Lights, Camera… Action!

Action Hero casts you as an actor/stuntman playing the lead on various movie sets, a clever premise that should breathe new life into Superhot’s time-manipulation mechanics. The game unfolds across five distinct “movies,” each broken into four acts. Each Act consists of five or six action-packed vignettes. Your director then encourages or chides you through sequences ranging from high-speed battles atop a moving train to Matrix-inspired showdowns.

The Hollywood setting proves genuinely inspired, offering a natural justification for the game’s segmented structure and repeated attempts at perfection. Each “movie” pays homage to different action genres—you’ll find yourself channeling Indiana Jones one moment and Neo the next. The aptly named “The Code” sequence, with its cyberpunk aesthetic and reality-bending set pieces stands out as a particular highlight.

While the concept and setting work well, there is definitely room for improvement. You can choose between two directors at the beginning of the game, but this choice seems to be entirely limited to the voice-over that pushes you through the game, which is a real missed opportunity.

Had the choice between the directors been integrated into the actual gameplay mechanics, the option between two distinct personalities could have been transformative rather than merely superficial. Had the stricter director imposed time limits, restricted the number of retakes before “firing” you, or demanded specific style points for a scene, the game would have been much improved. Similarly, the other director could have offered more generous conditions but lower score multipliers.

Implementing such mechanics would have perfectly aligned with the movie-making premise while adding meaningful replay value and, at the same time, offering the game at least one gameplay addition to set Action Hero apart from its inspiration. Instead, we’re left with little more than a voice pack selection.

A Time-Tested Formula

Let’s address the poignantly static elephant in the room: Action Hero‘s core gameplay is virtually identical to Superhot. Time moves only when you do, creating a strategic dance of bullet-dodging and precision shooting. This “bullet ballet” remains as engaging as ever, with each vignette playing out as a spatial puzzle where plotting your path through enemies requires both tactical thinking and physical prowess.

The game shines in its moment-to-moment gameplay. Consider a sequence atop a speeding train, where motorcycles leap through the air amid explosive chaos—time crawls to a stop as you map out your response, each movement a calculated risk. When scanning your surroundings, you learn to move with exaggerated slowness as any quick head turns accelerate the incoming threats. Players will use these temporal mechanics to master each scene, eventually blossoming from a cautious planner to an action hero who can handle real-time combat with practiced grace.

Individual scenes can be completed in seconds, but perfecting them becomes an addictive pursuit. The game includes a “normal speed” toggle that lets veteran players attempt runs without the time manipulation crutch, adding another challenge for leaderboard chasers. It’s the kind of game that can steal minutes or hours as “just one more try” becomes your evening’s mantra.

However, where Action Hero falters is in its reluctance to innovate. While Superhot’s mechanics were revolutionary, their direct reproduction here feels safe to a fault. The game could have explored new variations on the time-manipulation theme—perhaps scenes where time moves backward, where maintaining momentum is crucial, or where particular objects remain in real-time while others slow down. Instead, it settles for being an exceptionally well-produced clone of an exceptionally well-made original.

Blockbuster Flair

The most significant departure from Superhot comes in the visual design. Gone is the stark white-and-red minimalism, replaced with vibrant, colorful environments that pop in VR. The movie set themes allow for varied locations and spectacular set pieces—exploding barrels, mid-air motorcycle jumps, and Matrix-style environmental effects create memorable moments.

However, this shift comes with tradeoffs. While Superhot’s minimalist aesthetic achieved a timeless elegance, Action Hero‘s more conventional approach, though polished, feels less distinct. The blockbuster styling is well-executed but lacks the iconic visual identity of its inspiration. It’s a reminder that sometimes less truly is more. That said, this will come down to personal preference as there will doubtless be many who prefer the bombacity of the blockbuster aesthetic. I prefer the context and flair given by the action movie set motif, but I know that others (Ed.) will not agree.

Setting the Scene

The sound design effectively serves both form and function. Slow-motion explosions and gunfire sound satisfying and provide crucial spatial awareness cues. A barrel exploding in slow motion to your right naturally draws your attention. The audio mixing cleverly balances the needs of both slow-motion and real-time gameplay, ensuring important sound cues remain clear regardless of your temporal state.

The sound design also pulls double duty, simultaneously selling both the action movie experience and the “behind-the-scenes” setting of a movie set. The addition of director voice-overs adds personality, though as mentioned earlier, the two-director system feels like a missed opportunity for more profound gameplay variation. The overall soundscape successfully reinforces both the action movie premise and the core gameplay mechanics.

Cut! Reset! Let’s go again!

Action Hero presents a challenging dilemma for reviewers. Viewed in isolation, it’s an exceptionally well-crafted VR action game that delivers satisfying gameplay in digestible chunks. The movie set premise is clever, the execution is polished, and the core mechanics—borrowed as they may be—remain compelling.

