Superhot debuted back in February of last year, the slow motion mechanic pair with movement was revolutionary and taught players to slow down in order to progress quickly. The story was peppered through a chat window and this eventually leads to some hints at VR. So you’d imagine Superhot VR was simply a remake of the original, but it isn’t.
The striking polygonal red enemies could never be mistaken for any other game and the contrasting white world is rendered beautifully on the PSVR headset. For once the low resolution of the headset is no longer a sticking point, and Superhot VR looks great.
As soon as you launch the game you are thrown in to a mission, and a stream of levels come at you, one after the other. Simply clear the room of enemies with the tools at hand. This ranges from guns down to a coffee mug and now a “microwave” power. Unlike the previous games, you don’t have free control, as the 2 Move controllers don’t allow for it, this time moving your head and arms are what accelerate time. Dodging bullets or gently tapping them with the side of your gun to see them ricochet or disintegrate never gets old. Each “level” is in fact a single stage; however, once you clear a group of enemies, you are teleported into a different spot of the same level and propel your onslaught through a slew of “red dudes”. Though the stage is the same, and the art style remains consistent throughout, you never get bored of the situations you are placed in.
The story is of a person playing VR, which of course you can relate to. You put a floppy disk into a computer to load up your game, but every time you come out, something in “your” world has changed and you’ll have to finish the game to find out.
You start some stages heavily armed, and others you collect your weapons during the level. There are even stages where all you have to do is survive and dodge bullets. The head tracking of the VR headset is perfect for this and rarely do you feel short changed if you get hit, but let’s talk about the tracking further; this is where the game fell apart for me. The earlier stages aren’t very demanding, however when you have to reach out for objects that are low down or far away, the tracking failed many times. For example, if you are sitting on your bed with the VR headset, occasionally a gun will be on your left, however it is lower than a coffee table, but you won’t be able to grab it through your bed. Or if there is a wall to your right and the game has placed an item in that location, you can’t get it. This made playing the game very difficult. Furthermore, I found the throwing mechanic to be inaccurate, and where I’d expect my throws to go, they rarely did. I adjusted my setup multiple times, and although it improved, it still wasn’t great. PSVR isn’t to blame, as I have played dozens of games with no problem in this setup and had no issues, but I feel the design choices by the developer were responsible for this. Simply placing items closer to you could have solved this problem.
Gone have the speedy replays, but probably for good reason. You stand or sit in the same spot and it would likely cause motion sickness, which there were no indications of for me whatsoever. Getting hit by a bullet sends a small rumble to the controllers, and you feel the hit more than you should. The restarts are quick, so there is little waiting and you are back into the action. After every session I was dripping with sweat and enjoying every second, despite all the issues.
Superhot VR is an absolute joy when it works, and if you have the right amount of space it is a game I would recommend to everyone with a VR headset even though I punched a wall several times! It is priced at only £15.99 with hours of gameplay, and new game modes to add value. You should buy this game.
