PSVR Games: Reviews and Recommendations

[LimeGreenLegend 4,277]

PSVR has been out for over a year now and has accrued a quite wide and varied selection of games.  Since the holidays are coming up and some of you may be thinking about getting one I thought I'd make a post giving some quick thoughts on all of the games I own, whether they're worth it, and how they work (control method etc).  I've played some of these games more than others, so I will have more to say about some games, and maybe only a line or two about others. 

If anyone has any questions I'll do my best to answer them.

Batman: Arkham VR

My first VR experience, and it made a hell of an impression.  This is a two hour game that focuses on the "detective" part of "World's Greatest Detective", placing you in Batman's cowl and tasking you with solving a murder.  You get to visit some iconic locations like Wayne Manor, the Batcave and Arkham Asylum, coming face to face with some of the biggest names in Batman's rogues gallery.  Being my first VR experience, I wasn't ready for just how invasive and in your face things can get; standing next to the 12 foot tall Killer Croc is genuinely unnerving.  The ending also made me feel like I was actually going crazy.  This was made by Rocksteady, developers of the other Arkham games, so all of the characters and locations look gorgeous and straight out of the comics.  Even the menu, which has you standing on top of Gotham City Police Department, Bat-Signal just over your shoulder beaming into the dark and stormy sky, will leave you slack-jawed in amazement.  Took me about 2 and a half hours to complete first time through.  There are collectables and Riddler Puzzles for replayability, but even after getting 100% I still like to play through it every couple of months because it is just that good.  It is controlled only with move controllers, the controls are very natural and easy, and I had no problems with tracking.  ESSENTIAL 

Bound

A platform game with a surreal, stylised art style, that sees you play as a little girl dancer , dancing through minimilistic levels.  I've only played this for a bit, but it had a great sense of scale, and the animation was really smooth.

Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare - Jackal Assault VR Experience

A free space dogfighting game set in the COD universe, this is only 5 minutes long, but it looks great, shooting down spaceships in VR is always awesome, and it's free.  FREE AND FUN

Dead Hungry

A fast-food cooking game where you have to make burgers, pizzas, fries and wings to feed zombies to turn them back into humans.  It's simple but it works well and it ramps up difficulty nicely, after 10 levels you'll be constantly moving to keep up with the orders.  Does get repetitive quickly, but is fun in 10 minute bursts.  I think it only uses move controllers, no tracking problems.  Levels are between 3-5 minutes long, I'm on level 15 or so.  Not sure how many levels there are, or how much more varied they get.

Dirt Rally

It's Dirt Rally in VR.  In my opinion this is better looking, and more fun, than Driveclub VR.  It controls the same as 2D Dirt Rally, except the camera is your head.  Being in all these rally cars, with a co-driver beside you calling out what's coming up next, is a really cool experience, and it's a real rush spanking it as fast as you can through all these tight stages, genuinely fearing for your life, trees whipping past you at 90mph.  RECOMMENDED 

Don't Knock Twice

A pretty scary haunted house exploration type game where you walk around, get spooked out by creepy noises and do some light puzzle solving.  I've not completed this yet but really enjoyed the couple of hours I did play.  It has a real slow build of tension and creepiness punctuated by a couple of jump scares that work really well.  You can use the dualshock or move controllers, again, no tracking issues.

Fruit Ninja VR

A really fun version of Fruit Ninja.  There's nothing new here, but using the move controllers lets you do a couple of cool things.  First, you can turn your sword and use the flat edge to knock away bombs, and secondly, you can poke fruits to get them to stick on the end of your sword, kebab style   The move controllers are the only control method for this game, and they work great. You can also use one or two.

Headmaster

In my opinion probably the most underrated PSVR game out there.  This is a game where you don't need any controllers because all you do is head footballs.  Sounds like you can't get much of a game out of that mechanic, but somehow they did.  This game sees you sent to a football rehab facility (seems more like a prison) because you are bad at heading, and through a series of heading games, which get more complicated and surreal, you are to become good at heading, and earn your freedom.  This game really reminds me of Portal, with the way it tells its story, and it is at times hilarious.  RECOMMENDED

Holoball

A cross between squash and tennis set in a Tron like world, this is a pretty fun game, and is actually a pretty good cardio workout.  It looks good, bright neon against pitch blacks, and the music is great.  There's not much to it gameplay wise, you're in a big box playing future-tennis against a big square AI. There are a couple of game modes, and you need quite a bit of space to play it, I have just enough and I have a pretty roomy lounge.  Only playable with the move controllers, tracks well.  Worth it in a sale.