Yet it’s impossible to ignore the game’s derivative nature. This isn’t merely inspired by Superhot; it’s essentially Superhot with a fresh coat of paint. While the original broke new ground, Action Hero seems content to merely redecorate it. The additions it does make—the movie set premise, colorful visuals, and director system—feel more like surface-level changes than meaningful evolution.

For players who have never experienced Superhot, Action Hero offers an excellent entry point into this style of VR action. Those craving more of Superhot’s unique gameplay will find a pseudo-sequel on offer and will likely relish it for its familiarity. However, veterans of the original may find themselves wishing for more innovation beneath the Hollywood glamour.

Concept: 4
Gameplay: 8
Graphics: 8
Sound: 7.5
Longevity: 8
Overall: 7.5

Color by numbers Superhot

You step into the shoes of Serdar, a doctor whose personal quest to help his ailing wife leads him through the dangerous underground world of the Metro. Without spoiling anything, I can say the narrative is one of the game’s strongest elements, featuring several compelling twists and turns as you uncover various truths along your journey. The writing really shines throughout, delivering both emotional depth and narrative complexity across the game’s 12 chapters. The story manages to feel both personal and consequential, maintaining the series’ trademark blend of human drama and post-apocalyptic survival.

Bullets, Beasts & No Workbenches

At its core, this is quintessentially Metro, though with some notable streamlining of mechanics. The gameplay loop alternates between narrative sequences, atmospheric exploration, and intense combat against various mutants. You’ll encounter everything from dog-sized creatures to more imposing threats, each demanding different tactical approaches. Your arsenal starts with a pistol and gradually expands to include a semi-automatic rifle and other weapons. While the selection isn’t extensive, the gunplay is exceptional, ranking among the best I’ve experienced on Quest alongside titles like The Light Brigade and Arizona Sunshine.

Unlike Metro Exodus, for example, there’s no crafting in Metro Awakening. You won’t be crafting grenades or Molotov cocktails, and weapon modification is extremely limited – the only weapons mod I found was a silencer for the pistol, which was automatically added once found. In that sense, Metro Awakening keeps it simple: no workbenches, no crafting systems. While some might miss these features from the mainline series, this streamlined approach works well in VR, keeping the focus on immediate action and survival rather than resource management.

Don’t Blink: The Art of Metro Terror

The game masterfully straddles the line between action-adventure and survival horror, and this is where it really shines. While it comes with an explicit arachnophobia warning, it never ventures too deep into pure horror territory – something I appreciate as someone who typically “nopes out” of VR horror games. Instead, it excels at building a persistent sense of tension and anxiety. You’ll experience moments of frantic panic in dark corridors, managing limited ammo while mutants scurry about, creating intense situations that feel challenging but manageable. The game keeps you perpetually uncomfortable without crossing into overwhelming territory, striking an impressive balance between tension and playability.

Tunnel Vision Never Looked So Good

Metro Awakening is visually impressive, with strong art direction and effective real-time lighting that contributes significantly to the atmosphere. The game consistently maintains its foreboding atmosphere through excellent environmental design. While much of the game takes place underground, each area feels distinct and purposeful, avoiding the potential monotony that could come with a subway-based setting. Some locations are intentionally revisited as part of the narrative – this isn’t lazy asset reuse but a deliberate story choice that adds to the overall experience.

The attention to detail is remarkable, especially in the interactive elements. You can physically check your remaining ammo by looking at your weapon’s chamber, and small touches like functional fans add to the world’s believability. While it’s not an immersive sim where you can interact with everything like in Half-Life: Alyx, the interactive elements that are present feel purposeful and well-implemented. Character animations are notably smooth with minimal jank – even while recording, which is particularly impressive for a Quest title. The environmental storytelling is subtle but effective, with each area telling its own story through careful visual design.

The Sound of Survival

The audio design stands as the game’s crowning achievement, creating a deeply immersive experience that elevates every other aspect of the game. The soundtrack expertly emphasizes emotional beats throughout the story, from moments of creeping dread to brief instances of hope and optimism. While it pays homage to classic Metro themes, it establishes its own unique identity that fits perfectly with the VR experience.

The sound design is exceptional, leveraging every trick in the horror game playbook to maintain tension. You’ll hear unsettling radio murmurs that you can’t quite make out, precise directional audio that keeps you on edge, and the nerve-wracking sounds of mutants moving through nearby tunnels. These audio elements work together to create a constant sense of unease that enhances every aspect of the gameplay. The voice acting is consistently strong throughout, adding authenticity to the experience and helping sell the emotional moments in the story. The way sound echoes through the tunnels, the mechanical clinking of your weapons, and the environmental ambiance all contribute to making the Metro feel like a living, breathing place.

