PSVR Reviews
Squad goals
The elite squad of United States hotshots Bravo Team think they’re home and hosed: they’ve successfully escorted the president of a fictional Eastern Europe country safely back to her destination, and all that’s left is a pat on the back and a rousing round of ‘Oorah’. But a sudden coup sees the dignitary snatched away, and...
Review Blasters of the Universe (PS4)
It's a blast
Blasters of the Universe is a virtual reality bullet hell, wave survival, space shooter, and if that hasn’t sold you already, we’re not sure what will. Although this is far from the first shooter on PlayStation VR – with the likes of Shooty Fruity, StarBlood Arena, RIGS: Mechanized Combat League, Farpoint, and Until...
Netflix and Quill
Polyarc’s picturesque PlayStation VR platformer Moss is so lovely that you’ll want to snatch your duvet and snuggle up inside its fantasy world. A fairy tale starring the delightfully animated Quill, it reveals a pop-up book plot involving intrepid heroes and lush fantasy environments. Unfortunately, like so many virtual...
Tyson with death
One of the most powerful experiences in PlayStation VR is when you feel like there’s a real person standing in front of you, and Knockout League’s colourful cast of characters certainly sell the illusion that you’re in a boxing ring. This is unashamedly a virtual reality version of Nintendo’s legendary Punch-Out!! franchise...
Usain Bolt's retirement plan
Movement is one of the toughest things to get right in virtual reality right now. It can work like a charm in some cases, transporting you to a world that you feel fully immersed in as you interact with the environment around you. Or, it can knock you off guard and send you searching for the nearest toilet. Sprint...
Empty chamber
On paper, Out of Ammo sounds like a good idea – but any positive notions are squashed almost as quickly as the game can boot up. Out of Ammo is a blend of real-time strategy and first-person shooter. You take control of a squad from above and build your base, with the ability to switch and control any individual on the ground at...
Wendigo prophecy
Until Dawn’s breakout success has spawned all sorts of spin-offs, none really capturing the essence of the original teen slasher. The Inpatient continues this trend with a straight-faced, narrative-based PlayStation VR experience set in the 1950s. You play as a patient sectioned in Blackwood Sanatorium during its final days of...
Time Crisis in VR
Playing through Mortal Blitz feels like going back in time, which is a strange feeling when you’re talking about a VR game – but it’s true. What we have here is effectively Time Crisis in virtual reality, which sounds like a match made in heaven and, we feel, is likely to be a fitting genre when implemented well. There’s...
Lost in space
Republished on Wednesday 27th December 2017: We're bringing this review back from the archives following the announcement of January's PlayStation Plus lineup. The original text follows. Overwatch in virtual reality is not a bad pitch on paper, but it's one that struggles in practice. StarBlood Arena has its heart in...
Supermarket sweep
nDreams has been on quite the role over the past year. Since the developer launched The Assembly on PlayStation VR’s release day, it has gone on to publish the co-op brawler Bloody Zombies, as well as VR experience Perfect. To round out 2017, we have Shooty Fruity, a title that asks you to eliminate hordes of fruit while trying...
Imp-ressive?
Bethesda sure are the good guys this Christmas, eh? After coveting controversy with its review code policy over a year ago, the publisher’s really recaptured the adoration of gamers this holiday, supporting fledgling new formats like the Nintendo Switch and PlayStation VR. And following on from last month’s transformative virtual...
Review The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim VR (PS4)
Fus Ro Dayum
The story of the Dragonborn is one endlessly retold. Quite literally, in fact – this is the third time that The Elder Scrolls V has released on a PlayStation platform in little over five years. But unlike last year’s strong yet safe PlayStation 4 remaster, Skyrim VR represents a seachange for Bethesda Game Studios’ gigantic...
Review League of War: VR Arena (PS4)
Basic combat training
If there’s one thing League of War: VR Arena will be remembered for, it’s that utterly atrocious name. Seriously, it’s like a clueless investor looked at what’s popular right now and took a few buzzwords from that to form something slightly coherent. But alas, that’s not what we’re here to judge. The question...
Review PixelJunk VR Dead Hungry (PS4)
McDead
Back on the PlayStation 3, the PixelJunk games were a staple of the digital offerings on the PlayStation Store. Whether it was Racers, Monsters, Eden, or the ever-popular Shooter titles, each game managed to bring something new to the table and make it fun. Developer Q-Games is now looking to continue that mythos in virtual reality with...
Review No Heroes Allowed! VR (PS4)
Not bad, man
No Heroes Allowed! is one of those strange, first-party PlayStation properties that keeps getting new entries without anyone really batting an eyelid. Having started life on the PlayStation Portable, the irreverent What Did I Do to Deserve This, My Lord? series has spawned all sorts of silly spin-offs – including a surprisingly...
