Don’t look down. Nothing will top my crippling fear of being lost at sea and the unknown realm of hidden horrors that exists beneath its waves, but diving head first from the top of a mountain wearing nothing but a wingsuit comes pretty close. RUSH VR is game dedicated entirely to that.
When pairing certain game ideas with virtual reality, some instantly click, and skydiving is one of them. Sure, we’ve had this crop up in a number of titles over the years, with Just Cause, Far Cry and Steep being the most recent examples, but having players see it through their own eyes definitely adds something extra. At least, that’s what developer Binary Mill is thinking.
The setup here is very straightforward, giving you the option to enter competitive races or try your hand at RUSH’s time attack and score challenge modes. Most of your time in-game will be spent chipping away at its bulky series of 80 races, spread across four distinct locales. Each one carves its own unique path through the mountains, forcing you to weave between outcrops, forests, and other hazardous terrain while also keeping an eye on your rivals.
RUSH’s gameplay is just as simple and easy to get into. Binary Mill has fitted the game with eight different control methods depending on how you want play, whether holding two motion controllers, using the sticks on a DualShock 4, or using the motion tracking built into PlayStation VR. Having so many options is a welcome bonus, especially if you begin to tire from the default wingsuit pose – holding your arms out for minutes at a time can be surprisingly tough.
This accessibility comes as a double-edged sword, however. While RUSH is easy enough to get your head around, there’s little in the way of advanced controls or mechanics to engage with. The only way to give yourself an edge over the competition is by flying close enough to the ground that a meter begins to fill, giving you small boost in speed. Doing this can help put some distance between you and the rest of the pack, though clipping a tree or brushing a cliff face can lead to an instant wipe out.
Although the race layouts continue to change as you earn medals and unlock new routes, repetition sets in pretty fast. Having an online multiplayer mode helps to offset this, but only if you’re fortunate enough to find a lobby, especially one where you can goof around with others while waiting for a match.
What’s Good:
- Those first few skydives are a fun novelty
- Easy to pick up with loads of different control options
What’s Bad:
- Races all feel similar
- Gameplay is too simplistic
RUSH VR is not the realistic skydiving sim some may have expected but there’s still a novelty to it that some virtual reality gamers will appreciate. It’s definitely cheaper than booking the real thing, though given how repetitive races can get after your first few, you’re likely to get more bang for your buck elsewhere considering the bumper crop of PSVR bangers we’ve had this year.
Score: 5/10
Available for PSVR
