Three for One Review Extravaganza 2018 (The Perfect Sniper, Vampyr, To the Top)

Hello dear readers! Welcome back to the series where I desperately try to catch up on my writing by putting out more than one review in the same article! Though I'm usually located in the great state of Texas, I'm finishing up this article from the sunny shores of Waikiki in Hawaii! That's how dedicated I am to my craft, dear readers. Though I'm out on vacation getting sunburned, kayaking, and snorkeling with fishes, I still find time to put together content for you. Anywho, normally when I do these, I try to keep the theme consistent (i.e all indie games or all AAA titles that I played in a short bracket of time), but circumstances won't allow for that. This time I'll be reviewing three games, none of which I've fully completed (unfortunately), but I have faith that I've gotten far enough in each game to know that it won't pull a 180 in quality. Our topics today are The Perfect Sniper, Vampyr, and To the Top, so we'll start off with perhaps the least well known of the bunch.

The Perfect Sniper

Available for Playstation VR, Oculus Rift

Reviewed for Playstation VR

It's no secret that in shooting games, I feel most powerful in the role of the sniper. I have fond memories of playing Battlefield: Bad Company 2 using just a sniper rifle as often as I could. There's something about the tension of it, the moments where the crosshairs sway ever-so-slightly and you wait for just the right opportunity to take a shot, that makes it intensely satisfying to me. It should come as no surprise, therefore, that I leapt at the chance to play as a sniper in glorious VR, in spite of lackluster reviews. The sad truth is that while The Perfect Sniper is a competently enough put-together game, it isn't a good one.

In The Perfect Sniper, you play as a sniper helping out a local resistance as they take on a group called "The Romanos." The Romanos control the lawyers, the police, the politicians, everything, and it's your job to return power to the seemingly-oblivious-to-the-whole-conflict people one .50 cal bullet at a time. As far as stories go, it's nothing to write home about, and even if the characters weren't exclusively two-dimensional revolution leader types, they suffer from the kind of bad voice acting that comes from a non English-speaker speaking English without understanding English inflections, so chances are you're not going to be sold on them either. So the context of the sniping isn't incredible, but the thing about VR games is that they turn me into the kind of person I hate. When I play a VR game, I find myself skipping cutscenes or dialogue to get to the gameplay, so while I would crucify The Perfect Sniper for the reasons I've just described in any other context, I really didn't care all that much since it's VR. What matters is gameplay, so how does it fare?

