Blasters of the Universe for the PSVR gives you a gun, a shield, and sends you to first person, VR bullet hell. You will fight the army of a digital emperor while firing and dodging thousands of projectiles. On paper, it may not sound like it works, but the game is pretty fun.
The story is light, and the developers wisely didn’t overdo it. Your enemy in the digital world was an egotistical arcade hero in the 90s who uploaded his mind into virtual reality. He built digital troops, gave himself the pompous title of Grand Master Alwyn, and hits you with dated insults as you beat him.
You will cut him down to size over four levels, and each level can be played in Hell or Casual difficulty. I played them both, and casual does not necessarily mean easy. There are times when the screen is covered with reddish-orange dots, and five hits are all that separate you from restarting and beating the end boss of every level.
The difficulty can be a little uneven, but you can expect to die when you first start playing. You can be focused on your left only to get hit from your right, in front, above you, or all at the same time. If you don’t kill the enemies on-screen quickly enough, new enemies will join them. Every enemy has unique movement and attack patterns.
My body has been finely honed by years of working in a sit-down job, so I worked up a sweat while playing Blasters of the Universe. Even though only your head can take damage, I had to duck, lean left and right, and twist my body to avoid one more hit.
Fortunately, you can give as good as you get. Using the Move controllers, you have a shield in one hand and a gun in the other. There are multiple shield types, and the gun has as many as 130,000 customization combinations. These options unlock as you play through the levels.
Mixing and matching weapon parts in the armory really lets you pick how you want to play. You can pick different barrels, clips, frames, and ammo types. All of these are balanced out by how quickly you can reload with how quickly you can fire with the amount of damage you cause.
Each component choice is visible on your gun and can be tested against the static targets in the armory. When you unlock all the parts, there really is no best choice, and I liked being able to choose what was best for me through trial and error.
The visuals and music are appropriately neon and electronic, and there is a feeling of being in a Tron-like world. It’s colorful and the levels all reflect some part of his 90s-influenced world, including the goofy parts of the final boss.
If you beat the game, there are two other modes to enjoy. Endless mode puts you in one of the four levels and keeps throwing enemies at you until you die. Everything is scored, and there are leaderboards for bragging rights with your friends.
The Challenge mode will be updated regularly, so that players will always have something new. When I played, they gave me two different guns, no shield, and no special. I did not place highly on the leaderboards, but it opens up opportunities for more variations on the gameplay.
None of them are horrible, but Blasters of the Universe does have a few negatives in its movement. If you are going to play, you will need a little extra room to maneuver. It’s easy to move far to the left or right when dodging so be extra mindful of your space.
The other issue is that the cord on the PSVR also got in my way. I pulled out the connectors once by stepping on them and generally tugged at them here or there. I may be a bit more rowdy than you when playing, but be aware that it can be a problem.
Blasters of the Universe for the PSVR drops you into the middle of bullet hell. With tons of gun customizations, two difficulties, an endless mode, and an updated challenge mode, there is more than enough fun here to recommend it. Just don’t blame us when you dodge into your favorite lamp.
Blasters of the Universe PS4 Review
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Overall - Very Good - 7.9/107.9/10
Summary
Blasters of the Universe brings something new to the PSVR with its VR bullet hell concept, and the game works well. The guns have plenty of customization options, enabling you to adapt your weapon to your personal style. Grand Master Alwyn and his forces are challenging in casual and hell difficulties, and the extra modes give a shorter game a little replayability.
If you are looking for something a little different and have some extra room to move, give Blasters of the Universe a try.
Review Disclaimer: This review was carried out using a digital copy of the game provided by the publisher. For more information, please read our Review Policy.
Reviewed using base PS4 and PSVR.
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