I am not a fan of VR. Maybe this has to do with the fact that growing up in the ’90s we saw so many VR machines and devices that were nothing but lies or, at the very best, boring affairs that required massive mushroom headsets. So I’ve avoided most VR games (glorified tech demos) until this year at E3 2018.
We got to spend a lot of time with the wonderful folks over at Sony and they gave the team a look at the upcoming Firewall Zero Hour for the PSVR. This was also my first time using the PSVR so there was a lot of firsts going on as well as our first VR multiplayer experience.
Firewall Zero Hour is most easily described as Counter Strike in the VR space. You strap on the PSVR, choose your operator, and wait for your team of four to ready-up and head out on their mission. The game is multiplayer and our squad of four was pitted against another team of four next door on the demo stage presented at the show.
Gameplay is from a first-person perspective and we were tasked with either hacking the enemy laptop or defending the laptop from the opposing forces. Games are two parts so you’ll get to play from both sides. The action is a good bit of fun, especially since you get to your the Move gun (Aim?) controller.
Aiming and shooting is is little loose, but after getting adjusted it becomes second nature. We were decimated in our first match, but managed to come back in round two after getting the feel of everything.
The Move gun is great and there is just something about holding an actual weapon that changes the entire experience when compared to VR using a basic controller or magic wands that don’t represent much.
Since this is PSVR you won’t be moving yourself around the room. The game adjusts for this with the Move joystick controller on the front of the Move gun being used to move about. What is very strange is the camera, or strafe, controls. You use the other Move stick on the butt of the Move gun to change your view.
What is weird is that this motion isn’t smooth, instead you flick the joystick and your character snaps left or right instantly. This takes a lot of getting used to, but ends up making a lot of sense in a game like Firewall Zero Hour. It;s precise movement and snapping and kept everyone from being sick, something some said happens to them in VR.
The real fun though comes from the multiplayer aspect of the game. Communication is key and it was a lot of fun working with your team. It was a real balst fun yelling out commands, calling out enemies and watching someones back. To be fair, we were playing with other press people, so your IRL experience may vary.
Firewall Zero Hour is an interesting game that actually feels like a pretty full experience and not a glorified tech demo. The precision tracking with the Move gun that Sony has really ups the overall experience. If you can find a couple of other friends to join you, this might be a really solid PSVR experience. I know I’m interested in check out more after our demo.
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