I spent a LOT of time at the Disney theme parks in Orlando as a kid, so naturally when a native VR game was announced that combined my love and nostalgia for all things Disney with my preferred horror genre, with a dash of smart satire and humor, I was pumped! My spirits were dampened when the legion of reviews trashing the game's mechanics and length came out, and the title was relegated to my "wait for sale" bin of dashed dreams. Cue the Steam Summer sale, when a respectable discount on the PCVR version of the game finally brought the game into "impulse try" territory. How did it fare? I'll give you the Good, the Bad, and the Grisly from my experience with the game.
THE GOOD:
- This game tickled my nostalgia in all the right ways. If you've spent time at the Disney parks you're going to appreciate the little details they got from the parks, the tri-fold map, and of course the iconic rides; they're recreated here in bite-sized chunks in a way that will bring out your inner kid.
- There's some really top-notch world building going on in this one; lots of little details like gift shops having realistic amounts of unique merchandise, or restaurants having fully-fleshed out (and hilarious) menus and finding condiment dispensers and trash bins in all the places you'd expect, really bring the whole thing to life and sell it. I legitimately felt like I was in the ruins of a mostly believable park for much of the time.
- The music for the rides and films that play throughout the park really nails it and contributes a lot to the atmosphere of the game.
- I found this game really funny; its sense of humor is irreverent for sure, and may not be for everyone. I found the satire to be smart and I laughed out loud plenty of times (special shoutout to the 'line-jumper interrogation video' you can optionally watch on a security TV towards the end of the game, it's Raimi-esque in all the right ways).
- The brazenness with which the game wears its influences on its sleeve is to be commended; they weren't afraid of Disney's legal department coming at them and just went for it; that's what enables the nostalgia to vibe so hard in this one.
- The "spooky but not too scary" atmosphere was great, PERFECT for Halloween, and will open this game up to a wider audience than, say, MADiSON VR--which was brilliant but I can't even recommend to my friends as it's just too much for most people.
- There's 80 collectibles hidden around the park that I enjoyed searching for--I think I missed 6 on my first playthrough.
- Sitting through the end credits made me realize that this game was built by a VERY small team, and I found it inspiring that so few people were able to create something of this scale.
- The length; I finished my first playthrough in just under 3 hours. Many people might view that as a negative, but this game isn't trying to be The Witcher; I personally like bite-sized digestible games, and at this length I might come back to this one annually during October spooky season kind of like the annual pilgrimages I made to Disney World in my youth!
- I won't spoil what it is, but there's a set piece in this game that was seriously among the most impressive I've seen yet in VR (and I play a LOT of VR). There were a few rides in the game that I was frustrated and disappointed that I couldn't ride--let's just say that I should've kept the faith and got there in a pretty spectacular way. :}
THE BAD:
- The combat really isn't much fun and doesn't feel good at all. You're swinging weightless items at tanky enemies that will only sometimes register, and react to, the hits. There's no true sense of physicality, and you're swinging so much and so fast that your arm will probably get sore (mine did). There is SOME merit to the enemies; the models actually look quite decent (even though they get repetitive after awhile), and there's really something to a life-sized combatant running at you in VR that will always be affecting; but ultimately this is probably the weakest part of the game and I think the game would be stronger with it removed completely.
- WHY did they feel the need to include mini-golf? There's thankfully just not that much of it, and I actually like that they included a realistic score card, but what's here has terrible ball physics and uninspired courses. Thank goodness your "performance" in these sections doesn't matter (and the scoring doesn't work right with it anyway). No one should be attempting minigolf in VR after Walkabout!
- Generally the physics are incredibly janky in the game. Nothing feels like it has any weight; you can waggle the game's weapons around like some 2006 Wii title without penalty. The game forces you to use a grip toggle, which I found unnatural, and when you inevitably drop an item due to wanting to readjust your grip it has a great chance of flying out of the game world--too bad if that was a weapon you needed! Also it's far too easy to knock elements and debris around in the game world when you accidentally touch them with your weapon. I guess kudos to them for having so many interactable elements in the game, though.
- The audio mixing on some of the NPC's, oh my God.. without spoiling too much, there are a couple of characters that speak through a radio in the late game that had my ears BLEEDING. Pure staticky treble, about 200% louder than everything else in the game; whoever mixed this game's audio: if you're reading this, shame on you. Seriously.
THE GRISLY:
- An NPC "Larry" sets up the exposition for the game and for the first 20 minutes or so he does. not. shut. up. Thankfully he goes silent for the middle portion of the game.
- The huge compass rose that sits beneath your feet needlessly; this is a game, not a ship--let me turn that off please.
- Lack of locomotion options; give me HMD oriented movement PLEASE!
- People complaining about motion sickness in VR has always been a pet-peeve of mine; I think it's bad for the medium and such a personal issue: "we get it, you weren't genetically gifted with an 'iron VR stomach' like the rest of us, go chew on some ginger or something NERD and give your VR gear to a more well-adjusted specimen!" Yeah. Well this game made me feel sick as HELL in a couple spots, an experience I can count on one hand since first getting into VR in 2017. You're probably going to want to rapidly blink on a few of these rides to keep your lunch from coming up. Technically impressive that the sense of motion on these rides is convincing enough to make our brain tell our stomachs we've been poisoned, but be warned.
Despite the undeniable jank, DOA mini-golf, and tanky uninspired combat, I found a lot more to love in this game's short runtime than not. I'll definitely be back, and that leads me to offer a few suggestions that I'd love to see come to this game in an update (hey I can dream!):
- An "Open Park" mode after you've finished the game that opens up the gates/doors in the park and lets you meander the park, riding the rides at will, without having to worry about story beats or tasks to progress (thankfully there does appear to be a ride-select that opens up at the end of the game (or maybe even as you progress?); I haven't yet tested this, but I do feel like there's value in letting players traverse the "lands" freely.
- A DLC called "Opening Day" or something that lets you explore the park and ride the rides in the glory days of the park, before it fell into ruin; a soft opening where you're testing the rides or something would eliminate the need to fill the park with hundreds of NPC's.
I hope my review helps you decide if Happy Funland is a ride worth taking! Have a Grisly day.
