This is the greatest VR title ever. It's fun, it's wacky, and it's got... A story. I think it does, anyway.

Mostly though, this game is one of the best tech demos ever - if you want a sandboxy combat game which focuses on mechanics and looks over, say, story or characters a la Half-Life, then buy this game, buy an Index, buy that upgrade to your PC that you always wanted. Because this is the big one, baby.

GOOD THINGS

This game, if you didn't know, has a full physics simulation system. Everything you see can be interacted with, and interacts with everything else. If you see a door, well it may not lead anywhere, but you can grab the handle, smack it, shoot it, whatever. This creates a massive range of choices when facing the puzzles littered throughout the game. You could shoot your way through a warehouse to get to the other side of a high fence, or just pile up boxes and climb straight over. Either option is totally viable, along with a score of others you just need to find.
The Index finger system is brilliant, and really cranks up the immersion. Grab something tight to never let go, or hold a weapon's handle gently to slide your hand up and down it without needing to release. On top of that, it makes it even easier to flip off the headcra-- er, VR headset creature, that just tried to eat your face into the digital world.

OKAY THINGS

Gunplay and weaponry is alright. You're going to mainly find yourself sticking to one or two weapons throughout (crowbar and rifle) because that's what you'll find the most. The ammunition purchase stations are a brilliant idea, having to sacrifice your ammo to get a gun so you can use said ammo in the first place, is ingenious. However, ammo crates are so plentiful that you'll not really struggle to afford anything, and still have hundreds of shots, maybe even thousands, after you buy them. Not that you need to anyway - weapon crates are equally common, and often have guns inside that you would have gotten in the ammo shops, often better too. So the system is quite defunct if you think about it. And the abundance of ammo really means melee isn't used too often at all, and oftentimes towards the end of the game is discouraged with the over-use of ranged enemies in the final three or four levels.

BAD THINGS

Story? What's a story?
The world of Boneworks is mysterious and vague, despite how beautiful it is. There's not much reason nor explanation of why you're doing anything you're doing, except a few one-sided TV chats that feel like they're missing the other half of the script. TL;DR "thing happen, stop the thing" is most of what you'll get. What are the mysterious plasma people that attack you on sight? Why are there hologram soldiers over robot balls and why do they shoot you? Why do the VR-crabs attack you and try to show you the "MythOS" symbol even though you already work for them apparently? Don't expect any of these to be answered - which is a shame, as it's left me wanting to know more about this strange, grungy VR utopia.
My second gripe is the level design. Sometimes it's incredibly linear, and there's only one obvious way you can go to progress. I find this comforting, but in certain areas it's incredibly labyrinthine. You can go down side route after side route, and they may end up going somewhere, but you have no idea if it's the right somewhere. Other times you'll be stuck in the same area and unable to really find the way forward - for as good a game as it is, it really doesn't have much direction for the player besides some painted arrows.
My third gripe is the Botanics level specifically. JESUS CHRIST, can it run any worse? I had to go around the edges, looking away from the rest of the map because it ran so poorly. I was reaching sub 3 frames per second when looking at the central block of the map's main area, and if you tried to shoot it got even worse. This may not sound too bad but I assure you, it is a literal headache in a VR headset. And I have a seriously beefy computer too. Luckily this subsided once I'd hunted down and killed every single enemy, but even then it ran poorly. I only encountered this issue in this specific area.

And my final Bad Thing - to the developers personally, I say this in the nicest way, screw you for making that ladder sequence so long. I nearly drowned myself in the sweat!


My final verdict: This is THE VR game that is ushering in the revolution. Prior to this, VR games have all been gimmicks - only a shooting game, only a climbing game, only an exploration game. Boneworks is the first full gaming experience designed solely for VR that I've ever seen, and hopefully this positive review will help in showing other developers and companies that there's nothing to fear in VR. We love full games. We want more full games.

Final score: 8.5/10

(I cannot review the extra modes, such as Sandbox or Fantasy Land or any of those other things, because I haven't unlocked them at the time of writing.)

