FREDDY FOR THE BIG TIME

I revisit Arizona Sunshine every so often because it’s a great game; it can be enjoyed solo or co-op in ten-minute chunks or as a more satisfying long-form session, and the core conceit of gunning zombies down is still really satisfying. Honestly, there have been so many shooters released in VR since AS, and nearly none of them have nailed the satisfying and substantial feel offered by Arizona Sunshine, still. However, it was never a very good-looking or slick affair and was full of less and less forgivable jank. I was relieved when Arizona Sunshine 2 came along and smoothed out a lot of those rough edges, whilst largely doubling down on everything that made the first game so good to play.

A remake of the original using later tech is a rather great idea, and I’m largely happy to report that Arizona Sunshine Remake does what it promises to. It includes all the DLC for the original release, similarly remastered, and offers tremendous value for money – there’s even a nifty discount if you’ve got the original in your Quest library already. So, before I get into the specifics, just know that if you’ve played and love the original and are looking for a shiny new version to show off your Quest 3 or 3S, then go to it, I recommend it. You won’t be disappointed. But wait – hey – I haven’t fini… Ah sod you. In your impatience to go spend your money you’re missing out on some exemplary videogame criticism and penmanship. Your loss. The rest of you still with me? Ok, let’s get into it.

FRED DEAD REDEMPTION

Players both familiar and new to Arizona Sunshine will find a lot to love. The setting still feels fresh and original, despite the zombie theme having been done to death, resurrected and headshotted more times than can be counted in the past thirty years. Even Resident Evil, whose fault it all is, has been trying to move away from zombies for at least 15 years. However, zombies do provide a gloriously guilt-free way for us all to virtually live out our fantasies of taking our frustrations and loneliness out on the general public with gardening equipment and automatic weaponry.

Arizona Sunshine Remake casts the player as an unnamed, initially slightly dislikable dude who’s been surviving alone in the Arizona wilderness in the wake of a zombie apocalypse. He’s trying to find any living souls to team up with and has been alone for quite a while when the player quantum leaps into his head. He sounds a bit like a bassist, a roadie or a general stoner – in fact, it occurred to me as I played through the remake that my mental image of him is that he’s Neil Fak from The Bear dropped into a zombie survival scenario. This is a Good Thing. His journey in the course of the game is slight, but brilliant and engaging, and as I mentioned in my original review Sky Soleil’s fantastic performance is key to making the whole thing work. A majority of protagonist voiceovers in VR can be grating or off key, making it a chore to literally inhabit their heads as you progress, but here you are completely engrossed in getting the guy where he wants to go and keeping him alive. If you’ve only ever experienced him in Arizona Sunshine 2, then it’ll be an extra frisson to experience him getting to the point where he’s obsessed with keeping his dog alive when the sequel hits the fan. There’s no massive story here, so the narrative sells itself through empathy with its only character, and this has stood the test of time well.

DEAD MAN, FRED MAN

The game offers pretty cool options for customising the feel of the game – from movement and turning to switching between the simple reloading of the original, or the new VR standard of sliding in a clip and cocking the gun. Thankfully you can now hold pistols with two hands. You can calibrate where you’d like your holsters and ammo to sit on your body. All good, as is the improved Half-Life Alyx style wrist inventory and inclusion of tremendously fun bludgeoning melee weapons like crowbars, picks and hammers. These can be balanced on railings or the sides of tables or shelves while you reload or scavenge, and this feels really cool.

FREDDING THE NEEDLE

The level of challenge is pretty good – on the easier difficulties if you’re a reasonable, quick enough shot you’ll be ok. The game has two paces; scavenging for ammo and exploring, popping heads as you go, and then set piece horde rushes where you hope that you’ve stockpiled enough bullets and picked the right weapons to survive. Like the sequel, these horde rushes can be suffocatingly frustrating and stressful chokeholds on progress or exhilarating and rewarding tests of endurance which provide a tremendous rush of relief and accomplishment when you’re through. If this is your first rodeo, I’d advise playing through on lower difficulties first, so you know roughly what to expect, and then have another playthrough where you’ll have to be a lot more sparing with your ammo and inventive with the offered weapons at your disposal. You won’t have to worry about finding crafting ingredients like in the sequel, but supplies get pretty scarce even if you aren’t the sort of person who likes to spray and pray.

This all changes again when playing through in co-op with a friend, which is such a good feature of both the original game and its shiny new incarnation, Arizona Sunshine Remake. Sadly, the same limitations apply, and this is one thing I really hoped would be improved with the new gameplay. There are points where you’d think one player could be running around gung-ho with an automatic amongst the horde whilst the other takes overwatch, but this is often not so. When a player triggers the horde, the co-op partner will be teleported to their side if they’re in a place the game doesn’t want you to be. Sometimes invisible walls will prevent the player from taking a visible path, the game locking off areas of the map that should be accessible just because the designers wanted it that way. It’s pretty lazy and annoying, and it was weak eight years ago. It’s downright unforgivable for such a classy game to be so graceless in its execution, reiterating its mistakes verbatim after eight years of iteration.

