• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

PlayStation VR Thread 2: Reloaded

Barely knew the game existed a week ago.

After I saw the reviews I preorded it,

There aren't many good or really good PSVR games out there, so when they show up, we have to support them.

I picked it up yesterday feeling the same thing, wanting to check it out myself reading and watching some really solid reviews and wanting to support the PSVR platform. I only got to play for maybe an hour last night but I don't think anyone will be disappointed picking up this game.

Basically if you liked Moss and leaned a little less towards the puzzle solving and more to the platforming aspect, killing enemies within a platformer and enjoyed the boss battle side of things, then you're going to love Astro Bot: Rescue Mission. Of course not all puzzle solving is lost as finding all the bots you're trying to rescue in each level will sometimes require some clever exploration (consider standing up and looking around.)

The level design feels bigger than Moss per scale as its similar in the way that you're sitting on the edge of this world assisting the main character, it feels less like you're looking into a scene or living diorama and more like you're sitting on the edge of the individual worlds of Mario Galaxy. The visuals are both colourful and ever changing even within the first and second worlds I played in last night.

The water levels (if you've read) come with especially high praise and live up to the high praise after I got to swim through one of the colorful underwater levels within the second world. Maybe water levels in VR just arent that bad, especially as you first submerge into the water, almost naturally taking a deep breath before going underwater.

Boss battles (atleast the one I played) feel larger than life in VR, as if someone made the giant bosses of Donkey Kong Country the size of what you'd see going to the movies and watching King Kong or Godzilla.

Surprisingly one of my favourite features of this game were the controls, in specific using the touch pad, this game has one of the most creative combinations of the touch pad I've ever seen on the Dualshock 4 this gen. From flicking Astro Bot off in the beginning of each level, to flinging a grappling hook forward, to shooting a water cannon and flinging Astro Bot at the end of each level to the goal like a VR Kirby end of level goal. The creative controls don't stop at the touch pad as you'll literally need to use your head to take down certain enemies, dodge hazards and headbutt your way though environment obstacles.

I'm early on in as I mentioned but if you're looking for something fun, totally immersive, clever and engaging control wise, with a light story and visually colorful and creative you won't go wrong supporting Astro Bot.
 
Last edited:

TFGB

Member
I haven’t used my PSVR since just after release day, not sure why as I found it mind blowing.

But I’ve just seen Astro Bot and I think it’s a sureshot purchase. It looks AMAZING!
 

Camaway2

Member
Astro Bot is the most fun I had in VR so far! At fourty bucks is a steal and definitely worth buying at full price.
 

Grinchy

Banned
The next Firewall patch info is up.

  • The main feature of the next patch is the opening of our PlayStation Store which will include cosmetic items such as Trinkets, Facepaints, Weapons Skins and more!
  • We have a special surprise Halloween Facepaint for PS Plus users that we will be releasing soon! Stay tuned for this one, I think you’ll like it.
  • Misc bug fixes and improvements.
  • We are currently testing features for future patches which includes handling AFK Players, Weapon Offset Options, Anti-Aliasing for PS4 Pro’s and a whole lot more, stay tuned for our Friday updates for more info on these.
So we can buy cosmetics soon and then we can wait even longer for them to fix the broken things that have been a problem since the game's launch.
 

wondermega

Member
Picked up Astro Bot based on the hype/praise between here and FB. I thought the game looked like nothing I was going to be interested, and the character and game style (and hell, the name) all looked generic as fuck. But screw it, I haven't bought a PSVR game in a very long time, maybe this was the hill to die on.

Anyway what can I say beyond what else has been said. This game is absolutely enchanting from the moment you press the start button. Masterfully crafted, just adorable and has me grinning from ear to ear. I was afraid the game was going to be brief, but after getting through a boss I can see that they have packed this thing. We all shit on Sony for not supporting the PSVR but after playing games like this, the commitment is more than apparent.

I cannot go back to a Ratchet and Clank or Mario 3D World game after playing a platformer (an extremely well-done platformer) this way, in VR. Everyone who reads this and is excited about gaming in PSVR simply needs to pick it up - I hope they put out a single-level demo or something to help spread the word. Incredible job Sony!