Mind The Gap: Performance & Playtime

I encountered very few technical issues during my playthrough. There are some minor control quirks, like occasional overlap between mask and reload detection zones, and a few moments where gameplay systems don’t quite sync with narrative elements (like conversations continuing normally while running out of oxygen). However, I experienced no crashes or significant bugs throughout my entire playthrough, which is impressive for a VR title of this scope.

I completed the game in about six and a half hours on normal difficulty. While some players report longer playtimes of 10-14 hours, especially on hard difficulty or when pursuing a stealthy approach, my experience was focused and satisfying. There are collectible postcards to find, which unlock with a satisfying musical cue, but replayability is limited as you’d expect from a narrative-driven single-player game. While there’s no new game plus or challenge modes, Vertigo’s track record with post-launch support (as seen with Arizona Sunshine) suggests we might see additional content in the future.

Last Stop: Final Thoughts

Metro Awakening stands as a testament to how traditional gaming franchises can be thoughtfully adapted to virtual reality. While it doesn’t include all the systems and complexity of its non-VR counterparts, it succeeds by focusing on what works best in VR: immersive storytelling, tense combat, and atmospheric exploration. The combination of great gunplay, impressive visuals, outstanding audio design, and an engaging story kept me coming back for more – I found myself playing about an hour and a half each day until completion.

The game’s greatest achievement is perhaps how it maintains the series’ signature atmosphere while adapting it for a new medium. Every element, from the sound design to the visual presentation, works together to create a compelling and often unsettling journey through the Metro. While some might wish for more weapon variety or crafting options, the streamlined approach serves the VR format well.

It’s very easy to recommend Metro Awakening to all but those who might find themselves too unsettled by its tense atmosphere. It’s easily one of the best games I’ve yet played on Quest, and despite the somewhat brief run-time, it presents a dense and gripping experience from the first cinematic intro to the moment the final credits roll on screen.

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!

Now, as Fracked makes its way to the Quest, the question is: Will nDreams update their design choices to once again play to the strengths of the hardware? If not, will the design choices from 2021 hold up, or will Fracked feel like a relic of the past?

FRACK TO THE FUTURE

At its core, Fracked is a narrative-driven shooter with a straightforward premise. Players step into the boots of a lone soldier who unwittingly stumbles upon an isolated mountain fracking operation. This isn’t your typical energy extraction site, however. An alien corruption has spread throughout the camp, turning miners into grotesque enemies and threatening the very world itself. Alongside a trusty “eye in the sky” sidekick, players are tasked with investigating the mysterious outbreak and eradicating the alien menace.

The story unfolds over a 3 to 3.5-hour campaign, taking players through a series of 8 fairly linear levels. The game’s structure alternates between intense action set pieces, thrilling skiing sequences, and climbing sections that, while serviceable, don’t add much to the overall experience. The action sequences, particularly those where players ski down slopes while shooting enemies on snowmobiles, are exhilarating at first but quickly lose their novelty.

Despite the initial bursts of excitement, the campaign’s short length leaves much to be desired. What could have been an epic, sprawling adventure feels more like a bite-sized thrill ride—fun while it lasts but over too soon.

THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE CLUNKY

Fracked offers an interesting mix of classic run-and-gun gameplay with elements of traditional cover shooters. The game’s cover system is one of its standout features, allowing players to physically move in and out of cover using their off-hand. This adds a level of immersion and physicality that a simple button press fails to achieve. The action is fast-paced, with set pieces that serve up waves of enemies for the player to mow down. However, these set pieces often feel like filler content, with limited objectives beyond surviving the onslaught.

Unfortunately, Fracked is hampered by some clunky design choices that feel inherited from the PSVR controllers and detract from the overall experience. Holstering weapons, for example, is far from intuitive. Rather than the accepted standard of using the grip button to grab and holster weapons from intuitive locations on the body, switching weapons is done via a button press. New weapons instantly materialise in your hand in a way that is jarring and immersion breaking. Holstering involves an awkward long press while holding the gun by your hip, a process which felt cumbersome at best.

The inability to dual-wield or two-hand weapons seems to be a deliberate way to force players to engage with the cover mechanics, but it makes the gunplay feel one-dimensional. For the cover based elements it makes sense, but the run-and-gun elements are sorely let down by the inability to rush into a situation guns akimbo.

WHO NEED’S STAIRS WHEN YOU CAN ZIPLINE?

The game’s limited weapon selection further exacerbates this issue. Players have access to only two main weapons and three special weapons, the latter of which cannot be holstered and can only be used for a single clip. This severely restricts the variety of combat encounters, especially when paired with the limited enemy types. There are only three main enemy types, and while they are mixed up by arming them with the same limited weapons available to the player, the overall combat experience can feel a little repetitive.