Decently. You can use one of three controller types: the standard dualshock controller, the playstation move controllers, or the psvr aim controller. I opted to use the move controllers (because why would you use anything else), and it's...decent. You use your non-dominant hand to hold the barrel of the rifle and pull the bolt to reload while using your dominant hand to aim and fire. It's about what you might expect, but the way this game actually utilizes VR is in the way you go about aiming. Using the motion controllers, you bring the rifle close to your face, at which point you start looking through the rifle's scope in what can only be described as a stunningly realistic representation of what the in-game world would actually look like through binoculars (complete with little blurs around the edges at times). In other games you typically get a "hold breath" button when using a sniper rifle, but here you have to do it yourself, and it's pretty effective as a gameplay aspect. It forces you to keep your eye on the prize and hold the rifle steady, making it the most realistic sniping experience I've had in years...well, for the most part. While the handling of the rifle is realistic and feels tense, actually firing it doesn't have much weight. The gunshots sound paper-thin, and while it wouldn't be easy to simulate the kick of a rifle in VR, I feel that more could've been done to make it feel powerful.
The biggest problem with gameplay, however, is the level design. Gameplay is essentially a series of fixed levels where you have a target and have to take them out in certain ways...and if you make one mistake you fail the level. Being a sniper is all about being careful and choosing your shots carefully, so I get why you can't just fire into a crowd willy-nilly, but what we're given here is a series of levels where you can only fire once (essentially rendering the whole reload mechanic useless) and you either win or lose the level and go back into a loading screen based on that. Some middle ground would be nice, like if you misfire you have x seconds to get the right target before failing the mission or the difficulty increases because everyone is panicked and hiding or something like that. As it stands, you just stand there, hope you've found the right target, shoot, and wait for either a mission success or mission failure message. On that note, there are certain missions where the rifle is equipped with a silencer so that you can take out multiple targets. This begs the question: why would you ever not have that silencer equipped? Every other level you just have the rifle in all its loud glory, and it makes no sense! Not only that, but there comes a mission where you have to use the thunder to match the sound of the rifle! Why not just use the silencer that this resistance has proven it has and avoid the need to cover sound altogether? This kind of thing really irks me. But I digress. Part of what makes the mission design so terrible and what makes the one-shot system so frustrating is that most missions rely entirely on guesswork. You'll get a hint as to who your target is and you'll have to decide who to shoot based on that. It'll be something like "He's probably really mad," but literally every animation that npcs have in this game makes them look like they're having an argument. It'll be something like "He's a smoker," but you can't see cigarettes, so you'll have to determine which of these Mojang block people is gesturing in a way that resembles smoking rather than covering their mouth. It'll be something like "He's wearing a disguise, he's probably the one you least expect," and you'll have to make a choice between the old woman and the brightly dressed man. It's not logic-based, it's guess-based, and that doesn't fly as a gameplay core.
Then there are some levels that have you shooting from the back of a moving vehicle, and they aren't great. Like the rest of the game, these sections could've been decent, but the fast pace and spur-of-the-moment firing orders just don't work with the sluggishness of a sniper rifle. That, and these missions end up failing out of the clear blue because you didn't kill one of the bad guys coming after you in time...but if you do kill all of them, you make a turn and there are suddenly more bad guys, so it makes you wonder why it was necessary to kick you back to a loading screen.
All my complaints about the level design aside, what I can say is that there's quite a lot of variety. You're in the same couple of locations for most of the game, but the time of day, weather conditions, specific crowds, etc. all change often enough that it doesn't ever feel stale.

Technically speaking, The Perfect Sniper is sufficient. Its graphics and UI aren't going to win any awards (in fact, I'm pretty sure they're pre-bought assets), but they get the job done. The framerate is stable throughout and I never noticed any texture pop-in or visual/audio glitches. One issue that did take away from my experience had to do with controller selection. At the title screen you press a button to choose which of the three aforementioned controllers you're going to be using. A message also pops up telling you to disconnect the other controller types if they're connected, but I took that as a suggestion. Thus, when I started the game, I couldn't move the gun, and I had to restart the ps4 using just the move controllers (which feels really unnatural). Was I warned? Yes. But I work in software, and if I told any of my clients that they'd have to go out of their way to make my products work like people expect crm software to work, I'd never hear the end of it. It's a flaw in programming, thus I'm taking points off.  Beyond this, there's the aformentioned paper-thin gun sounds, and the soundtrack is also pretty empty. Overall it's a functional-if-inglamorous technical package.

The Perfect Sniper feels like a first project, and it comes with enough first project problems to back up that theory. If that's the case, I wish developer Sinn Studio Inc luck. There was plenty of potential here, but The Perfect Sniper never lives up to it. It utilizes VR to flawlessly simulate the experience of aiming a sniper rifle, but when it comes to just about everything else, it falls flat. The developers have proven that they can make a functioning product (which puts them above most developers these days), now the next step should be creating a product that is both functional and fun to play.

Let us review:
Weak story/characters - 0.5
Terrible mission design - 1.0
Rifle feels weak - 0.5
Poor programming - 0.3

The final score for The Perfect Sniper is...

7.7/10 - Acceptable
Better luck next time, Sinn Studios, better luck next time

Vampyr

Available for Playstation 4, Xbox One, Microsoft Windows

Reviewed for Playstation 4

Vampyr is what we in showbusiness call "a hot mess," and yet, I find myself in the odd position of having really enjoyed my time with it thus far. From a purely, 100% objective standpoint, Vampyr is not a good game, but I've been having a completely unironic blast with it! I haven't gotten around to finishing it because so many other titles have landed in my backlog, but I'd really like to pick it up again one of these days. Now let me explain why.