LONG AND WASTED YEARS

Whilst we’re on the subject of things that really should have died and stayed dead with the original game, let’s talk about graphics. By and large the graphics in Arizona Sunshine Remake are a remarkable improvement on the original, as one might expect. The bacon wood textures of the original are long gone, thank goodness, but there are still some items of text that are unforgivably pixelated and horrible. The searchable trunks of the police cars, for example, just about say ‘HIGHWAY PATROL’ on them, but I’ve seen better image quality on those Captcha things online when they’re trying to ascertain I’m human. Most egregious of all is the sniper scope section, where distant zombies are rendered with such horrible quality that the graphics don’t match the original release. In fact, in this one instance they don’t even look as good as the original PlayStation. Vertigo Games have done so much to fly the flag for VR as a gaming medium, and all eyes are on this remake to show us all how it’s done. We let some things slide about the original because of the ambition and overall quality of the experience. Don’t let Ed Wood get hold of your Director’s Cut version, because we’re going to mark it down accordingly now.

The same goes for how fiddly things can be. Scavenging is better and drawers and doors have a far more physical interactivity to them, but sometimes picking up stuff can be unnecessarily finicky and sometimes even bugs out. If you’re carrying things when the game loads a new area, these can sometimes disappear.

This is all stuff that absolutely should have been sorted out. Some of it is patchable, some of it ain’t. Let’s see what the next couple of months may bring – but this is a remake of an eight-year-old game, and it should have been slicker. It only takes seven years to train as a doctor or an architect, so I think it’s reasonable to expect Fred to have got his shit together a bit better than this, dead or no.

SUNSHINE DESSERTS

Arizona Sunshine Remake does exactly what it promises to do, and provides great value, great fun and great challenge in one juicily headshottable package. It drips with atmosphere, from the setting and impressive voice acting to the perfectly judged musical score. It still provides the most satisfying gunplay on the Quest and sidesteps the time commitment problem of Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners by being playable in bitesize chunks, and in co-op too. You get the excellent DLC stories as part of the deal, and there’s also the endlessly replayable Horde mode to play with up to 4 friends. It supercedes the original game entirely and provides fans of the original and the sequel plenty of reasons to dive back in, whilst being a very enticing and recommended prospect for new players.

However, be warned that this is a remaster rather than a true remake, and the failings of the original game are often brought along wholesale for the ride.

Yet, as you dive deeper into its dark caverns and sprawling alien cities, the game reveals a duality: it’s a technical marvel at first glance but begins to stumble as you push toward its conclusion.

Exploring the Abyss

You step into the shoes of Ben Mitchell, a deep-space scavenger who, alongside his AI sidekick Jonathan, finds himself on an alien world after being sucked through a wormhole. The central hook of Into Black is simple: explore, gather resources, upgrade your equipment, fight alien creatures, and try to repair your ship to escape. But this isn’t just a solo experience; you can bring along up to three friends to take on the campaign in co-op, adding a social dynamic to the core gameplay.

The game also offers several different modes. The main campaign propels you through caverns, magma chambers, sunken cities, and more, with Jonathan providing some humor and light commentary throughout the journey. Outside of the campaign, you’ve got resource-gathering missions, perfect for players who want to grind without focusing on the story. There’s also a PvPvE mode, “Singularity,” where 12 players battle it out in an ever-shrinking map, hunting for resources while fighting both aliens and each other. On paper, this package is immensely appealing—offering variety, action, and a healthy dose of replayability.

Mining for Gameplay Gold

The first thing that stands out in Into Black is the fluidity of movement. The Binary Mill’s VR pedigree is on full display as you run, jump, and shoot your way through a vast and dangerous landscape. The mechanics feel polished—there’s no jitter or clunkiness in how you interact with the world. The controls are intuitive and smooth, making even the most mundane actions, like mining for resources, feel satisfying.

Shooting in Into Black is a real treat. You get an array of weapons—pistol, shotgun, SMG, and even a returning axe that gives off major God of War vibes. The game also doesn’t shy away from borrowing mechanics from other iconic games. You’ve got Gears of War’s quick reload system, Super Mario-esque mushroom bouncing, and some clever nods to other classics scattered throughout.

That said, the gameplay does start to show cracks. While the shooting feels good, the combat loop does wear thin after prolonged play. Boss fights, in particular, are disappointingly lackluster—these bullet-sponge encounters drag on and don’t offer much in the way of tactical depth. You’re left dodging projectiles and pumping rounds into alien statues that hardly animate. It’s a shame because the game’s combat has such potential, but these moments feel undercooked.

Cavernous Eye Candy

Graphically, Into Black is an absolute stunner. The stylized visuals work wonders in VR, especially when combined with the game’s fantastic lighting effects. One of the most memorable moments comes early on, when you fire a flare into a cavern and watch it illuminate the alien landscape in real time. It’s breathtaking. The game’s biomes are varied—magma chambers, ancient alien ruins, and underwater caverns all offer a sense of discovery that keeps things feeling fresh, at least for a while.

However, the longer you play, the more technical issues you encounter. There are bugs—literal and figurative—clipping through walls, getting stuck in the environment, or not reacting properly to the game’s physics. I’ve had moments where a teammate in co-op would suddenly start levitating, or plants would hover slightly above the ground, which chips away at the game’s initial immersion. These bugs are jarring, especially when you’re playing a game that feels so polished at the start.