Question - I played the Moss demo and enjoyed it, but never picked up the full game. I probably will. How does it measure up to this?
 

Toe-Knee

Member
I finished Moss last night.

I enjoyed my time with it overall but I'm very disappointed with the overall length as I just felt the game was getting going gameplay wise.
 

mango drank

Member
I hope they put out a single-level demo or something to help spread the word.

The free Playroom VR collection of mini-games has a demo of the first level of Astro Bot in it, or something similar to the first level (I've only played the demo, haven't gotten the full game yet). It's hella cool.
 
I've been doing this thing where I retire the VR games for awhile in the summer. For one thing, the light doesn't die out in the living room early enough to really get in quality time with the headset before having to go to bed. Another thing is that I get to let a few VR games pile up and enjoy them all throughout the darker and colder days of the year. Seriously, if you suffer seasonal depression, this might be a panacea.

I just want to dive in here and also say Astro Bot is amazing. Might be a game of the year contender for me. It's seriously great. I've been loving every second of it. It has some small camera issues. I don't like how some areas are so tall they require me to stand because I'm barely able to fit in the frame of my camera when I get up (tall people probs). Also don't like that I can't go backwards in a level. But it's not enough for me to write this game off. It's just enchanting and fun and gorgeous and well animated. Impressed.

I also picked up Firewall and Farpoint and the gun as well which are supposed to arrive sometime early next week. Interested to finally try them out!
 

wondermega

Member
I've been doing this thing where I retire the VR games for awhile in the summer. For one thing, the light doesn't die out in the living room early enough to really get in quality time with the headset before having to go to bed. Another thing is that I get to let a few VR games pile up and enjoy them all throughout the darker and colder days of the year. Seriously, if you suffer seasonal depression, this might be a panacea.

I just want to dive in here and also say Astro Bot is amazing. Might be a game of the year contender for me. It's seriously great. I've been loving every second of it. It has some small camera issues. I don't like how some areas are so tall they require me to stand because I'm barely able to fit in the frame of my camera when I get up (tall people probs). Also don't like that I can't go backwards in a level. But it's not enough for me to write this game off. It's just enchanting and fun and gorgeous and well animated. Impressed.

I also picked up Firewall and Farpoint and the gun as well which are supposed to arrive sometime early next week. Interested to finally try them out!
True, there are some areas in Astro where it can get a little frustrating because they are trying to squeeze existing mechanics into this new format of viewing the world. But honestly that's when I appreciate what they are attempting the most, because it is making the player take these known conventions and having to engage with them in new, creative (but actually, natural) ways as opposed to just spinning a camera stick around. For me, it's like what I've been waiting for since games transitioned from 2D to 3D in general. I don't want to control this abstract camera, I just want to look around and have a sense of being in this world. Can you imagine if they remixed all the 3D Mario games in this format? (I guess you can, now..) Anyway I agree, surprised to say it, but this is gonna probably lead GOTY for me as well. For comparison, last year my favorite was SuperHot..
 
I'm still chugging away with Firewall, but it's still frustrating at times. My tracking tonight was actually really good but there were so many hosts leaving and killing rooms. The only time we got to host our own room, some kind of network error booted me out and killed ours too.

I'm so close to level 35. The new gun finally opens up that I've been dying to try out.

I'm already tired of Firewall. I mean its still good but it really needs new maps/game modes.

But the developers seems to be busy adding microtransactions and not fixing bugs.
 
Started playing Astro Bot. Graphically its 10/10, best on PSVR. Music is alot better then the music in the demo which I hated. Control drifting is still there tho, but in this game it doesn't really matter.

Is it possible to find all the bots in your first playthrough? I finished the first planet but only found all the bots in one level.

Do you only get access to a new challenge if you find all the bots?
 
Last edited:

Wonko_C

Member
I implore you all to buy Astro Bot, it's fantastic.