How We Soar

A story driven game about a writer dealing with becoming a dad where you ride around beautiful papercraft levels on the back of a phoenix, flying through checkpoints and collecting orbs.  That's about all you do, collect all the orbs and a bird is released, catch the bird and the next level unlocks, but the levels are beautiful and huge, made out of paper, and when you fly towards a surface you bring colour to it, as everything starts out white, like paper.  There's a nice variety in the levels, underwater, space etc, and I found the story pretty touching.  If you like story based games this is a pretty good one that doesn't get talked about a lot, and the scale of the levels, and the feeling of flying around on the back of a giant bird are both really cool.  Took me about 4-5 hours to play through.

Hustle Kings VR

Your bog standard pool sim.  Not played much of this, but it looked good, and played the same as the 2D version.

I Expect You To Die

An escape the room puzzle game with a James Bond spoof style.  I really enjoyed this game, the puzzles are just on the right side of hard, and the writing is pretty funny.  This is a game where you have an objective (drive a car off a plane, defuse a chemical bomb) and many ways to fuck it up and die.  And you will.  Again and again, until, by trial and error, and error, and error, you figure out what you need to do in what order to save the day.  There were only four levels originally, but a fifth was recently added for free, and I'm hoping for more in the future.  RECOMMENDED

The Invisible Hours

This is one of my favourite games on PSVR right now, and it's not even a game.  The Invisible Hours is like a play you can walk around in. Nikola Tesla has been murdered in his mansion, and there are seven people in the house who could have done it(including Thomas Edison), it's up to disgraced detective Gustav Gustaf to solve the mystery.  It's a proper Agatha Christie type story that takes some unexpected turns.  You have no impact or control over the events, you just watch.  The cool thing is you can control time, so you can rewind and fast forward and follow the different characters around, getting different perspectives on events and more backstory for the characters.  RECOMMENDED

I'll add more to this soon, I'm tired of typing now.

Edited November 23, 2017 by LimeGreenLegend

[Con 5,719]

Arizona Sunshine 

[This review is based on the Campaign only. I haven't played the Co-op or the Zombie Horde game. When I do I will edit accordingly]

The Awesome: My first PSVR full game!! A great way to start any VR gaming experience. The game settings allowed me to choose from teleport to walking, without that awesome option, I would have enjoyed the game less if i had to teleport everywhere. I enjoyed the diverse looking levels, the mine and it's foreboding darkness and creepy lighting was a highlight as it was really challenging and unnerving. Had a handful of jump moments and unexpected zombie attacks that were just great, some were induced by me and others by game design. Doesn't rely on loud sound effects to startle you as the faint sounds of the lamentations of the undead is more effective. The long slow burn is better than the quick flash of sudden scares and this game delivers those moments. I couldn't help but want to explore the maps and while linear, I still felt that I had enough spaces to explore or just walk to a cactus just to take all the scenery in, every time i saw water, I wanted to jump in it. The excitement I had while playing the game and knowing that this whole VR thing is only going to get better!! Wow!! Finding a Friday the 13th Hockey-Mask and putting it on was amazing. 

The Good: Shooting zombies in the face! Before owning a PSVR, i figured it was like playing on console with a bike helmet on and that was the difference. But having your head stuck in the headset brings a true sense of being there that cannot be matched. Even if you play on the biggest TV you could find, you could still break immersion by looking away from the screen...in VR the world surrounds you and it is a whole other feeling when the zombies start pouring in and you start to run and you are turning your head back to see them. The map designs were easy to figure out and at no time did I feel lost or helpless in other words, I didn't waste time heading in one direction only to find out there was nothing there. The voice acting of the main character was brilliant, how he starts all optimistic and cheerful and by the end he sounds defeated and the moments are timed just right as he mimics exactly what I was feeling at times. But then there were times when he is shouting out for survivors and i wanted him to shut up as I feared a horde attack due to his yelling. The game options were great, I mentioned the teleport/walking option but there are so many more like being able to play this with the DS, Aim, and Move controllers, adjusting all kinds of aiming angles or fine tuning your hand rotation axis. The feeling of isolation and survival was great. One thing I really enjoyed was finding myself in areas that reminded me of GTAV and thinking, "HOLY SHIT....GTA6-VR where i could hide behind this barrel and get some headshots."  The sounds of the various guns are cool as each one has its own signature blast. 

