Fantastic Contraption Review (PSVR)
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.
Fantastic Contraptions was originally a flash game, that gained a following. It then made the jump onto the HTC Vive, and now the team at Radial Games have ported it over to the Playstation VR. But, how does the game hold up on Sony’s headset?
Where there is a number different type of games available on the Playstation VR, one it is missing is a game that allows you to use some creativity. In the days of games like Minecraft and even Sony’s own Little Big Planet this has come as somewhat of a surprise to me. But, now Fantastic Contraption has made the jump to the Playstation VR, this void has been filled a little bit.
The VR version of the game comes with 50 levels for you to complete, and where the goal is simple, the games throws challenges at you. First of the aim of the game is to get set pink coloured objects into the goal, and how this is done it is up to your building skills. You use the tools at your disposal to construct a device that will help you get the object to where it needs to be. However, this is where the game is let down slightly, because the tools you get are very limited. You basically get wheel like objects, two types of rods (each has its own psychics set) and black glue to hold the joints together. With what you are given to play with only the rods can be modded and all you can do is lengthen or shorten them – this makes to tools become boring quite quickly.
The game starts you off nice and easy, and you think you will be through the puzzles in no time, but, then the difficulty spike hits you. I think this spike hits so early because the game offers very little help in how to get the best out of the limited tools it gives you. I think I made it through about the first 10 puzzles before I started to struggle and some frustration came into play, and by the end of the puzzles it was more luck than good craftsmanship that got the object to the goal.
Something that didn’t really help with the frustration in the game was the view that you played the game in. Obviously they had to make changes on the Playstation VR port due the lack of room scale, and they way they approached it made sense in some part. In this version you are facing the puzzle, and the building area is front of you, but the lack of ability to move around the building area is where the frustration comes in. Not being able to do this means it wasn’t always clear if the objects had attached together on the side you cant see. This often lead to my contraptions falling apart as I clicked play on the controller. All I can say is luckily there is no loading when you stop and your contraption is back in front you, or else this would have been even more annoying/frustrating.
Visually they have gone with strong, bold and colourful block colouring to make up your playing environment, and with it being a very crafty game I can see why this choice was made. One part of the visuals I found amazing was the art work around in the sky, it really gave the game the creative look, to match with what you were trying to achieve. I even liked the little design the game gave the move controllers, with the flowers on the end, it was a nice little arty touch – rather than just showing the move controller design.
Now moving onto the controls the game can be played with either one or two Playstation Move controllers, but I would highly recommend playing it with the two. The controls are one thing that really works well in Fantastic Contraption, and are well set-up to allow for the stretching and constructing – it’s just a shame the aforementioned issue with camera can let this down. The only other problem I’ve had is at times it seems to lose the tracking a little bit, but that could have just been an issue on my side.
Another great thing about Fantastic Contraption it the game offers a lot when it comes to longevity of the title. Firstly the 50 levels offer a lot of play time when the difficulty spike hits, with the trial and error of building the initial contraption. Then add to the the fact you can always return and try to build a completely different one, and the possibilities are endless. I also at times myself making random contraptions not even trying to get to the goal, just to see what I could do.
Conclusion
Fantastic Contraption brings a creative title to the Playstation VR, unfortunately due to limited tools provided it feels more like it is just scratching the surface of what it could have been. But, if you dont mind trial and error and want a different experience to anything available at the moment on the Playstation VR its worth a look – and it will provide enough reasons to go back and play it again.
Also available on HTC Vive, Oculus Rift and Windows Mixed Reality
Developer: Radial Games