Stand Up Jonathan

Audio in Into Black has its highs and lows. The standout here is Jonathan, your trusty AI companion. His witty banter and occasional comic relief do wonders to break up the sometimes bleak atmosphere of the game. Some players have even confused his voice for that of our very own Pete Austin from 6DOF Reviews! The weapon sound design is punchy and satisfying—guns sound like they have weight, and the feedback you get when firing is palpable.

But the game stumbles when it comes to music. The soundtrack is repetitive, especially during combat encounters where you’re fed the same adrenaline-pumping track over and over again. This repetitive score feels like a missed opportunity to enhance the emotional beats or dramatic moments in the game.

Bugged Out, Blacked Out

The deeper you get into Into Black, the more it feels like the game is held together by duct tape. Small issues accumulate: creatures glitch out, environmental elements don’t react as they should, and some aspects of the game design feel underdeveloped. The puzzles, for example, could have been a great way to break up the action, but they remain simplistic throughout the entire game. There’s no ramp in difficulty, and they often feel more like time fillers than real brain teasers.

Fabricating resources, a crucial aspect of upgrading your gear, becomes an absolute chore as well. The interface doesn’t allow for batch crafting, forcing you to sit through long animations for each individual item. It’s an incredibly tedious process that really grinds down the pace【31†source】.

Long Play, Short Patience

On the plus side, Into Black offers a lot of content. Between the main campaign, the co-op options, and the PvPvE mode, there’s plenty to keep you engaged for dozens of hours. But as mentioned, the longer you play, the more the game’s flaws start to reveal themselves. There’s a real sense that the scaffolding holding this experience together could use some more structural support.

Into the Light, but Not Quite

Into Black starts out like a dream—fantastic mechanics, gorgeous environments, and charming voice work. The experience is immersive and addictive, sucking you into its alien world with blistering confidence. However, the deeper you go, the more the game starts to feel like it’s losing its grip. Bugs, repetitive music, and lackluster boss fights prevent it from achieving greatness.

Still, all these issues, apart from maybe the dull boss battles, are fixable, and if The Binary Mill supports the game with patches, Into Black could easily rise to become a standout in the VR world. If you’re seeing this review after those updates, consider it an 8.5/10, but for now, it’s not quite there.

This dynamic of anticipation and dread, combined with the stark contrast between the agent’s cautious exploration and the alien’s predatory stillness, brings an unsettling atmosphere to the game. It feels reminiscent of certain asymmetrical multiplayer VR experiences like Panoptic, where two sides use different strategies and abilities. Here, though, the tension is cranked up a notch because you never know exactly when danger will strike.

Mannequin Mayhem

Mannequin‘s gameplay offers more depth than it might first appear. What starts as a straightforward hide-and-seek game quickly develops into a mind game where both teams need to rely on strategy and communication. As an alien, one of the most enjoyable elements is setting traps. For example, one alien could purposely get caught moving, luring agents into the open where others are waiting in ambush. The aliens have a short dash ability, so the moment they get close to an agent, it’s usually game over.

For agents, though, it’s not so simple. Their detection equipment can help spot moving aliens, but they have to be careful with their shots—accidentally shooting a real frozen human means their gun jams, leaving them vulnerable to attack. This constant balancing act keeps the stakes high. I found this part of the gameplay particularly satisfying, especially with how easy it is to slip up as an agent if you’re overconfident.

What really makes Mannequin stand out is the emphasis on teamwork. Even after you’re “killed” and turned into a ghost, you can continue helping your team by scouting out aliens or agents and communicating their locations. This keeps the experience engaging even after death, similar to how Echo VR kept stunned players involved with team coordination even when they were out of action. The revive mechanic also adds another layer of strategy, with the potential for thrilling comebacks if your teammates are quick on their feet.

Frozen in Time

Visually, Mannequin does an excellent job at crafting an eerie atmosphere. The stylistic graphics complement the gameplay well, with its frozen humans scattered in mid-movement, as if life just paused around you. This is enhanced by little details like objects suspended in the air as though frozen in time, reminding me a bit of the surreal environments in Into the Radius, where floating objects give an otherworldly feel.

The color palette strikes a balance between vibrant and unsettling, creating environments that feel frozen in more ways than one. That said, the levels can start to feel somewhat repetitive. While the frozen environments are distinct, they don’t vary much between rounds, and the art style, while effective, could benefit from more diverse settings. Hopefully, future updates bring more variety to the maps, which would help keep things fresh for players long-term.

Listen Closely, or Else

If the graphics set the mood, the audio in Mannequin makes it essential to your survival. Spatial and locational audio play a huge role, especially if you’re playing as an alien. Your ears are your best defense, letting you track the movements of agents by listening for their footsteps or the beeping of their detection equipment. There’s a strong sense of tension as you’re frozen in place, relying on sound alone to plan your next move.