This is the greatest VR title ever. It's fun, it's wacky, and it's got... A story. I think it does, anyway. Mostly though, this game is one of the best tech demos ever - if you want a sandboxy combat game which focuses on mechanics and looks over, say, story or characters a la Half-Life, then buy this game, buy an Index, buy that upgrade to your PC that you always wanted. Because this is the big one, baby. GOOD THINGS This game, if you didn't know, has a full physics simulation system. Everything you see can be interacted with, and interacts with everything else. If you see a door, well it may not lead anywhere, but you can grab the handle, smack it, shoot it, whatever. This creates a massive range of choices when facing the puzzles littered throughout the game. You could shoot your way through a warehouse to get to the other side of a high fence, or just pile up boxes and climb straight over. Either option is totally viable, along with a score of others you just need to find. The Index finger system is brilliant, and really cranks up the immersion. Grab something tight to never let go, or hold a weapon's handle gently to slide your hand up and down it without needing to release. On top of that, it makes it even easier to flip off the headcra-- er, VR headset creature, that just tried to eat your face into the digital world. OKAY THINGS Gunplay and weaponry is alright. You're going to mainly find yourself sticking to one or two weapons throughout (crowbar and rifle) because that's what you'll find the most. The ammunition purchase stations are a brilliant idea, having to sacrifice your ammo to get a gun so you can use said ammo in the first place, is ingenious. However, ammo crates are so plentiful that you'll not really struggle to afford anything, and still have hundreds of shots, maybe even thousands, after you buy them. Not that you need to anyway - weapon crates are equally common, and often have guns inside that you would have gotten in the ammo shops, often better too. So the system is quite defunct if you think about it. And the abundance of ammo really means melee isn't used too often at all, and oftentimes towards the end of the game is discouraged with the over-use of ranged enemies in the final three or four levels. BAD THINGS Story? What's a story? The world of Boneworks is mysterious and vague, despite how beautiful it is. There's not much reason nor explanation of why you're doing anything you're doing, except a few one-sided TV chats that feel like they're missing the other half of the script. TL;DR "thing happen, stop the thing" is most of what you'll get. What are the mysterious plasma people that attack you on sight? Why are there hologram soldiers over robot balls and why do they shoot you? Why do the VR-crabs attack you and try to show you the "MythOS" symbol even though you already work for them apparently? Don't expect any of these to be answered - which is a shame, as it's left me wanting to know more about this strange, grungy VR utopia. My second gripe is the level design. Sometimes it's incredibly linear, and there's only one obvious way you can go to progress. I find this comforting, but in certain areas it's incredibly labyrinthine. You can go down side route after side route, and they may end up going somewhere, but you have no idea if it's the right somewhere. Other times you'll be stuck in the same area and unable to really find the way forward - for as good a game as it is, it really doesn't have much direction for the player besides some painted arrows. My third gripe is the Botanics level specifically. JESUS CHRIST, can it run any worse? I had to go around the edges, looking away from the rest of the map because it ran so poorly. I was reaching sub 3 frames per second when looking at the central block of the map's main area, and if you tried to shoot it got even worse. This may not sound too bad but I assure you, it is a literal headache in a VR headset. And I have a seriously beefy computer too. Luckily this subsided once I'd hunted down and killed every single enemy, but even then it ran poorly. I only encountered this issue in this specific area. And my final Bad Thing - to the developers personally, I say this in the nicest way, screw you for making that ladder sequence so long. I nearly drowned myself in the sweat! My final verdict: This is [b]THE[/b] VR game that is ushering in the revolution. Prior to this, VR games have all been gimmicks - only a shooting game, only a climbing game, only an exploration game. Boneworks is the first full gaming experience designed solely for VR that I've ever seen, and hopefully this positive review will help in showing other developers and companies that there's nothing to fear in VR. We love full games. We want more full games. Final score: 8.5/10 (I cannot review the extra modes, such as Sandbox or Fantasy Land or any of those other things, because I haven't unlocked them at the time of writing.)