Heute hat Chris einen neuen Mitstreiter an seiner Seite, um die Themen der Woche zu besprechen: Friedrich Schadow. Nach einer kurzen Sichtung der wichtigsten Neuigkeiten geht es in die Tiefe bei Magic Leap und Oculus. Zusätzlich haben wir unsere beiden VR-Titel der Woche ausführlich gespielt und in Hands-on-Videos festgehalten. Freut auch auf Sam und Konrad.
VR Weekly: Magic Leap und Oculus-Software-Rückgabe
Seit kurzer Zeit kann man gekaufte Software im Oculus-Store unter bestimmten Voraussetzungen zurückgeben: Bei VR-Erfahrungen für die Oculus Rift darf man den Titel bis zu zwei Stunden lang innerhalb von zwei Wochen testen, um sich zu entscheiden, ob man ihn behalten mag. Das ist gut für den Konsumenten, aber was bedeutet das für Entwickler?
Eigentlich hat sich ja nur die Webseite verändert und sie bietet genau so wenige Informationen wie zuvor: Magic Leap lüftet zwar noch immer nicht den Vorhang, aber das neue Design und die Möglichkeit, einen Newsletter zu abonnieren, versprechen einiges. Kommt die AR-Brille von Magic Leap noch dieses Jahr?
Spiele der Woche mit hartem Sam und weichem Konrad
In den Spielen der Woche stellen wir euch zwei VR-Titel vor, die unterschiedlicher nicht sein könnten. In Serious Sam geht es um knallharte und blutige Waffengewalt. Ja, es ist nur ein Wave-Shooter. Nein, das ist nichts Schlechtes an sich. Und wenn man zu einem greifen soll, dann zum ernsthaften Sam.
Der zweite Titel ist eine deutsche Produktion und setzt voll auf den Knuddelfaktor. Konrad the Kitten lässt euch mit einer virtuellen Katze spielen. Der Clou: Man kann den Touch Controller von der Oculus Rift oder HTC Vive einem echten Plüschtier umbinden. Das Spiel trackt dann das flauschige Wesen, was den Kuschelfaktor der Erfahrung deutlich erhöht. Wir hatten den Entwickler Konrad bei uns zu Gast und nutzten die Chance, unsere Katzenliebe in der virtuellen Realität zu testen. Konrad the Kitten ist bei Steam für 10 Euro erhältlich.
Die Entwickler des Spiels Serious Sam VR: The Last Hope waren fleißig und haben seit Erscheinen des Spiels mehrere größere Updates veröffentlicht. Mit dem aktuellen Full Release Update verlässt der Actiontitel für Oculus Rift und HTC Vive den Early-Access-Status und bietet drei neue Level sowie weitere Schmankerl. Außerdem nutzen die Entwickler das Ereignis, um neue Spieler mit einem Rabatt von 25 Prozent anzulocken. Die Aktion ist allerdings zeitlich befristet und endet schon nächsten Mittwoch.
Serious Sam VR: The Last Hope mit Full Release Update
Elf Monate nach Veröffentlichung steht nun das laut Entwickler „epische“ Full Realease Update von Serious Sam VR: The Last Hope bereit. Es bringt nicht nur drei neue Level mit, sondern auch erstmals zufällig generierte Gameplay-Elemente in den neuen und fünf alten Leveln. Die Elemente befinden sich in den drei Modi Arena, Endlos-Angriffswelle und der täglichen Herausforderung.
Außerdem haben die Entwickler dem Update noch einige neue Funktionen spendiert. Beispielsweise kann man jetzt alleine spielen, während man auf einen Co-op-Player wartet. Im Changelog listet das Entwickler-Studio Croteam VR alle Erweiterungen und Änderungen auf. Wer Serious Sam VR: The Last Hope noch nicht besitzt, hat jetzt eine gute Gelegenheit, zuzuschlagen: Bis zum 27. September kostet der Shooter auf SteamVR 27,74 Euro statt 36,99 Euro. Als Grafikkarte benötigt man mindestens eine AMD R9 290 oder NVIDIA GTX 970, empfohlen wird eine NVIDIA GTX 1070.
