Superhot

Hi, you have to try this. It's the most innovative shooter in years. What? As far as I can tell you're legally obligated to put that in your review. With the cringey meme out of the way, I want to acknowledge that while it is a slight overstatement, they're not as wrong about it as you might think. This does borrow elements from elsewhere. Bullet Time from the Max Payne trilogy, dumping empty firearms from Kane and Lynch Dog Days, and probably others.

And yet it overall feels fresh. I don't know anything quite like this. This manages to be very quick and easy to learn, and deceptively complex. There is no HUD, you can only carry one weapon at a time so if you're not seeing one in your hands that means you don't have one, there is no reloading, everyone dies from one bullet, and when you aren't moving, anything else either isn't or it's only going extremely slowly.

The stylized graphics help you focus and give this a unique look. You can immediately tell what something is just from the one solid color covering it at a glance. Let's go through them. White? Impassable, don't bother trying to go through it. Red? Enemy, they'll keep trying to put you down until you take them out.

Black? It's something you can use to hurt others(and all of these are quite breakable, and can be destroyed or caught in midair, and considering that foes will release their grip on them, sending them flying or falling, this is extremely convenient for you), so it's either melee or a gun, you can tell which from the shape, either can be thrown(though the physics for that basically make up my one criticism because they are not quite dependable), and once the clip is empty that's what you'll want to do.

All of this is important to keep in mind, and it almost immediately becomes second nature. I've seen others say that this was the first time that they felt like they were in a Hollywood movie shootout, and I 100% agree. This could so easily make you feel overpowered, since you have so much control over the flow of time, or the opposite, since ultimately you can lose very suddenly, sometimes even if you are tremendously careful. But it strikes a perfect balance between the two.

Levels take you through all kinds of different areas. A bar, an office building, an alley, a subway station with a moving train, etc. Early on you might find yourself thinking that these feel completely separate from one another. When you complete one, you immediately find yourself in the new one afterwards. There is no connective tissue. This is purposeful, and you will come to suppose why.

Over the course of this a number of questions are raised. While I can only speak for myself, I was completely satisfied with the answers, both in quantity and level of detail, and I will not be explaining that further because it is simply something you've got to see for yourself.

There is a wonderful meta element to the storytelling. This opens with you receiving the game itself. The menu is made to appear like a classic pre-windows operating system. This does not have cutscenes and anytime where and you have control stripped away from you, you are made painfully aware that that is what is happening. It does not break format.

After a while, you find yourself wondering if there is any plot here because it seems so random. And then the character you play as literally types that in chat, to the person that sent you Superhot! It even prompts you to write something, though you can't actually choose what comes out. And then it goes and points that out.

This explores some extremely important and relevant themes that I will not give away. The conclusion is pitch perfect. After a while you may realize where it's going, and it has that Grecian tragedy thing going on, where you are powerless to stop the obvious negative outcome to at least part of this. My jaw dropped more than once due to this.

It frustrates me to see some user reviewers say that it is bad that this does not let you affect the ending you get. I think it's time to admit that we've gotten spoiled on that. Don't get me wrong. I love when I get to choose how one of these comes to a close. It is something that I can hardly get enough of in stuff like the Deus Ex franchise and some of the Kyle Katarn titles.

With that said, it is not something that works for every entry in this medium, and we should not treat it as something that we are owed. I definitely think it would have been wrong for this. On the other hand, I do appreciate those who say that it is pretentious. I will not argue that point, honestly probably I'm just the sort of person for whom that works. This does not mean that it is wrong if you are not.

Some say that this is too brief. I would argue it is appropriate. It is long enough that it makes an impact, short enough that it does not overstay its welcome. I might have felt my money was wasted if I paid full price for this. Not sure how much that says though, because that tends to be the case when I don't get something severely discounted, as was the case with this.

I respect those who simply do not get into the unlockables. Those being the self explanatory Endless and the Challenge modes. Both at least partially take place in the same environments as before. The latter features various rule sets that completely change the experience. I love it, I get why others do not. Violence is PG13 because you don't see blood or gore, rather, only crystals instead. Strongly recommended. 8/10.

Superhot will never win any awards for beauty, with it's red people, white backgrounds and black interactables in fact it's quite ugly in places. The sound is blips and blops but for reasons explained in it's thin plot. But it's the concept that sets it apart from the rest and is really something quite special.

In this unique first person shooter time moves immensely slowly when you are prone and only speeds up when you move or perform an action. This gives you the chance to think about your next move, look around for things to grab, weapons to pick up while new enemies spawn on a timer.

The weapons are highly minimal in that there are only a handful, and truth be told the game has very little content including a very short storymode but honestly it didn't "Need" more.

