London Heist Is Project Morpheus' Answer to The Getaway

Project Morpheus may have nabbed a nifty new set of specs, but there are still concerns that the PlayStation 4 may not have enough under the hood to power it. Make no mistake, Sony's next-gen system is a technological beast – but virtual reality requires high resolutions and fast framerates to work properly, something that the console does struggle with from time to time.

Fortunately, it's got dozens of first-party studios around the globe looking to extract every last drop of juice from the machine, and it looks like London Studio has been tasked with focusing on the Japanese giant's new initiative full-time. At the Game Developers Conference overnight it announced a new demo for the device: London Heist.

This sounds like an excuse for the company to make some kind of spiritual successor to The Getaway, but the eyes-on impressions filtering out of San Francisco are also extremely positive. The opening scenes essentially see you strapped to a chair, as a Vinnie Jones-esque thug berates you and puffs smoke in your face. You can, of course, look around – this is virtual reality, after all.

A later section sees you out of your seat and looking at a set of drawers. With two PlayStation Move controllers in hand, you can reach out and look inside them; there are no button prompts, as this is meant to feel as intuitive as real-life. Inside you find a firearm, but there's no ammunition in the pistol. Again, you'll need to look around for a clip, and manually reload it with motion controls.

You'll then be involved in a firefight, popping off shots with the shooter that's in your hand, and cowering in real-life to gain cover behind the objects in front of you. The demo ends with a 'To be continued' message, suggesting that we may be looking at a launch title for the headset. The biggest takeaway, though? It runs silky smooth, and looks sharp on the PS4.

This virtual reality thing could work, after all...