LETHAL VR
A half-cocked power fantasy for Die Hards only
There are now probably more virtual reality shooting galleries than there have been Big Brother contestants (544 if you’re asking), and most of them are about as interesting. Lethal VR is the latest to throw its gun into the ring, and thankfully it’s more Shilpa Shetty than Chantelle and Preston. Much like said reality show contestants, Lethal VR is pretty mindless. You’re placed in a transforming room similar to the X-Men’s Danger Room and, armed with a series of weapons, have to take on 30 different challenges which essentially amount to “shoot loads of stuff.” Things are made more interesting with a regularly changing selection of weapons. One minute you’re using a pistol to take out cardboard hooligans, the next you’re firing a couple of semiautomatics at some vases, the next you’re chucking hunting knives and throwing stars at your targets.
While it’s nothing groundbreaking, what Lethal VR offers is relatively entertaining for the most part. Motion sickness, which can plague some VR titles, is nonexistent here, there’s a pleasingly loud bang when you shoot the guns, and there’s always something satisfying about expertly destroying a table full of vases like an Uzi-toting bull in the world’s unluckiest china shop.
SHOOTING BLANKS
The problem is, while the point is to destroy things, you can’t always blast away with the level of accuracy you might like. Whereas other VR shooting games tend to offer little laser sights so you can better see where your shots are aimed, Lethal VR only does this during the menu screens. As soon as the action starts the laser sight disappears, leaving you with just your weapon and the targets. Aiming at stuff dead ahead is fine and dandy, but your accuracy drops the further to the left or right you’re aiming, which can be incredibly frustrating.
On top of the inaccuracy, at times the PS Move tracking will pack in completely and your weapon will glow an infuriating red through no real fault of your own. This is a shame, because when it works Lethal VR is simple, stupid fun, which anyone can enjoy. But for the last round in this mag’s Reviews chamber? This one’s hardly a magic bullet.
VERDICT
A decent-ish shooter that makes you feel like the Terminator… until you start regularly crashing. If it were more reliable it would be highly recommended. Chris Scullion