On the flip side, agents need to pay close attention to these same auditory cues, using them to pinpoint mannequin movements. The audio design is exceptional here, elevating the suspense and making every game feel like a high-stakes dance of patience and precision. In this regard, it shares a bit of DNA with stealth games like Phantom: Covert Ops, where audio is critical to both tension and gameplay. The way sound influences your decisions adds to the immersive quality of the game, making it as much about listening as it is about looking.

Live by the Community, Die by the Community

Like many multiplayer VR games, Mannequin’s longevity will largely depend on its community. The game has all the tools to be successful—a fun and accessible concept, depth for strategy lovers, and enough tension to keep things interesting. However, whether it thrives or falters will come down to the player base.

During my time playing, I noticed a mix of younger players and casual gamers, which isn’t surprising given the straightforward mechanics. The game doesn’t demand the kind of dedication you’d expect from more hardcore VR experiences like Population: One or Onward. It’s the kind of game you can jump into for a few rounds and still feel like you’ve had a good time. But without a solid community to keep the lobbies full and the matches engaging, it could be tough for Mannequin to sustain long-term appeal.

Memory Lane

For all the positives, Mannequin does have one major flaw that threatens to undermine its long-term replayability: the frozen NPCs aren’t randomized between rounds. Once you’ve memorized where the real frozen humans are, playing as an agent becomes significantly easier. If you have a good visual memory (like I do), you’ll quickly start recognizing which figures are NPCs, making it much harder for aliens to blend in.

This is something I pointed out during playtesting, and I was surprised to see it hadn’t been addressed in the latest update. Randomizing the placement of NPCs seems like a no-brainer for a game like this, where unpredictability is key to maintaining suspense. Until this is fixed, the game risks losing its edge for more observant players, and that could turn away some of its more dedicated audience.

A Mannequin with Potential

Mannequin is a unique and suspenseful multiplayer experience that brings a fresh concept to the Quest’s lineup. The game offers moments of high tension and strategic depth, with its simple yet effective mechanics. The graphics, while not groundbreaking, create a memorable atmosphere, and the audio design is top-notch, integral to the core gameplay.

That said, its future success depends on two key factors: the community and continued updates. If the player base stays active and the developers address some of the current issues—particularly the non-randomized NPCs—Mannequin could become a go-to casual multiplayer experience. For now, it’s an entertaining game with a lot of potential, and with a free trial available, there’s little reason not to give it a shot. Whether you’re a kid looking for some fun or an adult who enjoys casual, strategic gaming, Mannequin has something for everyone.

Note: I’d happily give it a 7.5 if they add NPC randomization! So if you’re reading this at some point in the future when that’s been done, then it’s a 7.5!

Clawball will be available for free on Meta Quest’s App Lab in early access starting October 2024, with a full release planned for the Quest Store in 2025. Players eager to jump in can join the closed beta through ARVORE’s Discord server.

The game emphasizes fast-paced action, where players use their paws (and claws) to hit the ball and score goals. In addition to its competitive nature, Clawball features a rich social aspect, allowing players to explore a “playground” lobby, interact with others, and customize their cat personas with various cosmetics like headgear, eyewear, and shirts. New cosmetics will be periodically added, keeping the game fresh and allowing continuous self-expression.

Ana Ribeiro shared her excitement about the project: “Clawball is ARVORE’s first multiplayer VR game, and it combines our love for chaotic multiplayer games with the playful spirit of cats. The idea was sparked by our lead programmer, Joao Machado, who noticed his movements resembled those of a cat while working on the initial prototype. Developing this game has been a joy, and we’re thrilled to share it with the world.”

Clawball is not just about soccer; it’s about creating a fun, immersive experience where players can engage in both competitive matches and social interactions, all while enjoying the unique charm of playing as a cat.

Our Intrepid Survivor

When Arizona Sunshine 2 begins, you wake up in a dingy trailer, thirsty and looking for a drink. The opened beer bottles around you are variously empty, used as ashtrays, or contain your vomit—a good intro to the game, quickly establishing the pathos of the character you embody for the next 8-12 hours. Soon, a helicopter you hoped might rescue you crashes nearby. You rush to it in desperation, but it’s too late for the pilot. However, you gain a new canine companion from this ordeal. Without knowing his name, you decide to call him Buddy, marking the start of a beautiful friendship and a new quest as you realize the military is trying to locate patient zero, your potential ticket out of hell.

The gameplay in Arizona Sunshine 2 follows a straightforward single-player, narrative-driven campaign. As a fan of such campaigns, I’m all for it. The gunplay, a standout feature of the original game, is wonderful. It’s immensely satisfying to land a good headshot and hear the mushy explosion of a zombie’s head. Along your journey, you’ll find various weapons—pistols, machetes, semi-automatics, Uzis, rifles, machine guns, shotguns, and more. Each feels good to use, has its strengths and weaknesses, and allows you to approach zombie killing in your unique way.

Your holster is adjustable; you can carry two weapons at your waist and another slung over your shoulder. You also have two Half-Life: Alyx-type inventory slots in your wrists for consumables, grenades, mines, Molotovs, or stick grenades. As if that wasn’t enough, Buddy himself has two holsters, allowing him to carry two extra small weapons for convenience. Buddy isn’t just there for company. You can order him to take down zombies and fetch objects. He’s the heart of Arizona Sunshine 2, as in this world, a dog is not only man’s best friend but perhaps his only friend.

