Job Simulator Review (PS4 / PSVR)

As short-lived girl group The Saturdays once warbled, put your boots on baby and get to work. Some reviewers like to start their reviews by recycling the words of Charles Dickens; here at Push Square we prefer to borrow from the surprisingly short range of Ms. Mollie King. It's the kind of irreverence that we like to think Job Simulator would appreciate.

Because this is a barbed, witty virtual reality experience wrapped up in a playful toybox. The campaign – which is spread across four futuristic simulations of today's more menial careers – may not take you long to complete, but it absolutely will make you laugh out loud. There's a clear cynicism bubbling beneath the surface of this title's colourful aesthetic, but it's handled in such a dry manner that it'll leave you in stitches.

The cartoon-like nature of the core gameplay helps the gags to hit, of course. Using two PlayStation Move controllers – we couldn't find an option for the DualShock 4 anywhere – you're able to interact with a staggering array of objects within your work confinements. These may include the cubicle of an office worker or the kitchen of a gourmet chef.

But where the game really succeeds is with its disregard for the rules of real work. Make no mistake, this very much falls under the category of "novelty" game, and like Surgeon Simulator before it, this means that when you're asked to reduce the carbon emissions of a sputtering automobile in the grease monkey occupation, you'll find yourself reaching for a banana to plug up the exhaust. This is a game that practically revels in its flippancy.

It's fun, though. A fantastic interface integrated into your 3D space means that everything from making pizzas with bread and blended tomatoes through to cooking supersized hot-dogs at the local convenience store is entertaining and outrageously intuitive. The limitations of the PlayStation Move controllers mean that almost all of the interactions take place in front of you, but it could be argued that the developer is merely making the best of the tech that it's, er, working with.

Perhaps the only shortcoming is that, like so many of the other PlayStation VR launch titles, it represents a series of outstanding ideas that have yet to be implemented into something more wholesome. Indeed, unless you're planning to play this through multiple times with friends and family, you'll feel that you've got your fill after an hour or two.