Virtual reality has come a long way over the past few years. While many gamers may still consider the platform to be in its infancy, there are still spectacular video game titles to enjoy right now. It’s always thrilling to look at a new VR title as they can often pluck you from the real world and immerse you right into the action.
Drifter Entertainment may not have too many titles under its belt quite yet when it comes to being a standalone development team. However, the crew that make up the studio have worked on other AAA video game releases such as Halo, Gears of War and Call of Duty. As a result, we fully expected the studio to deliver a fresh and sound first-person shooter video game experience with their release of Gunheart.
Gunheart is a science fiction FPS with RPG elements sprinkled about. Overall, the game story follows very much like the cinema flick Starship Troopers. You’re thrown out into the wild as you embark on a grand mission to take out alien insects. Though what’ you’re really after isn’t the fame or glory but the sweet cash flow that killing these bugs brings in.
Within the game, players can earn money as they take on jobs or otherwise known as missions. The more you earn the more you’ll be able to spend on various upgrades and weaponry within the main home base, The Bent Horizon. Of course, with that said, the weapons behind Gunheart are bountiful. In the mix are several sidearms, specialty weapons, and your main combo type guns.
As mentioned, it’s within the main home base that you’ll be able to take on new missions though you won’t always have to go through a mission by your lonesome. Gunheart is similar to an MMO franchise like Destiny where other gamers can jump into the action and give you hand.
VR gameplay can at times get a bit exhausting to play and luckily the missions component to Gunheart doesn’t take very long to complete. This does, of course factor in the difficulty, but missions themselves usually don’t last much longer than a half-hour. Due to the length of these missions, it’s a bit easier tossing on the VR headset and going through the game knowing that I wouldn’t be tied to a lengthy game session.
Level designs vary making it feel vibrant at times when roaming the open outdoors to being dark and almost claustrophobic when embarking into an old cavern. Personally, I enjoyed using the more free movement mechanic to quickly maneuver around a level whether it being racing down a cliff side or making my way towards higher ground though you can teleport, strafe and even use jump mechanics as well.
trekking down the various missions, you’ll come across a variety of enemies which may alter your battle strategies, especially if you jump into a game with friends. There will enemies that can take to the air or more brute tank little aliens that require more explosive firepower.
Speaking of variety, Gunheart does give players some freedom in their android appearance such as coloring options, hats and vests.
Customization options also bleed into weapons as there are a massive amount of tweaks, upgrades, and modifications available. Drifter Entertainment even notes that there are thousands of custom weapon options to choose from so you may likely spend plenty of trying to craft your preferred loadout.
When you’re getting tired of the missions gameplay or if your finding gameplay to start becoming mundane then you could opt for some PvP battles where players are pitted against each other in team death matches or free-for-all game modes.
Gunheart also recently received a hefty update which tossed in even more features and tweaks. If you have only played the game when it was released as an early access title then going back to revisit the title may prove to be worth your time.
Some of the additions added to the game include a new horde mode, character customization options, revamped movement system, and even tweaked enemy AI. Likewise, and possibly most importantly for those of you who have friends of conflicting VR platform choices, Gunheart is now cross-play friendly.
In closing, Gunheart has been a thrilling FPS title especially if you enjoy playing along with other gamers and friends. While we played our title through the Oculus Rift, Gunheart is also readily available on the Steam marketplace for the HTC Vive and Windows Mixed Reality. Currently, Gunheart can be purchased for $29.99 on both the Oculus Rift store and Steam marketplace.
Full Disclosure: A copy of the game was provided for review purposes.
