Blood & Truth is bloody brilliant and that’s the truth. All jokes aside though, it’s been a while since I’ve gotten so excited to play a full PSVR titles since Astro Bot: Rescue Mission (review for that coming soon) and back when I first played Resident Evil 7 in VR. Developed by the studio who made the PlayStation VR World launch title for the headset, Sony’s London Studio have really made a great game that I hope gets a sequel or even DLC. For those among you who have a PSVR headset and played PSVR Worlds, this game is by all account a full length version of The London Heist; the shooting mini game from that collection. Blood & Truth even has little collectable statues that call back to PSVR Worlds with the player character making funny remarks whenever you pick one up.
The game isn’t a big collect-a-thon however, if it wasn’t obvious by the title it’s an action adventure title with shooting. It plays exactly like a spy thriller with a story of similar style to boot. You play Ryan Marks, a special ops soldier who’s deployed somewhere (not specified) to rescue a fellow officer. If you were curious about this game and played the demo, then you’ve already played the tutorial and opening section of the main game. Ryan is also from a very wealthy crime family back in London, he’s called home from duty due to the passing of his father. When he comes back, everything goes wrong as some rival mobster comes in wanting to take over the entire operation. Obviously the Marks family aren’t keen on the idea and thus you go about destroying the opposing mobster’s entire operation in the best way possible; big explosions and gun fights. I won’t go into anymore story details, while the story isn’t the most innovative out there, it’s still one that I feel players will be invested in and should experience first-hand. I personally thought it to be a well put together and well executed story; some twists you see coming and other not so much.
Story isn’t the main selling point of this game however, it’s the gameplay. As mentioned it’s a first person affair in VR with controller options for a standard controller and the move motion controllers. During my play through, I only used the motion controllers so, at time of writing, I can’t comment on how the game plays using the PS4 controller. I can say though that this is the kind of game where the motion controls are probably the better option as Blood & Truth not only has a large number of shooting sections, but numerous climbing sections and several lock picking moments. All in all, it’s definitely the kind of immersive VR experience that PSVR players need and, if there was every an excuse to invest in a set of move controllers, this game qualifies as one of many. The gun play if very satisfying from a VR perspective, aiming down the sights for a more precise shot is very rewarding but it’s isn’t always the best tracked due to the hardware involved.
--A quick run-down for those that don’t know; the PSVR headset and accompanying peripherals all need the PlayStation camera as they’re tracked using the lights on the controllers and headset. If they move outside the cameras view, they become unresponsive to the game and float off into the distance. Even the headset will lose tracking if it’s not in view of the camera.--
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| Artwork worthy of an action movie poster [Sony London Studio ©, Image source: BunnyGaming.com] |
Blood & Truth is bloody brilliant and that’s the truth. All jokes aside though, it’s been a while since I’ve gotten so excited to play a full PSVR titles since Astro Bot: Rescue Mission (review for that coming soon) and back when I first played Resident Evil 7 in VR. Developed by the studio who made the PlayStation VR World launch title for the headset, Sony’s London Studio have really made a great game that I hope gets a sequel or even DLC. For those among you who have a PSVR headset and played PSVR Worlds, this game is by all account a full length version of The London Heist; the shooting mini game from that collection. Blood & Truth even has little collectable statues that call back to PSVR Worlds with the player character making funny remarks whenever you pick one up.
The game isn’t a big collect-a-thon however, if it wasn’t obvious by the title it’s an action adventure title with shooting. It plays exactly like a spy thriller with a story of similar style to boot. You play Ryan Marks, a special ops soldier who’s deployed somewhere (not specified) to rescue a fellow officer. If you were curious about this game and played the demo, then you’ve already played the tutorial and opening section of the main game. Ryan is also from a very wealthy crime family back in London, he’s called home from duty due to the passing of his father. When he comes back, everything goes wrong as some rival mobster comes in wanting to take over the entire operation. Obviously the Marks family aren’t keen on the idea and thus you go about destroying the opposing mobster’s entire operation in the best way possible; big explosions and gun fights. I won’t go into anymore story details, while the story isn’t the most innovative out there, it’s still one that I feel players will be invested in and should experience first-hand. I personally thought it to be a well put together and well executed story; some twists you see coming and other not so much.
Story isn’t the main selling point of this game however, it’s the gameplay. As mentioned it’s a first person affair in VR with controller options for a standard controller and the move motion controllers. During my play through, I only used the motion controllers so, at time of writing, I can’t comment on how the game plays using the PS4 controller. I can say though that this is the kind of game where the motion controls are probably the better option as Blood & Truth not only has a large number of shooting sections, but numerous climbing sections and several lock picking moments. All in all, it’s definitely the kind of immersive VR experience that PSVR players need and, if there was every an excuse to invest in a set of move controllers, this game qualifies as one of many. The gun play if very satisfying from a VR perspective, aiming down the sights for a more precise shot is very rewarding but it’s isn’t always the best tracked due to the hardware involved.
--A quick run-down for those that don’t know; the PSVR headset and accompanying peripherals all need the PlayStation camera as they’re tracked using the lights on the controllers and headset. If they move outside the cameras view, they become unresponsive to the game and float off into the distance. Even the headset will lose tracking if it’s not in view of the camera.--
This tracking presents an issue when you’re aiming down the
barrel of a gun, as the mixture of lights in the close proximity will get Lost
and confuse the camera tracking system. It’s not the biggest issue however as
readjusting is straightforward enough and Blood
& Truth does tend to realign pretty quickly when the camera figures out
what’s what. As I say, it’s more of a hardware issue that a software issue.
There really isn’t much more I can say at this point that isn’t just me gushing over the game. I will say however that the only thing that stands out to me as being odd is how the game encourages you to be sat down when playing. Granted this is likely to keep players who aren’t used to VR yet from getting motion sickness, but it broke a bit of the immersion for me when Ryan is running full speed and jumping out of a window but in reality, I’m just sat on my couch. Perhaps I’ll play through the game again whilst stood up because I will most definitely be playing this game again and going for 100% competition. As always, I tell you if a game is worth investing into at full price or not. I didn’t pay full price for Blood & Truth because I bought it on sale. However, if I had paid full price for this game, I don’t think I’d have been very disappointed. Take that how you will.
There really isn’t much more I can say at this point that isn’t just me gushing over the game. I will say however that the only thing that stands out to me as being odd is how the game encourages you to be sat down when playing. Granted this is likely to keep players who aren’t used to VR yet from getting motion sickness, but it broke a bit of the immersion for me when Ryan is running full speed and jumping out of a window but in reality, I’m just sat on my couch. Perhaps I’ll play through the game again whilst stood up because I will most definitely be playing this game again and going for 100% competition. As always, I tell you if a game is worth investing into at full price or not. I didn’t pay full price for Blood & Truth because I bought it on sale. However, if I had paid full price for this game, I don’t think I’d have been very disappointed. Take that how you will.
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