Iron Man VR review: an imitation of aluminum foil from a great Iron Man game

“I’m not Iron Man,” I mutter to myself after hitting a wall for the umpteenth time as I waved my arms. But it is not for lack of effort.

Iron Man VR is a game with a simple premise: to put players inside the famous metal suit of Marvel’s Armored Avenger, allowing you to fly and fight against supervillains with laser explosions and many devices. It is also Camouflaj’s first real console title, which had previously been developed by the high-profile mobile game, Republic, in 2013 (which has since been ported to PC, Xbox One, PlayStation, and a variety of virtual reality platforms).

It is the kind of idea that is uniquely adapted to virtual reality. What better way to capture a hero who is more famous for his helmet and wrist-mounted weaponry than VR headsets and motion controllers?

Unfortunately while Iron Man VR It has moments where it really captures what it might be like to dress up as Iron Man himself, he is held by delicate controls, repetitive levels, and a game that just isn’t that fun to play for long.

While early trailers may give the impression that Iron Man VR is a tormented shooter on rails, the reality is that Camouflaj has given players almost complete freedom to fly through the skies like Iron Man. Using a pair of PlayStation Move controllers, you can use the two triggers to control your repulsors in one style Unique VR flight. Lean them back with your palms, and you will fly forward; push forward and it will stop and then fly backwards. Steering is done through a combination of tilting thrusters and pointing the head. Since players stand upright all the time, it’s still not quite analogous to Iron Man’s dizzying flight in the movies or comics, but it’s the closest you can probably get with a virtual reality setup.

It also encounters some limitations due to the nature of virtual reality. The first is that the PS VR is a wired headset, so gamers can only make limited turns. More drastic maneuvers must be performed with pressing buttons that jump the camera 45 or 180 degrees so that they do not pull the cables. It is also simply difficult, at least at first. While Camouflaj generously seasons the game with gauntlets of speed to help players adjust to the early levels, there is a steep learning curve. (Some of the development moments in those flight challenges seem downright impossible to beat, though I have no doubt players will.)

It also requires that players basically remain standing the entire time they play. While Camouflaj notes that the game can be played sitting down, the fact that you point your hands behind you many times means that it is almost impossible to play on a sofa. I was more successful moving to a folding chair in the middle of my living room than I could reach from behind, but the game still had trouble following my hands.

I didn’t experience any motion sickness while playing, but I tend to personally handle VR motion well. If you are new to the genre or have a particular sensitivity to nausea, the quick twist motion may not be to your liking.

Image: Sony

However, flying is only part of the equation. The other half is combat, which requires players to balance how they play since Iron Man uses the same repulsors to fly as he does to fire blasters. It is an act of constant juggling: do you move around, becoming a bigger target to unleash more firepower? Or propelled with both thrusters?

Iron Man actually has two main types of weapons: Rapid Fire Repellants and Secondary Weapons, both tied to the same button. Raise your hands palm out and you will use repulsive blasts; Tilt your palm down and your wrist-mounted secondary weapon appears. Is one of Iron Man VRThe best touches, and he did the best job capturing the character. Lastly, players can also launch rocket-powered punches by holding down a button on the controller to smash nearby enemies.

There is also a customization system, where players can unlock “research points” to add new equipment to their armor or change their weapons. But all those options are unlocked from the beginning. Once I had a good setup, the game doesn’t give many reasons to unlock the rest. (Funnily, there are a variety of different color schemes for the suits as well, but since you hardly ever see the armor from a third-person perspective, it’s a bit of a useless feature.)

But while the pieces are good, the problems with Iron Man VR they come when they join in the game, which is not deep enough to support a full title.

Image: Sony

In practice, Iron Man VR it is very Repetitive There are only a handful of enemy types, whose tactics never really change. One drone will hit players with lasers, another will attempt to ram it, while a third must be dodged before its shield is down. Each enemy is effectively designed to be countered by a specific weapon in your arsenal (you shoot the firing drone, hit the ramming drone, hit the tank with the ground), and the only variety really comes in the number of games it throws at you. Right away.

The result is that each of the 12 levels (which are broken into 15-30 minute chunks, well suited for virtual reality) breaks down roughly into a cycle of “defeating these identical waves of enemies using identical weapons in identical locations “until the next expository speech occurs.

The game also breaks up the Iron Man action with a long time hopping around Tony’s mansion or Nick Fury’s helicarrier doing the kind of virtual reality chores the genre had overcome years ago. Teleporting around an open space to press a button to answer a speaker or save a memory box just feels like filler. Those kinds of VR-y tasks also make their way in normal gameplay, punctuating waves of drone fighting by having players “open” a door, “grab” some wires, or “hit” a power core.

Iron Man VR Try to mix things up with different locations, from the Shanghai skyline to a helicopter soaring in the sky to an abandoned weapons facility. But the levels are also repeated frequently; The first time he flew down the cliffs of Tony’s Malibu mansion it’s cool, but the third time the game takes him out, he starts to crawl.

Some of those levels also look bad. Part of that is due to the lower resolution and power of the PlayStation VR. Some levels are better than others, but it can be difficult to see. In particular, the Shanghai tier, all blocks, featureless buildings, and empty pixelated roads, feels like something out of a PlayStation 2 game.

The experience is held together by an original Iron Man story, which should sound very familiar if you’ve seen an Iron Man movie (or read a comic) in recent years. Tony Stark has retired from making weapons, but a villain from his past, in this case, the villain hacker Ghost, wants to hold him accountable for the destruction his previous misdeeds caused.

Several classic Iron Man characters appear, including Tony himself, Pepper Potts, Tony’s AI Friday, Nick Fury (they all look like off-brand versions of their big-screen counterparts), along with a new character, a holographic copy. Tony’s named Gunsmith that helps players design upgrades and serves as a “demon” on Tony’s shoulder for the most positive Friday during missions. (Gunsmith also solves the virtual reality problem of never seeing Tony’s face during the game by giving players a second “Tony Stark” to interact.)

Image: Sony

The biggest problems with Iron Man VRHowever, these are really terrible load times, at least on the standard PS4 I was playing on. I routinely spent 10-20 seconds looking at a completely black screen just to load loading screen, which can take up to another full minute to load at the actual level. That wait is made even worse by the fact that you’re stuck wearing a VR headset and standing in your living room all the time.

There are many good ideas in Iron Man VR. But among the general controls, repetitive gameplay, and lackluster graphics, it’s the kind of thing that seems to have been best suited for a shorter, smoother experience. Sometimes it can make you feel like Iron Man, but that’s not enough to carry a complete game.

Iron Man VR It will be released exclusively for PlayStation 4 on July 3 for $ 39.99. (PS VR headsets, two PlayStation Move controllers, and a PlayStation 4 camera are required to play.)