I really, really want to, but I am dead set on Tetris Effect (announce the price and tell us if there will be a digital version already!), so Astro will have to wait until I have some more extra money to spend.
 

bodine1231

Member
The second underwater level in Astrobot (the whale) is AMAZING. I've never said 'wow' so many times in a game since I was a kid.
 

MDSLKTR

Member
This is crazy, literally out of nowhere. Guess those who thought VR was going away can take a seat now. I'm excited to play this in VR, hoping you'll be able to use the move controller.
I low-key want Sony to mandate a far cry vr game now. But with the Aim... For God's sake Sony, support this damn peripheral.
 
I low-key want Sony to mandate a far cry vr game now. But with the Aim... For God's sake Sony, support this damn peripheral.

Agreed! The aim controller is so much better than I expected it'd be after looking over the simple design vs actually playing with one. After Firewall theres so much potential. Why not mandate EA to publish a proper VR Star Wars game where the aim controller is supported.
 

wondermega

Member
Agreed! The aim controller is so much better than I expected it'd be after looking over the simple design vs actually playing with one. After Firewall theres so much potential. Why not mandate EA to publish a proper VR Star Wars game where the aim controller is supported.

I'll buy another SP game designed with the Aim in mind in a heartbeat. Nothing against Firewall, I'm just not a MP guy. But for me, Farpoint with Aim was incredible. Even though they clearly tacked it on, Doom still felt really good with it as well..
 
I've been doing this thing where I retire the VR games for awhile in the summer. For one thing, the light doesn't die out in the living room early enough to really get in quality time with the headset before having to go to bed. Another thing is that I get to let a few VR games pile up and enjoy them all throughout the darker and colder days of the year. Seriously, if you suffer seasonal depression, this might be a panacea.

I just want to dive in here and also say Astro Bot is amazing. Might be a game of the year contender for me. It's seriously great. I've been loving every second of it. It has some small camera issues. I don't like how some areas are so tall they require me to stand because I'm barely able to fit in the frame of my camera when I get up (tall people probs). Also don't like that I can't go backwards in a level. But it's not enough for me to write this game off. It's just enchanting and fun and gorgeous and well animated. Impressed.

I also picked up Firewall and Farpoint and the gun as well which are supposed to arrive sometime early next week. Interested to finally try them out!

There is a good reason for that. My stomach turned every time I went backwards in the original Robot Rescue demo. Sony has now learnt how VR works. Same thing with Firewall, snap turn is the normal settings there because they know smooth turn makes people nauseous.
 

mango drank

Member
My stomach turned every time I went backwards in the original Robot Rescue demo. Sony has now learnt how VR works. Same thing with Firewall, snap turn is the normal settings there because they know smooth turn makes people nauseous.

It's funny how there are different VR motions you need to get used to. After a rough first week of motion sickness with the PSVR, I thought I'd gotten immune to it, but then I popped in Skyrim for the first time and got into my first big battle, where I stepped towards the enemy, attacked, then stepped backwards, then went in again, rinse and repeat. I wanted to puke almost right away after backing up a few times. Nowadays, it doesn't phase me, but I had to get used to it independently of other types of motion.

The different types, as far as I can tell:
- moving forwards (and thus seeing scenery moving past you in your peripheral vision, unless you turn on comfort blinders)
- moving backwards (more rare, which is probably why it hits people hard--takes longer to get exposed to it and used to it)
- turning left/right, as in moving on foot, turning around in circles in place, or turning corners in racing games
- barrel roll / washing machine motion (as in piloting / dogfight games)
- loop de loop (again, like in piloting games)
- corkscrew (like running up/down a spiral staircase; another rare one, made me sick right away in Skyrim)
 

Grinchy

Banned
Yeah, it's pretty crazy that Astrobot isn't just one of the highest rated VR games, but one of the highest rated overall PS4 games.
 

Grinchy

Banned
What (was) interesting about that video, before the user pulled it down, was that the sniper rifles actually zoomed in. We haven't really seen that done in a VR game before so it made me wonder if they figured something out or if that gameplay wasn't in VR.
 
Arizona Sunshine finally came in the mail yesterday. Been actually wanting to try it for forever but the no disc thing in North America put me off. Then I realized the U.K got a physical copy so I ordered one.

