To add to that, it’s nothing short of incredible that some of the game’s more intense sequences remain intact here. You have to take it on a level-by-level basis, of course, as some of the outside areas are drastically scaled back in terms of foliage etc, but it’s a really impressive effort all the same. Yes, character models look a little strange with degraded assets and the usual suite of effects - smoke plumes, fragments of broken glass, swaying trees and dynamic lighting - have all been removed, but the cost isn’t quite as heavy as you might expect. You can find more details in our graphics comparison, but Oculus Studios has pulled off an incredible job not only getting the game onto Quest 2 but, in some levels at least, largely keeping a lot of the detail intact.
But given it’s likely we won’t see any new post-launch content for the game whereas VR’s other shooters are all refreshed pretty much around the clock, the multiplayer doesn’t fully make up for the campaign’s misfires. With a progression system and promise of post-launch support to come, this could have been the perfect AAA competitive shooter for those that don’t want the tactical difficulties of Onward but also don’t fancy the Fortnite-inspired action of Population: One. Granted there’s a heavy demand for campaign-driven, single-player content in VR, but it certainly feels like Above and Beyond would have been a better sell as a multiplayer-first shooter.
The trouble is this offering is very light, with no reward systems to keep players coming back. And, more generally speaking, the lack of fuss around the multiplayer - easy quick match options etc - makes it a great draw for first-time competitive VR play. It’s a brilliantly frantic mode that really shows Respawn thinking outside the box in a way other areas of the game are lacking. Modes are mostly standard except for Mad Bomber, which utilizes VR by having players hide bombs where they can and try to blow others up with them as they search for the opponents’ explosives too.
You’ll find health and grenade pick ups around the map and can pick from pretty much any weapon up-front. Here the game’s flow picks up considerably, with arena-style, fast-fire matches. Above and Beyond offers clean, accessible multiplayer modes that are incredibly easy to hop right into, with five game types across levels retooled from the campaign. Still, you might remember our review last year was significantly more positive about the game’s multiplayer segment and, again, that’s all intact here. In that respect it’s very much a bar raiser, but here’s hoping to next game to match its production can also raise the stakes when it comes to gameplay, too. Medal of Honor’s campaign takes you around the world with missions that try to offer something new, be it vehicle segments, sniping missions or otherwise, and you definitely get a much more rounded feeling of it being a ‘full’ game comparable to something on consoles. Having said all of that, it’s also true that you won’t find many other shooter campaigns on Quest with this much scope and variety. It’s more of a foundational issue than something that can simply be solved just by ignoring the story. You can now skip cutscenes but you’re going to remove a lot of the game’s context and you’ll still spend time hopping between loading screens. You’re either itching to get a cutscene out of the way and get back into the fight, or left wishing that last level had stretched out just a bit longer – the constant stopping and starting really disrupts the flow. Some of these moments do offer interesting snippets of VR storytelling, but they’re also strangely placed and, even though the game promises 10+ hours of action, it’s significantly padded with these moments.Īll of this makes for a campaign that’s difficult to really settle into.
I was still struck but just how slow the game’s opening in particular is, in which you’re thrown into endless cutscene after cutscene, with just a few minutes of gameplay interspersing another lengthy group dialogue section.
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