On the plus side, Fracked does incorporate some enjoyable environmental interactions. Zip lines and exploding barrels are scattered liberally throughout the levels, providing ample opportunities for creative kills and quick escapes. However, the sheer abundance of these elements raises questions; what does a fracking operation need with so many zip lines, and why the hell are there explosive barrels absolutely everywhere?!?!

The climbing sections, though present, are mercifully few and far between. They serve as brief interludes between the more action-packed sequences and do an ok job of delivering a few cinematic thrills. But, like so many games that incorporate a superficial climbing mechanics, these sections lack the tension and nuance delivered by more dedicated climbing games like The Climb series. As a result, these sections lack the impact that could easily have delivered.

THE FRACKED AND THE FURIOUS

If there’s one area where Fracked truly excels, it’s in its visual presentation.

The game’s art direction is nothing short of fantastic, making superb use of a stylized cel-shaded art style. Textures are bold and vibrant, with strong outlines and a thoughtfully conceived palette that make the game pop that ensures the world feels consistent and vibrant. One odd quirk, however, is the giant hands that seem to be nDreams’ calling card (Ghostbusters, I’m looking at you). While not a deal-breaker, it’s an unusual design choice that might take some getting used to.

The audio experience in Fracked is equally impressive. The soundtrack dynamically shifts with the action, adding to the intensity of firefights and the tension of quieter moments. Voice acting is top-notch, showcasing the difference that a proper budget can make when securing professional voice talent. Sound effects are crisp and impactful, and the use of spatial audio helps players subconsciously navigate the chaotic battlefield, adding another layer of immersion to the experience.

FINAL ACT

Fracked is a game that oozes style and accessibility, serving as an excellent entry point for players new to VR shooters. With outstanding art direction and some thoroughly engaging set pieces there is a lot to enjoy in the Quest port of nDreams’ 2021 PSVR hit.

That said, Fracked can’t help but feel slightly hampered by its heritage and struggles to keep up with more modern VR shooters. Despite this, Fracked is a still a fun and engaging experience, especially for those looking for a short, stylish romp through a visually stunning world.

Ballin’ Like a Pro

At its core, Blacktop Hoops is an arcade basketball game that draws inspiration from the classic NBA Jam series, but with the added immersion of a first-person VR experience. Players can choose between half-court and full-court games, each offering a unique set of challenges and strategies. The game’s mechanics are intuitive and fun, with a learning curve that rewards dedication and practice. A series of tutorials guides players through the essentials of ball handling, shooting, dunking, stealing, and defensive techniques, ensuring that even newcomers can quickly pick up the basics.

One of the standout features of Blacktop is the “on fire” mechanic, a nod to the iconic NBA Jam power-up. By executing a series of flashy moves and building up your trick meter, you’ll earn the ability to perform an unstoppable Super Dunk or drain a shot from anywhere on the court. This adds an extra layer of excitement and strategy to the game, encouraging players to showcase their skills and take risks.

The single-player campaign mode is where this game truly shines, offering a series of challenging matchups against AI opponents across a variety of American and international courts. As you progress through the ranks, you’ll face off against increasingly skilled rivals, each with their own unique playstyles and abilities. The campaign mode is a thrilling power fantasy that allows players to live out their dreams of being an NBA superstar, complete with jaw-dropping dunks, ankle-breaking crossovers, and clutch buzzer-beaters.

Taking on the World

For those looking to test their skills against real-world competition, Blacktop Hoops boasts a robust multiplayer suite with options for 1v1, 2v2, 3v3, and 4v4 games. The online community is thriving, with thousands of players ready to hit the virtual hardwood. However, newcomers should be prepared for a steep learning curve, as many veteran players have honed their skills over the game’s two-year early access period.

While the multiplayer experience can be exhilarating, it’s not without its flaws. The smooth, stylized animations of the campaign mode are replaced by the occasionally janky movements of real players, which can be jarring at times. Additionally, some users have reported minor connectivity issues and glitches that can impact the flow of the game. Despite these hiccups, the multiplayer mode remains a fun and engaging way to showcase your abilities and compete against players from around the world.

Stylin’ on the Streets

One of the most impressive aspects of the game is its vibrant, stylized graphics. The game’s art direction perfectly captures the essence of street ball culture, with colorful courts, larger-than-life characters, and a bold, cartoony aesthetic. The character models feature exaggerated proportions and unique designs, adding to the game’s arcade feel and visual appeal.

While the animations are generally smooth and fluid, there are occasional glitches and inconsistencies that can be noticeable during gameplay. These issues are relatively minor and don’t significantly detract from the overall experience, but they do leave room for improvement in future updates.