Wer keine Abneigung gegen Wave-Shooter hat, findet in Serious Sam VR: The Last Hope gediegene bleihaltige Unterhaltung mit dicken Wummen. Chris hatte Gelegenheit, den Titel kurz vor der Veröffentlichung zu testen und zeigte sich damals vom alten Bekannten in neuer VR-Umgebung recht angetan. Hauptkritikpunkt war seinerzeit noch der sehr kurze Umfang von knapp einer Stunde. Mit den inzwischen acht Updates haben die Entwickler diesen aber aus dem Weg geräumt. Beispielsweise brachte das Valtos-Update für Serious Sam VR beispielsweise einen neuen Planeten, sechs neue Gegner-Typen sowie eine neue Waffe mit.
The Steam sales continue to suck money out of the wallets of Steam users looking for great games to play at a reasonable price. Publisher Devolver Digital are helping with this endeavour by offering up to 90% off their Steam catalogue, including the Serious Sam VR titles.
The offer includes the various Serious Sam titles, including Serious SamVR: The First Encounter,Serious Sam VR: The Second Encounter andSerious Sam VR: The Last Hope, which have been reduced by 25% to £22.49 (GBP) each. Alternatively, a full bundle of the aforementioned three games is available for £50.61, a price drop of 44%. Serious Sam Fusion 2017 (Beta) has been knocked down by a massive 90% to £1.09 from its usual price of £10.99.
Also available is the Serious Sam Complete Pack, which includes almost every Serious Sam game and is available with a discount of 93%, putting the price down to a mere £8.21, a huge drop from the usual price of £103.89. The Serious Sam HD Gold Collection is a similarly good deal, having a discount of 93% to put it at a price point of £2.89, down considerably from £41.95.
Other titles available in the sale are The Talos Principle, getting an 81% discount to a price of £10.26, Hotline Miami, dropping 75% to £3.75. Shadow Warrior and Shadow Warrior 2 are down 68% to £23.15. Smaller titles such as Not A Hero are also available with big discounts, with Not a Hero down to £2.49, Mother Russia Bleeds down to £5.49 and cult hit Hatoful Boyfriend available at a 80% discount for £4.77.
Further information can be found on the Devolver Digital Steam sale page.
VRFocus will keep you informed on other offers and discounts as they becomes available.
If you’re a fan of the Serious Sam franchise then you’ll be glad to hear Croteam and Devolver Digital have released a bumper amount of content for HTC Vive and Oculus Rift. The developers have launched Serious Sam VR: The Second Encounter as well as bringing Serious Sam VR: The First Encounter out of Steam Early Access.
Serious Sam VR: The Second Encounter brings the same frantic gameplay as its predecessors, arming players to the teeth with an array of outrageous weaponry to take on the armies of god-like being Mental. To aid in the fight Sam has some new toys: Sniper Rifle, Flamethrower and Chainsaw, which can all be dual wielded for ultimate stopping power. Players can utilise their favourite combinations, or head into battle with the same guns if they prefer.
Alongside the single-player carnage, there’s now 16-player versus multiplayer modes, some are unique whilst others are based on campaign levels. On top of that there’s classic co-op action in a 12-level campaign mode featuring multiple difficulty settings, increased enemy strength, friendly fire/infinite ammo options.
The multiplayer modes include: Beast Hunt and Team Beast Hunt; Survival and Team Survival; Deathmatch and Team Deathmatch; My Burden; Last Man Standing and Last Team Standing; Capture the Flag and Instant Kill.
So what does it cost for all this? There’s a variety of options to choose from. Serious Sam VR: The Second Encounter currently has a limited time discount available of 25 percent, dropping the cost from £29.99 GBP to £22.49. Serious Sam VR: The First Encounter retails for £29.99 including Serious Sam Fusion 2017 (Beta). Finally you haveSerious Sam VR Bundle, which includes all these previous titles and Serious Sam: The Last Hope all for £61.85 rather than £89.97, a 31 percent saving.
Checkout the new trailer below, and for all the latest Serious Sam VR updates from Croteam and Devolver Digital, keep reading VRFocus.
Croteam have announced that they are working on fresh virtual reality (VR) rebuilds of the Serious Sam series of games. Serious Sam Fusion 2017 is out in Beta form, and available for free to owners of previous Serious Sam titles.
Croteam plan for Serious Sam HD, The First Encounter and The Second Encounter to be part of the Serious Sam Fusion 2017 bundle, as well as Serious Sam 3: BFE and VR versions of the older Serious Sam games. The developer have completely rebuilt Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter, which is the first game in the bundle to become available.
The new versions are 64-bit compatible with full support for SteamOS, Linux and OSX as well as PC. The new versions are using the new Vulkan API to replace DirectX9. There are a host of new features, including mod support, a new save game system and even a new physics engine.
