FATED: The Silent Oath Review

Mass VR is still relatively new, which means that we are going to see a lot of experiments and different approaches to types of games. FATED: The Silent Oath minimizes gameplay and focuses more on an interactive cinematic experience that puts the player right in the middle of a beautiful 3D animated movie. 

In the beginning of FATED, you find yourself on a carriage near death. A god comes to you and tells you that she will trade you your life for your voice, meaning that going forward the only way you can communicate is by nodding yes or no. This way of interacting felt new to me although I don't think very much changes based on your choices. 

As the story starts to develop, you begin to discover that the lives of everyone you know have been shattered by the return of angry ancient gods. Everyone in the town, including your family, is feeling a sense of dread, so it's your mission to bring everyone together while protecting your family. 

As I mentioned before FATED is more focused on a cinematic experience rather than gameplay, but the few gameplay moments all work incredibly well. You'll find yourself hunting for food, driving a horse and carriage, and solving a few puzzles over FATED's five acts. While none of these parts are extremely long or very challenging, it does help to push the story forward. 

Another nice aspect is that graphically FATED is one of the best PSVR games that I've played. The scenery is gorgeous and the characters have a cartoon quality that's a bit Pixar-esque. The only drawback is that this experience lasts just over an hour, so while you may fall in love with the world FATED does end a bit too early. Without spoiling anything, I, unfortunately, have to say that when the game ended I was completely caught off guard. A major dramatic event takes place then the credits roll leaving you wondering what happened? It honestly feels like the end of a TV episode and that you have to tune in the next week to find out what's going to happen to these people that you've become attached to. This is a real bummer because the entire game is focused on the story and to come up short really hurts the experience. I even played the fifth act a few times to see if there were multiple endings just to be sure, but I always got the same results. 

FATED: The Silent Oath does a great job introducing the concept of interactive cinematic experiences to the PSVR, but with the abrupt ending it feels more like a long tech demo rather than a complete game. The world is gorgeous, the interactions work well, but you will most likely be let down by the ending. 

3.25 stars out of 5

Thank you to Frima Studio for providing us with the code. 

Unearthing Mars Review

Generally, there are two types of VR titles; experiences where you are immersed in your surroundings with very little interaction, and games which can be almost anything; rarely do we see a title that is both. Unearthing Mars combines these two elements into an interesting story with some surprisingly fun gameplay.

When Unearthing Mars first starts, it doesn't do itself any favors. You are standing in front of a large holographic map of Mars listening to two people who sound robotic talk back and forth to each other. There are a few interactions like responding to two people and spinning around the Mars map, but then the chapter ends and you're left wondering "what did I get myself into?" These reservations are rightfully felt, but if you just give Unearthing Mars a little more time you'll discover an odd but interesting game.

The second chapter puts you in the seat as a copilot aboard a spaceship that is headed for Mars. You and your commander have to work together to ensure that you land safely. If you mess up along the way, you lose something similar to health and if you do too many wrong inputs, you ultimately fail. After you safely guide your ship to Mars, the game really starts to open up.

Once you're out of your spaceship you can move around by hopping around to different designated areas. It seems like the biggest hurdle for any VR game is how to move your character without making the user feel nauseous. While I didn't feel any discomfort with Unearthing Mars, I did find the way you move to be a little odd. To move you simply aim the PlayStation Move Wand and click on one of the designated areas. The issue with this is that for some reason there is an arch added to the movement rather than just a straight line. This means to move somewhere far away you need to point the Move wand up at an angle instead of just straight ahead. It's an odd design choice and it just doesn't feel natural.

Voice acting has to be one of the hardest things to nail because it seems that so many indie games have trouble with this. I mentioned earlier that the voices between the two characters sounded robotic, but fortunately the voice acting gets progressively better as it begins to sound more natural. This definitely helps the immersion because you are no longer focused on how bad the characters sound.

The objectives in the game are pretty easy to figure out which keeps the story going. The entire experience will take you about one and a half to two hours to complete. You may run into a few parts that take some thinking, but for the most part, you won't have any issue completing the game. The best part of the game comes towards the end when you get to battle against hordes of evil aliens using a shield and a gun. This part came totally out of the blue and I wish that there was more of it, but regardless, it was an absolute blast.

