PSVR Previews
July2020
Hands On Dreams Just Got Bigger, Better, and Weirder with PSVR Support
Living the dream
Whenever we step into the world of Dreams, we're reminded just how brilliant it is. There's never a shortage of weird and wonderful things to discover, and that's if you don't bother making anything yourself. No matter how you enjoy Media Molecule's mecca for user-generated content, it provides countless hours of entertainment. Now,...
October2019
Hands On Iron Man VR Is the Next Big Thing for PSVR
Stark would be proud
It feels like major PlayStation VR releases have dried up as of late. Sure, the likes of Wolfenstein: Cyberpilot and Vacation Simulator were fun enough, but it doesn't seem like virtual reality has really made any waves since Blood & Truth nearly six months ago. It's a quiet period indeed, but there is one PSVR title we're...
July2019
Hands On WipEout PSVR Will Totally Melt Your Mind
Free patch is a game changer
What the freakin’ heck? Sony casually dropped the PlayStation VR patch for WipEout Omega Collection, and it’s transformed the fast-paced futuristic racer into one of the best virtual reality experiences you’ll find on the platform. This is an extraordinary achievement – it’s so impressive that we’re...
Hands On Concrete Genie's Colourful PSVR Experience Could Cure Sadness
Short but sweet
You need to know one thing about being a games writer: publishers will always ask you what you think when you hand them back the controller. In the case of Concrete Genie, the ever-affable folks at Sony wanted our reaction to the title’s PlayStation VR experience, which is included for free alongside the main game. “You’ve...
May2019
Hands On Firewall Zero Hour Revived with Operation: Nightfall, But Old Problems Persist
Tense battles, long wait times
We attracted a lot of criticism for docking Firewall Zero Hour points in our review due to its online-centric design. Our point was pretty straightforward: PlayStation VR is a popular peripheral but it’s still relatively niche, and
March2019
Hands On Borderlands 2 VR Is Much Better with the PSVR Aim Controller
The best way to play
Borderlands 2 VR launched last year and played perfectly fine with the DualShock 4 controller, but we weren’t fond of its PlayStation Move support. Unfortunately, the game lacked PSVR Aim Controller support at launch – despite frequent requests from fans for its implementation. Thankfully, developer Gearbox listened, and a...
November2018
Round Up Déraciné PS4 Reviews Divide Critics
FromSoftware's faerie tale splitting opinion
Déraciné reviews are out, and we’re still not sure how to pronounce it. Is it ‘Day-ress-a-nay’? Is it ‘Deh-rah-seen’? Is it ‘Day-rass-an-eee’? Goodness knows – what we do know is that critics can’t quite decide whether they like it or not. There are some glowing reviews for this...
Hands On Tetris Effect Is a Borderline Spiritual Experience with PSVR
Yours forever
There were no shortage of people who scoffed at Tetris Effect when it was announced at E3 2018 earlier in the year, but anyone who’s played Rez Infinite on PlayStation VR will have understood. Tetsuya Mizuguchi, the mastermind behind the likes of Lumines and Child of Eden, excels at evoking emotional responses through audio-visual...
April2018
Hands On Windlands 2 Adds Co-Op, Weapons to Virtual Reality Platformer
Second wind
We rather liked the original Windlands on PlayStation VR. The satisfying movement and exhilarating sense of speed and altitude made for one of virtual reality's early successes -- at least, if you had the stomach for it. This holds true for Windlands 2, but the sequel isn't just reuniting you with a pair of grappling hooks and calling it...
February2018
Hands On PSVR Platformer Moss Impresses in Opening 30 Minutes
Happiness in a headset
Moss is delightful. Frankly we could leave our hands on impressions there, because those three little words sum up our sentiments so far. Polyarc’s hotly anticipated PlayStation VR platformer has impressed us every time we’ve tried it prior to release, and now with just days to go until the title drops onto the PlayStation...
Hands On Apex Construct Is a Beautiful But Irritating PSVR Adventure
Crap controls are a mood killer
The name Apex Construct reveals quite a lot about Fast Travel Games’ debut project. Created by ex-DICE employees specifically for PlayStation VR, it’s a narrative-based first-person shooter in which you’re armed with a bow-and-arrow in a distorted dystopian Earth. Despite the striking visual identity, though, it...
