Hey everyone!
Cas here.
And I finished Marvel’s Iron Man VR this week on the PSVR!
So this video is my final review of the game.
Full disclosure: Thanks to PlayStation for providing us a review copy of the game.
In this video, I won’t spoil the main story, but I am going to describe the story using
the description on the PlayStation Store.
I will also share my thoughts on the gameplay mechanics, like what the flying and combat
mechanics feel like and I will pick apart what a mission looks like but without telling
you what these missions entail exactly.
Hopefully, this spoils as little as possible and gives you a good overview of the game
so you can decide for yourself if you want to buy it!
Please do stick around until the end of the video to hear my recommendation.
If you like to see more videos like this one, subscribe if you haven’t yet.
And now, join me beyond reality.
Marvel’s Iron Man VR is a new PlayStation VR action/adventure game by Camouflaj.
In this game, you suit up as the Armored Avenger Iron Man.
The story is original and is set in a time where Tony Stark has retired from making weapons
and instead creates technology to battle evil as Iron Man.
However, Tony is attacked by a mysterious hacker, and anti-corporate activist called
Ghost, who repurposes old Stark Industries weapons.
Ghost attacks Stark’s corporate locations around the world, which leads to ever-escalating
stakes and a final showdown.
The game was released on July 3rd, 2020, and to play the game, you need the PS Move controllers
and the PS VR headset of course.
Iron Man VR is a PlayStation exclusive, and you can buy the standard edition for 40 US
dollars.
There’s also a deluxe edition for 50 dollars that includes some in-game extras.
Let’s start with what I think of the story.
The main story is fully narrated.
Voice actor Josh Keaton narrates Tony Stark, and he does a fine job of portraying Tony,
he actually reminds me of the Tony Stark from the movies.
I also thought all voice actors in this game did an excellent job.
Familiar characters will come by, and a new character is introduced named Gunsmith, who
is an AI hologram, weapon specialist, and an exact copy of Tony Stark from his more
reckless years.
So you still kind of feel like you are interacting with Tony Stark in the game even though you
play as him as well, which is interesting.
Iron Man’s origin is also covered a little and is familiar for those who might know the
story already.
The campaign story is original, as I mentioned before.
The story has a similar approach as you may recognize from Marvel’s superhero movies:
so lots of action combined with comedy, and that makes it enjoyable throughout.
Of course, it helps that Tony’s character is just very witty, and he will always have
funny comments on everything that happens.
If you like the movies, I think you’ll like the story in this game too.
At the start of the game, you’ll get a tutorial, and straight away, you’ll suit up to learn
how to fly.
And I have to say, this feels incredible.
It’s just like how I imagined flying in the Iron Man suit would be.
This is what you have to do.
You hold the trigger buttons on the Move controllers to engage the thrusters, and by moving your
arms beside you with your palms up, you can fly up.
If you want to move forward, make sure the thrusters are aimed towards your back.
Then to steer to a direction you want to go, you use a combination of hand movements and
your gaze.
It all felt very natural to me and easy enough to pick up.
Soon you’ll also learn how to combat in the game, which mostly consists of punching
and shooting.
You have the familiar Iron Man repulsors that shoot energy from the palm of your hands.
Then you have hidden weapon slots in your arms as well, which you can equip with different
weapons that you can unlock later in the game.
This can be missiles, or bombs, and you’ll get a special that you will probably recognize
;). All have distinct advantages, but I’ll leave that to you to discover.
At some point you have to figure out more intricate maneuvers, like shooting with one
hand and flying with the other.
These things feels very satisfying to pull off.
There is no doubt that the flying and combat mechanics are an absolute blast (pardon the
pun) in this game.
It feels well thought out and it just makes you feel awesome.
Thankfully, these mechanics are a major part of the game.
The game consists of 12 chapters, where each chapter usually begins with an introduction
and briefing with Tony’s AI holograms that should give you an idea of what the next mission
is about.
After that, you will be free to explore Tony’s garage, which resides in his famous mansion
in Malibu.
The garage acts as the central hub where you can prepare for your missions.
Here, you can get upgrades for your suit or read up about enemies.
In this garage, you are not wearing the Iron Man suit.
There are several places in the game that is out-of-the-suit gameplay, and this is where
the game is lacking in freedom of movement.
In these places, you can only teleport to fixed spots.
However, there are usually multiple points to discover per place at least, and there’s
always something to interact with.
You might find it fun to get that extra back story info.
But, unfortunately, there isn’t more freedom to explore while on foot.
But back to the missions, once you’re ready, you can pick a destination at a globe in the
garage to start your mission.
You will then be transported to a loading screen, which feels like an eternity (in reality,
some are a few minutes).
This can probably be optimized or is a PS4 limitation.
Not a huge deal, but there are so many that it does get me distracted.
Thankfully, the devs does show game tips and a little bit of interaction here to make the
waiting less boring.
When finally loaded, you’ll be in a new destination, which can be different cities
around the world.