On the audio front, the game delivers an immersive soundscape that complements its street ball theme. The satisfying sound effects of the bouncing ball, the swish of the net, and the squeak of sneakers on the court all contribute to the game’s authentic atmosphere. The soundtrack is a fitting collection of hip-hop and urban-inspired tracks that perfectly capture the energy and attitude of the blacktop.

The voice acting in Blacktop Hoops is generally solid, with a variety of colorful characters and memorable performances. However, there is one notable exception: a real-life trick dunk champion who makes an appearance in the game. While his dunking skills are unquestionable, his voice acting leaves much to be desired, serving as a reminder that not all athletes are cut out for the recording booth.

Room for Improvement

While Blacktop Hoops is an impressive VR basketball experience, it’s not without its shortcomings. The ball handling mechanics, for example, can take some getting used to. The hand and wrist positioning of your virtual avatar doesn’t always align with what feels natural, which can lead to moments of confusion and frustration. It’s crucial to remain conscious of which hand is holding the ball when driving to the hoop, as it’s all too easy to lose possession mid-dunk due to an awkward hand position.

Another minor issue is the occasional animation glitch, particularly in the campaign mode. While these glitches are infrequent and don’t significantly impact the overall experience, they can momentarily break immersion and disrupt the flow of the game.

A Slam Dunk for VR Hoops Fans

Despite its minor flaws, Blacktop Hoops is an outstanding VR basketball game that offers an immersive, engaging, and highly replayable experience. With its intuitive mechanics, vibrant graphics, and wealth of single-player and multiplayer content, this title is a must-play for any VR enthusiast with a love for the game of basketball.

The single-player campaign mode is a particular highlight, offering a satisfying power fantasy that allows players to live out their dreams of being an NBA superstar. The multiplayer suite, while occasionally marred by technical hiccups and a steep learning curve, provides a thrilling way to test your skills against real-world competitors.

While there is certainly room for improvement in terms of ball handling mechanics and animation consistency, these issues don’t detract too much from the overall package. Blacktop Hoops is a slam dunk for VR hoops fans, and with its recent full release on the Quest store, there’s never been a better time to lace up your virtual sneakers and hit the blacktop. As a lifelong basketball fan and VR enthusiast, I wholeheartedly recommend this title to anyone looking for an exhilarating, immersive sports experience.

As the game begins, you’re tasked with becoming a vampire slayer, put into a castle that houses 9 vampires, and told that many before you have failed. You’re guided by a mysterious mentor, who tells you about the history of the vampires you’re trying to dust as they slumber and teaches you how to get past their defenses. A pry bar, clippers, and a hook made from a finger bone are among the many tools within reach, but a stake through the heart is the only way to end it.

The game relies on a spooky atmosphere and requires a good deal of patience as any sound you make risks waking up the vampire whose defenses you’re trying to get past. Tension builds as you cautiously lift bars, remove nails, and clip wires to find the vampire’s heart. Your silence and precision are key as you avoid awakening the beasts who will drain your life instantly.

COFFIN UP THE MECHANICS

As the game begins, you’re given a short but effective tutorial level. After that, the pattern is fairly consistent: solve a 3-dimensional puzzle that shows you the shapes you’ll have to make to penetrate the final defensive layer of each vampire, teleport to the vampire’s coffin, and then slowly unlock the coffin and make your way, as stealthily as possible, past their defenses.

The defenses do pile on, starting with bars that need to be slowly and carefully removed, to nails that must slowly be pried loose, to wires pulsing with electricity that you need to cut, to little voodoo watchers that’ll awaken every now and then and sound an alert if they sense any movement.

It all fosters a careful exercise in patience and slow, purposeful movement, all while in a slightly spooky atmosphere that VR veterans will find entertaining but the less adept might feel terrifying.

If you’re worried about jump scares, well, they’re tempered. In fact, Pete and I have slightly different views on the scares. I don’t consider the jump scares true jump scares since they occur only when you fail, so I consider them a death screen, and because they’re predictable (you can always tell when you’ve messed up), I don’t find them particularly scary and they don’t startle me. I love Pete, but he has the fortitude of a little baby and still thinks they’re jump scares. Clearly, your horror mileage may vary.

Overall, the game is slick and well-made, a testament to Schell Games, and honestly, after their work on the I Expect You to Die series, we expected no less than a classy execution. See what I did there?

FANG-TASTIC VISUALS

Graphically speaking, Schell Games are as sharp as they’ve always been. The castle environments are cool, well-stylized, and look great. The game’s visual presentation effectively captures the eerie, gothic atmosphere of a vampire’s lair, with dimly lit corridors, ancient stone walls, and ominous coffins.

The attention to detail in the various tools and traps you encounter adds to the immersion, making each interaction feel tactile and real. While the overall aesthetic leans more towards a cartoonish, Transylvania-inspired style rather than photorealism, it works well for the game’s tone and gameplay. Nice and spooky, in a fun, approachable way.