Overall, Unearthing Mars is rough around the edges, but it does have its charm. The world is developed nicely and there are some interesting gameplay elements. If you feel like you've exausted all the PSVR choices then you may want to give Unearthing Mars a chance, but don't expect to be blown away.

3.5 out of 5 stars

Thank you to Winking Skywalker Entertainment for providing us with the code.

Hatsune Miku: VR Future Live Review

Not every video game is made for every person. There are niche titles that are made for a very specific audience and sometimes you have to consider that when reviewing a game. Hatsune Miku: VR Future Live features the extremely famous VOCALOID, Hatsune Miku, performing her songs in front of the player as well as a massive digital audience. 

The gameplay of Hatsune Miku: VR Future Live is minimal. You use your DualShock 4 to wave and pump a glow stick in rhythm with the crowd and an occasional mini-game and you also use the mic to call out "Miku" to help get the crowd excited. If you successfully do this well enough you are rewarded with an encore, which gives you a "private" concert with Hatsune Miku. Each "stage" (which is what they call each DLC) lets you choose three songs out of a possible six for Miku to perform. The game does keep track of the songs that you've heard, so it's easy to go back and listen to the tracks you haven't heard. 

The best part of the whole game are the songs. They are almost all upbeat J-pop songs that honestly make you smile. You may not know what she is saying, but it's really hard to not smile while listening to the songs. This will make people want to go back and listen to the songs that may have missed during their first playthrough. 

Hatsune Miku: VR Future Live is much more of an experience than an actual game.  During the concert, you are able to sit in different seats around the arena which gives you a different perspective of the show. My biggest gripe is that at $15 per DLC the arena never changes. If there was an option to have some variety in the venues it would at least feel like Hatsune Miku: VR Future Live had more depth. 

Overall this is not a game that I would recommend to anyone who isn't already a fan of Hatsune Miku or VOCALOIDS - and that's okay. This game is intended for a Hatsune Miku fans, but just know that it is a bit shallow and you will probably want more from the experience. 

2.75 out of 5 stars

Thank you to Sega for providing us with the code.

Robinson: The Journey Review

Crytek is known for making visually stunning games, so I was pretty excited when I found out they making a game for the PlayStation VR. Robinson: The Journey is an exploration puzzle game that takes place on a distant planet that's covered with dinosaurs. You, your floating AI HIGS unit, and your pet Tyrannosaurus, Laika will work together to try to discover what happened to your ship, as well as sending out emergency signals out into the universe. 

Graphically, Robinson: The Journey looks as good as a game possibly can on the PS VR, but unfortunately the hardware restricts Robinson: The Journey from really shining. With that being said, Crytek has done a wonderful job creating a rich prehistoric world. One of the things that you can do is collect information on a variety of different creatures using an item that looks sort of like a move wand. In most games, this might be a drag because it feels like a pointless collectible, but in Robinson, it feels like it would be a necessity for actual survival. 

The world isn't that large, but the variety in scenery makes up for a lack of areas to explore. When you are inside the area you will get hints from your HIGS unit, but outside of that, you are pretty much on your own. There are no breadcrumbs or mission indicators that hold your hand to your next objective - you are truly living in this world and must figure out what to do next. This can be both frustrating and rewarding. The sooner that you're on your own the more you will start to enjoy Robinson: The Journey. 

The puzzles in the game are pretty straight forward. You'll either use the HIGS unit to distribute power to different items, use Laika to scare dinosaurs into moving where you want them to go or dropping items, or use the item that looks like a move want to pick up objects and move them. You might also be able to say that there are puzzles that have to do with the actual act of exploring. When you are climbing trees or scaling mountains you'll find that there are multiple paths. Some of these will lead you to your goal and others will lead you to a dead end. This is a nice touch because it makes Robinson a lot less linear. 

The entire experience can take anywhere between 3-5 hours depending on how much exploring you do. If you take your time and collect all the data on the animals it will take you over 5 hours. Anywhere between 3 and 5 hours is the perfect amount of time for any VR game, but what makes Robinson: The Journey tough to recommend at the current digital price of $59.99, but GameStop and Amazon both sell the physical version for $39.99 and I think that is the perfect price. 

Overall score 3.75 out of 5. 

