Apex Construct Review (HTC Vive)
For the purposes of transparency, this review was created using a code provided by the company or their respective PR company. The use of a review code does not affect my judgement of the game.
Please note: Some aspects of the review will be copied from the Playstation VR review, because some parts have just not changed.
Last month Apex Construct made it’s way onto Playstation VR, and I got to review it (read that review here). Now it is available on HTC Vive and Oculus Rift. I felt there was some hardware limitations to the Playstation VR version – but have they been resolved by the move to PC?
Apex Construct as you are informed you are the last human, who has been pulled from the void – minus one of your human hands the AI has been nice enough to replace with a robotic one. This AI is called father, and he explains you need to save this dystopian world from another AI mother. After spending sometime in the world, you will discover you are not the first human pulled from the void to complete this task. This is really all I can say about the story without ruining it for you.
Although the trailers may have made it look like it was going to be a game all about bow and arrow combat, but there is a lot more to the gameplay. What the game actually contains did come as a surprise to me.
Yes, the main part of the game is about the bow and arrow combat, so what better place to start. I have always said when it comes to a game that concentrates and restricts itself to one method of combat, it has to do it well. In the case of Apex Contrust the team have done a great job of making the bow and arrow responsive and accurate, but it does come with some issues. With the main one being the control scheme which can be come fiddly in moments of combat and resulted in a number of deaths in my play-through for this review.
My main worry about the bow and arrow combat system was that is was going to take the wave based shooter mentality when it came to the combat. – which I am glad to say in most part of the game this is not the case. However, given how well that mechanic works on VR it should come to no surprise at times in the game you will be faced with this, but it is not overly used.
So, what does the game bring outside of the bow and combat. Firstly, throughout the game you are going to be able to unlock different types of arrows that will be required to take out shields on set enemies, and can be used for parts of the puzzle solving. Which brings in the puzzle element of the game, now don’t get me wrong these puzzles are not going to have you racking your mind in any way – but at least offers the break from the combat. The puzzles are more find something you need be it a security card or a battery to place in a generator, however, you are going to have to figure something out to get to them.
In the most case it will be going into terminals and finding out information, which also offers some of the lore surrounding the game. This is some thing I really enjoyed in the game and how they implemented this element, they have made them working terminals, which will require some basic DOS coding to get into the files. I think the team took to correct approach with this and didn’t make it complicated, but the use of actually having to do this made it so much immersive. Other than this you might find some passwords around the place on clipboards, so it is going to in your best interest to keep and eye out for these and check them when you see them.
The last mechanic you are going to come across at times is down the stealth. Where this is not always required and you have the option, but sometimes it is required. This again gives the gameplay a little something else, and can change the pace for sections of it.
Finally throughout this world you are in, you will find RP orbs and also get these from the enemies you have killed. This is used back at your home/base to upgrade your weapon, ammo and shield. Offering a sort of levelling system to your equipment – allowing you to modify it to your liking.
I found the visual style really strong on the Playstation VR version of the game, but with the move over to the HTC Vive they have a little bit of a better finish to them, as well as a little less of the blur effect. Which brought a bit more to the dystopian world they have placed you into, which is not your usual decaying setting – this world is actually quite new looking. However, the world is all twisted and warped and seems to be only being held together by the metal girders you can see in the environment. There was only one issue I found with the way the world looked, in some cases when leaving the outside world to enter some of the rooms, made the rooms look a little bland. But, this goes to show how nice the outside world looks.
Adding to this world the noises of the robots the creaking of the world in general, and the worlds immersion really drags you into Apex Constuct. The voice you are going to hear the most is the voice of father, as the story of game is told via narration – and a lot of that is father. I really found fathers voice an interesting choice, it made me think of a mix of Christian Bale’s portrayal of Batman meets John Kramer from the SAW movies. Adding to this a voice for mother, that is what you would expect a female AI to sound like in a sci-fi movie and it all pulls together for some great sound design also.
When it comes to the controls, it is played using the Tracked Motion controller, and you are given the choice of either teleportation or a free locomotion. The game can be played in a seated and standing position, however, as with the Playstation VR version I had issues picking things up off the floor in seated – therefore I would strongly recommend standing, if this is a viable option for you.
The only buttons you are really going to use on the touch pad to teleport, or holding this down will activate the free locomotion. Then the menu button on your bow hand will bring up your inventory, and when your bow is in your hand moving the other hand close to the bow and pressing trigger will give you an arrow, with the trigger on your bow hand bringing up your shield in place of your bow.
Now, I did mention that hardware restrictions did seem to limit the Playstation VR version in some issues, and I can confirm this was certainly the case. When playing the HTC Vive version the free locomotion is still very finicky, there is no need to click turn (although this is available at forty-five degrees on HTC Vive) given the room-scale, sensor and tracking and this also eradicated the few tracking issues found.
If you just play the game for the story you are looking at a game that will last you four and half to five hours overall. But, there is plenty of collectables, lore and Easter eggs to located in the game for the completionists out there, which will greatly increase the games longevity. Also if you are looking to fully upgrade everything with the amount of RP is costs overall for all the upgrades, it will take a good few play-thoughts to get everything 100% upgraded – again offering more replay value.
Conclusion
Apex Construct is a showcase of how VR has improved and is moving forward as a platform. It places you in a sci-fi world that has a unique take on a dystopian world. Bringing with it great presentation, responsive and accurate combat, and interactions which really make this an incredible immersive gaming experience. With around a five-hour campaign and many reasons for completionists to revisit the world, makes it so the game does not fall short in length either. Now it is available on PC it really feels like it has found it’s true home, This is down the hardware and the options the room-scale tracking opens up, removing the issues with the 180 degree click turning and tracking issues that show their face on Playstation VR.
Also available on Playstation VR
Developer: Fast Travel Games