Hands On Knockout League Is Pitch Perfect Punch-Out!! for PSVR
Little Mac and cheese
Punch-Out!! is such a great game that it’s a surprise the formula doesn’t get “borrowed” more often. Knockout League does nothing to hide its Glass Joe shaped inspirations, delivering a PlayStation VR experience that owes its entire existence to Nintendo’s legendary boxing series. But while it is shameless to an...
December2017
Hands On Justice League VR Is One of the Worst PSVR Experiences So Far
Flash in the pan
With a Rotten Tomatoes rating of 41 per cent, Justice League has divided opinion. But the Zack Snyder superhero flick looks like an Oscar winner in comparison to the abysmal PlayStation VR experience that Warner Bros has squeezed onto the PlayStation Store today. Essentially a minigame compilation a tier below the kind of shovelware...
November2017
Hands On DOOM VFR Supports Three PSVR Controllers, But None Feel Quite Right
Hell in your hands
DOOM VFR is a very handsome game with PlayStation VR, a statement we’re noticing ourselves make more often as virtual reality titles mature. Bethesda’s also gone out of its way to support all three of Sony’s PSVR controllers: the DualShock 4, the PlayStation Move, and the (underused but outstanding) PlayStation VR Aim...
Hands On Will Monster of the Deep's Final Fantasy Fishing Reel You In?
Hook, line, and stinker?
For a game that’s always looked like a bit of a gag, Monster of the Deep: Final Fantasy XV is surprisingly fleshed out. Packing a story mode, alongside multiple FFXV-esque hunts, there’s a lot to do in this PlayStation VR powered angling adventure. And while the quality is admittedly a bit inconsistent, you may find that...
Hands On Skyrim VR Looks and Plays Great with PlayStation VR
Is The Elder Scrolls any good in virtual reality?
We’re some four hours into The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim VR and we’ve already got a quest list longer than our armspan, but we can say definitively that this is a great version of the game. Adapted for PlayStation VR, Bethesda’s behemoth open world looks exactly like you remember it – but also...
Hands On Skyrim VR Has Improved a Helluva Lot with PlayStation VR
The Elder Scrolls V's final build fares much better in virtual reality
Our early The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim VR impressions weren’t exactly enthusiastic. We tested the game in sub-optimal convention conditions with hellish teleportation enabled, and walked away from our demo like we’d just spent an afternoon in The Bannered Mare. The opportunity...
Hands On The Inpatient Shares Until Dawn's Penchant for Jump Scares
Boo
Yes, yours truly screamed. Are you happy now Simon Fitzgerald? Here your humble host was, sat in a partially empty room surrounded by kindly Sony temps, with cries muffled only by the cover of a PlayStation VR headset. Much like Until Dawn before it, The Inpatient cheats with its jump scares – but goddamn is it effective. (Everyone was too...
Hands On Bravo Team Is Straight-Faced Co-Op Time Crisis for PlayStation VR
Guns up
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...
Hands On DOOM VFR Cleverly Keeps You on the Move in PlayStation VR
Welcome to your DOOM
DOOM is not a stop and pop shooter. In last year’s franchise reboot, developer id Software transformed the kinetic nature of the original games into a game mechanic, with Glory Kills forcing you to get up close and personal with your demonic adversaries in order to recover ammunition and health. It was a genius system, forcing...
Hands On Moss Is a Divine Demonstration of What PlayStation VR Can Do
Mice one
If you’re still not convinced by PlayStation VR then you simply have to play Moss, a cutesy puzzle platformer by Polyarc. We’ve previewed this a couple of times already on Push Square, but it’s the first time that yours truly has got some hands-on time. And it really is the revelation that everyone says it is: this is why virtual...
October2017
Hands On How Does Gran Turismo Sport Fare with PlayStation VR?
Ups and downs
Around about a year ago, we hopped inside Gran Turismo Sport’s cockpit with a PlayStation VR headset on and walked away somewhat unimpressed. We felt that the game looked fine in virtual reality – better than DriveClub VR, we commented at the time – but we weren’t exactly blown away, especially after seeing the title running in...