Vampyr follows the exploits of Jonathan Reid, a surgeon ironically specializing in blood transfusions who returns from the British lines in World War I to find London under the thumb of the Spanish Influenza. It's upon his return to London that he is turned into a vampire. After accidentally killing his sister out of thirst for blood, Dr. Reid takes up a position in a hospital dedicated to fighting the influenza and uses his new resources in an attempt to track down the being responsible for his transformation. It's hardly the world's greatest plot, but it serves as a fine backdrop for this game's greatest aspect: the vampire roleplaying.
This game takes a unique approach to the concept of vampirism that, in terms of impact, takes a page from Undertale. You get experience points from combat, but it isn't a lot, and most of the time enemies will be a number of levels higher than you. How can you remedy this? By killing one of the many named townspeople you come across. In order to do this, you'll need to essentially press a button to hypnotize your target during dialogue (assuming you have a high enough hypnotize level), lead them to the shadows, and drain their blood. Sounds simple enough, right? Well, there's a twist. When you first meet a character, their "blood quality" will be rather low, so you'll get experience, but not as much as you could get. In order to increase the amount of experience you'll get from killing a character, you'll need to do things like brew medicine to cure them of an illness, embark on a side quest to help them out, or be a shoulder to cry on when they need it. Sure, you could just drain a person the second you meet them, but in order to get the most out of your kill you have to get close to that character, maybe even trick them into thinking you care about them or that you're their friend. As a surgeon, you have the ability to brew up cures for just about anything imaginable, and your station means that many people are inclined to trust you, and the roleplaying possibilities this brings are made more impactful by the fact that Dr. Reid has a personalized greeting and goodbye for each character. Dialogue doesn't begin with "Good day, sir," it begins with "Good evening, Mr. Branston. How is your shoulder feeling today?" If you want gameplay to be less difficult, you have to make Dr. Reid use the very relationships he forms with the townsfolk to manipulate them into good enough blood quality. To make it hit harder, after you drain a person, you hear their last thoughts as they curse you.
Let me give you an example of this roleplaying in action. In my playthrough, I came across a quarreling father and son. It was fairly easy to make progress with the son's blood quality, but the father was a tougher nut to crack. Ultimately, I wanted to drain both of them to close the level difference between me and the enemies nearby, so I hatched a diabolical plan. I went through all the motions: I cured the son of his fatigue, the father of his migraine, talked my way up with the father as much as I could, and chatted my way up with the son up until max blood quality. I then drained the son and waited for the next evening. When the next evening came, I came down to offer the father my condolences about the death of his son, and I used his grief to make further progress in his blood quality. The possibilities for vampire roleplaying in this game are fantastic, as they truly allow you to act like a manipulative humanoid predator. I knew this was going to be a great vampire game when, in a cutscene in the first hour, a character held up a crucifix and I got to see the effect of its presence (a blinding, cross-shaped holy light) from the perspective of a vampire, and I wasn't disappointed. This is when the game is at its strongest: when it's about a vampire existing and manipulating his way through human society. Unfortunately, there's more to the game than this.

If you've read even one review of Vampyr, you've probably read about the gameplay being bad. People like to call it an attempt to recreate Dark Souls, but I think an attempt to recreate Bloodborne is more accurate (right down to the setting). Combat revolves around strategic use of stamina, and enemies are fast and aggressive, causing you to rely on your dodge a great deal. The base here is actually pretty strong. You have a slew of weapons to use, some of which have added effects like draining blood or causing stun damage. In addition to weapons, you have vampire powers that are fueled by blood (in place of magic), most of which are pretty cool on paper (such as boiling an opponent's blood inside of them). If you want to replenish your blood supply, you can do so by dealing enough stun damage to an enemy, then biting them to drain a little blood and regain a little health. On paper, it's a system that encourages you to think like a vampire as you fight. In practice, however, it ensures that you'll never want to use any weapon that doesn't inflict stun damage. In addition, combat as a whole just feels clunky. You'll constantly be fighting to close the distance between you and enemies because you misjudged how far Dr. Reid would swing forward in an attack, and you'll find yourself mashing the dodge button multiple times or getting hurt anyway because you misjudged how far you'd actually dodge from an enemy. The combat in Vampyr was a strong concept, but its execution leaves a lot to be desired.

