Everything Review

David OReilly is probably best known for making unique animations, but recently he has begun developing video games. In 2014 he released his first game "Mountain", where you simply observe a mountain without controlling anything. This may sound a bit odd, but Mountain received critical acclaim and laid the foundation of "Everything." 

As soon as I heard that Everything promised to let the player control anything from the smallest atom to the largest galaxy, I instantly put up my guard. There have been way too many times where developers promise gamers the ability to do something you've never done before only to leave them disappointed. Fortunately for us, where other developers have failed, Everything delivers. 

You first start off by entering a name. You are then put on a random planet controlling a random object. For me, I started on an ice planet controlling a polar bear. The very first thing I noticed (which is also the same that other people noticed in the official trailers) is that a lot of the animal's movements resemble stiff somersaults. At this point, I'm thinking what is going on? But I pushed through and began exploring my surroundings. After discovering a few different types of trees and a few standard animals, I started to get that feeling of dread that I may have been lied to again, but that quickly went away when I learned how to ascend and descend into different levels. These levels range from microscopic to being out in the middle of the universe surrounded by different types of galaxies. Only once I realized the true scale of Everything did I really start to appreciate what was happening. 

Now even though you can get as small as the smallest atom, Everything never becomes overwhelming. While there doesn't seem to be true objectives, you will find yourself collecting objects from certain classifications (animals, trees, viruses, spacecraft, etc) to try to complete a collection. Whenever you go to a new area the map appears to be as far as the eye can see, but when you move around you'll start to actually see that you're really in a confined space. This limits the number of objects that you'll find and encourages you to move to another area. The awesome thing about this is that if you visit the same type of area twice in a row (ice continent, city continent, grass continent, etc. ) there will always be something new, as long as you haven't completed your collection. 

A major aspect of Everything are the readings of philosopher Alan Watts. As you progress there will be opportunities to listen to different audio clips that talk about the different ways the world is connected. These readings support the underlying theme of the entire game and have a nice calm presence that makes for an enjoyable experience. 

Everything took me about 2.5 - 3 hours to complete. Once you finish, you can keep collecting objects in your game or start a new game plus. Everything relies heavily on experience, which isn't a bad thing, as long as you know what you're getting into. If you've enjoyed games like Journey, flOw, Flower, or even the Katamari series, then Everything is definitely worth your time. 

4.5 out of 5

Thank you to Double Fine and David OReilly for providing 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.

Sports Bar VR Review

Virtual reality games provide the user with immersive experiences that can at times be overwhelming and intense. The amount of games that are currently out there that just let the user chill out in a virtual world with their friends is severely limited. Luckily, that’s where Sports Bar VR comes in to save the day.

Currently, there are four games in Sports Bar VR; Pool (8 ball, 9 ball, 3 ball, and Killer,) darts, skee ball, and air hockey, with more to come in the future. The games are pretty straight forward if you’ve played them before, but at times the controls and Move Wand responsiveness can get in the way of what would be an overall fun experience. 

Without a doubt, playing pool is the highlight of Sports Bar VR, so naturally, that’s where we are going to start. Originally the game was released as Pool Nation for the HTC Vive, which allowed you to physically walk around a virtual table. With the PlayStation version, you can either teleport to different parts of the table or you can access Hulk Mode which allows you to rotate the table around you. To set up the perfect shot all you have to do is lock on using the back left trigger on the Move Wand, pull the right Move Wand back,e and then push forward. It’s simple enough to execute a shot, but it definitely takes some time to get good. 

While playing pool you can play against an AI for an extra challenge. The AI is actually really good at the game and is a lot of fun to play against. You can also invite over a total of 5 real life players to your sports bar to play against, but I will get into the multiplayer a little more later. 

The next game is darts and as much as I’d like to say it’s as good as the pool, it’s just not. I had a lot of trouble trying to figure out how to throw the darts consistently and never got a grasp of it. The trouble may reside in the Move Wands because I’ve had a lot of trouble with throwing in other PS VR games, but regardless the darts experience wasn’t enjoyable. 

Skee ball is another game that is pretty straight forward and does actually work well. Start up a game and just start rolling the balls up the ramp hoping to get the highest score. This is a nice addition but skee ball, in general, doesn’t have a lot of substance unless you are playing with someone else. 

Air hockey is probably my second favorite game after pool. The AI is incredibly well balanced and every time I played against it I felt that it was a good, close match. The Move Wands responsiveness works perfectly when playing air hockey so if you’re a fan of this arcade staple, then this is the only place that I know you can currently get it in a VR environment. 

The major downside for me was the multiplayer. Unfortunately, one of my Gamers Lounge companions, Robert, and I were never able to get a good connection. This caused a ton of issues when playing the game and made us wonder how well could the game handle six people if it can’t handle two. There were times where I was receiving points during an air hockey session even though it appeared that he had hit the puck back to me. It also made darts virtually impossible and the pool experience was also plagued with lag. After troubleshooting, restarting multiple sessions, and switching hosts we determined that the probably must be with the game. This is unfortunate and I do hope that the connectivity issues that we experienced eventually gets addressed in the future. 

Overall Sports Bar VR is a great game if you are looking to take a break from intense horror games and other crazy virtual reality experiences. You’ll have a great time playing pool and really for some, I can imagine that’s enough. 

3.25 stars out of 5

Thank you to Cherry Pop Games for providing us with 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.