Hover Junkers was one of the first multiplayer games on the Vive, and remains to be one of the few multiplayer games available. Being multiplayer based it is fun to mess around with friends or to play seriously with them. Up to 8 players can play at the same time and in game voice chat is built in.
This game has 3 weapons so far and has more planned to come. They each have advantages and disadvantages and learning to use them at the right time can make a difference.
This isn't the type of game where you just press a button to reload or crouch. If you want to duck behind cover you have to actually do it. To reload you have to pop open the barrel, press the touch pad in a pattern and swing the controller to pop it back in. This makes the game feel more real.
The loot earned in the game can be found out in the wasteland inside of shipping containers. The player needs to use their welding gun to shoot them open to then gather the loot. Strategy comes into to play as it takes time to haul the loot in, which leaves the player vulnerable to enemies, so it is bet to wait to do this in until an opportune moment arrives. Once the loot is obtained, some can be used for cover on ones ship, making their ships stronger, the rest can be used to earn a higher score in the game.
While not an issue in the shooting range, when in the meat the gameplay, enemies tend to be the same color as their ships making them difficult to see. This means that most shots need to be made in close quarters in order to visibly see who you are shooting at, which limits the gameplay a bit.
The game while presented as a finished title (it is not in early access but is a full release) often feels unfinished. The guns in the game are limited to only three, the menus have frame drops giving an unpolished feel. The shooting mechanics often feel a bit too loose making them not very precise, which leads to more luck based gameplay over skill. The maps do not really feel all that different, giving a "same" vibe. Overall it feels like an early access game, but is being sold as a finished title.
Being this is a game only playable on an 800 dollar piece of hardware that only really runs well on an expensive gaming computer, as well as the fact that this is a fairly new game, there are not all that many players online to play with. Being that right now this a multiplayer only game, having few players is a bit of a problem (but that's not the game's fault).
The art style is cute and when you look at how you look only to see you're a cute animal, it can be quite funny and sweet. You also have a pet cat named Neko that you get your supplies from, and a dog that you press to go to the next level.
By giving you a task and leaving how you will complete it up to your own devices the game allows for a sense of creativity as well as the feeling of accomplishment.
It is almost impossible to attach objects completely straight to one another, meaning if you are trying to use multiple wheels, each will be a bit crooked, causing a lot of adjusting and restarting, which can be very frustrating.
First there are the objectives for each of the 4 jobs available, which usually in total take about two and a half hours to three hours. Once you finish that you get three modes you can add on to any of the jobs, being, bouncy mode, zero g mode, and dollhouse mode. There is also lots of things to mess around with and small things that make it great, such as being able to copy your hand or brain in the copy machine.
Once each mini game has been played through, there is not much incentive to continue playing. While it does service as a nice proof of concept to show off to friends, the lasting appeal of this game is basically zilch.
While the game does require both Vive controllers to be used, more often than not only one will be in use. On top of this the games found within are all simple tasks, such as layering sandwich ingredients one by one or stamping resumes of employees that need fired. Basically all the games within are take object from point A to point B, which many be a bit too simple for some.
You use your own music for the game in order to create the rhythm and difficulty of the gameplay. This means an infinite amount of stages to play on being that each is different due to the rhythm of a song.
Especially with fast paced songs, you move a lot and quickly so you can work up a sweat quite easily. Much like boxing where you keep your hands up at all times, your hands will never dip below your waist for this game, while that may not sound too difficult, in all actuality keeping ones arms and hands up for extended periods of time can be quite exhausting, usually pretty quickly. Being that you will be constantly swinging your arms while keeping them up, this adds to the exertion you will experience. While it may not be the point of the game, it will allow for quite a workout.
On top of being able to use your own local music there is built in support for Soundcloud, which makes for an easy built in way to select tracks online.
Each and every song played in the game by its users will have a leaderboard listing for that song. Even if no one else ever uses that song. This makes for an insurmountable amount of tracks to play and compete in, making for an endless experience for those interested in competing on the leaderboards.
The game has a hard time actually detecting relevant rhythms in most songs. So you cannot hits orbs in synchrony with the base of a song, which detracts from being considered any type of rhythm based gameplay.
Things such as song difficulty or types of shields are not explained in the menus, leaving the player guessing as to what they do. This makes for an experience where you just need to learn as you play to eventually figure it out.
You literally have to take things in and out of your inventory while miming such actions with the controls. You can also put anything you pick up in the game inside your inventory as well.
More a walking simulator with puzzle aspects, this is a highly narrative focused game, meaning it should be accessible to many different types of potential players as there is no combat or worry about having to make split second reactions through the games controls.
One of the better looking games out for the Vive in its infancy, the visuals are fantastic giving a real sense of being in the environments. For those looking for a very good visual experience on the Vive, this would definitely be a game to consider.
Many adventure puzzle games see obtuse clues and hidden items that require back tracking, making for an exhausting experience having to constantly research areas. The Gallery does not have this issue at all as each puzzle and items that need found feel natural and intuitive in the same way searching for something in real life does. There is never a moment where the player will have to continually research or apply objects in order to guess how to solve something, all conclusions come with ease (though not that the game is too easy, more that puzzle solving is just intuitive).
The games controls work quite well and are very responsive. For instance when slowly pressing down the rigger button, the players hand in the game will start closing their fingers. Once the button is depressed all the way the player will now be showing a fist in game. This is all pressure sensitive and natural feeling.
While this game doe use a teleport mechanics (as many other Vive games do, where you point to where you want to teleport to in a level), the actual mechanics provided in this game are lacking. It feels imprecise and can make for a frustrating time moving around.
At points in the game there are objects that need picked up off of the floor, players can run into an issue here when the floor in the game is lower than the users actual floor, making the objects out of reach. basically this seems to be a bug and not a calibration issue which will need addressed but currently is not.
An episodic game that will be much longer when all episodes are out, but is short for what is on offer within the first episode. Lasting at about 2 hours of play for $30.00, this may be a bit pricey for some.
Add to Chrome
Add to Edge
Add to Firefox
Add to Opera
Add to Brave
Add to Safari