Another area in which Vampyr is lacking is in the technical department. As a Dragon Age fan, I don't ever have the right to complain about bad graphics, but I can complain about consistent framerate drops, poor UI, and lack of distinguishability between areas of the map. The framerate in Vampyr consistently drops during combat and sometimes outside of it. The User Interface is littered with tabs and options that you have to physically move a targeting reticule to choose from, and it's incredibly difficult to get your bearings in the UI at first. London is made up of a few different districts that are all painted atmospherically, but I couldn't begin to tell you what the difference between districts actually is. Everywhere looks the same, and there isn't much in the way of landmarks either. As I just said, however, there is quite a bit of atmosphere at times, and the soundtrack that accompanies this atmosphere is actually quite good. In other words, Vampyr is not a good technical package, but there have been worse ones.

Folks, it's like I said in the introduction of this review: Vampyr is not objectively a good game, but I enjoyed the hell out of it. As a vampire roleplaying experience, for my money it's second to none. As a traditional action game, however, it fails to impress. Whether or not you'll have fun with it will depend on what you hope to get. If you want a playground where you can practice your manipulation skills, you can do a lot worse than Vampyr. If you're looking for something to tide you over until the inevitable Bloodborne sequel, however, you're probably better off letting this one pass you by.

Let us review:
Terrible combat - 1.0
Technical issues - 1.0

The final score for Vampyr is...

8.0/10 - Good
Decent work, Dontnod Entertainment, decent work.

To the Top

Available for Playstation VR, Oculus Rift, HTC Vive

Reviewed for Playstation VR

To the Top is officially what VR was made for. It is simply the greatest experience I've had since purchasing a Playstation VR headset. It also just so happens to be the game with the least to talk about of the three this article covers, so let's just hop (no pun intended) right in.

To the Top is a parkour game in which your goal is to get to the finish line of each of its many levels as fast as you can. It's a simple premise that really needs to be experienced for you to see the appeal of it. There are four level categories: Easy, Medium, Hard, and Bonus (Extra Hard), and the complexity of controls and the courses themselves increase as you make your way along. Things start off pretty simple: you can grab onto blue surfaces one hand at a time to climb or crawl, or you can grab blue surfaces with both hands, look in a direction, and let go to leap through the air. The first couple of levels get you used to Assassin's Creed-ing your way through colorful environments with the given controls, and from there the game gradually throws additional bits and pieces into the mix. There are surfaces that swiftly shoot you off in a direction a-la Sonic the Hedgehog, platforms and wall hangs that crumble after a few seconds, mid-air wind currents that shoot you up into the air, leap-resistant "skating" surfaces that you have to grab and act like you're skating on, a friggin' jetpack section, levels that take place on moving giant robots, rolling balls that you have to frantically climb up to avoid being crushed, the list goes on and on. As the difficulty increases, so does the demand for you to be able to adapt to the environment. This sheer level of variety ensures that, despite the fact that there are really only a few environments with different track layouts, things never get stale.
Now, I know what you're thinking: "A VR parkour game? I'll throw up!" So, let's talk about that. If you're a first-time VR player, I'd say this probably shouldn't be your first experience. However, aside from one level containing Super Mario Sunshine-esque rotating blocks, I never once felt sick during To the Top. Let me take a second to compare this to another VR title that I haven't gotten around to reviewing yet: Skyrim VR. In Skyrim, I legitimately feel like vomiting if I fall from too great a height. Many a misplaced jump has caused me to have to take off the headset and sit down for a moment. Yet, in To the Top, I fell from absolutely preposterous heights and didn't feel remotely sick. I'm not 100% sure what it is about To the Top's design that makes it so stomach-friendly, but my first guess might be the smoothness of movement and landing. When you land from a large fall, there isn't any head-bob recoil, and as you fall, it doesn't look like the world itself is moving, just you. All motion in this game feels buttery-smooth, and it makes for one thrilling parkour experience. Every time I pick up To the Top, I find myself amazed at how much fun it is to leap as if I weren't fat and have it actually feel superhuman.
All that said, don't go into To the Top expecting your average hardware demo kind of VR experience. This is a game that will demand your movement (and you may want to turn off any overhead fans for your hands' sakes). As the difficulty increases, so does the need to actually move your body to reach certain platforms or make jumps go farther. Technically the only thing you have to do to leap is let go of a platform, but I've found that throwing my hands down as if pushing myself off the platform directly impacts the leap trajectory and power, and it comes in handy. In addition, I've found that stretching your arms out as far as you can actually helps with some difficult areas. Make no mistake, To the Top is going to demand that you get your cardio in, and at times it can be a little frustrating with just how demanding it is. In one of the bonus levels, I ended up completely coated in sweat and cursing like a sailor because the challenge ahead of me demanded that I practically leap in real life, make the next leap within a second of the first one, and rinse and repeat for about 10 platforms. In spite of how frustrating that kind of level is, it would be a lot worse if To the Top weren't also the single most responsive VR game I've played, but a little more on that in the technical section.
Oh, and there's also multiplayer........
Moving on.