Thanks to Crytek for providing the code.

The Brookhaven Experiment Review

If there is one genre that shines brighter than any other in virtual reality, it’s horror. Saying that you won’t jump or panic pretty much guarantees that you’re setting yourself up to be scared. The Brookhaven Experiment isn’t just a battle against virtual monsters, it’s a battle against fear itself. 

You start off every level directly in the middle of multiple corridors, walkways, and huge openings that give zombies, horrific mutations and huge insects a direct path to you. As the waves of enemies come, you have to think about more than just taking them out, you seriously have to assign priorities of which enemies you need to kill first. Oh yeah, and there’s no tutorial, so make sure you press all the buttons early to figure out what they do. Here’s a quick tip, the circle button on the left controller is a quick turn around. Without knowing this, I was using the Start button to completely readjust my screen, which is not an effective way to play the game. 

When you enter the level, you get to choose from a handful of weapons, attachments, and throwables. Early in the game, you fairly limited to what you can select but as you progress you have to start going into levels with certain game plans. It’s safe to assume once you reach the fourth level you’re probably going to a few times and you have to start really thinking about what worked and what didn’t work. This is where I feel a major issue starts to creep up its ugly head. 

To get more ammo and throwables such as proximity mines, chemical grenades, and flares you have to complete levels that you’ve already finished. About halfway through the game, there’s a level titled Storm Drain, which has one of the highest difficulty spikes I’ve ever experienced in any game. Up until this point I felt that I was being challenged, but there was never a time where I questioned the actual impossibility of the game. 

Now I understand that every gamer is different, but having played well over 500 games on my PlayStation consoles, being a person who likes difficult games I feel comfortable addressing the difficulty curve that The Brookhaven Experiment takes. 

One of the first issues lies 100% in the PlayStation Move tech and I won’t fault the game for that too much, but there is a time when you have to aim directly above your head at spider enemies that are crawling down the walls. These spiders shoot webbing at you that can either disable your gun or blind you temporarily which renders you ineffective against the enemies who are quickly bearing down on you. Because the Move Wands can’t be recognized above your head (and I am not that tall) you have to hold them against your chest and angle them outwards. This isn’t a natural feeling, but once you get the hang of it’s not too bad. 

The other issue is the lack of ammo and throwables that you have. Whenever you complete a wave you get to decide between health and an ammo supply that comes with a random throwable. These throwables are proximity mines, chemical grenades, hand grenades, stun grenades, and flares. When you go into a level and die whatever ammo that is used doesn’t get restored and whatever throwable you bring in completely disappears whether you used them or not. Now the simple answer is don’t die and don’t get hit, but as I mentioned before the difficulty spike is tremendous. The end result of dying and reattempting the same level is that you have to go back and grind for supplies. At one point I went into a level with 900 machine gun rounds that I was saving for the final two rounds. I made it through the first wave only using around 300 rounds leaving 600 for the final wave. I quickly ran through those 600 rounds and just had to stand there waiting patiently to die. They game will tell you that you can use the butt of your gun, your knife and you totally can when you’re reloading or if there is a single enemy, but you’re definitely not going to be able to make it through waves of enemies unless you’re a samurai. 

I will say that I did eventually finish the Storm Drain, but it took probably 15-20 attempts where I would die late into the 3rd or final wave and it required hours of grinding ammo and grenades just to have enough supplies to finish it.

Overall The Brookhaven Experiment is a terrifying experience that requires users to keep a level head to succeed. The intense difficulty spike will probably end up frustrating a lot of gamers. 

3.25 out of 5 Stars

Wayward Sky Review

When reviewing PlayStation VR titles it's easy to get overly impressed with games that would be average because the level of immersion is unlike anything gamers have experienced before. Your body actually responds physically and at times you get fooled into believing that you can interact with virtual objects. I've had the pleasure to play and review a handful of PlayStation VR games and can say that Wayward Sky is one of my favorite virtual reality games. 

The story follows Bess, a young girl who must save her father from a slightly mentally disturbed kid named Thaddeus who shot down their airplane. Thaddeus lives on a monstrous flying base that is maintained and populated by robots. Over the course of the game, you solve puzzles and meet friendly robots while ascending this floating fortress. 
 