The Bad: In the first few missions I kept getting a blue grid that I thought was the game telling me I was too far from the camera and it ruined some of the immersion during the first few maps. Thankfully, either I found a better setup or the game fixed itself because thankfully, I didn't see the grid ruin immersion for the remainder of my experience. The graphics work for the cartoonish feel of the game but I couldn't help but wish the graphics were a bit better in some places. The massive amounts of objects and items you could grab and throw have no point. First time i saw a medkit...tried to keep it couldn't, tried to use it, couldn't. Cans and bottles, sure you could throw them in the air and shoot them but how many times until it gets old? Grabbed a shovel...no use for it---can't hit objects with it...again pointless, especially in the later maps. Can't melee the zombies...they can slap the shit out of you though.  If you ignore exploring all the game settings, you could be making the game harder to play and will probably die a lot more than you should. The lack of puzzles really let me down. In fact writing this I can't think of any besides the "find the right item for this objective" there was never any sense of impending death because I was taking too long solving a puzzle, I really looked forward to that aspect but here is to hoping in Part 2 we get a mission where we have to solve a puzzle before a room fills with water and zombies!! I've read that the game is not long enough but I didn't experience that since I had to find the right times to play it, extending the experience. Some days i got woozy the first few minutes due to going weeks without using the PSVR. 

The Ugly: Playing in Normal, you have to drop the empty clip and bring the firearm towards your holster to reload---problem is that under heavy attacks, it's easy to hit the wrong buttons. You will accidentally drop full clips while walking, exploring, and at times during zombie encounters due to the design of the Move controller buttons. I also found myself accidentally shooting my precious ammo into the landscape because the trigger is so sensitive, startled myself with the occasional errant firearm discharge a few times. Also can't count the number of times I swapped weapons from one hand to the other without doing it on purpose...again this is probably more on the Move controllers than the actual game but had to mention since it's easy to fumble with the buttons, it will really cost you lives when zombies are on attacking you and you are hitting the wrong button to release the empty clip. Also found it hard to pick up non-ammo items, like hats you can wear, up from the ground once dropped. The aiming is bad at times, as closing one eye helped in seeing the reticle better,  but it that was a chore at times. (tbh for me this was a good/bad thing as those extra seconds you need to find the reticle through the gun sights allow the zombies to get closer, making encounters more nerve-wrecking). The zombies are diverse with different attributes but they are the same 5-6 all the time, adding different looking zombies as you progress would have been good...as proven in the first time you encounter a US Marine zombie. Throwing grenades was terrible because they didn't seem to go as far as I wanted and many times I'd throw and run because I was afraid to still be in the blast area.

Verdict.....4/5...... Enjoyed the game from start to finish. Really couldn't guess what was coming next, despite it being linear, one mission I was on a bridge and the next I was underground. Never knew what to expect. If this is the early generation of VR then im super excited for the future and since technically the game was released December 2016, we are already in the future. Arizona Sunshine was one hell of a ride. The ending put such a smile on my face and hope to be blown away in Arizona Sunshine 2....hope they are working on it. Sadly as of this review I have yet to play the Co-op, but now that I'm done with the campaign, I will explore the co-op with a stranger since I don't know anyone that has this game. I haven't tried the Horde game but i imagine it must be fun doing in Co-op too. 

Edited February 28, 2018 by Con

[Squirrel 5,180]

I’ve discovered Rec Room. A free online social area with lots of VR mini games like Paintball and Disc golf. I’ve seen that Lime and Con both play could be a laugh now and again 

I’m definitely interested in the more social side of things. Sports bar is on my list to get. What else should I be looking for?

[LimeGreenLegend 4,277]

Star Trek Bridge Crew would be a good one.  I have it, so does @Hatch and @Dodge not sure about @Con, but it would be nice if someone closer to my time zone had it  it's a four player co-op game where you crew a starship, each person having a different role.

Werewolves Within would be good also.  I think I'm the only person here who has it, so again, it would be nice to have someone to play with.  I've not played in a while but it was always fun when I did.  

[JustHatched 12,123]

On 6/12/2018 at 4:54 PM, LimeGreenLegend said:

Star Trek Bridge Crew would be a good one.  I have it, so does @Hatch and @Dodge not sure about @Con, but it would be nice if someone closer to my time zone had it  it's a four player co-op game where you crew a starship, each person having a different role.

