Light Tracer Review
Light Tracer combines platform-style movement and unique puzzles with exceptional controls and graphic style. Using two Move controllers, players lead a princess to the top of a tower to help her save her people. One controller is used to wield a Light Staff to guide the princess and the other interacts with objects and moves the camera around the world. Players will use a combination of jumping skills, precise timing and strategic attacks to complete eight chapters with five levels each.
Release Date: September 26, 2017
Platform(s): PSVR
Developer: Void Dimensions
Price: $14.99
Light Tracer combines platform-style movement and unique puzzles with exceptional controls and graphic style. Using two Move controllers, players lead a princess to the top of a tower to help her save her people. One controller is used to wield a Light Staff to guide the princess and the other interacts with objects and moves the camera around the world. Players will use a combination of jumping skills, precise timing and strategic attacks to complete eight chapters with five levels each.
As with most VR games, the controls in Light Tracer are a little difficult to adapt to at first, but I got used to them fairly quickly. One thing I found that I didn’t like was that I had to center the camera quite often. As mentioned before, one controller is used to move the world around and this is used quite often. Some levels require a bit of rotating the world in order to look at the path ahead of the princess to plan out your strategy or solve puzzles. Doing this causes quite a bit of re-centering the camera.
With that being said, the gameplay in Light Tracer is very fluid and immersive. The levels get more and more difficult as you go, with little messages appearing with info every now and then, such when you unlock a new ability or need to use an ability for the first time. This doesn’t make the game any easier, it just notifies you about what the princess is able to do now. Thankfully, there are checkpoints throughout the levels that you will return to if you die. Not only are these appreciated due to the rising difficulty level, they also give you a chance to take your time and explore different ways to solve puzzles and advance through the stages.
At one point, the constant rise in difficulty reaches the point where you can control gravity in an upside down world, and a world with mechanical puzzles that are even harder to beat. This all goes for the bosses as well. The first boss requires a couple of easy moves, but after that, each boss can take a few tries before conquering. The boss puzzles are fun and usually more challenging than their stages, as they usually combine recently learned mechanics with some new idea or twist that you need to really think of to identify and successfully beat each boss.
When it comes to graphics, the game is beautifully designed. The levels are fantastic and beautiful with quirky characters as enemies, and every single platform is unique. As for character design, each type of terrain has its own type of enemy and they are all cute and quirky. There are different outfits you can purchase for the princess by collecting crystals strewn about the levels. There are three dresses and one panda suit. Yes, a panda suit. The crystals are easy to get at first, but later it becomes a life-or-death choice when there are multiple moving platforms and enemies and 10 crystals to be had over a gaping hole in the center of the platform.
Overall, Light Tracer is a very fun and intuitive VR experience. The controls can take a little bit to get used to, but once you are used to them they come natural. The increasing difficulty is a plus, as it never becomes too easy or too difficult. In fact, have those ‘aha’ moments is one thing that makes you want to keep going. The only downside to Light Tracer is the camera issues, but I was able to put these aside for the most part. If you enjoy platforming puzzle games and own a PSVR, Light Tracer is a no-brainer purchase for $14.99.
Pros
- Fluid and intuitive gameplay and controls.
- Beautiful graphics
- Unique and challenging puzzles
Cons
- Camera angles can cause problems
Thank you to Void Dimensions for providing us with a review copy.
Ancient Amuletor Review
Ancient Amuletor combines a first-person shooter with tower defense to bring a very under-explored genre to PlayStation VR. However, in most tower defense games, players build and upgrade their towers and defenses to protect their towers from waves of intruding enemies. In Ancient Amuletor, the only goal for the player is to protect their tower, which in this game are big blue crystals spread out through the map.
Release Date: June 27, 2017
Developer: TiGames
Platforms: PlayStation VR
Price: $19.99
Ancient Amuletor combines a first-person shooter with tower defense to bring a very under-explored genre to PlayStation VR. However, in most tower defense games, players build and upgrade their towers and defenses to protect their towers from waves of intruding enemies. In Ancient Amuletor, the only goal for the player is to protect their tower, which in this game are big blue crystals spread out through the map.
Players begin by choosing from four different heroes, with two additional hero slots marked as “Coming Soon”. Each of the four different heroes play very differently, which requires a bit of strategy from the player. One hero is an archer that you have to nook the arrow and pull back to shoot, which requires precision but gives good range and damage. Another hero dual-wields pistols that you can shoot rapidly while flicking upwards to reload. While this hero can shoot much faster than the archer, the pistols have far less range and damage than the archer’s bow. There is also a mage that summons orbs from a spellbook and then throws them down at enemies with a magic hook, causing a bit of splash damage where they hit. These orbs give medium range and damage. And lastly, there is a puppeteer that throws down a metal golem that mimics the moves you make, giving you the ability to melee enemies.
As I said, Ancient Amuletors also has FPS elements. Players do not run around like in a traditional FPS, they warp to different platforms around the map and attack the waves of enemies that come from various directions. Thankfully, you can swap heroes on the fly, so if one hero isn’t able to perform at a certain time, you can switch to one that may better suit the situation. This is essential for beating levels solo, particularly on harder difficulties. It can become quite a fast paced game of moving to the right platform with the right hero to take down the variety of enemies you’ll be facing.
The controls for each hero work very well and playing as each character is a lot of fun. I found it can take some time getting used to warping from point to point because of the way the game adjusts your forward position on each platform. It takes some getting used to, but once you get it down it isn’t much of an issue.
Ancient Amuletor currently has two areas to choose from, Desert and Empire, with two levels in each are. There are two additional areas that are locked and labeled “Coming Soon”, which could come as DLC or a future update. As is, Ancient Amuletor is a very short game. It took me less than an hour to run through the four currently available levels.
Once you play through the four levels there isn’t much else to do. Thankfully, there is a multiplayer co-op mode to add a little bit of replayability to the game. You can team up with up to three other players and battle it out. Each player can select any hero they want, even if another player has already selected the same hero and players can stand on the same platform as their teammates. I am not sure if I would rather have only one player per platform and no duplicate characters or not. Either way, the multiplayer mode adds some much needed replayability, but not a whole lot.
Speaking of replayability, there’s an unlockable endless mode for each level, as well as a second, more powerful unlockable weapon for each hero, but they are mostly cosmetic while being more powerful. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to figure out a clear way to unlock these weapons. I’m not sure if it is random or objective-based. It would be nice to have some sort of information regarding this.
Ancient Amuletor is a very fun VR game in a genre that fits VR very well. I would love to see a sequel with much more content. The gameplay mechanics are great and it is some of the most fun I’ve had playing a PSVR game yet, but being so short it feels like a demo. Yes, there is some “Coming Soon” content, but even doubling the levels and adding two more heroes may not be enough additional content. Also, it is not yet known if this will be free or paid DLC.
There are a lot of good pieces in place here, with the gameplay mechanics and the co-op, but they’ve been packaged in a very scant box that doesn’t do them justice. Ancient Amuletor needs to be more than a short PSVR experience that is barely longer than the demo that’s already available for free. Perhaps all of the elusive “Coming Soon” content will fix that, but at launch Ancient Amuletor finds its quiver running out of arrows too soon.
Pros
- Great gameplay mechanics and controls.
- Character and weapon variety.
- Multiplayer is a lot of fun.
Cons
- Very short with little replayability.
- Positioning can be awkward when teleporting from platform to platform.
Thank you to Time of VIrtual Reality and TiGames for providing us with a review copy.