centric experience.

The visual design of VectorWars has been artificially limited to meet that title, but even so there’s very little going on in the background. The endless space is marred by a few angular asteroids but little else. It’s difficult not to feel as though more could’ve been done to give the videogame a little more flair in the graphics department while still aping the retro style of 40-year-old arcade videogames.

Ultimately, VectorWars is an enjoyable VR experience but not one that will remain with you long after your initial enthusiasm has passed. However, this has been reflected in the price, as Red Iron Labs has ensured that VectorWars has a remarkably low barrier for entry (at the time of writing the videogame is available on Steam for just £2.79 GBP). This makes VectorWars hard to fault beyond the limitation inherent to the genre, and an easy recommendation for a pick-up-and-play title not requiring too much thought.

80%
Awesome
  • Verdict

Review: Battlezone

For the launch of Sony Interactive Entertainment’s (SIE’s) PlayStation VR, British studio Rebellion brought Atari’s classic 80’s title Battlezone into the 21st century. A tank-based shooter set in a cyber reality that’s hard not to compare to films like Tron, Battlezone now supports Oculus Rift and HTC Vive (reviewed) so their owners get to see what they’ve been missing out on, and they’re likely to be very impressed.

Straight from the off, Battlezone lets you know what it is and what you’ll be doing – if you’ve managed to avoid coverage like this. There are no fancy intro screens, video’s, or elongated fluff to wade through, as soon as the videogame starts you’re sat in a hulking tank with lights, screens, levers and all sorts dotted around you. Everything feels and looks solid, giving an overwhelming sense of power and control at your finger tips. The tank design is highly stylized, especially the environments, but the inside isn’t too OTT that this couldn’t be some futuristic concept vehicle.

Battlezone image

To begin with you’ll have three tanks to chose from, Light, Medium, and Heavy, each with its own loadout and particular strengths and weaknesses. As you progress through the title you’ll be able to unlock not only more tanks but a wide array of customisations to swap weaponry and increase its effectiveness for those harder difficulty levels. This is an area Battlezone excels at, Rebellion has really gone all out to offer as much flexibility as possible.

But to play around with all of that you need to kill some enemies and find supply points on the map, there’s no hot swapping, adding a further tactical element to the proceedings. First off, you can either go in solo or head into multiplayer. If you’re playing single-player then you can select a range of map options (size, difficulty) and Battlezone will procedurally generate one – so everytime you play will be different – as such vital locations like supply points will be randomly placed. Doesn’t sound like too much bother does it? That’s until you realise that you need to get to the map’s end location – a central AI core housed in a volcano – as quickly as possible or the Nemesis tank will be unleashed – souped up enemy that will test your driving skills to the limit, so taking diversions have to be weighted up.

Even with all these options, when it comes down to it, what is Battlezone like to play? Two words, intense and addictive. Battlezone is essentially a first-person shooter (FPS), so you can actually strafe in a tank to duck behind cover, quickly swap between various weapon attachments and bomb around the arenas to your hearts content. Controls feel snappy and agile, with the light tank able to quickly nip between cover, while the heavy tank soaks up the damage without feeling too cumbersome.

battlezone new featuresBattlezone 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. PlayStation VR owners have been enjoying Battlezone for months, if you own an Oculus Rift or HTC Vive you don’t need to have second thoughts about this, Battlezone is one of the best VR titles out there.

100%
Awesome
  • Verdict

Review: Rock Band VR

Several years ago rhythm action videogames like Rock Band and Guitar Hero were all the rage, with gamers eager to jam away on plastic guitars to their favourite pop and rock songs from the last few decades. That interest waned however as the genre struggled to offer anything new and improved. Then in comes virtual reality (VR) with an entirely new way of immersing players, and so Oculus supported Harmonix in creating a newly updated version for the technology, Rock Band VR, which has hit all the right notes.  

First and foremost, Rock Band VR isn’t the experience you may remember from the original titles. Over the course of development Harmonix has learned that while staring at a confined area on a TV works for normal consoles that methodology wouldn’t (or couldn’t) transfer into a VR experience, it’s just too ridged. And so the studio has built a far more open, free-playing system that allows you go for 5-star highscores or just rock out anyway you dam please.