I didnt get to play for very long last night, had a bit of a weird issue with my PS4 camera not being detected. Ended up swapping out my V1 camera with my V2 version that came in the Skyrim PSVR bundle. Turns out all I really needed to do was do a complete restart and its fine now. Anyone else every experience that?

From what I got to play of Arizona Sunshine using the PS Aim controller, I feel like I want to spend atleast a good few hours taking headshots at zombies, it feels SO rewarding. The tracking on this game isnt as finely tuned a Firewall but its still pretty decent and just fun, the story narrative seems funny and quarky.

I was surprised too see as I was fixing my camera, as the update downloaded for a U.K physical game, it installed no problem on a North American PS4, didnt know that could work.
 

Toe-Knee

Member
Arizona Sunshine finally came in the mail yesterday. Been actually wanting to try it for forever but the no disc thing in North America put me off. Then I realized the U.K got a physical copy so I ordered one.

I didnt get to play for very long last night, had a bit of a weird issue with my PS4 camera not being detected. Ended up swapping out my V1 camera with my V2 version that came in the Skyrim PSVR bundle. Turns out all I really needed to do was do a complete restart and its fine now. Anyone else every experience that?

From what I got to play of Arizona Sunshine using the PS Aim controller, I feel like I want to spend atleast a good few hours taking headshots at zombies, it feels SO rewarding. The tracking on this game isnt as finely tuned a Firewall but its still pretty decent and just fun, the story narrative seems funny and quarky.

I was surprised too see as I was fixing my camera, as the update downloaded for a U.K physical game, it installed no problem on a North American PS4, didnt know that could work.
Yes.

My son uses the playroom a lot and if the ps4 has been in rest mode it just displays the cavers feed as solid green until the system is restarted
 

Grinchy

Banned
I still only play VR after a full power cycle. I didn't know if it was still necessary or not, but I've just always done it since the VR launch.
 
Just a heads up for anyone whos looking but the pre-order just went up at EB Games Canada, I assume GameStop in the US as well for the physical disc copy of Tetris Effect.
 

Barsinister

Banned
I asked on the community chat, and I will ask here also. Does anyone have "Werewolves Within"? It's a party style game where everyone sits around a fire and tries to figure out who the werewolf is in the group. It's a fun little game to play with a group. I have it and would like to play it with some of you guys/gals on here.

Take a look a any point in this video and see if it is something maybe you would like:

 

Wonko_C

Member
Playstation newsletter is mailing $10 codes in its 2-year PSVR celebration. I was lucky enough to get one, redeemed it and it's showing in my wallet now. The newsletter said must redeem before the 23th. Does that mean once redeemed I can use the $10 after the 23th? Or will it disappear from my wallet after that date?
 

ultrazilla

Member
I can confirm that I did receive a 10 off coupon in my email as well towards the PSN Store. I picked up Skyrim VR since it was already on sale for $35 for the PS VR Birthday celebration and used my 10 dollar credit
on it, so only paid $25 plus tax.

What an incredible experience! An added bonus IMO is that you can walk/run normally in the game and don't have to use "teleport" to move(which IMO breaks immersion). I also have Creed(just get it, especially if you like the Punch Out! games), Super Hot VR(incredible) and Astro Robot Rescue(Sony's killer VR APP).

Astro Robot Rescue is something special. It's something you must experience yourself to see the magic Sony has pulled off here. I'm glad they're making PS VR Bundles with the game included because
it's the *perfect* showcase IMO of what VR is capable of.

BTW: I'm a relative new owner of the PS VR. Bought the new bundle version of the headset, camera, move controllers, Creed: Rise to Glory and Super Hot VR.

Absolutely loving my PS VR! Cheers!
 
Last edited:
Tempted to get one of these as there are some really good looking games now but will hold off till that hundred bucks sweet spot which ain't that far away.

For those that have had both whats the main difference between the v1 and v2? Don't have 4K/HDR here so that passthrough option isn't that big a deal but aside from that what else?
 
Top Bottom