Just when some members of the iDigitalTimes staff were ready to write-off the PlayStation VR as little more than a budget alternative to the Rift or Vive, RIGS might just be the project that proves quality virtual reality experiences won’t be exclusive to PC gaming for much longer.
RIGS is one of several PlayStation VR titles currently in production and only playable during the convention circuit. Well, at least until the PlayStation VR makes its retail debut in October. In RIGS, two teams of three face off in a sport that’s a strange amalgamation of a first-person shooter deathmatch and and (of all things) basketball. The goal for each player is to fill their overcharge meter, by killing opponents or collecting power-ups, then diving through a goal before that charge dissipates. In the build shown at PAX East, players can reach the goal by traversing a series of ramps and spires that weave together into an impressive display.
Piloting the mech is relatively simple. Players use both the PSVR headset and a DualShock 4 controller to guide their robo-suit around the arena. Directional movement is mapped to the left analog stick while the cockpit’s orientation is controlled with the right. Players use their head to manually aim their weapons by looking at their preferred target. There also seems to be a bit of aim assistance to keep your shots lined up when the action gets frantic.
To keep things interesting, there are also configurations for each mech that can be swapped with the press of a button. If you’re trying to chase down an opponent, the Square button will swap your mech into Turbo mode, drastically accelerating their movement speed at the expense of some damage. Conversely, if you’re being outgunned, pressing Circle actives Impact mode, which increases the damage dealt by your weapons. Of course, if you just need to regain some health, you can always press Triangle and activate Repair mode while you retreat from battle.
After killing enough players, or collecting enough sparks from around the map, the player will enter overcharge status. During this period, all three of your mech’s bonuses will be active, transforming the player into the ultimate killing machine. But this brief period is also the only time you can score points for your team. Once you’ve achieved overcharge status, you must start fighting their way towards the goal in the center of the arena, with the ultimate goal being to cast yourself into the goal before the overcharge disappears. Should you succeed, a point will be added to your team’s total and the action continues unabated.
Once the game gets going, RIGS is pretty self-explanatory. Giant robots zip between obstacles, trying to line up shots against their opponents and (eventually) improve their team’s score with a goal or two. The bulk of the action is focused on the gunplay; however, Guerrilla Cambridge managed to add some depth to the final fight for points, too. Like any good shooter, RIGS includes a basic melee attack, which can be used to create some distance between the player and nearby enemies. More importantly, the melee attack can also be used to deny a player who’s currently trying to jump into the goal. Pulse weapons will also push enemies off course when jumping, giving you one final means of defending the goal from an overcharged players.
In a bit of twist, I found avoiding the action and collecting the sparks that spawn around the map to be a more effective strategy than wading into battle. But I was also up against bots during my demo. So things might’ve turned out differently if I was up against a team of real players instead of an early iteration of the game’s AI.
What I found most surprising was how intuitive the experience felt. After reading iDigitalTimes editor Mo Mozuch’s write-up of the PlayStation VR, following some hands-on time at GDC 2016, I’d been concerned about both the visual quality of the PSVR headset and the handful of titles already confirmed for the platform. The visuals in RIGS might not be on par with some of the best-looking content currently available for the Oculus, but it’s no slouch in the looks department, either. I also didn’t have any issues with latency or motion sickness, two common causes for less than pleasant virtual reality sessions. Truth be told, ten minutes with RIGS has me feeling much much better about my own PlayStation VR pre-order.
It’s hard to know how to feel about the current iteration of RIGS. The game proves PSVR can deliver the same high-quality visuals gamers have come to expect from other virtual reality devices, like the Rift or Vive, but it’s not clear how much Guerrilla Cambridge plans to flesh out the current experience. Hopefully, the studio intends to flesh out the game a bit more, maybe introduce a season mode and/or the ability for bigger (or smaller) teams to face off against one another. Right now, my biggest fear is that RIGS will turn out to be the same small-scale (but top dollar) experience we ended up getting from EVE: Valkyrie.
Have you had a chance to play RIGS during a recent game convention? Want to share the concerns you have about Guerrilla Cambridge’s first VR game?
Let us know in the comments section!
Be sure to check back with iDigitalTimes.com and follow Scott on Twitter for more PlayStation VR coverage throughout 2016 and for however long Sony supports the PSVR platform.
