SAIRENTO VR

A cut above the norm

Going eyeball-to-eyeball with a tattooed, cyber-enhanced sumo wrestler is not something you do too often. In PS VR it feels personal. The big lad in question is part of a cybernetic army bent on destabilising 2066 Neo Tokyo. Or are they? The Sairento Organisation’s servers have been hacked and agent Chieko Hatsuri’s connected systems are in flux – nothing is as it seems.

Though the story delivers a neat twist, ultimately you put any questions about who or what you’re slicing and shooting into sashimi to one side – the act of doing so is too much fun to let moral dilemmas get in the way. Control on the PS Move controllers is accurate, and the teleporting movement works well. You ‘beam’ to spots in the world, arcing your guide-lines for higher jumps, and even wall-running and rebounds are as easy as pointing and pressing jump. Soon you’re leaping from walls while shooting and slicing robo-ninja in a satisfying manner. 1

Sairento VR’s endgame setup ensures this is one PS VR game you’ll stay in the headset for; randomly generated missions enable you to build the perfect cyber-assassin. 2 Loot dropped by enemies can be crafted into new weapons, gear, upgrades, and buffs. Earned XP is put towards new abilities, and some are passive while others encourage you to get physically involved in the action (for example, squatting and punching the floor to unleash a ground pound move).

The only thing holding it back is the whiff of old age. This is a two-year old PC game ported to PS VR, and visually and technically it’s no Blood & Truth. But if you can overlook the low-textures and simplistic storytelling Sairento VR remains a sharp slice of neon-ninja fun.

FOOTNOTES1 New weapons add to the party, including a ‘chainsickle’ kusarigama that you fling by flicking the PS Move controller. 2 Mission types include Wave Assault, Survival, and Assassination.