Rock Band VR

And this new system has certainly benefited Rock Band VR. You now find yourself on a proper stage, with band mates, pedals, and swappable stage locations to make that feeling of immersion evermore apparent and grounding. When playing a song, you’re no longer fixed to the exact chords and changes of the actual tune – you still play it of course but there’s no failing it as such. Instead the studio gives you a bar that floats above the crowd with certain areas highlighted with particular notes to play to maximise your score, if you wish to adhere to it.

By that reasoning you may think you can just thrash anything out and it’ll sound ok – which it kind of does – but to delve into the rich sound variations takes time, with much more to master than the original versions. It’s a much more easy going videogame than its forebears, the pedals let you tweak the sound how you wish, and with the more modern guitar (this was a Fender Stratocaster) with its higher note buttons, let you chop and change the sound so the same song can be played multiple ways.

But there is something missing. This style of gameplay feels like the saying ‘winning doesn’t matter it’s the taking part that counts’. There’s no direct difficulty to it, you won’t get booted if you can’t keep up or just play rubbish. When you perfectly completed a song on the original title at the hardest difficulty there’s a sense of elation that comes with it, whether you managed to repeat the performance never mattered, the score always stayed as a reminder of the hours of practice put in. Whereas the core Rock Band VR experience doesn’t have that, it wants you to feel good no matter how bad you play.

Rockband VR

There is a flip side to this, Harmonix has added a classic mode which brings back the traditional scrolling neck for those that want it. Seriously though don’t bother. The addition perfectly illustrates why the studio veered away from this design in the first place. It just doesn’t do VR justice in anyway shape or form – the videogame would have got a 1-star if it had stuck to that.

Rock Band VR is definitely built around having as much fun with the experience as possible. There’s no right way or wrong way to any of it, just the sheer enjoyment of playing some classic tunes in a far more relaxed manner. Does it sometimes feel a bit much having to wear a headset, strap a guitar to you and have an Oculus Touch in the mix as well? Yes, yes it does, but quite frankly you probably won’t care when thrashing out some Bon Jovi.

80%
Awesome
  • Verdict

Review: Statik

It’s always pleasant when a developer has clearly put time and effort into producing a title. From the very beginning, its clear that developer Tarsier Studios put a lot of care into Statik. The amount of thought put into the title pays off, as Statik is a great experience.

It seems deceptively simple at first. The player is a test subject with their hands encased in a peculiar box covered in dials, switches and other odd controls. The box essentially represents the DualShock controller, with each element you can interact with on the box corresponding to a button or control on the controller. As a result, the controls are very intuitive, all that’s required is to remember which button corresponds to what switch or dial. Of course, the box is totally different with each puzzle, so that might be trickier than you may expect.

The aim is to solve a puzzle on the box. You are not given any clues, but must instead apply logic and observation of your surroundings to work out what you are meant to do. The puzzles are tricky and really tease your brain, but none of them were overwhelmingly frustrating. The level of immersion is remarkable. Between the intuitive controls and the presence of Dr Ingen – who does distracting things like click his pen, type (loudly!) on a keyboard or noisily slurp his coffee – makes Statik bizarrely more ‘real’ – as anyone who has had to work in a shared office will be familiar with.

There’s a subtle kind of horror lurking within the sterile rooms of the lab that Dr Ingen himself has set up, though. Before each puzzle he will deliver a rambling set of lines, that aren’t relevant to the puzzle but are revealing of his state of mind. His behaviour becomes more unusual the further you progress through the videogame, with his statements and attitude towards his test subjects becoming revealed in a way that is somewhat chillingly reminiscent of GlaDOS from Portal.

There is a curious ‘meta-puzzle’ that takes place in-between the main puzzles where you are given blocks that need to be assembled into a larger block, which ends up being important later on. There are also polygraph test segments where the player must register how they feel about a particular sound of image by pressing L3 for sad or R3 for happy. These too, are puzzles, though of a refreshingly different type.

There are lots of secrets to be found by careful examination of the surroundings, and sometimes just by playing around. The ‘Pointless Behaviour’ trophy was particularly amusing.

Statik screenshot 2

In a rare moment for a VR game, Statik is actually quite fun to play with a friend around, as it is actually quite useful to have someone watching the screen to shout out suggestions and point out things you might have missed.