To the Top also boasts a great progression model. You can only advance through the game by collecting medals, of which there are 5 in just about each level. You get a medal for each of the three out-of-the-box time records you beat, one for finding all the "geoms" in the level, and one for finding the super hard-to-get hidden geom. The number of medals required to get to the next level is usually high enough to force you to go back through and replay old levels to get even better completion times and explore for geoms. In the medium and hard areas, this will happen quite a few times, but it never feels like busywork. In fact, this model actively and organically forces you to get better at meeting the demands of levels you've already played so that you're ready for additional challenges in the next level. More than once as I started a new level I thought, "Wow. Good thing I've been practicing that!"
These medals aren't just for progression, though. As you earn medals, you unlock more and more masks, hands, and bodies for your avatar, and thus far there isn't a microtransaction in sight. You legitimately unlock cosmetic upgrades by making progress and getting better at the game. What a noble idea!
VR games (especially those that utilize the move controllers) have a bad habit of losing track of the controller and having things go wonky. You'll be holding out your hand and all of a sudden the hand in the game will be pointed off 75 degrees to the east or something like that, and it'll directly impact gameplay. In To the Top, sometimes the hands do go wonky, but it never actually impacts the game. Even if, for a moment, your hands appear to have disappeared into your back, you'll grab onto whatever you're actually pointing at. This is what I meant when I said the game was the most responsive VR experience I've had. Beyond that, the visuals don't have the usual VR problem of blurry textures, I never experienced any drops in framerate, texture pop-in, crashes, glitches, audio issues, etc. On the whole, an incredibly strong technical package. My only complaint would be about the music variety. To the Top essentially sports a playlist of about 5-10 obscure electronic songs that sound like 95% of Trader Joe's transactions occurred with them in the background. They're decent songs that I eventually started to sing along with, but you're going to notice a lot of repetition, and there are only so many times one can dance like a madman singing "talkin' bout you, talkin' bout me, talkin' bout right now" before it starts to get old.

In the end, To the Top is the kind of experience VR was made for, but simply listing out the reasons why isn't enough to truly encapsulate its wonder. If you own a VR system of any kind, you owe it to yourself to purchase this game! Obviously the possession of a VR system is one hell of a barrier to entry, but if you do have one, I can't think of any reason not to give To the Top a shot. Have a weak stomach? To the Top's animations are specifically designed to avoid making the player sick. Find games like Assassin's Creed frustrating in their parkour sections? To the Top features responsive controls and the sense of control over your movement is gratifying. Hate indie electronic music? Can't help you there, but I bet you'll have a good time anyway! I've gushed and gushed about this game, so the fact that I recommend it should come as no surprise, and hopefully I've done at least a somewhat decent job of explaining why. Though To the Top technically came out last year for the Oculus Rift/Vive, you can bet that I'll be treating its 2018 PSVR release date as the official release when the time comes to put together my end of the year lists (because my blog, my rules).

Let us review:

Trader Joe's playlist on repeat - 0.3
Occasionally frustrating - 0.3

The final score for To the Top is...

9.4/10 - Fantastic
Excellent work, Electric Hat Games LLC, excellent work.