Korix Review (PS4 / PSVR)

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 3D platform covered in a grid. The only things that start out on this barren landscape are the enemy base, which is your primary target, and a few resource collection points. You then have to decide where to place down your base within the designated area, ideally not too far from the resource points. Following this you are then able to create a few workers who will start walking back and forth between your base and the resource point to collect energy for you. This energy is then able to be used to purchase offensive and defensive units.

There are a variety of offensive and defensive units on offer for various amounts of energy so it's vital to manage your funds well. To aid in your defence you can buy walls, lasers turrets, artillery turrets, anti-air turrets, and so on. On the offensive you can buy soldiers, tanks, aircrafts, nukes, and more. There is a huge variety and that means there are a lot of different strategies that can be taken up. For instance, you could use walls to create a maze for your foes to plod their way through in order to reach your base or you could hoard your resources and save up for the ultimate prize, a nuke, and wipe your enemy off the face of the planet. The almost endless number of approaches to levels is very impressive and keeps you returning for more.

The controls are very unique: instead of using two motion controllers you use just one to command your forces. It's a laser gun that can be aimed at the grid to place down units or instruct them what to attack. It all feels very smooth and simple to use. The motion controls are impressively accurate and the controller tracking is by far the best we've seen in a PlayStation VR title to date.

The two-to-four person online multiplayer also works really well: you can choose to play co-operatively against the AI or you can play a versus game which puts you head-to-head in a fight to extinction. As the game has full in-game chat features it can be a blast socially as well.

Korix has gone for a futuristic, Tron-style visuals and they really pop in VR. It's very simplistic but the bright and vibrant colours stand out well in the vast amounts of chaotic combat that ensues. The clarity of important points on the maps is also very good especially as it's a VR title, where often distant objects are difficult to see clearly.

However, it is let down in a few particular areas – especially when starting out as a new player. Although there is a simple tutorial, a lot is left unclear. Many of the units are not explained in a lot of detail and it's not immediately obvious what a good starting strategy is. Quite a few of the key controls are overlooked in the tutorial, and we only found out about them by talking to people online. The other major issue is the game's small community which means it'll take you rather a long time to find a game. It's a real shame as the multiplayer is a really enjoyable experience.