Review: EVE: Gunjack – PS4/PSVR

You move your head around and shoot bad guys. What? That’s literally EVE: Gunjack summed up into one single nine-word sentence. Of course that won’t do for the purpose of a review, so let me elaborate a bit and spin those nine words into a few hundred.
EVE: Gunjack is played entirely with the PSVR headset and one button on the DualShock 4 controller to fire from your turret. Your job is to fight off the attacking waves of enemies as they try to pinch whatever it is that your cargo ship is hauling across space. I think there’s a smidgen of a story somewhere in the game, but obviously nothing memorable as I can’t remember a single standout thing – aside from the voice of the commander whose instructions got old very quickly. Like, he’d say a different thing at the start of each mission, but after a few levels he’d be repeating himself. Not cool.

For a game that relies entirely on its tracking for movement and aiming, this is a make-or-break deal. Thankfully it’s all good, and EVE: Gunjack has some superbly fine tracking. Never did I once feel like it was lagging behind, nor did it feel especially awkward to be moving my head around to aim at enemy drones. It just felt, well, it felt natural. Strange, eh?
It’s not the deepest VR game on the market, but at around £7/$8, it’s certainly got enough going for it. There’s not that many levels, unfortunately, though there are a couple of special levels scattered between the main courses. These missions see you trying to survive as long as possible while asteroids come hurtling through space. It’s a little silly, but it’s all good fun and it just begs to be replayed for high score bragging rights.

That basically sums up EVE: Gunjack’s entire experience really. It’s short and sweet, though it’s simple enough to be able to have 10-15 minute sessions, drop out, play something else or do something else, then go back to it later. I found small little sessions between household chores were perfect, plus, it got me out of doing the housework.
Graphically, EVE: Gunjack isn’t doing anything particularly amazing with the hardware, but that’s not to say it doesn’t look good. It does, and even enemies swarming across the screen in their weird formations at a distance still manage to look quite clear. I’d also like to make a point in saying that, as someone who chundered on the first play of DriveClub VR, EVE: Gunjack didn’t induce any nausea for me. Well, actually, the first time I was strapped into the turret and it started moving backwards was a little weird, but other than that one occasion, it’s just been good old-fashioned fun. Any game that doesn’t force me to see my dinner again is a winner in my book.

EVE: Gunjack PS4/PSVR Review

• 7.5/10
  Overall - Very Good - 7.5/10

7.5/10

Summary

EVE: Gunjack may be a little on the short side, but for the cheapy cheap price, you can’t really complain. It’s a fun shooter that’s got a lot of replay value, not to mention some of the finest head-tracking on the PSVR. Best played in small bursts, and definitely not with a sore neck.