The writing in Arizona Sunshine 2 is a standout, with Rob Yescombe’s pitch-perfect writing and Sky Soliel‘s wonderful portrayal of the main character. The character’s range of emotions—frenzied desperation, gallows humor, enthusiasm, tender loving care, and even toilet humor—is all perfectly balanced and appropriate to the story’s context.

And it is a great story. Unless you’re dead inside, you’ll fall in love with Buddy. The last time I felt this emotional about an in-game animal was in The Last Guardian, which had me in tears by the end.

Arizona Sunshine 2 features a fantastic story, with twists and turns, highs and lows, and it will emotionally captivate you.

Oh, Ye Pretty Armageddon

While the first Arizona Sunshine never excelled graphically and relied on its gunplay and wit, the graphics in Arizona Sunshine 2 are atmospheric and superb. They portray a variety of environments and locations and comfortably overwhelm you with on-screen zombies when necessary. The art direction is on point, and the game is frequently just pretty, if your idea of pretty includes rotting corpses and splattered brains.

There are occasional glitches, like zombies’ heads and limbs tearing through doorways and walls, and sometimes Buddy’s body partly tearing through a wall, but it’s hardly a problem.

The graphics on PSVR2 are superior to those on Meta Quest 2 or 3, but they suffer from noticeable reprojection on PSVR2. I hope Sony finds a way to improve this across the platform, as it detracts somewhat from the overall immersion.

Can You Hear Me?

The audio’s standout is Sky Soliel’s beautifully nuanced voice acting, taking you on an emotional journey through the game. The sound design is fantastic, playing a huge part in the feel of the weapons. The guns sound different and satisfying to reload and shoot. The sound effects—from the zombies’ growls to barrel explosions—are great, and the music sets the mood effectively, ranging from suspenseful to action-packed.

Apocalyptic Delights

The story can be played single-player or co-op, taking around 8 hours on normal and closer to 10 on hard. Arizona Sunshine 2 also brings back the horde mode from the original, where up to 4 players can fight off

 increasing waves of zombies in various environments. Your enjoyment will depend on your affinity for replaying story campaigns and wave modes.

Freddy Failures

There’s not much to complain about with Arizona Sunshine 2. It excels in areas where other VR games struggle. Opening cupboards and drawers is easy, climbing works well (though it’s only used in a few areas), and aiming is precise. There are a couple of sections where the difficulty spikes, but remember this tip in times of need: aim for the legs.

There are minor issues, like wonky trolley physics and a potential memory leak causing increased loading times the longer the game runs on your system.

Overall, the positives far outweigh the flaws. You’ll be drawn in by the writing, laugh with the main character, empathize with his loneliness and newfound enthusiasm for Buddy, and appreciate his moments of reflection. Meanwhile, you’ll enjoy action-packed gunplay, varied environments, and well-paced set pieces.

Freddy Thrills

In summary, I had a fantastic time with Arizona Sunshine 2. It’s a sequel that surpasses the original in every conceivable way, setting a new standard for single-player narrative-driven campaigns in VR, especially on Quest and PSVR2. It’s focused on what works, providing a fluid experience from start to end, and is easy to recommend to anyone with a beating heart who hasn’t been bitten by a brain-eater. Stop reading this, get the game, and enjoy it!

This update introduces a new 3-player co-op mode, allowing players to join forces and explore the magical world of Meliora together. The cooperative play in “Brotherhood” adds a new dimension to the gameplay, with each player wielding unique magical abilities.

Key features of the update include:

• The complete “The Wizards: Dark Times” experience, now fully remastered.
• Enhanced graphics and visual upgrades, including dynamic lighting and more detailed environments, particularly for Meta Quest 3 users.
• New interactions and gameplay variety, including climbing, troll-riding, and a trolley cart chase.
• Additional unique spells and new enemy variants.
• Optimized spell-casting controls for improved ease of use and accuracy.

“The Wizards – Dark Times: Brotherhood” is priced at $24.99/€24.99 and is free for owners of the main game. The update aims to enhance the immersive experience with next-gen VR visuals and the introduction of cooperative gameplay.

Here’s our review of the game, done before this update!

Are you excited about this update? Will it bring you back to the game? Let us know in the comments!

In case you can’t tell already, we love Breachers, now let me explain why and maybe you can decide if it’s for you!

Breachers is a first-person team-based five-a-side tactical shooter where players alternate between enforcer and revolter roles in high-stakes close-quarters combat scenarios. While most reviewers, including ourselves, have mentioned that it’s like Rainbow Six: Seige, experiencing it in VR with a good team really is something else. It also happens to be both cross-play and cross-buy, so you get a twofer, and it should be easier to find multiplayer games to join!

It’s fair to say that you’ll be very impressed when you run Breachers, because, honestly – it’s one of the best-looking games we’ve seen on Quest, and certainly the best-looking multiplayer shooter to have graced the system.