The missions start with a neat animation where the mask is put on your face, and the head-up
display is loaded on-screen.
This looks and feels cool every time.
Especially since you’re wearing a VR headset and that makes it feel like you’re actually
wearing the mask.
Once suited up, you are free to fly how you want.
Every mission has sky combat, where it’s up to you to use your weapons effectively
against various enemies.
Most of them are drones, but there are ground units too.
The combat can feel a little repetitive.
But the game keeps it interesting when you start to learn how to customize your suit
to use the right strategy per enemy to be effective.
And you have some freedom here.
It’s just that if the thing you plan on doing, works, you feel epic.
This is why sky combat is where I had the most fun.
There are smaller objectives to do during a mission, which are not very challenging
as it’s very scripted.
Though, it can make the mission feel a little different each time.
And most objectives relies on how good you are with the flying mechanics, which is the
most fun part of the game anyway.
This, combined with some surprises, and the boss appearances are enough to keep the game
interesting throughout.
Some of the missions are more story-driven, some are more combat-focused.
Most missions are in different locations.
Only a few are in the same areas, which I didn’t mind at all as it lends well to the
story.
The destinations you go to look good and feel grand, although I’ve seen better graphics
and it would prob look better with a headset with a better display.
At the end of each mission, your score gets calculated, and based on that; you earn research.
With research, you can craft new upgrades for your suit to help in your next missions.
Iron Man VR may lack a little in the immersion part.
But I think that’s mostly because of the limitations of the PlayStation VR.
For example, as you reach your objectives, you are almost always asked to turn back to
the front of your play area to face the camera, unless you play differently, and you use snap
turning, for example.
This warning message often reminds me of my real-life environment.
But I don’t want to focus too much on PSVR limitations in this review because I’m impressed
with what the devs have done even with these limitations.
For example: surprisingly, when I’m flying and blasting around, I can comfortably turn
360 degrees without any warning messages or tracking loss, and that’s how I like to
play the game!
I tried playing with snap turning too, but I didn’t like playing that way.
Even though PlayStation doesn’t recommend turning away from the camera, it worked exceptionally
well.
I guess I am still impressed that this works so well with only one camera in front of you.
The pro is that when I let myself turn 360 degrees, not only am I better at sky combat;
it also makes it very immersive.
It makes me forget that I’m flying standing up, even though Iron Man never does that in
the movies.
As I mentioned before, the out-of-the-suit gameplay is less immersive with the node-based
teleportation movement.
Still, in these places, it does help a little that the voice actors do an excellent job
and that the character animations made them feel life-like.
As for comfort, I am surprised at how comfortable the game is.
There are a couple of comfort options in the settings; two vignette options: turn vignette
and impact vignette.
I had the turn vignette off and impact vignette on the low settings.
For turns, I had instant snap turns on at 45 degrees in case I needed it.
And I never felt motion sick.
Of course, this is very personal, but I do think the devs did a great job here.
I was worried I might get sick from this game, especially when I bump onto stones or buildings
(which happened a lot).
I felt fine, though.
Maybe it is because of the prominent heads-up display that’s always in your face when
you’re suited up that may act as a countermeasure for motion sickness?
I don’t know, but this is good.
So I only played the campaign mode, which took me a little less than 7 hours.
However, I’m sure you can spend more time in this game as I did not unlock everything,
like the suit upgrades.
In between missions, you can dive back into levels to do extra challenges.
This can be flight or combat trials that reward you with more research points.
I didn’t do that because I wanted to finish the story for this review.
At the end of the main story, more challenges are added for you to explore as well.
I am still not bored of the game yet, so I’ll probably jump back in some time to check that
out.
To conclude this video, I think the game’s core mechanics with the flying and the sky
combat are very well done.
I did wish that the parts on-foot, so without the suit, were as well thought out though.
However, as the flying is the thing that you do the most in the game and probably is what
you want the game for, it makes up for what it lacks and keeps the game entertaining all
the way through.
So, it is not perfect, but in my opinion, the developers did a great job at making a
fun and well-paced story-driven, action-adventure game.
So I think Marvel’s Iron Man VR is a game that any fan of the Armored Avenger would
enjoy.
Go check it out if you doubted it.
So that’s Iron Man VR.
You may have noticed that it’s been a while since I’ve done any PlayStation VR games.
That was because it was a bit time consuming getting the recording setup ready in our living
room.
However, I finally found the time to move this setup into our home studio right here, so I’m
hoping to cover more PSVR games in the future again.
Leave us a like def if you’d like to see more review videos like this one or just enjoyed this one.
And let us know if you’d recommend the Iron Man VR and why in the comments below.
I’d love to know.
And watch another video okay?
Stay Safe!
Thanks again to PlayStation for providing us a review copy of the game.
And a special thanks goes to all our Patrons & Right-Hand Patron BaxornVR, support him
supporting us and check out his VR YouTube channel!
As always, VR on!