Farpoint TEST: Does the PlayStation VR have a reference SPF?

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All PlayStation VR owners were eagerly awaiting Farpoint . After Resident Evil 7 , this FPS actually serves as the second "big game" fully playable virtual reality on PS4. It tries to prove that beyond the small "experiments" (as convincing as they are) and other brilliant concepts but which turn short, one can also deliver games VR as complete, deep, long and interesting as classic games. .. So mission accomplished? The answer is there, under your big nose.

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Farpoint is an FPS developed by the small team of Impulse Gear , exclusively for the PlayStation VR and therefore for the PS4. This young American studio, created in 2013, aims to develop large-scale games entirely dedicated to virtual reality. That's good, that's exactly what Sony was looking for to supply its catalog of "big" titles for the PSVR. In short, Farpoint is the first game out of the stoves of the California studio, and it offers pure first-person shoot in an atmosphere halfway between Starship Troopers and Interstellar . Alluring program.

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You play as a pilot who, in the sequence of intro, comes to recover at the controls of his ship a duet of scientists. The latter study, from a small space station near Jupiter, an unknown source of energy. At the moment of embarking them, patatras: a wormhole appears and sucks the two scientists, the station, and of course your ship. You are all transported to an unfamiliar and unfamiliar planet, from which you will try to escape by finding traces of your two partners, who apparently did not, for a mysterious reason that we let you discover, landed in the same space-time as you...

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Pure sensations

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We knew the genre of FPS particularly interesting for virtual reality, and Farpoint is automatically one of the great ambassadors of the genre on PlayStation VR. As long as you play in the right conditions at home, PlayStation Camera well positioned and all the toutim, the first contact you will have with the game will be most convincing.

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The controls respond perfectly and the sensations of shoot are extremely satisfying. Add to that the mysterious atmosphere of your first steps on this unknown planet, the realization of great quality for a VR game, and of course the first arachnid monsters that jump in your face if you do not get them out quickly enough with your rifle, and you will understand easily, from the first moments, that you will live a very good moment of immersion.

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All good, with a good record of the recoil and impacts, and a lot of different weapons that you will discover little by little, each of them offering a mode or secondary ammunition, as well as interesting specificities. Note also that apart from the traditional shotgun, the other weapons offer a real reticle for aiming, that it is essential to use correctly to meet the rather devious challenge that represents the progression in different modes It is really necessary to wear the gun close to one of your eyes, and to close the other to aim correctly! Really cool.

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Aim Controller indispensable?

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This is the perfect time, however, to give you a first essential information: the famous rifle "Aim Controller", proposed in pack with the game (90 euros all at the launch), may be optional on paper (you can also buy the game alone and play the gamepad), it is absolutely not in the facts, in that you will live a much, much less satisfying experience without him. Farpoint has not only been developed from the start as a 100% virtual reality game, but it has also been developed since the start to be played rifle in hand, it's obvious.

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With him, the feeling of really holding in your hands the rifle you see in the game is very convincing. The accessory offers absolutely all the buttons of a DualShock 4, you use the analog stick of the hand located at the front for your movements, while the movements of your head allow you to look everywhere around you obviously. Note that the direction you give the stick to walk straight ahead is dependent on the position of the rifle, which is particularly nice. Basically, the right stick (back hand) is disabled, which is ultimately a good thing, because it allows you to feel almost no gagging. You can still activate it, which can be handy when playing seated, but again we really recommend you to play

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In short, it is really with this accessory very light and very successful that we take his foot in Farpoint . However, if you decide to play the controller, know that it is used as the rifle, ie by moving it in space exactly as it is done with the rifle. It works, but once again it's really much worse, write it down.

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A real good FPS?

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As I mentioned above, Farpointis certainly a very pleasant game to take in hand, very instinctive, but it offers at the same time a fairly high challenge, with a progressive difficulty that will require you to make the most of each of your weapons (you can wear two at a time) and change either by raising the rifle to your shoulder, or by pressing Triangle), to choose them too, and especially to be very methodical and effective in your management of waves of enemies more or less powerful, more or less dangerous, which arrive on you. There are some moments of calm, but especially many moments where it is necessary to manage at best these waves. The little alien-type monsters are not very resistant but you jump quickly in the face, the big unbalances are extremely resistant and must be managed both by far and then closely,

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The progression in the solo mode is thus done, in rather varied environments, with a really nice scenario that takes place via holographic sequences that unlocked little by little, but we must admit that a certain repeatability settles long enough . The shooting phases are cool from start to finish - which is not the case with the famous cool story, a little spoiled by a disappointing end - but let's say that the game never really introduces other elements for us. out of a certain routine, which is also in the image of environments, ultimately very narrow and promoting a progression in "straight" mode, on rails. The developers could for example have us drive vehicles, solve puzzles ... In short,

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Moreover we were very surprised to see that the famous fight against an absolutely gigantic monster, that you have certainly already seen in video and which for the blow we left a little bit of the routine, is finally the only real fight of bosses of the game ... shame.

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In fact, if we removed the VR aspect, Farpoint would be a very average quality SPF, not surprising, classic and no real epic phase or surprise. It's stupid to say it like that, as the game was developed 100% for virtual reality, the latter bringing immensely in immersion obviously, but it's the reality:

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Long and complete, check

To speak more precisely of the content elsewhere, know that the solo campaign easily lasts 6-8 hours, but that the game offers in addition to other game modes that are interesting and really increase the interest and duration of life. First there is the Challenge mode, which offers you a real race to the points with online rankings to the key. Roughly, we tumble in levels taking the environments of the campaign, cut by checkpoints that add time to the counter, the goal being to make a maximum of points thanks to a multiplier principle, until the stopwatch gets to zero. Simple, effective, and as I said above, there is a real room for improvement in the management of weapons and enemies, as well as

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The other extra mode, particularly nice too, is an online coop mode also simple and effective. We find ourselves a partner and then we start at one of the levels (again inspired by the scenery of the campaign) to face waves and waves of enemies, then progress, little by little, towards the point of extraction . This mode also offers leaderboards, to make the beautiful, and the network code seemed very correct. The matchmaking has been a little long for us, but the game has just been released and should be relatively successful, so there is not necessarily to worry, especially since you can obviously invite a friend directly rather than waiting for a stranger.

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If it were not playable in VR, Farpoint would be a rather average and basic FPS, which despite its atmosphere and its friendly story would not compete with the competition ... but it is in VR, at 100%, and Once the helmet on the head and the Aim Controller in hand, believe us, it makes all the difference. What we lose in originality, intensity, or new ideas, we are made cash in sensations and immersion. The gameplay is excellent, shoot phases hyper satisfactory, in short: it progresses with pleasure in the single-player campaign and we want to strive on the Coop and Challenges modes for hours. In other words, we really feel the possibility of doing much better in the future, to perfect all that, but Farpoint
still succeeds in giving us a "real big game" in VR. All this is too rare today to not make it an essential PlayStation VR alongside Resident Evil 7 . It's more than encouraging, so definitely more!

WE LIKE	WE DO NOT LIKE
* Successful atmosphere, interesting story...	* ... but whose end disappoints.
* A "real" VR game, long and complete.	* Still simplistic and repetitive for a modern FPS.
* Excellent shooting sensations.	* One boss in the middle of the game
* Achievement very satisfactory for a VR game.	* A sniper rifle without zoom?
* A long campaign (6-8h) and intense.	* Much less cool at the controller, it is worth a real Aim Controller.
* Challenge modes and especially Coop 'online, which lengthen the interest.

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