Werewolves Within would be good also.  I think I'm the only person here who has it, so again, it would be nice to have someone to play with.  I've not played in a while but it was always fun when I did.  

You have Bridge Crew? I don't think @Con has it, @Dodge and @ssracingn2 do have it. If you want to play it Lime maybe the 4 of us (if Con gets it then 5 of us) can work out a regular day and time to hook up and play. The Next Generation DLC is a must, the Borg mission is a work out if done right, and a disaster if done wrong.

Great thing about Bridge Crew is  the cross play with PC and it can be played non-VR

[LimeGreenLegend 4,277]

Just now, Hatch said:

You have Bridge Crew? I don't think @Con has it, @Dodge and @ssracingn2 do have it. If you want to play it Lime maybe the 4 of us (if Con gets it then 5 of us) can work out a regular day and time to hook up and play. The Next Generation DLC is a must, the Borg mission is a work out if done right, and a disaster if done wrong.

I got two weeks off at the start of next month so can play whenever suits everyone then.  I'll pick up the TNG stuff before we play.

[Con 5,719]

35 minutes ago, LimeGreenLegend said:

I got two weeks off at the start of next month so can play whenever suits everyone then.  I'll pick up the TNG stuff before we play.

You guys sure you want me manning the thrusters. lmao. I still have to check out some gameplay and stuff. But I am interested. 

[Squirrel 5,180]

Skyrim VR currently £14.99 in the UK psn store. 

Worth checking to see if its a similar price in your area. 

[LimeGreenLegend 4,277]

27 minutes ago, Squirrel said:

Skyrim VR currently £14.99 in the UK psn store. 

Worth checking to see if its a similar price in your area. 

Holy shit that's a fucking steal!  Been playing a lot of this lately, going all Palpatine, dual wielding lightning spells with the move controllers  

[Squirrel 5,180]

1 minute ago, LimeGreenLegend said:

Holy shit that's a fucking steal!  Been playing a lot of this lately, going all Palpatine, dual wielding lightning spells with the move controllers  

I’ve been wanting to buy it but after already buying it for PS3 and PC I didn’t want to pay £50 for it. I can’t pass up a bargain!

[LimeGreenLegend 4,277]

Just now, Squirrel said:

I’ve been wanting to buy it but after already buying it for PS3 and PC I didn’t want to pay £50 for it. I can’t pass up a bargain!

Even a Northerner can't pass this up at that price

[Squirrel 5,180]

PSVR is discounted again. 

Amazon Prime selling the starter pack complete with move controllers for £230

[Sinister 2,583]

Bought my setup today.  Got the bundle that came with DOOM. Here they lie was a free download so I checked it out first and was blown away. Thought this would be a cheap gimmick that died quick and admit that I was wrong. I'm looking forward to playing some better quality games. This one made me feel a little sick though

Back on topic  This post is almost a year old. Any updates to the recommended titles?

[Con 5,719]

1 hour ago, Sinister said:

Bought my setup today.  Got the bundle that came with DOOM. Here they lie was a free download so I checked it out first and was blown away. Thought this would be a cheap gimmick that died quick and admit that I was wrong. I'm looking forward to playing some better quality games. This one made me feel a little sick though

Back on topic  This post is almost a year old. Any updates to the recommended titles?

Oh yeah!!! The games are only getting better all the time. I think Lime is the authority when it comes to PSVR so I'm sure he will chime in at some point with the current titles he recommends.

[Squirrel 5,180]

Get used to your VR legs. First thing did when I bought mine was a GT Sport session. Lots of motion sickness. 

Start with games where you’re stationary. If you have VR worlds there’s some great starter games. Same with the playroom. 

If you’re planning a long session eat or drink something with ginger in beforehand. It’s surprising how much that helps. Once you build up your tolerance then you can spend more time playing. 

[Sinister 2,583]

8 hours ago, Squirrel said:

Get used to your VR legs. First thing did when I bought mine was a GT Sport session. Lots of motion sickness. 

Start with games where you’re stationary. If you have VR worlds there’s some great starter games. Same with the playroom. 

If you’re planning a long session eat or drink something with ginger in beforehand. It’s surprising how much that helps. Once you build up your tolerance then you can spend more time playing. 

Thanks for the advice. Grabbed a few games today and will ease myself into this.