The rebuilt games are available completely free for anyone who has previously bought Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter, The Second Encounter or Serious Sam 3: BFE. The current version of the Serious Sam Fusion 2017 bundle is still in Beta, so the developer warns that there may well be bugs and glitches still in the game.
The developers are currently working on implementing the other games in the bundle, which will all be playable from a common application, so there will be no need to quit out and go back in. Also, users with VR versions of the games will be able to play multiplayer games alongside those who have the standard non-VR versions.
Croteam did what Croteam does best and burst onto the VR scene last year with a surprise new game in the Serious Sam universe with Serious Sam VR: The Last Hope in Early Access and a port of the original Serious Sam, with added VR support and full locomotion, also in Early Access. Naturally, the studio’s next three VR projects were suddenly announced today, with little preamble, by way of company blog post.
As it turns out, the studio is also working on adapting the next two mainline entries in the frenetic shooter franchise, dubbed Serious Sam VR : The Second Encounter and Serious Sam VR 3: BFE. Each entry will be VR ports of the existing second and third installment in the long-running series. We don’t have anything else to go on at this time, but given how fast-paced, gory, and action-packed the games are on standard flat displays, they should be great additions to any VR gamer’s library.
Also of note is that Croteam will bring The Talos Principle to VR, which is a much slower-paced, surprisingly introspective, and thoughtful puzzle game. Intuitively, out of all the studio’s previously released projects, this one makes the most sense for a VR adaptation of them all.
For fans of Serious Sam VR: The Last Hope, the wave shooter iteration of the franchise, a large free update called the “Shanti” update is coming soon. “The update will include the new planet (Shanti), new weapons (one melee and one long ranged weapon), new feature (Sam’s personal shield) and a very scary new boss,” according to the blog post.
Among the remaining updates, Croteam also assures that the long-awaited Serious Sam 4 is still in development and non-VR titles are moving forward as well. Smaller teams have been established internally to focus on VR projects while SS4 presumably ramps up development towards the finish line. At this point, I’d say it’s a fair assumption it will have VR support.
Finally, the core engine used in their games is getting a big overhaul dubbed the Serious Sam Fusion 2017 update which enables better 3D audio, split-screen, more OS support, more controller support, multi-thread rendering, multi-monitor support, and improved overall visual fidelity.
What do you think of the existing two Serious Sam VR games? Will you be picking up the next two and any future Croteam VR projects? Let us know in the comments below!
Every time a new VR shooter is announced or shown off, people want to know if it supports full locomotion options. “Enough with the nausea hysteria!” comment sections cry out. “We want full movement with our joysticks and trackpads. It works for most people without making them sick in games like Onward or DOOM 3: BFG Edition, so why not all games!?” Releasing seemingly out of nowhere, Croteam and Devolver Digital have arrived to not only bring Serious Sam into VR once again, but also to deliver on the wishes of intrepid early adopters of immersive VR headset technology.
Earlier this year, Serious Sam VR: The Last Hope released on Steam Early Access, as well as on Oculus Home, to deliver one of the most intense, high-quality, wave shooters we’ve seen in VR yet. There is zero locomotion in that game — not even teleportation — and the entire experience can be played within your 180-degree front-facing view. Point and shoot; that’s about it. What it lacked in depth however, it made up for with a ton of gore and bombastic fun to push it through as a veritable good time.
Now with Serious Sam VR: The First Encounter, we’ve got something a bit different. For those unaware, let’s take a quick history lesson. The original Serious Sam game, known as Serious Sam: The First Encounter, released back in 2001. The most accurate comparisons you could draw would be to that of the Duke Nukem, Unreal, and Quake franchises. The games were all about speed, intensity, large arsenals of weapons, and lots of gore.
The Second Encounter followed it in 2002, with Serious Sam 2 releasing in 2005. The First Encounter and The Second Encounter each got remastered in HD in 2009 and 2010, respectively, before the release of Serious Sam 3: BFE in 2011. Fans are still waiting on Serious Sam 4 and there have been several spin-offs across a variety of developers and genres, but the core competenicies of over-the-top action, humor, and violence run true in them all.