Locked & Loaded

The gameplay in Breachers is exceptional, offering a smooth and responsive experience with easy, intuitive, controls. Matches are divided into several rounds, with players switching roles as enforcers and revolters. As enforcers, your primary goal is to infiltrate a location, eliminate any opposition, and disarm bombs using an EMP that one of you is equipped with. As revolters, your objective is to defend the location and prevent the enforcers from disarming the bombs. This alternating gameplay format keeps the experience engaging, forcing players to work together as they try out different strategies and tactics.

Players have access to an arsenal of unique gadgets depending on their role. Enforcers have drones, breaching foam, and cloaking devices, among others, to surprise and outmaneuver their opponents. Revolters, on the other hand, can utilize door blockers, trip mines, and static field emitters to fortify their position. Huge kudos to the game’s fantastic level designs. The maps are some of the best looking and best designed we’ve ever seen, not only looking beautiful but virtually eliminating camping positions by making almost every spot on the maps accessible from multiple angles.

High-Caliber

Did I mention Breachers is beautiful? It is. Every little bit of Breachers shows off incredible polish, starting with the beautifully rendered rooftop that welcomes you to the game, and right up to the menus, the maps, the textures, and the weapons. Everything looks and feels fantastic, easily setting a new benchmark for graphics on a standalone headset. The game’s excellent weapon models are complemented by a vast range of customization options, including weapon specs, scopes, holographic dots, laser sights, and extended magazines. All this comes together to create an immersive and engaging gameplay experience.

At launch, the game features four maps, three of which are tailored for the main Bomb Defusal mode, while the fourth map offers a team deathmatch mode. These maps provide a diverse range of environments and challenges, allowing players to hone their skills and adapt their strategies to different scenarios. The Bomb-Defusal maps in particular are stunning, featuring the best water I’ve ever seen on Quest, wonderful skyscraper vistas, and detailed indoor environments.

Listening to Footsteps

I cannot overstate this, but Breacher’s audio design is brilliant, employing spatial audio to keep you on your virtual toes. Everything from footsteps to gunfire is given the attention it deserves, meaning you’ll be crouching to avoid making noise, listening intently to determine where your enemies are, and coordinating with your team accordingly. Breachers encourages you to listen carefully, and it always pays you off for it.

I mentioned the weapon customization options before, but they really are truly impressive, offering players a plethora of ways to modify their load-outs and – perhaps more impressively, making those options very accessible. While in the Buy Phase that precedes every round, players can use their in-game credits to equip and accessorize their arsenal to suit their playstyle and tactical preferences. You just look at your weapon, you see options you can add to it, and you click them to purchase and equip. Other game devs really should pay attention, this is how you offer variety without sacrificing accessibility.

Aiming for Perfection

I’ve played a lot of Breachers, and apart from suffering high ping because I’m nowhere near any of the servers, I encountered no issues with matchmaking, team communication, or in-game mechanics. Triangle Factory, who had previously released the excellent Hyperdash, clearly know exactly what they’re doing. Their dedication to delivering a seamless and enjoyable VR experience is plain to see and is very much appreciated.

With its robust multiplayer mode, offline bot practice options, and a decent selection of great maps, Breachers is primed for a long-lasting presence in the VR gaming community. Triangle Factory have already announced the first update will add support for rankings and bHaptics, while the second update will include a new game mode, and the third will add a new map.

Given what they’re already delivered, we have no reason to suspect any of these will be less than stellar. We expect Breachers to continue to evolve and expand, and given how great it already is, we can’t wait to see what comes next.

Yippee-Ki-Yay!

With incredible graphics, superb polish, frictionless gameplay, superb sound design, an excellent inventory system, and a huge variety of weapons and gadgets, Breachers knocks it out of the park. It comes out swinging and is already, at launch, one of the best games we’ve ever played on Quest. It’s impossible NOT to recommend Breachers unless you hate shooters or just aren’t interested in multiplayer gaming. Even then, I’d suggest you give it a try. It really is that good.

Despite this, let’s focus on the game itself.

Gambit! is a four-player looter shooter. Players go through levels with basic weapons, earn cash, unlock more stuff, and play repeatedly. It’s a gameplay style that works well when done right, like in After the Fall. Unfortunately, Gambit!’s execution falls short, with monotonous, repetitive gameplay. Each mission is a wave shooter with slight variations in environment and enemies.

That’s the whole game—disappointingly shallow and lacking in enjoyment. It’s as if someone unfamiliar with games created a checklist of what gamers like, but no one actually tested the game for fun.

The campaign features three levels, each with a series of checkpoints. With three lives and the ability to buy extra lives, there are no stakes or consequences. Dying simply means restarting from the last checkpoint, removing tension and joy from the game.

Tweedledum and Tweedledee

There are four distinct characters with unique special weapons, which initially seemed promising. However, these weapons don’t significantly impact gameplay. Once players unlock decent guns like a shotgun or assault rifle, the special weapons lose their appeal.

This realization further emphasizes the game’s repetitive wave shooter nature. While there’s plenty of content and activities, such as graffiti spraying (which was the most enjoyable part of the game), it doesn’t save Gambit! from being monotonous.

