Firewall Zero Hour is considered one of the best PlayStation VR games ever created and easily has the biggest fanbase out there. When the sequel/reboot was revealed for PlayStation VR2, a lot of fans were waiting to see how much the new hardware would push their favorite game into even more realism. Firewall Ultra certainly tries to be a successful squad-based shooter in virtual reality but sadly doesn’t always work as well as it should.
Welcome in the training room
Where most VR games impress with a bombastic and immersive opening scene, Firewall Ultra just drops you into the training room. Since it’s a multiplayer-focused game I didn’t really mind that at first as it made sense for me to learn the ropes before I entered the online matches. In the training room, you’ll walk around freely and experiment with the weapons, both guns and throwables. It’s here where my first doubts started to rise. As a VR game, I would expect true immersion. If I want to reload my gun, I want to do it with my virtual hands. If I want to throw a grenade, I want to swing my arm in that direction, just like I would do in real life. Makes sense for a VR game, right? Well, for some reason, a lot of those actions require a button instead of a movement. Want to reload your weapon? Just push a button. Want to throw a grenade, just push a button. Want to open a door? … Well you get the idea. It’s a strange decision to lock most actions behind buttons if you want to deliver a realistic and immersive first-person shooter, which Firewall Ultra should want to deliver of course. It really doesn’t make sense that the developers decided to ignore the power of the PSVR2 Sense controllers. Other games demonstrated how immersive and responsive those controllers are so I’m just flabbergasted by the lack of realistic motion control. Sure, the team did promise they will add an Ultra Mode somewhere down the line which will enable you to manually reload your gun but the game needs a lot more immersion than just that.
Everything you do in Firewall Ultra feels wonky and slow. Walking around by moving your left stick is okay but the way you change your direction of sight with the right stick is too harsh, really making it uncomfortable to move around and play the game much longer than 30 minutes. The controls and movements just aren’t there although the team did try to innovate by adding eye-tracking to the mix. As one of the PS VR2’s main features, I love the attempt to do something new. The game tracks your eyes to make aiming down your sight as realistic as possible. By closing one eye while aiming, you can shoot your game with great accuracy, which feels realistic and fun. There are some more examples like closing your eyes when the enemy throws a flash grenade to minimize the damage. Fun ideas that work well most of the time but it’s not enough to really save the game in my opinion.
The matches
But what about the actual matches? Well, those are fun on paper but are being held back by the controls and lack of variation. If you are playing with a squad that communicates, there’s a lot of fun but the multiplayer matchmaking makes you wait for way too long. I get it, the user base of the game probably isn’t that big but waiting in between sessions easily takes a couple of minutes, which isn’t helping the overall experience. Since it’s a VR game, you’re limited in your time while playing because you can’t really overstay your welcome in a virtual environment without getting dizzy, that’s the case for me at least. I want my VR games to be immersive and fast-paced so I don’t start noticing the downsides of being in VR for too long. Sadly, the matchmaking and connecting with the server could have been a lot faster.
Once you’re in and you’re playing, you’ll certainly have a good time if the controls aren’t buggy. It happened from time to time that I lost a couple of crucial seconds because swapping my gun in the menu wasn’t fast enough or I had trouble aiming down the sights due to the controls. A shame in a tactical shooting where timing is everything. While playing I really had a love-and-hate relationship with the game, when it worked, I had a blast and could look past the weird controls but most of the time there was always something withholding me from having a great time. I think the game could also truly benefit from more content, the maps aren’t bad but they all look and feel rather the same so there’s more work needed in that department. The same can be said for more guns and gear, unlocking those takes ages and could use a more streamlined progress.
Conclusion:
In its current state, Firewall Ultra isn’t the game I hoped it to be. There are too many annoyances and I’m missing a lot of content. I do believe the foundations are there and if the developers decide to spend more time polishing the experience and add new content, this might eventually become one of the best PlayStation VR2 games out there. Sadly, the game still has a long way to go to reach that status.
