Hands On: Bravo Team Is Straight-Faced Co-Op Time Crisis for PlayStation VR

There are nameless terrorists to slaughter and you’ve got an ally to help you get the job done: PlayStation VR first-person shooter Bravo Team doesn’t really need much introduction. Built with Sony’s underused but excellent PlayStation VR Aim Controller in mind, our hands on demo is set against the backdrop of a Golden Gate-esque bridge, as we meander between the cover of cars popping off shots.

The game plays a little like Time Crisis, where your default position is behind cover but you can push a button to pop your head out for a better view. Looking to different cover points enables you to move around, and the camera switches to a third-person viewpoint as you transition. It sounds like it should be jarring but it’s not, and it’s another smart example of how locomotion is being handled in different ways to reduce motion sickness.

The gunplay is fine but it’s hardly outstanding, and it feels like the combat could get tiresome pretty quickly if this is all there is to it. More to the point, the demo felt like it was dropping frames frequently – a frustration on a standard television screen but a big no-no in PlayStation VR due to the detrimental effect it has on motion tracking. We can only assume this will be cleaned up before release, but it’s worth mentioning.

The highlight here, of course, is the co-op and it does feel good in virtual reality. As with other co-op games that leverage the fledgling medium, it’s quite unique physically looking for your partner and gesturing to them. You’ll need to work together to flank opponents, and stay close to revive each other. Again it works well, but there needs to be more if this has any ambitions of being anything other than a simple waves shooter.

The end of the demo does tease a set-piece, as a helicopter crashes into the bridge and proceeds to slide down the road in your general direction. Visually it looks fine, but it’s very brown and straight-faced, and there’s not really much to get excited about. It seems like a competent co-op shooter and a good use of the PlayStation VR Aim Controller, but the full game’s going to need to have more about it if it intends to be more than just a co-op shooter.

So, will Bravo Team have you Oscar Mike to your nearest store in order to pick up a copy? Or is it sounding a bit uninspired? Show your military chops in the comments section below.