Statik is a superb example of a puzzle game, intelligent, immersive and lots of fun to play. The subtle story woven through is interesting, the puzzles challenging without being too frustrating. VR is used superbly as an integral part of the experience and not a tacked on gimmick. Definitely worth picking up for anyone who owns a PlayStation VR.

100%
Awesome
  • Verdict

Conductor Review: All Aboard The VR Train Game

Conductor Review: All Aboard The VR Train Game

There I was fulfilling yet another childhood fantasy with the help of VR. I was driving my own train, complete with hat and occasional coal-shoveling. Every once in a while I’d treat myself to the kiddish glee of pulling a chord and letting my mechanical wonder whistle out across the dense forest that surrounded me. I was having a lovely time, but then a drone had to go and shoot me.

Conductor is not the most complex of VR games. In fact it’s pretty much bread and butter room-scale gameplay; teleport around an area, pick things up, stick them where they should go, solve the puzzle. But it skillfully straddles the tricky line between breezy ease and frustrating challenge to create a short, immersive, and worthwhile escape room experience.

Things here are literally straightforward. Making a quick escape from the evil Overcorp, you stumble upon a small train that will shoot down a track, occasionally interrupted by roadblocks that you’ll need to overcome. There are about six puzzles here that you can see through in about 90 minutes, but Conductor has enough to it to make its own mark on the genre.

The puzzles, for example, are well-plotted. Each has multiple steps to it, but environments are quite small, meaning you won’t often wander into irrelevant spaces or get lost doing something you shouldn’t. I got caught for around 15 minutes at one point simply because I hadn’t noticed a hole in the roof, but generally speaking I never experienced the procedural slog of wandering around cluelessly like I have done in other escape-the-room style games, save for a few times I’d mistaken generic environmental decoration for keys to puzzles.

If anything the game lacks a real sense of invention for the most part. The final puzzle is the only time I felt like one of its puzzles was genuinely clever. At other points solutions feel somewhat disjointed, like discovering the code for a door in an outhouse.

Early on you’ll find a Half-Life-esque gravity gun that you can use to handle heavier objects and grab things from far away. You’ll also use it for the game’s light combat mechanics, which involve grabbing Overcorp’s flying drones that hover in from above, and smashing them into the ground or nearby objects to break them. Though defeating them is easy they’re an effective distraction; more than once I’d get too involved with trying to bring them down to realise my train was about to collide into a new stop.

It’s the world building where Conductor really shines though. As you’re pursued through the woods there’s a genuine sense of desperation, best conveyed at specific points like when a car pulls up alongside your train and orders you to stop. I just would have liked to see it go a little further; the game’s abrupt ending had me wanting to see what happens next and learn more about the world.

Visually it’s a lesson in minimalism, too. The plain textures may be as far from realism as you can get but they also help VR’s 3D effect to really pop. Illuminating the pitch black forest as the train speeds through it is wonderfully atmospheric, boasting a strange sense of isolation and relief that grows with every mile you put between yourself and your beginnings.

Final Score: 7/10 – Good

Overall Conductor is a good example of the simple thrills that come from VR escape room games. If you find yourself easily frustrated by puzzle games then this is a great example of how to set the right amount of challenge without feeling too easy, and it builds an intriguing world in the process.

Conductor is now available on Steam for HTC Vive and Oculus Rift at a price point of $9.99 along with a 10% launch discount. Read our Game Review Guidelines for more information on how we arrived at this score.

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Review: GNOG

The words ‘Double Fine have brought out a new game’ are usually enough to make most gamers take an interest. Although Double Fine are the publishers in this case and not the developer, they have cultivated a reputation for knowing good quality when they see it. The is certainly the case with GNOG.

GNOG (pronounced during the title sequence as ‘gun-ogg’) is a puzzle game on the surface. Each level in the game is a box resembling the head of some kind of monster creature, which contains a huge variety of buttons, lights, dials and levels that can be poked, pulled and prodded into doing something. The boxes themselves can be turned in every direction by using a combination of the DualShock trigger buttons and right analogue stick. Everything else is controlled with the left analogue stick and the X button. Curiously, it doesn’t use any motion controls, which is something of a lost opportunity.

