VR is a tricky thing, most the time the focus is just throwing shit at your face and hoping you are amazed by the graphics, which has become a trope. But has Sony and the Playstation VR team learned that is not the pinnacle of the VR experience?

Playstation VR Worlds
Publisher: SIEA
Developer: London Studio
Platform: Playstation 4 via PSVR
Release Date: October 13, 2016
Players: 1
Price: $39.99 (Review copy bought)

This is a review coupled with a supplemental video review. You can watch the video review above, or read the full review of the game below.

Playstation VR Words is broken into five games/experiences; VR Luge, Into The Deep, Danger Ball, The London Heist, and Scavenger’s Odyssey. Because these are less mini games, and more along the lines of a video game equivalent to short stories. This will be a series of small reviews and a final overall product score.

Let’s rip the band-aid that is VR Luge off and get this over with so we can talk about the good. VR Luge is by far the most offensive VR experience I have played on any VR system to date. The graphics are dull but don’t even bother trying to look or you will go into a tailspin on your virtual street luge as the game is purely controlled with your head. It is as if no one on the dev team thought to even look up how street luges work or how you control them. Here is a hint, it’s with your legs and titling your body while making sure you can see what’s coming toward you. I have played all most all Playstation VR games and experiences to date and this is the only “game” (Read: vomit fest”) that has ever made me sick. The developers of this should are bad and they should feel bad.

Ok now let’s talk about the fun stuff. Next we have Danger Ball. A game that actually uses head controls really well. Essentially its next level Pong in a 3D space where you control the paddle with your head and face off against opponents with varied abilities. Kinda like a mix of a Tron disk battle and the classic game Shuffle Puck Cafe for Amiga without the wacky characters. Yes I just referenced a game that came out in 1989, now get off my lawn! Overall this is fun little game that anyone can pick up and play, but it is not as in depth as I would have liked.

VR Worlds also feature an “experience” rather than a game, which is called Into The Deep. Into The Deep is rather interesting and does well to set up a narrative world quickly. This is begging to be added to an existing game, and has an interesting premise; you are a rookie deep diver, observing for a scavenger crew, with a little bit of a twist. It was a really cool experience and it was quite beautiful. As someone who has gone diving himself, I wish the water was this clear in real life, I might have appreciated it more.

Now we get into the 2 stand out games, that should have been plucked out of Playstation VR worlds and really fleshed out.

The London Heist throws you into the shoes of London’s criminal scene, presents you with interesting characters and a great setup. It really introduces you to this whole world that begs to be explored. They could have easily ran with this world, and made a great counter to the Grand Theft Auto series but in VR. The game is the only one that uses two Move controllers for hand movement to interact with items around you. And it does it well, but it could have used a bit more polish. The game is highly detailed in general and does well to showcase the world. It feels as though it’s an intro to a much larger game.

The other stand out is Scavenger’s Odyssey, and it serves to be the most fleshed out experience. The visuals are on point, and keep you task focused while giving you room to roam around. It operates much in the style of a heavy first person shooter. But once again, it truly feels like this is a massive wasted opportunity. There is so much potential here, it’s downright disheartening. It builds up lore and interest so well, but then cuts short of any conclusion. Basically fleshing out one or two well defined levels, and then just ending.

Sound and music for the compilation is fairly equal among all games, and with VR that is a tricky prospect, because if the sound is off, you can get disoriented rather quickly. It takes allot of work programing and working with sound to make it work as effectively as it does in VR Worlds.

At the end of the day, Playstation VR Worlds is great for what it is outside of the VR Luge game which can be easily passed over. Every game or experience has something unique to it, but is desperately clawing to be something more. It would have been great to see these things fleshed out, but it also shows at the early stages of Playstation VR, that it has the tools to make something great. If you have a PSVR I would say to check it out.

Playstation VR Worlds was reviewed on Playstation 4 via PSVR using a downloaded purchase on the Playstation Store. You can find additional information about Niche Gamer’s review/ethics policy here.