Hands On The Invisible Hours Is an Incredible Narrative Experiment
Fly on the wall
The Invisible Hours unwinds over the course of 90 or so fraught minutes, and you’re able to manipulate time in order to experience it all. This brilliant narrative feast from RIME developer Tequila Works sees several famous historical figures – Thomas Edison! Sarah Bernhardt! – invited to Nikola Tesla’s mansion moments before...
Hands On Chernobyl VR Shows How Educational Experiences Can Excel in Virtual Reality
Ghost town
The Farm 51 quietly released a new educational experience on the PlayStation Store recently: Chernobyl VR Project. The developer’s perhaps best known for its work on Painkiller or the more recent Get Even, but to our knowledge this is the Polish studio’s first crack at something more akin to a documentary. The premise, as you’ve...
Hands On Shining a Light on PlayStation VR Puzzler Light Tracer
Beam cast
It can seem, at times, like everyone is making the same kind of PlayStation VR games. This isn’t true, of course, as there’s plenty of variety on the headset – but there is an overabundance of cockpit-based mech games and shooting galleries. Light Tracer deserves kudos, then, for at least trying its hand at something new –...
September2017
Hands On Bravo Team Fails to Make Its Mark
Bravo?
Announced back at E3 2017 this year came the arrival of Bravo Team, the first-person PlayStation VR exclusive currently being developed by Supermassive Games — the brains behind PlayStation hits such as Until Dawn, and its soon to be released virtual reality brethren, The Inpatient. Bravo Team’s manifesto offers heart-pumping and...
Hands On Is Skyrim Any Good with PlayStation VR?
Fus ro dang
PlayStation VR, in this author’s opinion, is at its best when it’s offering brief bursts of immersive gameplay like SUPERHOT VR and Batman: Arkham VR. Despite this personal preference, it’d take a very closeted editor to ignore the pent-up demand for meatier experiences from PlayStation’s very vocal fanbase – and games don’t...
Hands On Job Simulator and Pesky Produce Collide in Shooty Fruity
Clean up in aisle three
You can imagine the design discussions at nDreams. “I quite like Job Simulator,” posits one developer, “and static shooting galleries work well in virtual reality. Couldn’t we, like, combine the two?” Voila! Shooty Fruity falls from a tropical tree. Unsurprisingly, this is a fun but derivative PlayStation VR game...
Hands On Is Moss PlayStation VR's Next Must Have?
Vibrant adventure is shaping up
As we approach PlayStation VR's first birthday in the coming weeks, the companion device to the PlayStation 4 has had a surprising initial year on the market. With a steady stream of games already released and many more on the horizon, the future is bright for VR titles on PlayStation. One of such titles, is the indie...
June2017
Hands On Starting Our Engines with Tiny Trax on PlayStation VR
Beat that!
Three years ago, Futurlab released the excellent Velocity 2X on the PlayStation 4 and Vita, wowing us with its unique rhythmic take on action platforming and shooting. Since then, the studio’s gone relatively quiet and hasn’t released any games, due to a myriad of reasons. Imagine, then, the excitement when Futurlab revealed Tiny Trax...
Hands On Arizona Sunshine Needs Work on PlayStation VR
Zombie shooter leaves a sour taste
It wasn’t supposed to be like this, was it? Arizona Sunshine – a game which has received a lot of buzz on PC-based headsets – was supposed to be the next big PlayStation VR release. Packing both PlayStation Move and PlayStation VR Aim Controller support, a three-to-four hour campaign (which can be played solo...
Hands On PlayStation VR Platformer Moss Is a Showstopper
The secret of Quill
This year’s E3 showcased quite a few action games, ones which allowed us to play through some of the most transcendent sequences that gaming has ever had to offer. We swung through the cityscapes of New York as Spider-Man, hunted magnificent creatures as a Monster Hunter, and pushed through the beaches of Normandy in Call of...