When The Last Hope released earlier this year, it was met with positive results, even for a rather simplistic wave shooter. We came away quite impressed from our E3 preview and recent hands-on of the Early Access iteration. But today, Serious Sam VR: The First Encounter has launched in Steam Early Access as a full VR port of the 2009 HD remaster of the very first game. That means all of the single player campaign, the cooperative multiplayer, and the competitive multiplayer is fully playable in VR, with motion controllers, and fully functioning locomotion or teleportation movement.
In total there are 15 campaign levels to play through, 10 different weapons to choose from, dozens of enemies, and several different difficulty settings. On the multiplayer side of things, you can play with up to 16 total players in the campaign mode, or wave-based survival mode, as well as competitive matches. Competitive play consists of many classic match types, such as deathmatch and team deathmatch, last man standing, and capture the flag. That’s a lot of content to cram into a single release and may offer the most variety of any VR shooter we’ve seen yet.
Additionally, for the first time in the original escapade, The First Encounter, you can now dual-wield weapons. Two chainsaws, two miniguns, a shotgun and a revolver — whatever you want. You’re no longer limited to a single weapon as each tracked motion controller gives you firepower.
Since this is a fast-paced VR shooter, movement is a big talking point. With Serious Sam VR: The First Encounter, you can either choose teleportation-based movement, or full trackpad locomotion. Teleportation works much like it would in any other shooter you’ve tried, moving you in small increments. This is preferable if you’re prone to motion sickness, but in all honesty, if you are, then this is just probably not the best game for you.
When using the trackpad or joysticks for movement, it feels a little bit like you’re skiing across the ground. For the Vive, simply placing my thumb on either trackpad while holding my guns out in front of me would cause Sam to move in that direction. I could slide my thumb to the side or down to strafe and change direction. Rotation either up, down, or from left to right I was only able to accomplish by moving my head in 360-degree space. It’s a game that essentially requires at least a standing 360 space for optimal enjoyment, if not full roomscale to achieve the best results. Using the Oculus Touch controllers felt more natural, as the control stick was a much more intuitive movement device than the Vive’s inaccurate touchpad.
And since I’m not one that’s typically susceptible to VR sickness, it was surprising that I did feel myself start to get a bit dizzy at times. Particularly during multiplayer matches on levels like the Desert Temple, which feature a lot of launch pads, my legs got wobbly. But that’s what the optional teleport method is for. I also found it incredibly awkward to use the grip button to jump on the Vive controller.
During matches, players that were using teleportation movement often appeared to be glitching across maps when they were in fact just using their preferred teleportation method of movement. As a result, it was often difficult to track them while shooting, which felt a bit silly and unfair from the perspective of a player using full standard locomotion.
The core of the game is about what you’d expect from something that originally released 15 years ago. Levels are mostly linear with some hidden secrets here and there, enemies often resort to the ‘run directly at you while screaming, shooting, or exploding’ strategy of early 2000s AI technology, and the textures are flat and bland, even for something that was remastered in 2009.
Visually, it’s not the prettiest thing I’ve seen in a VR headset, but I don’t think it needs to be. Right now in the VR market, if you want a fast-paced shooter in the style of Unreal, Quake, or Serious Sam, there aren’t many options.
Most of the prominent competitive shooters on VR devices are either platform exclusives, such as RIGS on PS VR, take place in space, such as EVE: Valkyrie, or feature an obtuse control scheme, such as Hover Junkers, or the teleportation-only format of Arizona Sunshine. Onward has full movement, but scratches a very different military simulation itch, and Battle Dome is more like Splatoon than an action-packed shooter like this. It’s a far cry from the breakneck speeds and gratuitous violence on display here.
What you’ll find with Serious Sam VR: The First Encounter is a 15-year old game with a relatively fresh coat of paint, new control methods, and the same rip-roaring intensity you remember. It’s not really new or inventive, but it fills a void that VR gamers have been craving for quite some time.
Serious Sam VR: The First Encounter is now available on Steam Early Access with official support for the HTC Vive and Oculus Rift with tracked motion controllers required. The full price is $39.99, but there is currently a 10% discount until 12/27. Additionally, if you own Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter on Steam, you can earn an additional 10% discount, as well as another 20% discount if you own Serious Sam VR: The Last Hope.
Things get serious in this week’s roundup for HTC Vive, featuring Serious Sam VR, the virtual release of The Golf Club with over 130,000 courses, and much more. The full collection is highlighted by a whimsical Rescuties! VR that has you saving babies and pets in a series of chaotic scenes, from highway chases to space stations.
We also have a top list of the absolute best HTC Vive games — which is updated every few months with the latest and greatest options.
