A few years after its original release Ultrawings 2 has now landed on Playstation VR2. With it being received well when it released on Quest back in 2022, does it still hold up in 2024? I have taken to the skies to find out.
Release Date: Janurary 25th 2024
Developer: Bit Planet Games
Publisher: Bit Planet Games
Price: US $19.99 / CA $26.99 / €19,99 / £15.99
Reviewed On: PlayStation VR2
* Code Provided For Review *
MIX OF REALISM AND ARCADEY
If you are looking for 1:1 flight simulator, Ultrawings 2 is not going to give you this, but what it does offer is a mix of realism and arcadey gameplay. With Bit Planet games finding a perfect mix of not over complicating the controls, but still giving you the feeling of actually flying.
The first few jobs will ease you into the flight system, but then there’s no more hand-holding as the missions and tasks soon ramp up in difficulty. Each job will present it’s own challenges and difficulties and some will likely leave some frustrated, like it did for me at times – especially when you are trying to get used to the flight controls. With my main frustrations coming from executing landings and managing my fuel, with these mainly ending in a heap of metal on the floor.
Ultrawings 2 offers an easy-to-pilot ultralight, WW2-style fighter, a stunt bi-place, a fast rocket fighter and a light helicopter to pilot. This brings in some muscle memory as each of these will offer different flight control configurations, although you will get on-boarding at the start of every job from a tablet inside your cockpit. You will be piloting these around four islands, which are all packed with their own obstacles which can cause issues, but also offer thrills, as you fly through canyons, between skyscrapers and under bridges.
One thing you need to take into account before purchasing the game is if you are up for the grind. The reason for this is you will need grind varied jobs to earn cash to be able to purchase three of the planes and the helicopter to build up your vehicle collection, and buy airports on each of the islands. This will open more challenges for the next grind, so, you need to be prepared to keep doing this loo – if you are not it could become very tiring and might not resonate with you.
In addition to these you also have Ops missions, that will introduce combat into the game as you battle against enemy fighters, bombers, ships and ground forces. These offer you the chance to put the skills you’ve learnt into action, with dodging incoming fire while focusing on taking each enemy out with your weapons.
I have not completed every challenge the games offers, but have plunged a plenty of hours into Ultrawings 2, but the developers boast forty to sixty-hours of playtime, which I could easily see being the case. With the sheer amount of challenges and the grind to get everything unlocked.
DOES WHAT IT NEEDS TO
Ultrawings 2 is all about the gameplay, with the visuals seeing an improvement over the original, but still feeling a little dated to what we would expect these days – with the approach being simplistic over realistic when it comes to the environments. However the inclusion of weather affects, daytime cycle and the planes and each cockpit looking great helps improve this. All of it coming together to visually present it well enough to keep you immersed.
Adding to this sound design you would want in a game like this, with realistic sounds to go with either the propeller or engine based power systems of your chosen vehicle. The weapons in the missions they are required sounding punchy, and the music accompanying you being at the correct level, allowing you to concentrate on the action and the sounds that matter.
COMFORT
THE VERDICT
Summary
Ultrawings 2 brings a fun but also frustrating light flight simulator to PSVR2, with seems to slot in-between realistic and arcadey perfectly. This makes the flying a perfect fit for anyone like me that struggles to be drawn into the full-on flight simulators that are available in VR. Bringing with it a crazy amount of jobs and challenges to complete on the way, as you grind to buy more planes, a helicopter and airports around the four islands. Where these challenges fall into the aforementioned fun and frustrating element the Ops missions are where the game excels for me, and I would love to see a Ultrawings spin-off down the line just based on the Ops missions. But, if you are looking for a plucky little title, that does what it is designed to do perfectly, it’s certainly worth adding Ultrawings 2 to your library.
