PlayStation VR2 Launch Lineup Impressions Part One
Gran Turismo 7
As previously noted in my at-length impressions piece, Gran Turismo 7’s VR mode only takes effect when actively putting tires to pavement and racing on your favorite circuit. If you can muster a racing wheel and shift set, that will only serve to enhance the realism of hitting the Nürburgring behind the wheel of your favorite four-tired speed machine. This is the centerpiece VR title you want to break out at parties to turn the most hesitant of VR contestants into believers. Save for feeling the wind in your hair or the taste of burning rubber on the tip of your tongue, Gran Turismo 7 assaults your senses in full virtual reality within the real driving experience.
Puzzling Places
The concept of playing a virtual jigsaw puzzle may put one to sleep, but I found Puzzling Places to be an absolutely charming little experience where players rebuild 3D buildings and designs from the ground up. Across the more than two dozen puzzles available, players can range from a mere twenty-five pieces to tilt around and click together all the way up to a thousand-piece puzzle that’s exclusive to the PlayStation VR2 version. Some finicky hand tracking can make fitting everything together an exercise in patience but the opportunity to zone out and just find that zen moment with relaxing tunes playing in the background a fantastic spa-like experience on PlayStation VR2. While there’s a plethora of real world buildings to reassemble, the Japanese kimono has enough diversity in colors and designs that it’s a fantastic first piece to assemble to get into the experience. This was the title I kept gravitating towards when I just wanted something to relax and enjoy at my own leisure.
Pavlov
At the complete other end of the VR chill factor is a multiplatform shooter that aims for realism above all else, to both great amusement and frustration. In your very first match, don’t feel bad if you drop your weapon or can’t figure out how to reload manually, as grasping the controls is all part of that initial onboarding experience. Once you figure out how to walk and shoot your way to the top of the leaderboards, what you’ll find in Pavlov is a variety of modes that should feel instantly familiar to Counter-Strike fans. For my first few hours, I settled on simply playing Gun Game just to get a feel for the variety of how each weapon controls (and thankfully not having to worry about reloading a weapon before I’m onto the next one). Pavlov also features crossplay across other platforms, so there’s already a large community of folks classically conditioned on first-person shooters.
Rez Infinite
There’s little to say about Rez Infinite that hasn’t already been said for the original PlayStation VR release. Rez Infinite remains one of Tetsuya Mizaguchi’s most influential titles to reach Western shores and the fusion of rail shooters with synthetic beats creates an experience that’s chill in the best ways once you get into the rhythm. Unfortunately, there is a $10 upgrade to move up to the PlayStation VR2 version, but the newer features enhance the Rez experience in the best ways. The framerate has been boosted to a solid 120 FPS with HDR support, and the soundtrack features 7.1 surround sound to take advantage of the best headphones you’ve got. Brand new for the PSVR2 version is also the inclusion of eye-tracking to mark targets and shoot your shot.
Tetris Effect: Connected
Enhance Games’ other PlayStation VR2 launch title is another title that was first released on the original PlayStation VR (with non-VR support on PS4) before coming to other platforms with the enhanced Connected version. Much like Rez Infinite, expect a $10 ticket price to upgrade to Sony’s PlayStation VR2. In addition to the 120FPS gameplay, the resolution is also boosted to 2000x2400 pixels per eye. The variety of backgrounds and visual effects as you layer and clear out lines of tetrominos is absolutely gorgeous when the action is front and center in virtual reality. PlayStation VR2’s eye tracking is used to lesser effect than Rez Infinite but still comes with a novel feature: closing one’s eyes for a brief second and reopening them allows plays to enter ‘The Zone’ to slow down time and potentially earn that elusive 16-line clearing Decahexatris.
Townsmen VR
It’s been a long while since the last Black & White, but that doesn’t mean players won’t find a similar gaming experience if they know where to look. Townsmen VR is more than just a city-building simulator as the player is dropped right into the world as a benevolent floating pair of hands that can directly impact the world and keep things from falling into chaos (or causing that chaos if they so choose). Occasionally finicky hand tracking can take players out of the moment, but the experience can still be quite enjoyable even if you haven’t played a god simulator before.
Synth Riders
Beat Saber is notoriously absent from the PlayStation VR2 launch lineup but that doesn’t mean you still can’t have some rhythm fun with both hands. More roller coaster than sword simulator, Synth Riders has players guide their fists-turned-colored-orbs into tools for moving and grooving to the beat. Synth Riders is intended for players to move and flow along with the beat as their orbhands ride the visual rails and follow along to the beat, making it a good workout experience to warm up before moving into more intense VR experiences. One thing to note is that Synth Riders launches with thirty-plus songs included with the purchase but paid DLC quickly adds up a few dollars at a time to boost the song roster all the way to over one hundred experiences in all at launch.
Pistol Whip
Meanwhile, one of my favorite experiences I’ve tried on Meta Quest in the past was Cloudhead Games’ Pistol Whip, a rhythm game turned into an on-rails shooter driven with incredible haptics all around from the controllers all the way up into the headset itself. The original Pistol Whip launched with not even ten tracks but the PlayStation VR2 release includes all of the previous expansion packs to date to increase that song list to thirty distinctively stylized and unique tracks to blast your way through. Various modifiers and even different weapon types can make no two playthroughs feel the same.
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