Containing five different experiences to help you get a grasp of what’s possible from PlayStation VR, PlayStation VR Worlds is a decent way to introduce the concept of virtual reality to those on the outside of the game industry. Those familiar with what games should be will find lots to desire from the four “experiences” offered. With one game that seems fully realized and another that is simple and fun, there’s a lot to want out of the other three offerings present in this compilation of what VR has to offer.
PlayStation VR Worlds is merely that – a compilation of experiences to give a taste of what VR can be. The unfortunate thing is that the experiences all feel like they’re missing something. In this package you get a street luge game, an action version of the Guy Ritchie film Snatch, the VR equivalent of Pong, a deep sea dive experience, and an alien adventure. All of these are wrapped up in a pretty impressive hub menu which lets you interact with it and get your first feeling of immersion in another reality.
Let’s begin with some of the best that VR Worlds offers: The London Heist. This is the most complete game as it includes both a story and mechanics, presented in a cohesive manner with very few loose ends. It opens with you being tortured by a hulking beast of a man who wants information from you. The gameplay is ultimately presented in flashbacks as you slowly piece together what led you to being tortured. The two major setpieces are shooting gallery segments, as is the case with most VR games at the moment. However, there is a thrill to a car chase sequence that I couldn’t resist enjoying. Motorcycles drive past you as you shoot outside your window, the driver’s window and the windshield. But what’s better is the interactivity that can be found in the car as you open your door to lean out and shoot oncoming motorcyclists. It isn’t just fun: it’s immersive.
Meanwhile, the previous shooting gallery segment has you ducking and popping out of cover. It’s your traditional shoot out but still feels slightly good, even if the tracking for the Move controllers and VR headset tend to fight each other. This shows up more when doing tasks besides shooting though, like trying to open a desk drawer. At one point, the whole world just flew far away from me and then right back. I spent several minutes trying to open one drawer but my Move controller’s tracking just kept dodging the action prompt. But hey, it’s cool to light a cigar and listen to a phone without ever actually touching one.
Despite its problems, The London Heist offers a proper game out of itself with an ending and a beginning, complete with gameplay mechanics that you become familiar with and accustomed to. Then there’s Scavenger’s Oddysey which lacks the narrative closure that London Heist provides. Taking control of an alien race that is on a search for some forbidden relic, players will maneuver in a spacecraft designed for walking on surfaces and shooting bad guys. This is actually one of the few games I’ve played where you’re allowed to move freely while in virtual reality. Using the analog sticks to move, the VR headset becomes your aim and you can fire at enemies with ease while also jumping between platforms.
But while the combat feels good, it does get boring after a while. Occasional powerups offer a chance to become stronger than before, but you’re still just moving in a linear path. As an experience it’s probably got the most mechanics present, but it also offers very little in terms of replayability. Whereas in The London Heist I’d feel like jumping back in, even just for one scene. I don’t think I could handle another moment in Scavenger’s Odyssey. The game is even broken up into two parts because it’s a fairly long experience that benefits from being broken up, only because it’s so boring that you wouldn’t like it at all if it just kept going. But there’s no benefit of playing beyond the first part because the mechanics stay the same and the story ends with a cliffhanger. Which is not okay for something that will likely not get extended upon.
Loose ends in a story are not uncommon in PlayStation VR Worlds, though. Ocean Descent keeps teasing all throughout its main experience that there are other people racing to find what you’re discovering, and even ends with another cliffhanger. But all you really get is that you’re being dropped deep into the ocean and eventually a shark is going to attack you. That’s cool and all, but it is not interactive and I never once found myself terrified because I never once felt like I had any presence. Instead it just seemed like I was a camera locked in a cage. Ocean Descent teases so much more, and it feels like a diversion mission in a bigger narrative, but it offers nothing interesting. By far the worst piece of VR Worlds, it isn’t a game or a satisfactory experience.
The other low point is VR Luge, which is a simple arcade experience that never really feels like it 100% works. Tracking is so finicky and it’s easy for it to register a small movement as a big one, forcing players to throw themselves from one side of the road to the other as they barrel down it at high speeds. It’s also just not a very fun game. Occasionally obstacles show up, but nothing too difficult to dodge. It’s more just handling your movement when the game wants you to just weave in between hazards. I also found it weird that we’re in a virtual reality experience and the game lets you just move through cars with only a time penalty to incur. I should either be dead, or have the opportunity to move below cars. I think that’s a reasonable request from a game that is trying to make you want to go luging on the street.
But not all simple experiences are bad. I’d say the most fun I had was with the simplest of all experiences – Danger Ball. This Pong-clone isn’t all that unique but it offers some fun in its simplicity. Controlling one paddle, players can take part in tournaments or quick play and take on AI opponents by bashing a ball between the two of you until one of you misses. What adds a little bit of complexity to it is that curved hits damage the paddle of the player it hits. So the longer you play, not only is the ball getting faster but the paddles are taking up less space. It’s simple, fun and addictive.
There are challenges that players can also complete through all five of the games available in PlayStation VR Worlds, but they all act as minor achievements that don’t ever feel too difficult or even out-of-the-way of the main progression. If nothing else, VR Worlds offers food for thought. VR is still extremely early in its life, and there are neat ideas that will be seen in many other experiences I’m sure. But most things feel slightly incomplete or just not fun at all. And that’s the worst thing you can offer an early adopter of any technology.
A PS4 Review Code for Playstation VR Worlds was provided by London Studio for the purpose of this review