Childhood dreams very rarely come true. Life, circumstance and reality often get in the way and many dreams remain unfulfilled. However, the dream of actually sitting in an X-Wing cockpit and fighting for the rebel alliance is now a reality. For all owners of PlayStation VR and the base Star Wars Battlefront game, the dream of flying an X-Wing has been fulfilled. The result is nothing short of incredible!
From the moment the opening title sequence begins you are acutely aware that you are in for something special. As the title screen opens, a huge AT-AT slowly lumbers past. The sense of scale is jaw dropping, you really get an idea of the size and scale of these formidable machines. As you gaze up at this mechanical beast the attention to detail is amazing and combined with the fluid animation it is truly a sight to behold. This initial encounter really sets the scene for this VR experience.
You then move to a stationary X-Wing, there are blue rebel icons situated around the space ship and by looking at them and pressing the X button you switch between various angles of the ship. Again, the sense of scale and detail cannot be overstated here. The X-Wing hisses as smoke emits from various vents and the ship almost feels alive. The little red R2 droid whizzes around beeping and booping and the level of detail on the ship is amazing. The final alliance symbol is located at the open cockpit, as you peek into the X-Wing for the first time it is an exciting moment. All the buttons, meters, and displays are all there for you to play around with including the targeting computer from Star Wars episode 4. The sense of place is truly extraordinary, finally sitting in a fully realised X-Wing cockpit is a magical experience. You heard me correctly, you are finally sitting in a fully realised X-Wing cockpit with full depth perception and now you are going to fight alongside the Rebel Alliance.
I am not going to spoil the experience from here on out as every owner of PlayStation VR needs to experience this for themselves. What you will experience over the next 20-minutes is nothing short of jaw-dropping. You will get to see some of the most famous rebel and empire ships in all their glory. Not just in amazing detail but you will get to experience the true size and scope of some of these ships, it truly is mind-blowing to fly over and past some of the most iconic starships in modern popular culture. Hearing Tie-Fighters howling past you is an amazing experience beaten only by ripping some laser fire into them and watching the pieces of debris fly past you as you fly through the explosion. It really is exhilarating stuff and quite simply only possible in Virtual Reality. The sense of immersion and scale is truly biblical at points and really shows off the potential of this medium.
Visually this is the best looking game/experience available in VR by a huge distance. The attention to detail is phenomenal and after numerous playthroughs so far there are new little things to be noticed and discovered. The X-Wing cockpit is extremely detailed with various buttons, knobs, and scanners alongside your trusty R2 unit perched behind the canopy beeping away. The ships are all modelled with exceptional detail and VR adds that sense of scale that so many games lack when played on a standard television.
The sound design is also excellent. The familiar Star Wars themes swell up at the right moments in battle adding to the feeling that you are actually in the rebel alliance fighting the empire. The sound effects are all there from the howl of the Tie Fighters to the familiar sounds of the X-Wing lasers. It is a truly epic soundscape and is enhanced by the PlayStation VR 3D audio.
The Star Wars VR experience truly shows off what this medium is capable of. The sense of scale, scope and level of immersion offered here is unmatched by even the movies. Incredible visuals and audio combine to create one of the most immersive experiences available in VR. However, the experience is short and you do require a copy of Star Wars Battlefront to play it. If you like Star Wars and own a PS VR then you owe it to yourself to play this experience as it really shows what will be possible in the future.
REVIEW CODE: A complimentary Sony Playstation 4 code was provided to Brash Games for this review. Please send all review code enquiries to editor@brashgames.co.uk.
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