Recent reviews by The Phat Controller

There's bound to be thousands of reviews like this but I still feel the need to express my love for this game.

This review is spoiler free :)

First things first, story. I've heard a lot of people say "you absolutely NEED to have played the Half Life series in order to understand the story." This simply isn't true. I played this game with a basic understanding of the half life and portal story by watching this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gSMB_ECfRKo . And to be honest, I didn't find myself thinking "what's this?" or "who is that?" during my play through, so don't worry if you haven't played any of the previous titles you should still be fine as long as you have a basic understanding of the story.

I know a lot of people are saying that this has really showed BONEWORKS how its done but the way I see it, Half-Life: Alyx took notes from BONEWORKS and made decisions based on the outcome of their game. And I would really like to see Stress Level Zero do the same when doing future updates on the game because I would hate to see them just give up on it because of the release of Half-Life: Alyx. However, I truly believe that Valve have showed up BONEWORKS when it comes to story telling. Agreed, Valve has had a lot of experience in story telling games and they ARE building off a franchise as opposed to starting fresh, but BONEWORKS just didn't impress me too much with the story they had.

Anyway, back to HL:A. I want to talk a bit about the physics and interaction system. Half-Life: Alyx chose to go with a "hands only" body display which I thought was an interesting choice when i first heard it. But now I've seen how they pulled it off, I definitely think it was the right move. I played they game on Index so I got the "full hand immersion" experience but quite frankly, you don't use individual finger actions at all in the game, and I'll tell you why that's a good thing; whilst the Index controllers DO have individual finger tracking, it can sometimes be a bit off i.e. When your fingers aren't in the right place on the controller, the controller thinks you are using a different finger to the one you actually are (this might just be because I have small hands though :P). On top of this, Half-Life: Alyx was not an Index exclusive, meaning it was released on ALL headsets, so finger tracking features would have been a bit unfair.

Hand interactions are still very satisfying with a slight snapping feature that guides your virtual hands to things like ledges and objects, it's at a perfect level were it helps you but also doesn't get in the way in the middle of a gunfight.

Having the HUD on the gloves fitted to your virtual hands is a brilliant idea. It displays vital information such as health and ammo, but isn't represented in a floating HUD which can be distracting sometimes. And having the ammo system work in a way that makes you truly start to count your shots is a very nice touch as it gets you out of the habit of reloading after every 2 shots.

Combat is very well done, I played on medium difficulty because i wanted to focus on the story a bit more. But the gunfights i got into with combine were very intense and thrilling, I found myself hiding behind cover more and timing my shots more. Even defending yourself against headcrabs and zombies is very thrilling, and landing perfect head shots is very satisfying.

Overall, I take my hat off to Valve for delivering such an amazing VR title in a franchise so widely known for being desktop only. I think Half-Life: Alyx has really raised the bar for future VR titles and I'm looking forward to see what other developers learn from this release.

Ratings:
Story: 10/10
Interactions: 10/10
Combat: 10/10
Immersion: 10/10
Overall: 10/10

Masterpiece.

Side note: I hope you aren't afraid of the dark :)

This game is next to flawless. Whilst the physics of vehicle collisions is not 100% realistic, it does do a better job than a lot off triple a studios games such as Grand Theft Auto, which subjectively, is not a racing game however cars are one of the main focuses. The physics are at the perfect level between being real enough to believe and being arcade like enough that it makes the game playable and enjoyable so that you don't lose the moment you bend a wheel axle.

I have had this game for a while and seen many hotfixes and updates come to this game. Along with many changes to the online multiplayer aspect to the game which in my opinion is the best way to experience this title. A mixture of dedicated and non-dedicated servers makes the perfect combination for a good online community that follows this game. And compatibility with the steam workshop is ALWAYS a positive sign that the game devs wish to support the community that their game has formed

Having a mixed range of game modes does add variety to the game, however, I feel that once you have played them, they start to feel the same. So my only request would maybe add a race that involves power-ups? I think it would pan out well with the mindless destruction that is possible in this game ;)

Overall, the game has a good, balanced physics system which gives the player a fair chance to have fun and enjoy racing. The soundtrack (should you chose to listen to it) accompanies the gameplay style perfectly and adds that extra bit of action in the background. The expanding list of cars gives the player plenty to choose from and plenty to work for. The online is welcoming to both new comers and experienced players, making for an involving community for all. And the dingle player game modes are enjoyable, but eventually get repetitive (but not boring!).

Overall Rating: 9/10

Very good and immersive experience for experienced VR users. Newcomers, however, may find themselves thinking "why won't my hand go there I'm doing it in real life?" whilst holding a heavy object or climbing. It might not be as enjoyable to someone who has never put on a VR headset compared to someone with basic knowledge of VR mechanics and is familiar with their controllers.

Overall the story was deep and well detailed with many hidden meanings and messages and lasted around 6-7 hours for me but it will vary on person to person as some people may want to take a wander around the levels and see what is around every corner and under every box (good luck, there's a lot to discover!). Would've liked to see a tiny bit more character development and/or depth, however. Depends on what you are personally looking for in a narrative game.

The physics are incredibly accurate with the idea of "if you can do it in real life, you can do it in BONEWORKS" with a few exceptions such as force grab and some experimental weapons as after all, it is a video game and reality is there to be defied!

I had been following the development of BONEWORKS for about a year prior to its release. And I have to say, it certainly lived up to my expectations and all the hype the community had for it (in my opinion at least). And the fact that they held off on spoiling too much of the story made the release even better as players got to experience it all for themselves and listen to what might be some of the top VR game soundtracks ever released.

Overall, I would highly recommend this title to anyone who owns a VR headset and knows the basic layout of their chosen hardware (headset and controllers).

Gameplay: 10/10
Soundtrack: 10/10
Story: 7/10 (could've done with some more character development/depth, good on the whole though :) )

The weapon sounds are really satisfying hearing the slide of the glock snap as you reload, physics are impressive BUT can be improved. For example when I uppercut one of the people in sandbox mode, he fell backwards as if he had been punched straight in the face. The levels aren't really levels, they are just extra scenery with randomly spawned AI that run at you like a bat out of hell even though you are the serial killer? DEFINITELY NOT worth £25 as I had more fun just playing around in the sandbox mode where I could spawn in a person then watch his face get shredded up by an assault rifle. Definitely think this game will be worth buying in a few months for the full price.