SOUNDS LIKE A SCREAM

The sound is equally great, with the voice acting by your mentor being quite sinister and superb, and the ambient audio of the castle environments lending everything a creepy atmosphere. You can hear spiders crawling, you can hear the occasional bat fly by, startling you a little, you can feel echoing footsteps in the distance making you look around in concern while you’re trying to slowly, carefully pry a nail loose while worrying that another nail is sympathetically coming out of the coffin with it, and might drop to the floor and wake up a damn bloodsucker.

BLOODY NITPICKS

There’s not much to complain about with Silent Slayer, but you know us better than that. We’re the nitpicking reviewers, so here it goes. The game might feel a little short; there are less than a dozen vampires to kill, and once you get past the first five, the rest just build on the first, without really adding any more game mechanics. On the other hand, it’s priced at $19.99, so you can’t really complain about the longevity you get. Still – it would have been great to keep adding on more mechanics as the game reached its conclusion rather than just piling on mechanics that have already been introduced.

The 3D puzzles are also somewhat useless. I mean, some are more challenging than others to assemble, but the conceit that solving them reveals the shapes you need to cast to defeat the vampires is rendered useless by the fact that you’re guided through the shapes by arrows that show up before the kill, so the actual utility of the puzzles is nullified.

Another issue is that once you’ve gotten used to the fact that you only get caught if you fail twice in a row, the game becomes a bit too easy. As long as you’re patient, it’s hard to fail.

But again, like I said, I’m nitpicking. At the end of the day, this is a unique game, with great graphics, great audio, an interesting conceit, and cool mechanics. It’s well-priced and knows not to wear out its welcome.

FANGS FOR THE MEMORIES

Silent Slayer: Vault of the Vampire is a solid new title from Schell Games. While not as deep as their I Expect You to Die installments, it’s fun and offers a nicely spooky and tactile VR experience well-suited to both VR veterans and VR newbies since the player doesn’t really move around the environment and there’s no cause for motion sickness. It’s Operation in VR, and that’s not a bad thing at all, so long as you know what you’re getting into.

These assassins were the original John Wicks, born long before Keanu ever had his puppy killed by some idiot, and went on to lead a massive franchise. 

As a result, Assassin’s Creed was born, and Ubisoft gave us all the beginning of an enduring franchise that’s still going strong. 

With its conceit of using the now famous Animus Device to put users into the first-person memories of historical assassins, the meta of the franchise is practically built around VR, so in some sense, we can say that Assassin’s Creed: Nexus was born all the way back in 2007. It was, in a very real sense, inevitable. 

And now, long-awaited and eagerly anticipated, it’s finally here for Meta Quest headsets. We were hoping to have a review ready for you right when the game released, but alas, our stealth got the better of us, and we only got it on release, then, after I’d finished eight levels, I managed to run out of battery while it was saving, corrupting my save file and forcing me to start from scratch. 

So excuse our delays, and put on your wrist daggers, my friend, we’re going on a grand adventure. 

Where Eagles Soar

Assassin’s Creed Nexus puts you in the role of a hacker who’s been recruited by a rogue Abstergo agent who wants to assemble blueprints for a supercomputer of unknown, and possibly alien origin. You do so by, you guessed it, inhabiting the memories of Assassins throughout history and finding artifacts that hide the blueprints to this miraculous device. 

Rather than introduce new characters, Ubisoft allows VR gamers to play as some of our favorite characters from the franchise; Ezio Auditore in Renaissance Italy, Kassandra in Ancient Greece, and Connor Kenway in Colonial America. It’s a great mix, and I don’t think there’s an AC fan on the planet who doesn’t love Ezio, even though I can’t help but wish they’d let me also play as Altaïr from the very first game. 

The game is spread out over 16 missions and jumps back and forth between these characters and locations to keep things fresh and engaging. It even lets you play in different cities within each period, so there’s quite a lot to see here. It doesn’t skimp.

Assassin’s Creed Nexus VR, to use its full title accomplished something I did not expect; it largely fulfills the promises that Mirage made, returning the franchise to its roots, with pick-pocketing, social stealth, and almost none of the RPG clutter that the more recent console releases have suffered from – or enjoyed – if you feel that way. Nexus takes AC back to its basics and is all the better for it. 

Another thing that AC does well is that it understands – to its core, that we want to feel powerful in VR, but it might have erred a bit too far in that direction, with auto aim practically making it impossible to miss knife throws or archery shots. The parkour is automatic as long as you keep the A button pressed down when you sprint, with you choosing the path, and the game handling all your jumping for you. Climbing however is a manual exercise, unlike the console versions. Ubisoft have clearly tried to marry comfort and accessibility with immersion, and I think that, on the whole, they’ve made some pretty good choices. They may not please everybody, but with so many iterations of the franchise’s mechanics, it’s anybody’s guess as to what people might consider perfect. 

