xDrive VR

[h1]xDrive VR - [i]Experience 3rd person drone combat in this in-development title![/i][/h1] Let us make something very clear from the start of this review, this is an early access title at the very start of its life, as such i cut it a lot more slack than i would a released or much older EA title. It is a rarity to see third person games in VR but xDrive does it well your drone faces the direction of the left motion controller and its guns face the direction of the right controller, it works (despite a few bugs) very well and is very enjoyable to control. It is your standard red team vs blue team, get kills to earn money, a formula that, while old, is loved by us all. The money you earn from the fights can be used to upgrade your drone or even buy new drones which will add t the replayability once more varied arenas are added. [b]ROOMSCALE / ENVIRONMENT / GRAPHICS[/b] The “menu” room in xDrive is a space station base, with two levels connected by a really well done lift, the main area allows you to configure your settings and start a match. The second area of the space station allows you to buy and configure your drones, again it is done really nicely, it is clear time has been spent on making this nice. The game arena however is not as nice, it fits the bill from a game playing point of view and hay that is the main thing but it is nowhere near the quality of the “menu” room and is a bit too small for a combat game. There is space on the map for two other arenas, at the price point of the game though i would expect to see more than 3 arenas before it leaves early access, but again it is very new and i cut it a bit of slack on this. The actual drone models are not half bad though you will not get much time to look at them, this is a fast paced game [b]PERFORMANCE[/b] The first version i tested was so laggy i had to quit out before testing further, i spoke with the developer and a patch was out the next day that fixed this, it is not as smooth as other vr games i have played but on my system it is more then ok…..my system is higher end though. That said this was its first patch and he significantly improved the performance, i like developers that listen to feedback and fix issues they are rare! Expect to see performance improve as time progresses. [b]INTUITIVENESS[/b] It loses a few points here, it took me a while to figure out how to control it despite the controls being on the pads, i am still unsure of how to do a dodge, it says “jerk” but it seems a double tap may do it, to ready up you click “i am not ready” which felt strange to me, the game has a lot of work ahead of it in this area. [b]MULTIPLAYER:[/b] While this is mainly a multiplayer game i was unable to find anyone else playing it, an issue among all multiplayer VR games to be honest, however it does feature some rather good if somewhat evil bots. [b]PROS:[/b] [list] [*] The game has a lot of potential this could turn into a great game [*] A developer that acts on and listens to player feedback. [*] A good upgrade / replace drone system giving you a reason to continue to play even against bots. [*] Bots! All games should have bots! And these are pretty well coded [/list] [b]CONS:[/b] [list] [*] The asking price vs content is more than a little high at this stage of development. [*] Only one arena and will get repetitive if more are not added. [*] The arena is not very good. [*] Not very intuitive controls [*] if you have a min vr system you may have performance issues [*] While the game may turn out to be great it could easily go the other way [/list] [b]The first try video:[/b] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7pfz8fwUjg [b]VERDICT[/b] Ah man i wish steam did not give us that black and white Recommend / Do not Recommend ! Here is as i see it, the developer put out a patch to fix the performance issues the day i reported them, and an issue where my own missiles hit my new armour when i fired them the very next day, that commitment to the game gives me the hope and the impression that the games future is bright, i enjoyed what i played of the game, though i did tire of that arena pretty quick and i was very impressed with the drone upgrade and replacement system. This is a very borderline recommendation, it is very close to clicking “Do not Recommend” and know full well that it is an early access title. If you want a well rounded game then WAIT, if you want to support a game as it grows then get it. ( to clarify this if games were marked out of 100 and 0 - 50 was do not recommend and 51 - 100 was recommend, i am saying this is a 55, it is that close)