Thank you for subscribing!
We have more newsletters
Call of Duty fans finally have a realistic first-person shooter worth playing on the PSVR2.
But as decent as Firewall Ultra is, it is far too thin on content and not quite the game-changing virtual reality shooter we are all looking for.
This is a multiplayer first title, with just two main modes to try at launch.
They’re a four versus four Contracts face-off between eight players online and a four-player versus computer mode called Exfil.
There’s also a test area that allows you to learn the ropes at your own pace.
There you’ll be finding yourself doing a very CoD-inspired dummy Gauntlet run, firing handguns and machine guns at targets as they pop up through a wooden shooting maze.
And you also have areas dedicated to learning how to control CCTV cameras in the game as well as lob grenades and flash bangs.
But the excitement is in the online modes, and I’d recommend doing the group against CPU first to get your head around the various moves in Firewall Ultra.
-
Daily Star's newsletter brings you the biggest and best stories – sign up today
This is a military shooter that looks the part and really feels like you’ve been dumped in a warehouse or office block when you don the PSVR2 headset.
The level of graphics detail is good, albeit not quite in the same realm as Horizon: Call of the Mountain, and often quite dark in design.
But that’s where things like the clickable flashlight come in.
It’s all fairly intuitive, with pop-up menus in-game that allow you to easily switch between guns and grenades, turn on devices and your light, open doors and generally control your character similar to most shooter games.
It takes a while to get used to doing this in a virtual world, which is why it’s best to start against the bots than real humans.
The PSVR2’s eye tracking is used well here.
When someone throws, for example, a flash grenade into your room you can avoid the whiteout effects of the explosion on your in-game vision by physically closing your eyes.
You’re then less disorientated and are able to react quicker.
Neat trick.
Plus the menu systems, as limited as they are, all jump up for selection as you look left to right individually at them.
The tech very much sees what you’re looking at.
There are all the expected tactical load outs to play with, different contractors with unique skill points and regular unlockables as you get better at the game and up your experience.
And the eight player 4v4 mode is showing great promise already as fledgling players quickly attune themselves to the gameplay style and talk tactics over headset, ‘you go in the room first and I’ll cover your back’.
There’s haptic feedback in the DualSense controllers, so it does feel a kick when shooting a gun, but it’s not on a level with the big name FPSs.
And it isn’t just hunt and kill, you’re tasked with seeking out intel, or defending it depending on which side you’re on.
Sadly, this isn’t the VR title to really revolutionise movement in a FPS game, and while the left stick moves your body around fluidly, the right stick very much switches your forward-facing viewpoint in segments, far less fluidly. I would have loved this to be a smooth 360-degree motion.
It’s not going to trouble the CoD/Battlefield twitch-players out there because it’s overall pace is fairly slow.
So think of Firewall Ultra as more akin to a Rainbow Six style of tactical gameplay.
And, in time, I can see a real community building around this game with truly expert players working together to try to out manoeuvre and outthink each other in a deadly game of VR chess.
It just needs more content – which is eventually coming down the track – and, for me, a greater fluidity and speed of movement.
All in, for £35, well worth a try on PSVR2. But hardcore first-person shooter gamers won’t find the next big thing here just yet.
VERDICT 3.5
- Playstation Vr
- Playstation
- PS5 Sony Playstation 5 News
Source: Read Full Article