So let me destroy the suspense; Assassin’s Creed Nexus isn’t perfect, sometimes it won’t jump when you thought it might, bringing a halt to your parkour flow, sometimes the auto-aim feels cheap, sometimes the melee combat feels a little clumsy, and sometimes you’ll grab a table instead of the object on it..but who cares?

It brings much more to the table, generally fluid gameplay, fantastic environments, more characters on screen (even if many are clones) than I’ve ever seen or thought I’d see on the Meta Quest, real motion captured and nicely expressive character animations, a variety of skills and weapons, an interesting story with you as a hacker caught between Abtergo and the Assassin’s trying to sabotage their efforts.

It also brings a slimmer version of what people have come to dread from Ubisoft titles, an open-world game with maps full of to-do’s. In this case, the maps are open but smaller. Still larger and more detailed than almost anything else we’ve seen on Quest, but thankfully, smaller than those to have to deal with on consoles. There are enough challenges to keep you entertained if you don’t want to just follow the story sequences, but not enough to feel like they just want to stay it takes a few dozen hours to complete. It doesn’t. 

It also does something very few games, let alone in VR, manage to achieve; it has moments. I’m a sucker for moments and will forgive a second-rate movie if it pulls off even ONE good solid moment. Nexus accomplished that in one of the first few missions when you find the fabled Bow of Odysseus and bring it to one of your allies. She holds it gently, amazed that it’s real, in awe at its craftsmanship. The soundtrack punctuates this moment wonderfully, and for a few seconds, it feels like something magical has happened.

This is why we like story-driven games, and it reminded me of that one moment in Half-Life: Alyx when the Vortigaunt says “Our paths diverge. But remember: There is no distance between us. We are coterminous.”

Goosebumps. 

Ancient Splendor

The graphics in Assassin’s Creed, which I played on Quest 3, but are not enhanced for Quest 3, are some of the most impressive I’ve seen from Quest, perhaps not in terms of fidelity, as you’d see in Red Matter 2, for example, but certainly in terms of scope and size. The UI/UX is excellent, and the general polish of the game shines through all the design elements. The cities are large, the draw distances are impressive, and they all feature realistic crowds even if you see the same faces way too often. Despite the scale, the baked-in lighting effects and some reflections all work together to create an impressive environment. The only janky thing you’ll really notice is that the legs the game provides you with are sometimes..a bit more contortionist than they should be. The frame rate is generally good, very occasionally stuttering a little, but considering the scale of things, I wouldn’t complain. 

Auditore Delights

As briefly touched upon before, the music in Nexus is fantastic, and changes in style and theme depending on your local, and on events taking place. The sound design is equally satisfying, with everything making appropriate sounds, from the bows you shoot to the steps you take, to the locks you pick. The voice acting ranges from the good to the excellent, all complimented by facial motion captures. The one issue I have is that the lip-syncing is often broken, which can, at times, break immersion. 

But the overall package is great.

Animus Glitches

My general feeling about Assassin’s Creed Nexus is that it does a lot of things very well, and provides an authentic Assassin’s Creed VR experience, something that I’d been very careful not to fully expect because I feared I’d be disappointed once I got my hands on the game. Instead, I’m pleasantly surprised and quite impressed. There are some issues with the game; I once had to restart a level because at some checkpoint the game decided I no longer possessed a sword, and another one because at some point the game lost track of what I was supposed to do next, but those are minor things to complain about, and the scale of what’s been accomplished far overshadows such issues. The occasional frame rate dips are slightly annoying, and I fear that perhaps they might be worse when running the game on a Quest 2, but they were occasional and usually disappeared quickly or were gone on a restart.

And remember the corrupt save file I mentioned earlier? It happened again on my second playthrough after reaching level 12 when I put aside the Quest with the game still running one evening. It seems like going into standby with the game on somehow corrupted my save file. I don’t know if this is a Nexus problem or a Meta Firmware problem, but it’s annoying as hell. It’s taking some willpower for me to ignore this issue, but I don’t want it to impact the score since I’m not sure who’s to blame. 

Overall, though – Nexus isn’t absolutely perfect, but it doesn’t have to be. It’s mostly what we wanted, a real Assassin’s Creed game on standalone VR. If you’re a fan of the series, moments like visiting the Villa Auditore in Monteriggioni will make you grin from ear to ear.