Fine China, from Fine China Games
Price: $0.99
Slide, shimmy, and duck through antique store with your unnecessarily large backpack as you try not to break all the expensive trinkets or switch to destruction mode and become the bull in the china shop.
Recommendation: Lots of destructive fun with solid visuals for a steal. Get it!
Grav|Lab, from Mark Schramm
Price: $14.99
Get hands on and build your machine in order to dominate the challenges and unlock new areas in this physics and electronic circuit puzzle game, currently in Early Access and adding more content over time.
Recommendation: Keep an eye on it in Early Access, but hold off on dropping the cash for now.
Boxing Saga, from VR Prince Technology development Beijing Co. Ltd
Price: $4.99
Put on your gloves and step into the ring and challenge for the gold belt. Boxing is a natural fit for the HTC Vive’s controllers and you get a good workout while playing. Also has an Endless battle mode to really clock your cardio.
Recommendation: Solid effort for the price, but misses the mark with fighters that don’t move around the ring.
Potioneer: The VR Gardening Simulator, from Focus on Fun Games
Price: $0.99
Think you have a green thumb? Want to put that to the test in VR first? Potioneer is your game. Plant and nurture your garden, explore a wooded area for new items, and combine your harvested materials for different types of potions.
Recommendation: Only 99 cents to bring you one step closer to a Hogwarts class.
Plenty: Skyhearth, from Tiny Lions
Price: Free To Play
Test your archery skills by taking out as many birds as you can. This free game is set in a very well designed and serene village, so your friends won’t feel so down when they can’t match your high score.
Recommendation: Give it a shot…heh.
Guardian, from Lily Games
Price: $5.39 (Currently Discounted)
Stand your ground in a dark canyon as your beset upon by various malevolent creatures and even massive golems. You’re armed with a splash damage weapon in your left hand and precision shooter in your right as you defend the sealing ice crystal.
Recommendation: Not quite sure Early Access will help the uninspired design, even with an added story mode. Pass.
Arcade Artist, from Groove Jones LLC
Price: $7.19 (Currently Discounted)
Described as “Tilt Brush on Steroids!”, Arcade Artist puts your creativity to the test in a variety of mini-games. Utilize the Laser Light Etcher, Velocity Brush, and Paintball Blaster Prototype #7 (I wonder what went wrong with 1-6) in this casual funhouse.
Recommendation: Price is a bit steep, there are tons of game collections out there already.
Head It!: VR Soccer Heading Game
Price: $4.79 (Currently Discounted)
If you’ve ever dreamed of heading a corner kick into a net, your time is now. Match wits with the goalkeeper and rank up as you push for the highest score.
Recommendation: Pass. Copycat based on Headmaster it seems.
Destroyer, from CFlat
Price: $7.99 (Currently Discounted)
In Destroyer, your only mission is to destroy as much as you can with what you have. With a limited number of spiked iron balls, strategically the load-bearing points of structures and take them down.
Recommendation: Not bad for such a simple concept. Get it and blow off the steam.
The Rise of Captain Longbeard, from Colopl NI
Price: $19.99
Grab your flintlock pistols and sword as you fight with pirates, spiders, and other monsters, solve puzzles, and explore as the young pirate Robert Longfellow.
Recommendation: Looks decently impressive in its current Early Access state. Keep tabs on it.
Monster Maze VR, from 4 Fun Studio
Price: $3.99
Right in time for Halloween, insert your ticket and enter this horrific maze and shoot whatever creatures cross your path. You’ll actually have to mimic a walking motion, swinging arms and all, in this roughly 25 minute event.
Recommendation: Pass
Rescuties! VR, from mode of expression, LLC
Price: $11.99 (Currently Discounted)
This low poly treat has you traveling through cities, on the open sea, in the air, and even outer space as you rescue 50+ different babies and pets. Also features a few powerups like the rocket gloves and modifiers to mix things up, like turning into a giant.
Recommendation: Crazy amount of settings and activities make this absolutely worth the purchase.
Nature’s Wrath VR, from SDC Ventures
Price: $11.99 (Currently Discounted)
In Nature’s Wrath, dash around your village to set traps and use various weapons to defend against an endless horde.
Recommendation: Pass
Starfighter Arduxim, from Fulby Technologies
Price: $3.19 (Currently Discounted)
Enjoy twelve missions as you climb into your Arduxim space fighter or even test yourself against other VR pilots in multi-player. Includes a survival mode as well.