Memetic Confusion

Graphically, the game is muddy and lacks a cohesive art direction. Some aspects appear cartoony, while others strive for realism, resulting in a disjointed visual experience. The game’s visuals are inconsistent, ranging from PS2 quality to decent Quest graphics. It lacks a clear visual identity. Adopting a cel-shaded, comic book style for both gameplay and cutscenes could have improved the game’s tone and made it more cohesive.

From an audio perspective, Gambit! is satisfactory. While the spatial audio is decent, it pales in comparison to other games like Breachers, where outstanding spatial audio is essential for survival. Unfortunately, not every game can be a masterpiece.

At times, there’s no music, which is an odd choice, especially in multiplayer. This silence takes away from the action, energy, and excitement, making the game feel stale and disheartening.

Gun effects in the game are a mixed bag. The shotgun and assault rifle sound great, providing satisfying feedback. However, some weapons, like the magnum-style handgun, have hollow and empty sound effects. The inconsistency in sound effects detracts from the overall experience.

Scriptural Grievances

The voice acting is impressive, despite the poor scripting. The dialogue is juvenile, filled with gratuitous swearing and edginess that might appeal to younger players. Nonetheless, the actors did a commendable job with the material they were given.

Municipal Mishaps

Multiplayer modes are an important aspect to consider if deciding to play this game. There are various modes, but they all involve playing the same levels from the single-player campaign. Options include deathmatch and municipal mayhem, which may offer some fun. However, it’s worth noting that finding a multiplayer game during peak times proved difficult on four separate attempts.

The lack of player engagement within days of the game’s release is concerning. If you’re considering buying Gambit! for its looter shooter genre and replayability, be cautious, as the core gameplay isn’t very enjoyable. If you want it for the multiplayer experience, be aware that there may not be many players to join you. This low player count in multiplayer modes is a significant drawback, especially for those who value online gameplay.

Grunt

Gambit! was not an enjoyable experience. The game’s shortcomings, such as its repetitive gameplay, lack of cohesive art direction, and inconsistent sound effects, contribute to an overall disappointing experience. While there may be worse games, if you’re looking for a looter shooter, get the aforementioned After the Fall instead. For multiplayer shooters, you’re better off with Breachers or Larcenauts, both of which offer a different but amazing experience.

Today, almost two years later, and having been adopted by publisher Fast Travel Games, Guardians comes to the official Quest store as Guardians: Frontline!

Guardians Frontline takes elements from RTS games like Red Alert and StarCraft and mixes them with the action-heavy first-person shooting of games like Halo and Destiny. In some ways, it even reminds me a bit of BattleZone 98 Redux, a wonderful game in its own right. 

In Frontline, you play as an eponymous ‘Guardian’ tasked with protecting humanity from nasty alien bugs. This involves a lot of bug-killing and a general feeling that you’re playing a virtual reality adaptation of Starship Troopers.

Welcome to the Roughnecks!

Most players will start Guardians: Frontline in campaign mode. This is made up of a tutorial followed by 13 chapters or missions, stretching across three different planets. The story is perfunctory at best, but, as in most RTS games, the real point of the single-player campaign is to prepare for the all-out havoc of multiplayer. 

The gameplay is very engaging, making you alternate between first-person bug shooting and the kind of things an RTS demands; placing extractors near the shiny red crystals that give you your resources, building turrets to protect your base, building ground-to-air defenses to take out the flying bugs, and various other strategic concerns. Your offensive forces are also quite diverse, you can build drones, robots, bipedal armored units, and even mechs that you can teleport into and pilot, all used for wreaking havoc amongst the alien baddies. 

First-person locomotion consists mainly of running around using free locomotion, although comfort teleportation is also available. You’ve also got a jetpack that allows you to hop your way across the terrain in large leaps, as well as the ability to teleport to pads that you can place throughout the maps. All these options make it easy and intuitive to get around, once you’ve gotten used to them.

Speaking of options, I have to commend the game for the ridiculous wealth of options it provides in the settings menu. You can essentially configure just about anything you can think of, a true testament to how gamer-focused Virtual Age were when developing Guardians. 

Command & Conquer

What really surprised me, though, is how well Virtual Age have integrated the more complex RTS elements of the UI. By pushing one button on the main controller, you switch from gun mode to command mode, allowing you to easily navigate a menu that shows up on your other arm, easily selecting defenses or units to build. Once selected, you point at the landscape to decide where the selected unit will be built and rotate your hand to change its alignment on the ground. It’s simple, it’s quick, and it works effortlessly.

I only wish there was a way to build several units of the same type in one go without going back and forth to the menu on your secondary hand. I checked with the devs on discord, though, and they seemed open to implementing that as a feature, so I’m hopeful we’ll see it soon.

Guardians Frontline offers a wealth of mission types, all of which can be played in single-player or co-op mode. When you launch any mission, you have a toggle that determines whether other players can hop into your game and join you against the bugs. Whenever this happened to me, it was always welcome. Players who hopped in, regardless of their age, were invariably cordial and cooperative, and it was their involvement that got me through a couple of difficult levels! 

The other potentially huge draw to Frontline is an ongoing, potentially endless mode called Galaxy Conquest, fueled by community-created maps. Although this mode, in theory, provides an endless supply of end-game content, the quality of that content will vary, as with all community-created content. 

