A surprise announcement at Meta Connect was Iron Man VR coming to the Quest 2, a game previously only available on PlayStation VR. I have now donned the famous red and gold suit, the question is, did it make me feel like a super-hero?
Story
In Iron Man VR, Tony Stark has decided to entirely stop making weapons of destruction and move Stark Industries to a clean-energy company. This move does not please all and sees him attacked by a mysterious enemy called ‘Ghost’, a hacker that does not want him dead but wants to teach him a life-lesson about his choices and the consequences of them. But, can you figure out who Ghost is and stop these attacks?
Gameplay
The game opens with you being attacked in a plane and you jumping out of it while collecting your suit, and I personally felt the rest of the game was going to struggle to keep up with that feeling. But, with the additions from upgrading your suit with attachments and each mission being full of loads of action – it keeps an action-packed feeling through out.
As you would expect the majority of the gameplay is based around flying in the suit – which is perfectly handled with the outstanding thruster-based control system. While flying around you will be taking out enemies with a number of weapons equipped to the suit, as well as going to set points to carry out tasks like repairs, disarming bombs and releasing doors. However, where the game does enough to keep you entertained, they can start to feel a little repetitive.
Outside of the story mission actions, you can also take on trials – which see you flying around locations in and using your suits abilities in time trials. Adding these in with the reason to replay missions to gain more upgrade points and skins for you suit it does bring a little change in the aim of the gameplay.
presentation
One thing I was really interested in seeing was how they would handle the visuals on the standalone platform. I was shocked with how good it looked, with it being up there with some of the best on the Quest 2. Where it’s not pushing Red Matter levels, but with the open environments it does offer a larger area scope and still looks great with it. To make sure you are taken into the MCU, it also adds touches like advertisements in the Shanghai level including fictional brands from the universe.
The game also comes with some solid work in the audio department. The massive standout part from the audio is the voice acting, which really keeps you invested in the story that Camouflaj have created in MCU. Outside of this they have used the noise from your thrusters, weapons and from setting the right tones for the environment to keep you immersed in the settings they have created.
Comfort/Controls
When it comes to comfort, the game brings with it many options to combat neusea. The team have added turn-types, speeds and vignette strengths, of course with the flying system used there is no teleport option. As someone who does not suffer from motion sickness I can not say if the flying system could cause nausea, but I feel some may suffer with this.
One reason I struggled to play and did not actually finish the game on PSVR, was how the controls were impacted by the old hardware. The game does have a great control scheme that sees you using the thrusters on your the suits hands to move around, by positioning them in different positions. The analogues can be used for turning, or just by turning in your play-space given the wireless option the Quest 2 offers. Firing the weapons is done by holding you hands in different positions and using a button to fire them, and you can punch by making a fist and punching either in front of you and down at the ground.
Longevity
The main campaign story will take around seven to eight-hours complete. Although, those who like the aforementioned trials and unlocking all the suit skins and attachments, this could add four-plus more hours onto the gameplay time.
Reviewed using Meta Quest 2
For the purposes of transparency, this review was created using a review code provided by the company or their respective PR company. The use of a press code does not affect my judgement of the product.
REVIEW OVERVIEW
ron Man VR’s move to the Meta Quest 2 has brought a solid addition to the Quest catalogue of games, which will allow many to live their dream of becoming Iron Man and taking to skies in his famous suit. They have made sure this happens by bringing great gameplay in action packed campaign missions – although these can be repetitive. One massive improvement the Quest version has brought with it is the improved controls, that takes away the biggest issue with the PlayStation VR version of the game. If you want a game that is going to immerse you in the MCU, then you should look no further than Iron Man VR.