Recommendation: Not as visually impressive as other available space shooters, probably pass. Here’s our review of the Gear VR version.
Unruly Ghouls, from Machete Games LLC
Price: $8.99 (Currently Discounted)
You’ll develop a new appreciation for the friendly Casper after shooting down the enemies in Unruly Ghosts. This well polished defense shooter even pays homage to the classic Ghostbusters as you weaken the ghosts before sucking them into a vacuum.
Recommendation: Buy it if you can say, with confidence:I ain’t afraid of no ghost!
The Golf Club VR, from HB Studios
Price: $21.24 (Currently Discounted)
Based on the 2014 game The Golf Club, the VR version includes over 130,000 user generated gold courses you can explore and play on. A reworked sound system increases the immersion in virtual reality.
Recommendation: A must have for golf fans and those with even a slight interest.
Accounting, from Crows Crows Crows & Squanchtendo
Price: Free
From the creator of Rick and Morty, Accounting is a short collection of different room based puzzles. According to the backstory of this journey into accounting: “Thousands have died so that we may get to the level of understanding that we have today. Thousands have died.”
PIRATADO 1 is a sci-fi space shooter with 22 levels and 24 different spaceships for you to pilot in this space war. Xbox Controller is required.
Recommendation: Not a whole lot of fun. Pass.
The Stanford Ocean Acidification Experience, from Stanford Researchers
Price: Free
This educational experience aims to inform us of how carbon dioxide emissions travel from our cities to our seas and the long term effects it has on our underwater ecosystems. We recently reported on the project and the involved collaborators.
Recommendation: Grab it and learn something new.
Hindenburg VR, from Michal Bárta
Price: $12.99
Explore the faithfully recreated and detailed virtual version of the legendary German passenger airship, the LZ-129 Hindenburg.
Recommendation: If you’re a history or sim buff, worth price of admission — but just barely/maybe.
DemonicGuestVR, from Mgsstudio
Price: $1.99
In its current state, DemonicGuestVR is another jump scare experience that you can freak your friends out with. It’s currently in Early Access, but will be adding a degree of gameplay in the future.
Recommendation: A cool VR demo to scare friends with for a low price.
A Fear of Heights, and Other Things, from Fulby Technologies
Price: $0.99
A Fear of Heights is a collection of scenes that serve as a tech demo of sorts for those curious about the immersion of VR. One scene that allows you to swing around a city with grappling hooks will make you dream of Spider-man.
Recommendation: Low priced treat to show what VR can do.
CapitalShip VR, from RowlesCorp Studios
Price: $5.27 (Currently Discounted)
In a massive VR space, players manipulate a large-scale conflict as if playing a tabletop war game. Manage your ships and resources as you tackle various challenges.
Recommendation: Grab it. Gives us a good look at what the Real-Time Strategy genre can look like in virtual reality.
Serious Sam VR: The Last Hope, from Croteam VR
Price: $31.99 (Currently Discounted)
Things just got SERIOUS. As if destined for virtual reality, Serious Sam drops you into its incredible, intense, and gory conflicts as you blast away at creatures that reach the size of skyscrapers.
The original Zaccaria Pinball gets a VR facelift. This game collects 38 classic pinball machines from between 1974 to 1987. There’s one completely free table in the required base game, but all others are on a trial and can be purchased individually.
Recommendation: Pinball fans will freak in this portal to the past. Give it a try.
Jetzt ist Serious Sam VR endlich auf Steam erschienen und ihr könnt jetzt mit der HTC Vive in die virtuelle Welt von Serious Sam eintauchen.
Serious Sam VR: The Last Hope auf Steam erschienen
Wir hatten bereits in der letzten Woche die Gelegenheit und konnten das Spiel in Ruhe testen. Im Spiel wird das Serious Sam Feeling perfekt transportiert und ihr werdet mit riesigen Wummen ausgestattet, die ihr eigentlich niemals hochheben könntet. Das Spiel ist jetzt als Early Access Titel auf Steam erschienen und das bedeutet, dass noch viel Content folgen wird. Aktuell ist das große Problem an der VR Umsetzung, dass der Content eventuell nur für eine Stunde Unterhaltung reicht.