It’s relatively easy to complete Guardians’ main campaign on Normal mode if you’re a seasoned FPS/RTS player, but switching to Advanced provides a lot more challenge, so much so that I didn’t dare try out Insane.

Fight for the Future

Visually speaking, I’m impressed with the clarity on display. The graphics aren’t spectacular, but they’re good, and the interface is clean and clear. The alien bugs are well-designed and very easy to tell apart, as are your own units. It’s easy for RTS games to become visually overwhelming, especially when lots of units are on the screen, but Frontline never falls into that trap. If you’re getting overwhelmed, it’s because the bugs are crushing you.

Your guns are pretty cool, each is distinct and well-designed, and, in general, they’re fun to use, each with its own pros and cons.

The sound design is equally pretty good, and spatial audio is used to good effect, making it clear where you need to be paying attention. Gun sounds, however, could be improved, they’re not bad, but I feel they could use a boost.

Never Pass Up a Good Thing

Guardians Frontline has come a long way since its early days when I first tried it out while Pete was reviewing it. It’s now a full game with a substantial amount of content, a good variety of units, and a general feeling of polish that was initially lacking during its first iterations. Virtual Age have done well, making a game that’s easy to recommend for fans of the genre, and, at least so far, the only game of its type on Quest.

If you want to shoot wonderfully designed alien bugs without the strategy component, be sure to check out Crashland!

[Psst: We have two Guardians Frontline codes to give away and we’re running a giveaway competition for them, click this link if you want to enter!]

Barbaria sets you up as a god, or, more accurately, a semi-god in charge of your own realm. You have your piece of land, which you can expand, you have your own brutal self, embodied in VR via a huge and ridiculously muscular player avatar whose arms are so bulging with muscles that they’re practically touching all the time, and you have a goblin mentor who guides you as you make your way to nether worldly conquests!

Gods & Monsters

The action in Barbaria takes place in two modalities. The first is a hands-on experience that feels a lot like Gorn but with less ridiculous physics. You embody your muscle-bound avatar, and you invade another semi-god’s realm, either alone or with some of your minions, and you set about to destroy their defenses and destroy their altar crystals, giving you your victory and earning you some loot or treasure. 

As you go about your raiding, you’re armed with a variety of upgradeable weapons; axes, swords, and bows. You can also, obviously, use your fists, hurl rocks, or even throw your enemies at each other. It’s all wild and crazy and incredibly bloody and quite a lot of fun. It doesn’t hurt that you can also zoom out to god-view and use magical superpowers to shift the tides of battle. 

The multiplayer element in Barbaria is asynchronous and comes in when you attack other players’ realms and contend with their defenses, or when you come back to the game and are updated on attacks that have taken place against your own realm. You’re never fighting another player in real-time, but for realm-builders, there’s a lot of fun to be had in building up your realm, fortifying it with all kinds of defenses, populating it with minions and monsters, and seeing how it fares against players who attack it!

Chronicles of Cruelty

The gameplay in Barbaria is very cool, the combat is physics-based, but it feels good and solid and much less rubbery than that of Gorn, for instance. You can stun enemies and grab them, hurl them at each other, decapitate them, and indulge in all sorts of brutal punishment. It feels good and provides quite a lot of satisfaction. 

The graphics are stylized and utilize a cartoony aesthetic that works well with the Quest, providing a lot of atmosphere while always being sharp and clear. There are a lot of graphical flourishes all around and the presentation is generally superb. 

The sound is equally well crafted, from the special FX associated with the fighting to Edvard Grieg’s ‘In the Hall of the Mountain King’ that plays at the start of the game. It all adds to the whimsical and carefree mood of the game and sets the tone quite well. 

There’s a lot of truly enjoyable whimsy on display in Barbaria, starting from your goblin instructor and mentor whose writing is constantly deriding your realm-destroying efforts, insulting you, and making a point of sounding quite surprised whenever you achieve any victory, to the catwalk-model goblin who comes out to display your chosen banner colors, to appropriate music and catwalk spotlights. 

These kinds of touches are sprinkled throughout the game, and add a real sense of joy to all of Barbaria. They make things fun to unlock, fun to play with, and fun to look at and see. 

Stalwart Games have done well here, clearly enjoying their game, peppering it with fun elements, and allowing players to really feel like they’re in a fun playground. 

Cruel and Cruel Yet Again

There’s a lot of game in Barbaria. The more you play, the more loot you acquire, the more weapons you have that you can use, and the more gold you have with which to purchase expansions for your realm and upgrades for all your defenses, weapons, minions, and avatars.

Building the perfect defenses and seeing how they fare against other attacking players can prove to be quite addictive. If you’re a player who likes that sort of thing, you already know you’re going to enjoy it. 

There Can Be Only One

Barbaria is a great game that’s a pleasure to play. It’s not afraid to show attitude, and it carries itself with an endearing, whimsical stride. It’s a lot of fun for fans of brutal first-person melee combat, as well as competitive base-builders who like to see how their base-building holds up against other players. It’s well-priced and easy to recommend to anybody who’s into either genre. Stalwart indeed.