Also available on HTC Vive and Oculus Rift Batman: Arkham VR is Rocksteady's attempt to cash in on both the early VR hype as well as the hype of the extremely successful Arkham series. It launched with an affordable price tag - $20 IIRC - but that makes a lot more sense when you play it and realize that it's only about an hour long. Despite the exceptionally short length, however, it is at least an extremely enjoyable VR experience. The game, naturally, is in a first person perspective. You play with two PlayStation Move controllers, one in each hand controlling Batman's hands. You play as Batman (obviously) and investigate the disappearance of Robin and Nightwing. You go through various environments and investigate using your grapple gun, scanner, and batarang. It's not terribly complex game, but the motion controls and VR headset make the game ridiculously immersive. Each environment has optional things to explore and secrets to find. Finding these secrets will unlock secret characters and features. Let's take a minute and address the game's negative points, and there are several. First and foremost what I've seen most people complain about - the length. The game is extraordinarily short. It will probably only take you between 45 and 75 minutes to finish depending on how thoroughly you explore an area. You've got the occasional little control glitches that often accompany games that utilize motion controls, but they're not too bad; it can take a little bit to get a feel for and avoid, but most of the game doesn't require quick and precise movement, so you've got plenty of time to figure out how to finagle it. Batman: Arkham VR definitely has its flaws, but as an immersive Batman experience, especially so relatively early in VR's adoption. The length is definitely a legitimate complaint, but at least the price tag is fairly low. The story is interesting, but the gameplay is just unbelievably fun and addicting. Yeah, it's got its cons, but the gameplay more than makes up for it in my opinion. My Rating - B |
I'm a teacher.And I like to play video games. I like to collect video games. I like to talk about video games, and I like to write about video games. During the day, I teach high school history; during the night, I spend my spare time gaming. Then I write about it. Archives
April 2024
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