Review: Ancient Amuletor – PS4/PSVR

There’s no shortage of shooters on the PSVR at this point, for better or for worse. Ancient Amuletor is one of the latest to release on Sony’s futuristic headset, and you know what? I like it. I really do.
There’s a common complaint online about static shooters – basically shooting galleries – but I think Ancient Amuletor does just enough to stand out from the crowd. That being said, I’m not one of those people who complains about shooting gallery games. Heck, one of my favourite PSVR titles is Dick Wilde.
So, let’s get on with what’s good, what’s not good, and everything else in between.

Ancient Amuletor is a PSVR game, so you’re going to need the headset. I know I mention this in just about every PSVR review, but the amount of emails I receive asking if VR games can be played sans headset tells me that it’s a necessary step in a review. You’ll also need two PS Move wand controllers. There’s no option to play with the PSVR Aim controller, and your DualShock 4 is useless here. Two Move wands are required, else you’re just going to be wasting your money.
The reason you need to two of the Move wands is that each of the game’s characters (referred to as heroes) have abilities which require two hands. So you’ve got the gunner who wields two mini-shotguns, the sage and his magic spellbook and wand thing, the archer, and the puppeteer. Each hero uses different weapons to different results. Most players will likely jump straight in with the gunner as it’s the most familiar to us all, but you do have the option to chance hero at a moment’s notice, even if you’re in the middle of the game. Nice touch, I thought.

Ancient Amuletor is a first-person tower-defence game. So your job is to kill the bad guys before they can make their way to your main tower. Simple enough, right? That’s what I thought when I first booted the game up, but within a few minutes I was a panicked mess with no clue what to do. See, while you can’t run around in Ancient Amuletor, you can teleport to other platforms. It’s from these vantage points that you’ll defend your towers. While it may seem easy enough to just pick a tower with the best view of the map, that just doesn’t work. Each weapon that our heroes possess have only a limited range, so you need to be aware of where the bad guys are coming in from. It adds a nice little layer of tactical play that’s not found in other static shooters, and it’s even more so relevant when you’re playing online with others as you’ll be shouting out where the enemies are coming from, where you’re going to cover, and who should play as which character.
Multiplayer is really where Ancient Amuletor shines. I had the chance to go online for a few rounds with a variety of people. It was refreshing going from one game to another with different people and finding new ways to beat the different levels. Plus, some of the achievements can only be obtained by playing online co-op, so it’s a necessity for trophy hunters.
Tracking is a big issue in some games, and with PSVR releases it can break or make the experience. I’m happy to say that Ancient Amuletor’s tracking is, for the most part, spot-on. Whether you’re firing off rounds from the dual muskets or doing your best Katniss impression with the bow and arrow, the tracking doesn’t let you down. I only had a couple of instances where I had to re-calibrate so that my guns weren’t poking out of where my virtual head would be, so count me impressed on that note.

The biggest challenge that I found with Ancient Amuletor wasn’t how skilful I was, but how much stamina I had. Strange, no? Hear me out and I’ll explain. There’s a fair bit of physicality required for some of the characters. The gunner is pretty simple in that you just point, shoot, and then flip the wands upwards to reload. However, other heroes need a bit more action in the arms. Take the archer as an example: you need to be constantly lifting your arms up, pulling back, and aiming over and over again. It can be draining after a while, but there’s a satisfaction in doing it that you just don’t get from simply point and pressing the trigger.
While Ancient Amuletor does a lot right, it’s not without its flaws. Thankfully they’re not in the gameplay department, but they are still flaws none-the-less. The first is the amount of content. There’s only four maps spread out across two different themed arenas. It won’t take you too long to get through all of the available levels, plus their respective boss battles, so you’re looking at around 2-3 hours of single-player content before you’ve done everything. There is an endless mode that unlocks once you’ve completed the game, but it’s essentially more of the same. I guess the multiplayer is where you’ll get more bang for your valuable buck, but that’s dependent on whether you can find anyone to play with. As if the case with a lot of PSVR releases, multiplayer games tend not to have that many people online. Your best bet is to find some friends online and organise some games.

On a technical note, Ancient Amuletor is great. Considering that I only played on the PS4 Slim and not the Pro, the game looked wonderful throughout. The various enemies marched along with solid animation cycles while the arenas themselves looked clean and really clear, though enemies from afar did tend to look a little blurry due to the PSVR’s limited capabilities in the resolution department. The most impressive aspect for me was the first boss battle. I’m not ashamed to say that I was just a teensy bit scared as this 50ft Egyptian rock monster started swinging his big arse hands at me, though he wasn’t too difficult to defeat, it was still an impressive moment that made me feel very, very small and vulnerable – something I’m not used to in the real world.
Despite the shortage of game modes and maps, I’d say that I’m still up for going online whenever the chance allows. I’ve got around seven hours logged so far, so I’d consider that decent value for money when compared to some other PSVR releases.

Ancient Amuletor PSVR Review

• 7.9/10
  Overall - Very Good - 7.9/10

7.9/10

Summary

Ancient Amuletor may look like just another shooting gallery cobbled together for the PSVR, but once you look a little deeper you’ll find a tactical shooter with a surprising amount of depth. It’s best played online with a few mates, mind you, as the single-player will only keep you going for as long as the campaign lasts, which isn’t all that long, unfortunately.