Review: Tumble VR (PS4).
From the announcement of Tumble VR (PS4), I knew that we would be dealing with a game that is perfect for virtual reality. It’s not revolutionary in any way, but … it doesn’t need it.
When Tumble (PS3) made its debut on the previous-generation Sony console, it showed how, in theory, simple games can use still fresh PlayStation Move motion controllers. Although the game by Supermassive Games was not a seller system, it neatly used the niche of logic games, which, thanks to the new technology, became more accessible to read.
Sony made a similar assumption when transferring this game to virtual reality. The rules have remained the same – we get a number of logical puzzles, from the easiest ones, the solution of which is a formality, to the extremely difficult ones, where planning how we will arrange all the blocks is just the beginning, because execution is equally important. Virtual reality primarily adds the ability to look at the playing field from any angle, which makes it much easier to build appropriate towers from blocks, but does not make the game as banal as some might think. PS Move controllers are very accurate in the game, but we dictate the level of difficulty to ourselves, what is our mobility. Because even the best plan will fail if we do it wrong.
The game increases the difficulty level gradually. The first part of the puzzles can be safely treated as an extensive tutorial that teaches us the properties of the materials from which the blocks are made and shows how to build simple towers. It also introduces you to other types of puzzles – incl. releasing the light ray and redirecting it or creating bridges in which the blocks have to balance each other. Of course, knowledge of mathematics or physics is not needed, but some idea of spatiality or geometric figures helps significantly in later charts. And these become very difficult, even despite the fact that thanks to VR we are sitting in the game.
The developer also thought about the involvement of other people added a mode for two. It is not extensive, but it brings a lot of fun based on competition and spite. Our goal is to build the tower. The goal of the person playing with us on the DualShock 4 controller is to destroy it, and he does it by throwing bricks from the side. So what matters is the reaction time, the speed of building the structure and knowledge of the rules of the game.
You will ask if it makes sense to play Tumble VR (PS4) on your own with DualShock 4. I will answer – not too much. Yes, you can, but we lose a lot in the accuracy of movements, especially since the title technically copes well with reading them with Move. It happens that our range of hands is greater than the field that the game sees, and we will not be able to put the block where we want. Then it remains to move yourself or the camera with recalibration so that the game sees us in full. But this doesn’t always work – taller people with long hands can still have problems. I also got tired of the monotonous styling, because everything happens in one location, although it is also a bit of a fault that I did a virtual marathon, spending almost three hours in the game at a time. This has some effect on the body’s fatigue.
Nevertheless, Tumble VR (PS4) is a game that has a fairly low price (PLN 42 in PS Store) and easy-to-learn entertainment will prove useful not only for an avid gamer, but also for people who deal with consoles since the holidays. So if you are looking for a production that you can show to someone less experienced in video games – you know where to direct your steps.