God almighty
Even ignoring the fact that Megaton Rainfall was created by one man, this game is a technical marvel on the scale of a No Man’s Sky or other similar procedurally generated games. You play as Superman in all but name, and your task is to protect the Earth – amid brief vacations among the stars, of course. Sound fun? It’s actually...
Review The Solus Project (PS4)
Ever so lonely
The Solus Project is a single-player survival exploration experience developed entirely in Unreal Engine 4. Earth has been destroyed and humans are now on the brink of extinction. You have been sent on a mission to find another planet that is inhabitable, but after years of exploration with no luck, you find yourself stranded and...
Shocking
Sparc is a virtual reality version of Pong with Tron-like visuals. In a way, it's very similar to PlayStation VR Worlds' Danger Ball. You face off against an opponent, each standing at opposite ends of a long empty corridor, and you must throw a ball at your opponent in order to score points. That's the basic...
Review Radial-G: Racing Revolved (PS4)
Round and round
Radial-G: Racing Revolved is a PlayStation VR zero-grav racer that quite literally revolves around a track. Most of the tracks consist of tubes, with you clinging to the outside, able to freely rotate around, trying to reach that next boost or power-up. It makes for a lot of fun, even if you want to just simply spin around the tube a...
Grin and bear it
Sony’s VR headset has had a reasonably consistent release schedule when it comes to new software. Some of these titles have been rather good, while some have been less than stellar. The Lost Bear is a new side-scrolling platformer by indie team The Odd Bug Studio, and it’s another of the smaller VR titles worth putting your...
Red dead riojasaurus
Dino Frontier blends elements of city building, farming, and animal rearing in a pre-historic world inhabited by sharp-shooters from the Wild West. If that sounds like a curious concoction, then you may be relieved to learn that this PlayStation VR experiment from Uber Entertainment fuses its many ideas better than it has any...
Castle crashers
Zen Studios must be contractually obliged to port CastleStorm to every viable platform, because it seems to get around like a king on a crusade. It’s a weird one because the game has never, in this author’s opinion, been all that exciting – but people must enjoy it otherwise it wouldn’t keep popping up like a bad smell...
Smash 'n' grab
Smashbox Arena is like a goofy PlayStation VR mix of SOCOM and dodgeball. Wielding two required PlayStation Move motion controllers, you’re armed with suction weapons that can be used to catch balls and propel them in the opposite direction. Your goal is to fling said spherical shapes in the direction of your opponent in order to...
Labyrinth and repeat
The tale of Theseus isn’t exactly a bad starting point for a video game. One of Greek mythology’s more popular yarns, it obviously depicts the titular warrior’s conflict with a murderous Minotaur – and his relationship with Ariadne, a descendent of Zeus. And that’s exactly the subject of this third-person PlayStation...
Micro machines
Tiny Trax is one of those games that’s just really good, y’know? Velocity 2X developer FuturLab rarely ever disappoints, and its PlayStation VR debut is predictably spot-on. A vibrant Scalextric-style slot racer, this arcade delight places you inside 12 fantasy dioramas and hands you control of one of several miniature vehicles,...
Slow whoa
On paper, SUPERHOT VR is probably the coolest game ever made; in practice, the first-person shooter is merely a very good PlayStation VR release. The homicidal hit assigns you the detached digits of an assassin in a whitewash computer simulation where time only moves when you do. Your objective? To annihilate a band of polygonal villains...
Use your GNOGgin
PlayStation VR is still a young peripheral, and with that we’ve come to expect some growing pains. Dating back to the headset's launch, there’s been a surprisingly high volume of worthwhile titles offered, including some truly great games. But alongside that, there’s also been a glut of high-price, low-quality "experiences"...
Review Symphony of the Machine (PS4)
Mirror, mirror
Symphony of the Machine is one of many virtual reality puzzle titles to hit the PlayStation 4 over the past few months, and it still amazes us how varied these games can be. This time around you'll be directing light using mirrors to solve the conundrums in a short but beautiful ninety minute experience. The game begins in a deserted...
Thinking outside the box
Statik is a PlayStation VR puzzle game similar in style to Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes. You awaken in a strange room as a test subject with both hands locked inside a puzzle box while your captor Dr Ingen observes you from afar. You must solve these puzzle boxes in order to uncover why you are being tested and learn how...
Nuketown
Korix is a real-time, strategy, tower defence PlayStation VR title. Your world has been destroyed and your race is on the brink of extinction, so you must rally your troops, rebuild your defences, and launch a revenge attack. The game's campaign is level based, each beginning by laying out a different landscape, which consists of a large...
