PlayStation VR’s much hyped tactical shooter Firewall Zero Hour is out today, not that you would notice because, despite this game really needing exposure to ensure there are enough players, Sony don’t seem to have released many review codes, and those that did show up – like ours – arrived at 6am this morning.
The only two major sites that has reviewed the game are Road To VR, which gave it 7.9/10, and UploadVR who gave it 9/10, calling it “Amazing”. “With a few improvements and additions, First Contact could turn what is already a must-have PSVR game into a genre-defining one,” they add.
It does seem an odd way to promote one of their key titles that needs a decent player base to be successful. There’s not even a mention of the game being out on the PlayStation Blog.
We will have a review up as soon as possible.
Source:Â Road To VR/Â UploadVRÂ
MrYd
They did say they weren’t sending out review codes until release so anyone reviewing it would get the full experience with lots of people to play with.
I’ve been playing it today, and it’s very, very good. Only problem is P2P servers with no host migration, so you if the wrong person leaves, you can get kicked out to the main menu, although it doesn’t happen that often. And a game needs to be more than a single round then back to the lobby. And more game modes would be nice.
But it looks very nice, there are a surprising number of maps, some quite large. And most importantly, it’s fun to play and the tracking of the Aim controller is near enough perfect. And everyone so far is talking, which is pretty much essential. Oh, and there’s something fun about looking at your gun in VR and seeing all the attachments you’ve unlocked and added. You can even tell who’s got lasers or fancy sights while you’re waiting in the lobby.
I’d give it 8/10, having lost 1 point for the lack of host migration and single-round matches, and 1 point for not telling you anywhere how to turn on the laser attachment until a random loading screen tip might just happen to tell you. (It’s left on the D-pad btw).
Definitely worth it as it is though. Hopefully it’ll get updates to improve it further. And I’ll probably be playing it all evening, if anyone wants to work out how you play with anything other than random people. (The option is apparently well hidden)
bennibop
Firewall is excellent, the developers need to make some minor changes and promised if it’s sells they will support long term. The game is a potential system seller imo.
MrYd
Definitely could sell a few headsets. After more hours than was probably wise playing it yesterday, it’s definitely one of the best VR games so far.
Didn’t have too many issues with the lack of host migration last night. Someone obviously quit just as we were about to win a game, which leaves you with no rewards for all your effort and skill, and that obviously needs to change. But it only happened once. A few times the host quit while we were waiting in the lobby, which isn’t as bad.
I think the support cameras once you die help. Why would you quit as soon as you’re dead when you can help your team by spotting enemies. 3 of you guiding your last standing teammate around the map to avoid enemies can get quite tense. Especially when you realise the other team are doing the same thing. So many matches are won or lost on your ability to all shout out vague directions at once. Best one ended with a win when we guided the survivor to the laptop, pointed out the cunning mines that had been left around it, and hacked it with less than 0.5 seconds to spare.
Also, the fact that everyone has a mic (because it’s in the headset) helps. Communicating with your team is essential, and leads to the sort of excessive VR friendliness I’ve seen in other games. Nobody seems to mind someone admitting it’s their first game. Losing doesn’t seem to annoy anyone too much. And it looks like it helps people get the hang of things very quickly. Playing it all day yesterday, I could see people getting better with time. First few games were chaos. By the evening, it was getting a lot more tactical. Some tactics not always working due to luck (which route you take may lead to an early exchange of fire). But it definitely got to the point where things were mostly well balanced and winning would mostly come down to who cracked first and made a mistake.
Just don’t spend loads of money on things. Buy the gun attachments that suit you and switch to a custom loadout once you’ve got enough, and maybe a second skill for your preferred character (I’m liking Odin with reduced recoil and then give him faster reloads as the second skill). Then grind a load of money for the other guns.
I think my score has gone up to 8.5 now. It’ll get a 9 if they make a few changes.