The heads/boxes turn out to be little dioramas filled with complex worlds, which may remind children of the 90’s of Polly Pocket or Mighty Max toys. Everything you can interact with reacts to your actions, often with changes in the music and sound effects, resulting in the box-worlds playing a rather excellent tune when a puzzle is solved. The soundtrack in general is amazing, multi-layered and dynamic and really best enjoyed over headphones. Unless you happen to be lucky enough to have an excellent 5.1 surround sound set up.

GNOG-screenshot2

The graphics are amazing. Developer KO_OP has done an excellent job in creating a very distinctive visual style that makes everything look like it was built out of neon and candy. It’s very crisp and smooth, but the myriad colours can be a little overwhelming after a while.

Solving the puzzles inside the boxes/heads requires logic whilst following subtle clues from the environment. There are secrets and hidden trophies which can be found by performing some slightly esoteric actions within each level. There is occasionally something of a frustration in the trial and error style gameplay – especially when something that should work doesn’t the first time – such as during a sequence with the mother bird (this could have been a bug or a simple mistake).

A downside to GNOG’s visual spectacle is that it’s very short, with almost all the puzzles completed in a single sitting. While there is replay value to be gained from going back to find hidden trophies and easter eggs, there’s really not enough for puzzle fans. There are some other flaws as well, some of the levels feel like they could’ve been developed further, the aforementioned possible bug and the lack of motion control is really inexplicable in a title that relies on moving an object around.

Gnog 4

GNOG is an excellent title and well worth anyone’s time. It takes excellent advantage of the PlayStation VR functionality to produce something beautiful and striking, both visually and aurally. While it could potentially benefit from some extra puzzles and a bit more polishing, it is still a solid title and worthy addition to your PlayStation VR library.

80%
Awesome
  • Verdict

GNOG Review – A Puzzle Game About Fixing Little Mini Dioramas

GNOG Review – A Puzzle Game About Fixing Little Mini Dioramas

GNOG is a really bizarre little game. Like, I don’t really even understand what I played and that’s kind of what I love about it.

On the one hand it’s an incredibly simplistic puzzle title developed by KO-OP and published by Double Fine, that has you poking around inside a wide variety of cleverly designed boxes that each represent tiny unique worlds bursting with color and character; but then on the other hand you’re learning a new language of game design every step of the way.

It’s easy to pick up and play but impossible to explain. There’s no tutorial at all other than an overlaid image of the DualShock 4 gamepad to just let you know that you should try nudging some analog sticks and buttons. Tilt the left stick, you’ll see a little circular cursor float around. Tilt the right stick and you’ll notice the mini diorama world on your screen moves. You learn how to flip it over with R2 and L2 soon after and that’s really about all there is to it.

That minimalism in terms of not only graphical style, but also in terms of game design, is a big part of what makes GNOG feel special as a puzzle game. In an industry that’s inundated with accessibility and over-explanation of everything, it’s refreshing in a way to be thrown into the deep end. Once it settles in that GNOG actually makes perfect sense, despite its esoteric beginnings, is when the magic happens.

In a lot of puzzle games you can feel yourself starting to get frustrated when you can’t figure things out. Just ask anyone that’s ever been stuck on a touch dungeon in a The Legend of Zelda title, or has tried slamming their head against that damned cube in Statik. But GNOG feels different. It’s not asking you to “discover” the solution, or find an answer to its riddle. Instead, it just wants you to feel things out and let the puzzles unravel on their own.

For example, one of my favorite levels is one of the game’s earliest stages, a rocket ship of sorts. The bright, beautiful animation of the ship blasting across the screen are shown, quickly followed by sirens going off, sparks flying, and the ship clearly breaking down. Obviously I’m intended to fix it up and help it get back to its rocketing ways across space. Naturally, I flip it around and start messing with the dials and knobs until stuff starts to work again. I understand that spinning this dial in this direction does that, and so on. The sense of discovery is never-ending and that feels intentional.

Each level represents a tiny microcosm of possibilities like this. You might fiddle around with a boombox shaped creature or it might be one that munches on pretty butterflies for a living. At the end of the day it’s not just the payoff at each level’s conclusion that makes the puzzles feel worth solving, but it’s the clever charm and smart design along the way that makes it worth exploring.

