Pistol Whip Review

February 26, 2023

Over my time with the Meta Quest 2 I have dipped in and out and Pistol Whip, but I was never sold on it being a game I could continue to play constantly. However, with the enhancements that would be possible with PlayStation VR 2 I wanted to give the game another chance. But, have these sold me on the popular game?

Story

The game does come with two campaigns to playthrough on the PSVR2 launch that have been added over time since it’s release. These see you take the role of gunslinger in the wild west and as a cyborg fighting against your robot oppressors in a futuristic setting.

Gameplay

Pistol Whip is essentially a rhythm game mixed with a on the rails first person shooter. However, with the different difficulties, modes and modifiers it really allows for players to approach the game how they want.

You can take on arcade mode that have over 30 scenes to play, which all include their own songs, enemy placements and obstacles to avoid as you try to set your best possible score in the run. With this being on the rails you will constantly be moving forward through the scenes, allowing you to think about taking out the enemies, dodging their bullets and the obstacles you are moving towards. The way to fail your run is being hit too many times by the oncoming bullets or obstacles, and depleting your lives. The rhythm element is introduced because you shoot or pistol whip the enemies (when possible) to the beat and you will get a score bonus.

As aforementioned in arcade mode you can play different difficulties and apply modifiers to play the game how you want;

Want to duel-wield pistols? No problem you can do that.
Want to have burst fire? It lets you do that.
Want to be bullet-proof and remove the fail element? There is an option for that
Want to increase the difficulty and only head-shots count? Feel free to punish yourself

There are just a few of the options that are possible, meaning you really can tackle the arcade mode to your preferred style of play, or even challenge yourself in other ways outside of just increasing the difficultly level. Messing with the modifiers also allows you change the experience you are getting and makes each scene feel different if you want it to feel like a new experience.

Running through the arcade mode is required to unlock other modes that available. Show you are competent at the game and you will be able to take on Contracts, these are daily, weekly and monthly challenges that will truly test your ability in the game.

Also you will need to complete so many scenes in arcade mode to unlock the previously mentioned campaigns. You might be wondering ‘Why are this locked behind arcade mode?’ The reason being they want players to have experience in the game, because some of the levels will be too challenging for new players.

The final part is the addition of scoreboards offering global and friends, so those who want to push themselves to set new records globally or against friends there is even more reasons to challenge and push yourself.

Presentation

Pistol Whip’s graphical style is very eye catching, matching fractal designs with darker and brightly light neon scenes. This has allowed the team at Cloudhead Games to make a very interesting use of the visual presentation, allowing for a vivid look that can break and pulse to the sound of the scenes music. This really gives the game a style that is unique, and works perfectly for a rhythm game.

With the levels pulsing and breaking to the music this has allowed them to include different genres, all of which have been well chosen to have deep driving baselines. This allows them to make fantastic use of the visual presentation – and although it being fractal in look still allows you get immersed in the scenes offered.

PSVR2 Features

Now to what the PSVR2’s features allows to try and improve the Pistol Whip experience. Cloudhead Games have made really good use out of all the technology offered with Sony’s new HMD, with the adaptive triggers being the biggest one for me. This has allowed them to make each pistol you can chose from feel different to fire – be it more or less tension on the trigger. Add to this feeling the bullets you dodge flying past or your head with a subtle rumble of the headset haptics or a full on rumble if you are hit in the head. With the dark tones, bright colours and clarity off the OLED displays and Pistol Whip has never looked so good.

Adding these to PlayStation 5’s tempest audio, and the tracks in game all sound fantastic in your ears – then using the 3D Pulse headphones (if you have them) and the audio really shines through.

Comfort/Controls

When it comes to comfort the game is really suited to be played standing, as some of the obstacles will require you to duck under them and the dodging bullets could become difficult if not. As the movement is artificial and moving you forward constantly outside of your control, this might cause some users motion-sickness – so if this something you suffer from in VR, this might need taking into account.

With the game controlling your movement and you just needing to shoot and dodge, you will only need the trigger button for firing your weapon. When if comes to dodging this is done by physically moving or leaning and not mapped to any buttons. Meaning Pistol Whip is very easy to just pick up and play never mind your experience with virtual reality.

Longevity

As mentioned Pistol Whip’s arcade mode offers the players chance to play the game how they want, challenge themselves and make each run feel different. Meaning if you take the gameplay and soundtrack there is no reason you wont find yourself going back and playing more. Add to these the contracts and leaderboards and you really can approach the game competitively if that is what you like to do. Then there is the campaigns that are challenging in their own right and worth playing through adding more to what the game offers.

reviewed using PlayStation VR 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

Pistol Whip on PSVR2 has finally sold me on what the game offers and I can understand why the game is so popular with many. With all that the game offers in regards to content and the way to make it match your play style, it easy to keep the game feeling fresh. Adding to the base that has already made the game successful the new features of the PSVR2 and it really does make this the definitive version and I can see myself returning the this version quite often and pretending I am John Wick to beat of an awesome soundtrack.