Da das Spiel für happige 29,59 Euro (aktuell mit 20% Rabatt) angeboten wird, solltet ihr euch genau überlegen, ob ihr das Spiel bereits jetzt unterstützen wollt und könnt. Zur Zeit ist der Preis noch nicht gerechtfertigt und ihr investiert mit dem Kauf eher in die Zukunft des Spiel. Die Entwickler versprechen, dass noch weitere Welten, Monster und Waffen folgen sollen. Leider gibt es aber keine Garantie, dass dies auch wirklich in naher Zukunft passiert.
Echte Fans schlagen aktuell zu und der Rest wartet vielleicht noch etwas ab.
When we first learned aboutSerious Sam VR during E3 2016 earlier this year, it came a bit out of nowhere, but at the same time it made perfect sense. We weren’t exactly expecting a VR adaptation of the classic gory shooter franchise, but that doesn’t mean his wise-cracking bombastic action felt out of place. In fact, it felt like a natural iteration of the franchise when we went hands-on with the rip-roaring slaughter fest for the first time.
Now that Serious Sam VR: The Last Hope is about to complete its jump to VR and release on Steam Early Access next week on October 17th, we took the time to dive back in for another go at the world Croteam built with the help of publisher Devolver Digital.
The Serious Sam franchise is a game series about action, gore, and over-the-top good times. The plot is often barely thick enough to make sense and the ratio of action to exposition is roughly 95% to 5%, give or take. After rolling through large levels full of hundreds of enemies, you’ll rest up by killing just a few more hundred enemies once again.
Now, the VR iteration retains a lot of that same DNA, but it’s in a very different package. At first glance, you’ll look at the screenshots and trailers and probably think that it just looks like “another wave shooter” and frankly, that isn’t an incorrect description. You stand in one place and all of the game’s enemies come charging at you from within your general 180-degree field of view. You can’t move around the environment like in Raw Data and you won’t have to spin around to shoot surprise enemies behind you like in The Brookhaven Experiment. My gut tells me the limited range of movement was a conscious decision to allow them to bring the experience to both the Rift and PS VR eventually.
Instead, in Serious Sam VR, you’ll literally be standing in one place and only face enemies that are funneled towards your location. It’s a bit restrictive, to be frank, and sometimes feels like a feature that you’d see in a separate, more robust full game, but it’s still fun.
Some enemies may get ambitious and instead of running directly at your bullets, try to come at you from the side, but for the most part you don’t really need to move your legs at all — just your head, arms, and torso. And for what it’s worth, you will move those parts of your body a lot if you want to have any success. It may be a relatively basic wave shooter, but that doesn’t mean that it’s boring or easy.
In the Early Access version of the Serious Sam VR, there are two planet missions to pick from: Earth and Pladeon. Each planet mission is broken up into four waves, each of which is in a completely different environment. After completing the first section with just your standard unlimited laser pistols, you can spend your cash that you earned buying new guns, refilling ammo, and regaining your health. By the time you reach the final area of a mission, you’ll likely have a mostly full arsenal of weapons to pick from.
Thankfully, just like any Serious Sam game, that arsenal is the real star of the show. You’ve got such a wide assortment of weapons to pick from, you could easily spend hourse replaying missions with different loadouts just to see what fits your playstyle best.
In addition to the standard laser pistols, there are shotguns, tommy guns, assault rifles, heavy laser guns, rocket launches, chainsaws, and yes — a minigun. The physically created prop that we detailed recently isn’t available for purchase, but it’s digital counterpart is in the game and it’s just as glorious to use as you’d hope.
Serious Sam VR is a relatively intense affair by all accounts. Even on the easiest difficulty setting, waves are relentless. You’ll quickly need to become accustomed to aiming with each hand, simultaneously, at different areas of the world, to take out enemies. There are few things that feel as badass as wielding a rocket launcher in one hand and a minigun in the other, pointed at two different enemies, lighting them up and spewing blood across the map. In this way, The Last Hope feels like you’re living out scenes from the cover art of previous Serious Sam games.
And that’s about it. Your fingers are gonna cramp up from squeeze the trigger of your Vive wands so many times, you’re gonna sweat from ducking and weaving out of the way of energy balls and rockets, and you’ll probably curse a bit when you get steamrolled by a horde of alien scorpions for the fifth time on the same damn wave. It’s simple and shallow, but it’s also intense and a hell of a lot of fun.
Serious Sam VR: The Last Hope releases onto Steam Early Access on October 17th, 2016 for $39.99. As the game receives updates, the price is expected to stay the same. Future updates will include more missions, environments, enemies, weapons, power-ups, and a skill tree.
