Far Space VR

Far Space VR is a strange “horror” experience with minimal gameplay and long, drawn out segments.

TL;DR at bottom.

Gameplay:

Far Space VR works with both VR and mouse & keyboard, but I don’t think it would work very well in VR, based on my experience playing in desktop mode. The camera is affixed to the player’s helmet, which makes sense, but when they are moving around the environment or spinning, the camera does not move with them, creating a strange out of body experience that is really disorienting. The core gameplay consists of making choices as you follow the story, some moral or some just options to progress through the level. There is only ever one right answer, some of which don’t make sense why they would succeed or why they would fail. Most of the game is watching the story play out.

That is, until you get to the sections where you are travelling a great distance. For some reason, you get this creature thing that lets you fly through space as well as shoot lasers at rocks and other creature things. These segments are strange and completely break the pacing, even though the pacing is already abysmal (more on that soon). These portions of the game have absolutely no challenge to them because all you do is shoot rocks and other aliens that hardly have any effect on you. The worst part about these portions is that they can last up to ten minutes, which is a long time to be absent-mindedly swinging your mouse (or head) around as you shoot boring aliens and rocks with your constant wavy laser beam.

Pacing is the worst part of this game. I understand that it is space and movement is more limited than it would be on Earth, but every thing is SO slow. Your character moving three feet forward can easily take over 10-20 seconds, and if you make the wrong choice you have to watch him move forward in a different direction again. The game took a long time to complete, but it has essentially no substance and all filler. The story is strange and doesn’t take the time to explain anything, and the ending is abrupt and unsatisfying.

1/10

Graphics:

Now, the graphics aren’t horrible. Some design choices are strange, most notably the alien (although, they are aliens after all), and the space environments actually look somewhat nice. Graphics are probably the best thing the game has going for it, as they do a good job of painting a scene for the player, and have enough detail to make the player feel somewhat immersed.

5/10

Music/Audio:

The audio side of the game didn’t get a lucky break like the graphics did. The voice acting is completely emotionless, muffled (although they are in spacesuits and I think that is what they were going for, which is fine) and awkward and slow, just like the rest of the game. The audio is also extremely repetitive, with random beeps and not much else besides some explosions from blowing up rocks and aliens with your laser. The music isn’t varied, and it gets quite annoying after listening to the same track loop for 8 minutes as you play the laser shooty part of the game. More music definitely could’ve helped this game at least a little bit, but it fell short in the end.

1/10

Conclusion:

Far Space VR is an overall strange experience. The inclusion of desktop controls alongside VR is welcome and appreciated, but the lack of gameplay or an interesting story effectively kills the game. The snail-like pacing and the repetitive and uninteresting audio makes the game a chore to play, with no real reward for sitting through the drawn-out portions of the game and reaching the end. The graphics are the only thing the game has going for it, although they aren’t groundbreaking in any regard. Far Space VR is a VR experience that is probably most suited for a sit down experience on your Google Cardboard while waiting for your pizza to cook, and not a full blown VR experience on your PC.

Overall: 1.5/10 – Not Recommended

TL;DR

Pros:

+Decent graphics

Cons:

-Horrible pacing, slow everything

-Poor voice acting

-Lack of interesting gameplay or story

Check out my gameplay of Far Space VR below to get a better idea of the game.

Game has been provided by the developer, review has been written without bias.