This holiday, Bethesda is leaning hard into some of their firmly established properties, with two Nintendo Switch ports and three VR games. Each one has been a solid hit so far, with both Doom and Skyrim being perfectly portable on the Switch. Skyrim VR has set a new standard for VR, showing us that anything is possible (see our review here). DOOM VFR, while not being a straight port like Skyrim VR, attempts to bring the fast fluid combat of 2016’s Doom to VR.
DOOM VFR has a new story that takes place during the original game, but it’s irrelevant and uninteresting. The character you play as narrates the experience, a big change from past DOOM games. It’s somewhat off-putting in VR having the character you’re controlling speak for you. VFR would have been better off by going even lighter on the story.
The main problem though, is with how you move. The game supports three controllers; the Dualshock 4, the PSVR Aim controller and the Move controllers.
The Move controllers for this game are downright terrible. The primary way of moving is through teleportation since the Moves do not have an analog stick. This is fine, except the game relies on you to pivot left and right and there are no incremental turns, just a 180 degree turn around. This makes movement feel extremely limited.
The PSVR Aim controller has better movement with its two analog sticks, but also feels very strange since the game is designed to have weapons in each hand. The compromise is an odd floating hand that moves with your head movements. It’s just as weird as it sounds. To the Aim’s credit, it was the most fluid feeling, but with that additional movement came some slight motion sickness.
Finally there’s the Dualshock 4, that sticks the aiming to head tracking. Though this was a good compromise between the two in regards to movement, aiming around frantically with your head isn’t ideal either. In the end, I found myself using the PSVR Aim the most but, in the end, none of the options felt great.
If you’re able to get past the controls, the gameplay really does feel like DOOM, but in VR! Demons running around you, grabbing, slashing and screeching are on a whole new level. Glory kills are now done through teleporting directly into staggering enemies, causing a fountain of blood around you that is actually quite satisfying. Though the combat can feel great at times, it can potentially make you motion sick pretty quickly. Seasoned VR players won’t have as much of an issue but, in long sessions, the game can be physically demanding – leaving you a bit queasy.
Recommendation: DOOM VFR looks like DOOM, and often feels like DOOM. Unfortunately, it is severely hampered by its controls. Though we haven’t played the game on the HTC Vive, it seems like the title would be much better suited for the Vive’s controllers since each of the PlayStation controllers have glaring compromises. If you’re okay with the compromises and are willing to potentially get a little sick, the demons of Hell have never been more real.
Make sure to check out our review of Skyrim VR
*DOOM VFR was provided to the reviewer by the publishing company but this fact did not alter the reviewer’s opinion*
