VR gamers have been crying out for big gaming experiences for years, and Vertigo 2 is a game that promises exactly that. Originally released for PC in early 2023, this shooter takes inspiration from Half-Life’s structure and style, and was quickly called one of the best VR games out there. Now it’s out for PlayStation VR 2, so it’s time to see what all the fuss it about.
This is a direct sequel to Vertigo, but you don’t need to have played that game as everything is explained in a neat recap at the start before you, an unnamed female character, set off on missions to help Brian. He’s a Dr Emmett Brown type character – a scientist who may or may not have good intentions – and you’ll be delving into this underground facility in the middle of a multiverse calamity at his behest.
What follows is an 8-10 hour adventure through continually changing landscapes, with ten big boss fights and plenty of cannon fodder for you to shoot. There are fourteen weapons, all of which can be upgraded, along with puzzles that range from the usual collect the thingummy and pull switch types, to humanity tests that are essentially a Captcha identification lock: pick the pictures that show modes of transport.
As varied as the environments and enemies are, a VR shooter lives and dies on how the weapons handle, and unfortunately I found them rather lacking. The basic pistol you start with is difficult to be accurate with, even if you are aiming down the sights, and many of the other weapons have you spraying in the general direction of a bad guy until a bullet or ten will hit them. Unlike Arizona Sunshine 2, for example, the guns don’t have any weight, there’s little to no kick back when you fire them, and they feel floaty and inaccurate. There’s strangely no haptic feedback at all and if you’ve played any other PSVR 2 shooters you will notice the difference immediately.
You’ll also have to learn the loading mechanic for each weapon. Ammo is generated automatically over time so you rarely run out, but as much as admire the attempt at realism with the loading of weapons, I am playing a game shooting multi dimensional aliens in the future and continually having to wave my hands about to reload a gun even though ammo is almost infinite is quite annoying.
Graphically, there’s a lot of Half-Life influences, which is to say it’s now rather basic. Assets are reused liberally, there are a lot of empty corridors to go through, and while there are lots of different enemy types to dispatch, they’re not exactly inspired – I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve had to kill a large floating eyeball in a video game. There’s also some noticeable pop-in when viewing exterior landscapes. An early sequence finds you in a helicopter and the land and mountains outside noticeably changes shape as you fly around.
Thankfully the genuinely funny script held my attention and, for the most part, distracted me from the game’s deficiencies. The Doc, along with robot sidekicks, chatter away as you progress and there’s some laugh out loud gags. The sound mix is not quite right in some places, specifically when the Big Bad and his minion are talking, I simply could not hear what they were saying, so my tip would be to turn on the subtitles as soon as you start playing.
Another area Vertigo 2 does well is in set piece design. There’s plenty of open combat areas, contrasting with times where you’re fending off waves of enemies from a boat or some other platform. There are also some really nice moments that don’t involve shooting. One side mission has you facing a Cassandra-from-Dr-Who type creature, an organic slab of skin and eyes stretched across a tunnel and to get past you must locate his missing spray can and – yes – moisture him. It’s very silly and really quite gross – he does make very sexy gushing noises as you spray him and then, erm, slip into his gaping orifice.
The game has been created, with a few exceptions, by a single person, Zach Tsiakalis-Brown. It’s admirable that he has manage to create such a vast game with multiple mechanics, weapons and enemies, but while everything works, it all lacks polish found in larger productions. It’s a massive accomplishment, but I still have to compare Vertigo 2 to other PSVR 2 shooters, and it comes up a bit short.
Unfortunately I have no love for Half-Life – yes, I am a terrible person – and without the rose tinted spectacles that make people gasp when they see a Portal Gun locked in a room, I am left with an entertaining but fairly basic shooter.
