A really fun, challenging, and at times frustrating, parkour game. It took me a bit to warm up to it. Back in the early VR days, I played the hell out of To the Top, so this game had a lot to live up to for me. Once I got used to it, this is really a great game. There are three types of challenges for each level; collectables, limited grabs, and time. While some were a breeze, in the harder levels, they can be quite challenging. I initially thought the collecting was the easiest part, but in some of the later levels, it was harder than the other two. The main game gets challenging towards the end, but the last level and the B-sides change core functionality of the game that offer strengths in some ways, while simultaneously giving you a weakness. They are also very challenging levels. By the end, I was playing one or two a night and calling it a day. Beating the levels is easy, but the three challenges are what makes it hard.
Graphics, music, sound, nothing special, but the core gameplay really is fun and I highly recommend the game. Took me about 14 hours to complete all the levels, including the B-sides, complete all three challenges on each level, get all achievements, etc. The price is more than fair for what you get, but if it's on sale, I would definitely pick it up.
I have two critiques.
First, there are times where I 100% grabbed something, and it didn't count. There were times where I wanted to blame the game, but knew I couldn't. Then there were definitely times where I knew it wasn't my fault. This becomes most apparent in the third B-side. Countless times my hand, not my arm, went right through a grab. And it wasn't due to hand orientation, it was facing the right way, lined up perfectly, and it just didn't grab. I know those hands are a bit wonky, but again, I know when I missed, and when the game missed.
Second, and probably the most important, a big mistake I see sometimes from platformers is giving you a challenge to complete, typically a time limit, and not resetting the room when you restart. You can restart the room in this game and everything will go back to it's initial state, but if you just fall off the side, things that are in motion or cycle, stay where they were. In a game that requires a lot of timing, this can be problematic. This is perhaps most apparent in the final level before the B-sides. The platforms very slowly move and after a few attempts, they are very unaligned, sometimes making a level easier, sometimes making it impossible. Restarting takes too long and is generally slower than just falling. So I ended up with a lot of runs that were lost, just because the mechanical timing of the level was wrong for me to make a move fast enough, or before I got hit by something. I don't think this would be a big change, but it would certainly make the harder levels that require many attempts more manageable.
I just want to close by once again saying this is a fantastic game, and if you love VR, love parkour games, sweating in VR, then you'll love this game. Be prepared for a challenge, but it feels great to beat a level that you've spent some time working on.