The first and most noticeable aspect of the game is the gorgeous art style. For the majority of Wayward Sky, the camera is a fixed isometric perspective, which makes the presentation sort of look like a board game. There are a few times where the camera does switch into a first-person mode and you have to solve puzzles by controlling two separate hands. The game looks just as great while in first-person, so it was nice to see that the graphics didn't lose any quality, which can be an issue in VR games. I did find that I had some issues while trying to complete the puzzles in first-person. There were times where my hands wouldn't respond the way that I expected and it took extra maneuvering to complete objectives. 

The world itself is pretty fun to explore and there are a lot of hidden collectibles. I am usually not a person who enjoys hunting for collectibles because it just seems like a cheap way to add more time to a game, but I really didn't mind it in Wayward Sky. The reason is because there are only two different types of collectibles to find: windchimes and robot pieces. Once you collect all the pieces of a specific robot you can then use that robot in a mini-game that is sort of like a beat 'em up / 
horizontal shooter. It's a fun little game and it also gives the collectibles an actual point.

Wayward Sky will take around 2-2 1/2 hours to finish which isn't a bad length, but this is one game that I wouldn't mind another hour. The major issue of Wayward Sky is that the puzzles are incredibly easy. Just by using trial and error you'll be able to make it through any of the Wayward Sky's challenges. Without having to think about the solutions, the objectives just become something that slows you down rather than something that adds anything to the experience. 

Overall Wayward Sky is a quick, solid game that has a wonderful presentation. You can easily sit down with your PSVR, discover a nice story, and see a beautifully designed world all before you have to go to bed for the night. 

3.75 out of 5 Stars

Thank you very much to Uber Entertainment for providing the code. 

Loading Human: Chapter 1 Review

In Loading Human you play as Prometheus, an aspiring scientist who has been summoned by your dying father to retrieve the Quintessence, which reverses the aging process, ultimately saving your father. No pressure, right?  

The gameplay of Loading Human is very similar to Heavy Rain, except in VR. You'll find yourself interacting with plenty of items, some useful and some not. You can pick up pretty much anything you could imagine a normal person can pick up. I found myself picking up glasses, plates, bottles of wine, dropping them just to see them break. None of this is probably mind blowing, but what are usually mundane tasks are so immersive that the player finds themselves completely engaged in what's happening. This could be the very nature of VR, but to succeed at this, the world has to be developed and that's exactly what Loading Human achieves. 

Loading Human was the first full PlayStation VR game that I've played, so when I first started I felt that the pacing was a little slow. Your character only walks and there is no option to run. I feel that most people who are making their first full dive into VR with Loading Human will feel this way, but after playing a few other games I feel that the pacing is actually perfect. The reason being that motion sickness is very real and in fact, Loading Human handles movement better than the other games that I've played so far. Some other games, such as Batman Arkham VR make you teleport around instead of walking. 

There were a few hitches along the way with Loading Human. One issue that I found was with the hint system. There aren't any breadcrumbs or item tags that show you your next objective, which is totally fine, but the hint system that is in the game can be very vague or just flat out wrong. There was one time where I had to restart the game a few times to understand what I was missing. This can, of course, be very frustrating when you're trying to progress through a game which relies on its narrative to keep the user engaged. The other issue is that the base that you are in is fairly small and you'll find yourself exploring the same areas quite a bit. There are a few space simulations that are fun, but they are only "exercises" that you don't actually use. Then the final major problem without spoilers is that once you finally get to the point to where feel like the game is going to completely open up, it ends. If the developers would have just given the user 30 minutes to an hour of gameplay that used the space simulations again it would have broken up some of the mundane tasks. 

Even with all the issues that I felt, I have to say that I am definitely looking forward to Loading Human: Chapter 2. From what I've heard there are supposed to be four chapters total which is a hefty investment if they plan on making every game $40. What would be nice is that the first installment is $40 and the rest that follow can be downloaded for $20 each. 

If you like narrative driven games and are looking for something to play on your PlayStation VR, then I feel comfortable recommending Loading Human: Chapter 1, but if you are looking for something that has a lot more action then you may want to try something else. With that being said, I definitely think that as the story evolves that Loading Human should be a series you keep on your radar. 

3.5 stars out of 5. 

Thank you to Maximum Games for providing the code.