Hands On Star Trek: Bridge Crew Sets Phasers to Fun
First impressions of incredible PlayStation VR title
Sorry for the outdated pun, but as explained in the video above, this author knows next to nothing about Star Trek. That’s what makes Star Trek: Bridge Crew – Ubisoft’s latest PlayStation VR title – so impressive: if a complete sci-fi schlub can love it, then Trekkies are going to be all...
May2017
Hands On Polybius Is a PlayStation VR Sensory Overload Befitting Urban Legend
Incredi-bull
Jeff Minter’s back, everyone. The llama loving indie developer behind classics like Tempest 2000 and more recently TXK on the PlayStation Vita has released a new title for the PlayStation 4 named Polybius – and first impressions are good. While you don’t necessarily need PlayStation VR to enjoy it – it’ll run in 4K on the PS4...
April2017
Hands On StarBlood Arena Brings Loot Boxes to PlayStation VR
Overwatch in virtual reality?
There's nothing really wrong with StarBlood Arena, but ever since its announcement at PSX 2016, we haven't been able to resist the urge to roll our eyes. It's just one of those games that doesn't appear to have any identity of its own – and that's despite its likeable space cowboy façade. Cockpit shooters are dime a...
November2016
Hands On Why Farpoint Should Be on Your PlayStation VR Wishlist
Take aim
Farpoint, the PlayStation VR exclusive from Impulse Gear, continues to really impress us. We went hands on with the title earlier in the year and really enjoyed the arcade-like first-person shooting, but running a similar demo on the PlayStation 4 Pro this week reminded us how much we're looking forward to the extraterrestrial blast-'em-up...
October2016
Hands On Does PlayStation VR Really Have Tracking Issues?
Dreaded drift
In some ways, it's a shame that the PlayStation VR embargo had to lift. We'd encountered problems with the headset prior to this week's verdicts, which we outlined in our review: the resolution of the screen, the number of cables, and the flawed nature of the PlayStation Move controllers. But we hadn't encountered any tracking issues...
Hands On Playing Non-VR PS4 Games on PlayStation VR
Putting the Cinematic Mode through its paces
Without any shadow of a doubt, the biggest question we received after publishing our PlayStation VR review this week pertained to Cinematic Mode, the feature which allows you to play non-virtual reality games inside the headset on a simulated cinema screen. But what features can you use in this mode –...
September2016
Hands On PlayStation VR Continues to Impress in Epic Preview Session
Resident Evil! Batman VR! Farpoint! More!
We've been lucky enough to play PlayStation VR on several occasions now, and the novelty's yet to wear off. Granted, we haven't yet had to cope with cables, plugs, and calibration – a real-world headache that could significantly reduce the thrill of entering a virtual space – but we're yet to walk away...
May2016
Hands On Feeling Our Way Through Blind on PlayStation VR
Who turned out the lights?
There were a pretty substantial number of games at PAX East that implemented virtual reality: some used the plethora of headsets for gimmicks, some to generate unique experiences, and some as a framing device for titles that would be less interesting if they were made in the traditional way. Italian dev Tiny Bull Studios'...
Hands On Outrunning a Giant in Fated: The Silent Oath on PlayStation VR
The end of days
There were a pretty large number of virtual reality games being shown off at PAX East. Some awesome things were being done with the headsets, but one of the games that we were most impressed with was Frima Studios' Fated: The Silent Oath. A narrative-focused VR game, Fated sees you assume the role of a mute man as he tries to...
Hands On Thumper Provides a Reason to Jump into PlayStation VR
Like music to our eyes
Thumper was the first experience that we had with PlayStation VR at PAX East. And boy, what a first impression to make! In development for six years, the two-man team at Drool – Brian Gibson and Marc Flury, both former Harmonix devs – gave us some hands-on time with their VR rhythm game, and the experience was nothing...
March2016
First Impressions Battlezone on PlayStation VR Will Blow Your Mind
Tank you very much
Holy moly, virtual reality is truly mind blowing stuff. We were recently invited out to legendary developer Rebellion's headquarters to get some eyes-on time with Battlezone on PlayStation VR – and we've talked about little else since. This is only phase one for the fledging medium's return to the mainstream, and already it's...
