Day of Destruction 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.
Over the may years I have been on this planet there has been a large number of Sci-fi B-Movies, and in Day of Destruction you now have this in a VR game. But, does it work better than B-Movies normally do?
Firstly I would like the mention the game does not really come with a story, you start by being beamed onto a ship, and then you are briefed your goal of destroying the cities. That is about as far as it goes, it’s more just what is your aim than a story.
What Day of Destruction does it places you in the position of destroyer than trying to fend off the attack, meaning where there is a lot of Sci-fi games flooding the VR market at least Day of Destruction is trying something different. While doing this in a B-Movie fashion it also throws in what I would call inspiration from movies such like Independence Day and War of the Worlds. All this becomes clear in elements of the gameplay of the game.
As you would have likely guessed by now, the gameplay is based around destroying the cities that are placed in front you. That is the aim of the full game and the gameplay. How you destroy these cities is all down to you and the weaponry you unlock throughout the game, using the credits you have gained. One you have decided on your weaponry it’s then all about the destruction of these cities, and at times the feeling of accomplishment will soon having you rubbing your hands together like an evil mastermind. Each city is made up of mainly skyscrapers, and then just other smaller buildings. You will find the larger buildings all have defence systems that are firing back at you, and trying to do the defending you would usually find yourself doing.
Where at first this brings with it this evil mastermind feeling, after a number of cities have been flattened the joy of doing so is gone, and will soon become repetitive. With the only main reason you will be continuing is to unlock the more powerful weapons to bring back that initial feeling. The weaponry you unlock is where the aforementioned inspiration comes in, as you will start being able to drop enemies similar looking to the ones in War of the Worlds or finally unlocking the expansive city-scale weaponry.
As well as the ground defence the game will also throw aircraft’s at you, to help deal that additional damage to your ship, and these will get tougher as you progress through the cities. However, these become less of a threat once you have unlocked the lock-on missiles with your credits – but taking too much damage from these and the ground defences is going to be lethal. This is how you are going to fail you mission, if you take too much damage is good-bye to your hulking ship of destruction. Meaning where you might think more destruction of the city is the way forward, dealing with the defences quickly is the most important task.
What may bring some frustration and also does not help with the repetitive feeling, is the fact you are have no control of the ship. Instead SynaptixGames have decided to place this on a set course and out of your control. The frustration can come in with the inability to move away from the incoming fire, and if you could have total control it would bring more to the gameplay – instead you will spend most of your game just looking down.
When it comes to presentation the game will not make you feel any WOW! moments when it comes to visuals. Even given the more bland colours and mainly fluorescent lighting, it gives off the very B-Movie feeling the game brings, and it strangely suits it. Then comes in the music, and this is where the game comes to life – the score for this game will instantly have you ready, raring and raving to get in that destruction.
When it comes to the size of the game you are given six planets to attack, and every planet has four cities that are you playgrounds for destruction. Although once you have been through all the cities and got everything unlocked most players will find it hard to return to the game – mainly down to how repetitive it can become. However, the games does bring with it global leader-boards, so if you really want to top these you could find reasons to go back.
Conclusion
Day of Destruction brings with a unique take on the over-populated Sci-fi genre when it comes to VR, from its B-Movie feel to the fact your are the enemy. However, around the first planet (4 cities) it will start to all feel a bit samey. Meaning the game will fail to keep your attention too long after the evil genius feeling starts to fade. The main reason you will find yourself coming back to the game is the progression system of unlocking all the weaponry, but the grind of this might not keep everyone coming back. The games saving grace is the musical score, this will keep you entertained, so with a bit more to the gameplay Day of Destruction could have been great instead of OK.
HTC Vive Exclusive
Developer: SynaptixGames, LLC
