Tiger Blade certainly caught my eye when the announcement trailer dropped, as it looked like the team at Ikimasho Games were bringing an old school style of game to Virtual Reality.
Release Date: December 20th 2023
Developer: Ikimasho Games
Publisher: Big Sugar
Price: US $24.99 / CA $33.49 / €24,99 / £19.99
Reviewed On: PlayStation VR2
* Code Provided For Review *
DEADLY ASSASSIN HIDDEN TIGER CUB
You are deadly assassin for the Horangi Chapter of the Tiger Clans. Your mission to steal a mysterious package from the rival chapter, which to your shock is a tiger cub – though to be extinct for a hundred years. This is now desired by every gang in the city, including your own, so your are not safe from anyone.
HIGH-STAKES, FAST PACED ACTION
This mission leads to a high-stakes chase through Sewoon, which will have you slashing and shooting your way through the Korean city – while blocking incoming attacks be it in sword fights or deflecting incoming bullets.
You will take a number of different enemies and bosses throughout the levels, some which can be only be taken down with your sword and others with your gun. With this in mind and the speed the game plays, it was very important the team got the weapon switching correct, and this is easily done just by holding the grip button to switch instantly to your gun. Each enemy type has its own hit counter above it’s head, giving them a health system like your own. When in combat you are static and stuck to the one spot, with no locomotion options, other than snap turning at forty-five degrees increments, which really gives off the old arcade game feeling, it seems it has been designed around.
With no locomotion options, you might be thinking ‘how do I move through the levels then?’, this is done by slashing your sword or by using a grappling hook. How this works is, once you take out the last enemy or break something in your way with your sword it will jolt you forward to the next piece of action. If this does not happen it means there is a surface or object around you that will become grabable with your grappling hook to get where you need to go.
Tiger Blade has been made with speed-running in mind for the games longevity. The ten missions can be played at your own pace originally, with taking breaks when needed or scouting the levels for the collectibles. But, after you’ve done your first run and seen the story play-out, it will be all about getting the target times and trying to top leader-boards to keep you invested.
One thing Tiger Blade brings is a game that is easy to understand and pick up, but really difficult to master – with the replay-loop offered from speed-running allowing you to learn where each attack is coming from and to nail those timings. However, with this choice it means the game will not hold your hand and shots you straight in at the deep-end, with no health re-generation or pick-ups you really need to hone your skills – like you would in games like Pistol Whip.
THE SEWOON DISTRICTS
In the game you visit several distinctive districts within Sewoon from marketplaces, docks, and alleyways. With the sort of arcade feel of the gameplay the team have gone with a visual style to suit this. With the settings and character models given of a sort of old school cinematic feel, with a more modern neon-noir aesthetic.
A really interesting and different element of Tiger Blade is the soundtrack, with Ikimasho Games using a punchy Korean hip-hop soundtrack featuring SINCE, Kitsyojii, Bryn, and Bruno Chapman. Mixed with this soundtrack choice is the sounds of slashing, shooting and parrying noises from the combat. Finished off with Korean voice-acting with subtitles, with the Korean setting and music, it only makes sense to use this option, as this suits everything the game does.
COMFORT
ULTRA-INTENSE VR ACTION
Summary
Tiger Blade brings an old school arcade feeling to your home with the way it handles the swords and gun switching, the movement and no health regeneration. Mixing the gameplay with the fantastic and unique soundtrack and you will have fun time when speed-running the levels, but, if you are not into the speed-running element there isn’t really much of a game here for you.
