Reposted on Wednesday, January 29, 2020: We're bringing this review back from the archives following the announcement of February's PlayStation Plus lineup. The original text follows.
We don't know if they are brave or stupid, but the developers will insist on releasing online multiplayer games only for PlayStation VR. Luckily for Firewall Zero Hour, it's one of the best attempts yet, but it's still plagued by the long timeouts that have plagued titles like StarBlood Arena and Sparc in the past.
We're not beating around the bush here: First Contact Entertainment was heavily inspired by Rainbow Six: Siege. Of course, there are worse muses than Ubisoft's tactical first-person shooter, and that unforgiving style of play feels right at home in VR; you can actively peek out of cover and check your corners, while performing the exact same moves you would in real life.
The release was designed with PSVR Aim Controller support in mind, and it's a pleasure to use Sony's weapon-shaped peripheral again. There are some tracking issues, but the prop is adequately represented in 3D space, and aiming your virtual sights a la Farpoint is still new even after a year and a few changes. The DualShock 4 is also supported, but it drifts badly and just doesn't provide the same tactile experience.
The gameplay is as unforgiving as you'd expect it to be, with a limited time to kill and no respawns. Matches are therefore exhilaratingly tense, as you listen to footsteps and watch the distance in hopes of blasting opponents. Teamwork is essential, and the tiny community is pleasant and resourceful at this early stage.
But finding allies isn't as simple as it could be, and the developer has its work cut out for it to keep lobbies populated going forward. There's token content in single-player, but it comes in the form of training, and you can also play co-op against the uninspiring AI, but it's in competitive four-on-four battles that the format shines.
Unfortunately, the studio didn't really help themselves. Fights are limited to simple cases, which means you can find yourself dead and buried in 60 seconds. While you have the option to help your teammates afterwards by watching a camera feed from the map, you'll be back in the lobby in five hours, and if someone leaves, you've got a hold on your hands.
With so much time spent in the halls, it would be nice if the rounds lasted longer. We like the lack of respawns, but maybe a best-of-three structure would give you a bit more playtime before you're forced back to those irritating wait screens. The delays are most infuriating when the host quits and you completely lose connection to the lobby.
A ranking system and hearty selection of cosmetic unlocks keep you playing beyond satisfying the loop itself, and each of the title's generic military contractors comes with a unique ability, like a grenade additional hand or an additional magazine of ammunition. You can even unlock a second perk, allowing you to customize your protagonist a bit.
The character art is as nondescript as it gets, with each “personality” coming with a story paragraph designed to explain their backstory. We appreciate the effort, but the environments are the visual vantage points, providing claustrophobic but nicely detailed backdrops for you to take photos of. A rainy shipyard is a particular highlight, but they all look decent if a bit empty.
The best part of the game is how it lets you intuitively interact with your teammates using gestures along with the motion controls. You can, for example, push your weapon forward and nod your head to show which direction you're moving, and it's all tracked and reflected in-game. It's a little weird, but VR really adds a lot to this type of experience.
But if she can't cultivate a community, then it's all going to be for naught. Technical glitches can be cleaned up with a bit of server maintenance and a patch — heck, even pesky rounds can be fixed with an update or two. But if there aren't enough players, it has nothing else to offer, and we're skeptical even at this early stage.
Conclusion
There's no doubt that Firewall Zero Hour's tactical combat works well in VR – in fact, the nascent medium adds a lot to this FPS, allowing you to naturally gesture to teammates and intuitively check your corners from a way you couldn't on a standard display. But while there are some structural and technical issues that First Contact Entertainment will be able to address, it's the question marks over its community that make the sale difficult. It's a catch-up situation which is unfortunate for everyone involved, but it's something the developer would have been aware of when they set out to create an online-only multiplayer shooter for a game. installation base of a few million helmets. As good as the game is, it's something you should also keep in mind.
Not bad 6/10
Scoring policy
Review of copy provided by Sony Computer Entertainment