Hashashin Bliss

Assassin’s Creed Nexus is a fantastic game that, against all odds, succeeds where many others have stumbled. It brings the gameplay of the older titles to the Quest without all the RPG baggage that had left fans clamoring for something like AC Mirage. It gives you air assassinations, leaps of faith, smoke bombs, social stealth, motion-captured acting, an interesting story, great environments at various times and locales, and ample fan service to round it off. If you’re an Assassin’s Creed fan, you will find a lot to enjoy here, and if you’re not, well, it might just make you one. Overall, this is easily one of the best games you can play on Quest, and very easy to recommend as long as you’re a fan of story-based action adventures.

HOLDING PATTERN

Yuki is a shoot-em-up, themed unconvincingly around an ersatz anime action figure. The player holds this virtual avatar in 3D space as the levels roll by, pointing her at baddies to destroy them and avoiding projectiles and environmental hazards. Die, and it’s game over, and you’ll have to start again, albeit with the ability to upgrade your powers with all of the currency you’ve collected on your run. In an act of extreme nominative irony, given that the process of playing the game for this review has turned me into a grey husk of my previous self, this currency is called ‘Creative Drive’. With this currency, you can unlock other versions of the figure to… 

Ehhhh no, I’m sorry, I can’t do it. I’m not really the biggest proponent for providing in-depth gameplay details as part of a review; it’s not a tutorial or a playing guide. Even given that, there’s just not enough to Yuki to warrant a dissection or much of a discussion. 

Shoot things, die, upgrade, repeat.

PRETTY VACANT

There should be lots more to commend here than there is. The graphics engine isn’t bad at all, and there are clearly some talented artists at work. The cutesy bedroom that the game begins in is beautifully realised; you can see greasy fingerprints on the screen of the mobile phone on the desk if you hold it up to the light, for example. I see the work that’s gone into such things, and it’s to be applauded. Cynically, however, it’s hard to think of this as anything other than something that’s been included to look good on the gameplay videos and provide an early distraction from the sparseness of fun in the rest of the game. It certainly serves no purpose in the game; in fact, it’s an obstacle to getting into the action – if that’s the right word for what you experience.

The environments are pretty enough, with a decent cel-shaded look that doesn’t seem to compromise detail for speed. It’s sad, then, that the environments, characters and baddies all seem so generic. It’s like the art team’s research consisted of Asking Jeeves for ‘Japanese stuff’ and then just loosely based everything around what images have come up.

The music tries hard to convince you you’re in the heart of some J-pop video and is nicely wrought, but the sound design, in general, is noticeably deficient. And it’s impossible to talk about that without bringing up the biggest failing of the game overall – the shooting itself feels absolutely dreadful.

NO TREASURE, NO NOTHING

You see, all of the stuff I’ve had a pop at Yuki for, particularly its simplicity, wouldn’t matter if the core gameplay felt good, but it doesn’t. The lack of feedback for blowing stuff up is a bizarrely common flaw in many modern shoot-em-ups, and Yuki is probably the worst offender I’ve played. It wants so desperately to channel the feel and spirit of bullet-hell shooters of the old school that it fills the screen with familiar waves of purple blobs in undulating patterns. But the key to the superior flat games of yesteryear by the likes of Treasure and Cave is that the player shoots vicious, uninterrupted waves of laser death at the millions of foes that litter the screen. There might have been near-impossible odds, but even if you lasted thirty seconds before having to put another coin in for a credit, you had thirty seconds of feeling like you’d caused light-show-carnage and you’d be desperate for another run,

Here, polite and generic bad sods pootle around the screen, and you hold a button down at them until they’re kind enough to disappear. The sounds are muted, the visual feedback is practically nonexistent, and the whole thing feels massively inconsequential. The boss battles highlight this; there’s no point having huge, well-animated beasties to bring down if all you’re doing is watching a meter empty. It’s so dull, and that’s something you really shouldn’t be able to say about having a fight with an enormous space dragon.

Avoiding the bullets and obstacles feels like a chore, and it’s a massive misstep for a VR space. It’s just stuff that obscures the view, and as the shooting is already fiddly and annoying, it just adds another reason to never go back once the run is over. I have found myself sighing with boredom at Yuki more than any other game on the Quest. Even accounting for my inherent grouchiness, this is no sort of accolade for a game to wear.

As a side-note about replayability, the much-heralded roguelike nature of the game is laughable. The patterns and order of the stuff that happens are already so generic and uninvolving that it makes no odds to switch them up slightly with every run.

BACK IN THE BOX

Maybe the devs (also responsible for Pixel Ripped 1995) originally pictured Yuki as a desperate and heart-racing dodge around the environment, hoovering up power-ups and causing explosions – something akin to playing Pistol Whip with an action figure of Akira. However, as it has been realised, you’re better off pretending to shoot things with an actual action figure while you run the bath. I guarantee you’ll make better sound effects, and the explosions will be much more satisfying in your head. And you’ll have a bath to look forward to.