And although GNOG works perfectly fine outside of the PlayStation VR (PSVR) headset, I can’t recommend playing it without Sony’s device on your face. The ability to lean in and occupy the same space as the dioramas, as well as gain increased clarity and intimacy with the worlds cannot be overstated. The moments between levels that flush the screen with pulsing color are incredible to behold in VR and sincerely makes me hope this developer creates a music visualization program of some kind eventually.

While GNOG does a great job of reminding me of the wonder of discovery that has felt lost in most modern games, it does come at a bit of a price. The mechanics are just so stupidly simple that it’s gonna get old after a while. The child-like wonder only lasts so long before you wish there was more going on. At the end of the day, you’re just kind of clicking on stuff until something happens and even though the package surrounding that interaction is wonderfully designed and feels great to witness, it’s still pretty uninspired at its core.

Final Score: 7/10 – Good

GNOG is the video game equivalent of synesthesia. The bright colors are incredible, the simple, but disgustingly clever, puzzles are perfectly designed, and the experience inside the headset is wonderfully presented. However, it’s just such a bizarre and simple game, without anything new to really help it stand out. That it isn’t for everyone. But if you love gorgeous, modern art-style puzzle experiences that challenge your mind, then GNOG could be just your kind of weird.

GNOG can be downloaded starting today, May 2nd, from the Game Review Guidelines for more information on how we arrived at this score.

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Review: Wilson’s Heart

One of virtual reality’s (VR) many strengths is its ability to truly immerse players in fantastical worlds, making them feel part of a studio’s fervent imagination. And this is what you get with Twisted Pixel Games’ Wilson’s Heart, a dramatic film-noir style thriller/horror experience made in conjunction with Oculus Studios.

The first thing that’s immediately obvious is the entire videogame is black and white. This lends Wilson’s Heart an air of drama and intrigue that you don’t normally see in many titles, especially VR, and serves it well throughout the single-player campaign. Dark corridors and dimly lit rooms are unnerving from the word go, lights flicker, and that sense of foreboding never relinquishes even as you progress and become accustomed to the surroundings.

Wilson's Heart

All of this is equally matched by the audio quality Twisted Pixel has achieved in the title. The spatial sound not only compliments the visual design it surpasses it at points, finely picking out little flutters of noise that keeps you on your toes. You’ll be examining a table or object underneath a lamp to then suddenly hear a clatter or scutter from behind you, and this happens constantly without ever feeling overused. In terms of immersive atmosphere Wilson’s Heart has it in droves, but it’s the storyline that’ll keep you engrossed.

As the title suggests, Wilson’s Heart puts you in the role of Wilson who wakes up in a mental hospital to find he’s missing a rather important part of his anatomy, his heart. In it’s place is a weird orb-like artifact that has several uses throughout the story. While you spend a good portion of the videogame wandering around on your own you do eventually meet up with several others – some are friendly, some not so – that help to fill in the gaps. The characters and voice acting do make the whole story come alive, you become attached to them as you band together to escape the horrors lurking around the corner.

But this isn’t a jump scare kind of experience. Yes there are moments that’ll spook you – a face suddenly appears out of the darkness or from behind you – if you’re not paying attention, for the most part though Wilson’s Heart errs of the side of psychological thriller. The drama continually intensifies, aiming to keep you on edge for as long as possible, mainly because there’s one thing you can’t do, that is run away.

Wilson's Heart_E32016 (2)

If there’s one main criticism to leverage towards the title it’s the movement. It uses a teleportation mechanic that uses silhouettes of your character at fixed locations. While perfectly taking you through the storyline in a fairly linear manner, the system massively limits the amount of exploration you can actually achieve. Each teleportation spot means there’s usually between one to three items to interact with before moving on. In certain set pieces these silhouettes won’t appear until the correct time, literally leaving you in one spot until the required time.

This can then mean Wilson’s Heart starts to become a somewhat horror by numbers approach. If you investigate each area thoroughly – and then unless the story requires you to – there’s no need to venture back, which is a shame as the entire environment looks that good you’d want to explore every nook and cranny.

Wilson’s Heart is good, even very good at points. Expertly mixing its story, sound and visual aesthetics into a solid experience that’ll draw you in and keep you engrossed for hours. But there are some niggles with the constrained gameplay mechanics that hamper its ability to be a great title.

80%
Awesome
  • Verdict