The levels are fun, addictive and as I mentioned highly original and a joy to play. The wrap around however between stages is quite migraine inducing and really ruined much of the experience for me.

Because of it's concept Superhot overcomes its flaws and is a really enjoyable title but I find myself hoping this is just the start of a potentially amazing franchise. If they iron out this games issues, add a bit more content and pad the game out the next should be even better.

The Good

The concept is genius

Very addictive

The Bad

Very little actual content

Not enough enemy/weapon variety

The wrap around is awful

Things I learnt from this game:

The mind is software

I am being watched

Obey

Superhot VR is a splendid awe-inspiring blend of the Matrix and John Wick. Dodging bullets in slow-mo in VR makes you feel legendary. This thought only is more then enough to make this game your next PSVR must-buy.

There isn't much of a story to go on in Superhot VR. You're inside a run-down apartment room with the only source of light being your monitors and you are forced to go through a series of trails to "prove your dedication." You also know nothing of your main protagonist either, adding a sense of mystery in the game. However after the 3 hour campaign, I was still just as uncertain of why these bizarre events were happening. It would of been very useful to understand our protagonist and why he's doing these tests. But hopefully this is covered up in the original Superhot.

However, the gameplay is the main star of the show in Superhot VR. You stay in the same spot all the time in Superhot VR, but like in the original version of the game, time only moves when you move, which I find to be a very entertaining game mechanic as it makes you feel like a god but also makes you alert and more careful because even though enemies die in a single hit, so do you. Physically moving your body and head in VR to pick up weapons with the required move controllers and dodging bullets or slicing them in half using a knife and watching red glass heads explode in slow-mo feels incredible and makes Superhot VR a reference quality transfer to virtual reality. But like virtual reality itself, it's got to be seen to be believed. I haven't played normal Superhot yet, but after playing Superhot VR, I'm not sure I want to. But the gameplay does have flaws on the PSVR. Since Superhot VR is a game where you have to move around a lot, tracking with the PlayStation Camera can go haywire at the worst possible moments, resulting in some frustrating deaths. In addition to this, throwing objects in VR can be hit or miss when your using your hands and checkpoint are quite far apart from each other meaning if you die at the very last part of a segment, you will be forced to play that segment again from the beginning, which can also get frustrating, especially if the tracking is at fault. However, due to the amazing gameplay I can look past these flaws and still have a blast.

Superhot VR also has a unique look to it as well. All the environments you'll be fighting in are all white but enemies are a red colour and everything you can pick up and use as a weapon are in black. This art style is very effective because I was never confused on what was a weapon or enemy and what wasn't which is really useful in a game where a split second of indecision can cost you your life. There are a wide array of weapons at your disposal, from wine bottles to shotguns. Smart players will probably grab a weapon such as a gun or knife and a shield like a saucepan to block incoming shots, adding a new level of tactic. However, white, red and black colours do look kind of muted on the PlayStation VR which is likely to be expected due to the PlayStation VR's limited graphical process. I've played this game on the standard PS4 so I'm not sure as to how it looks on the PS4 Pro.

Sound is also used really well. The 3D audio in VR allows you to recognise exactly where shots are coming from, making playing with headphones a must. Hearing the unknown announcer say the words "Super... Hot" at a checkpoint feels well earned after a tense encounter as the words constantly pop up to where you look.

There's also a lot to challenge yourself to once you finish story mode. There are a wide range of challenges from speed runs, hardcore, headshots only, completing the game without dying, endless and of course, playing story mode again. However, I wished that there was a way to exit the story mode at any time and that I didn't have to complete the story mode just to get my choice in what I played. The modes are all labelled on these big memory cards on your desk which are kinda of tricky to see in such a dark room and you physically pick them up to put them into your computer. However, I wished I could put my choices down again instead of having to insert them into the computer to let them go and change my mind by inserting the card I wanted. I could drop things easily when I was playing, why couldn't I do it here? Despite all these shortcomings, I found Superhot VR to be one of the best purchases I've ever made for my PlayStation VR. At just £20, I think you get more then your money's worth as Superhot VR's challenging additional modes will keep you coming back for more. This game is an absolutely must if you own a PlayStation VR! 9/10

Incredible game with a great concept and it plays very well aswell . Would recommend as it is not very expensive (£15 at most)

The Most Innovative Shooter I've Played in Years

The Most Innovative Shooter I've Played in Years

The Most Innovative Shooter I've Played in Years

The Most Innovative Shooter I've Played in Years

The Most Innovative Shooter I've Played in Years

In all seriousness though, this is an excellent game with a highly original concept. I do wish that the intentionally stripped narrative had been a bit more fulfilling and "complete" than it was, I do wish there were more levels, and I wish they had done more with this concept, but what is there is solid, satisfying, addictive, and fun.