Developer The Secret Location is a newcomer to the industry and Blasters of the Universe is the first title of this studio. The studio normally focuses on 'creating content for new platforms' and Blasters of the Universe has started as an experiment. With that information in mind, I did not expect Blasters of the Universe to be a really nice title. That assumption turned out to be a big mistake. Blasters of the Universe is one of the, if not the greatest, shooters that you can buy for PlayStation VR right now.
Bullet hell!
Blasters of the Universe is a so-called first-person bullet hell VR shooter and as far as I know it is currently the only one in that genre for PlayStation VR. If you are an old-school gamer, then you can surely remember the shmups (shoot 'm ups) of the past. You often had to use a tiny spaceship to move through a scrolling screen from left to right (or from the bottom to the top) and shoot everything to pieces, while your ship got more and more firepower through all kinds of upgrades that you picked up on the way. Personally, it was always one of my favorite genres and every time a new Konami shooter (Nemesis!) Was released on the MSX, it meant weeks of fun. The shmup evolved and thus the sub-genre bullet hell (Danmaku) was born.
If you wanted to master a danmaku title, you had to be able to memorize complex patterns while destroying all the enemies in the same time you avoided bullets. The genre has unfortunately gone down for a large part - gamers are apparently no longer waiting for this kind of games. A great shooter like Nex Machina even sold so badly that arcade developer Housemarque decided to follow another path. Blasters of the Universe lends a lot of these old-fashioned shmups, but modernises the genre immediately by using VR; enemies spit on you from all sides the most crazy patterns. In one hand you have a shield that can protect you against a limited number of enemy bullets, in the other a modifiable rifle with which you have to disable all your enemies as quickly as possible. The hitbox is your head and only your head - and that is a good thing too.
Tron, He-Man and Stephen King?
When you start, you are greeted by a retro style that immediately reminds of the 1980s. The title obviously refers to Masters of the Universe - one of the best-known cartoons from the 80s - although the game does not use anything from that cartoon series. The story is wafer-thin and directly stolen from Tron combined with a touch of Stephen King's The Lawnmower Man. The arcade hero Alwyn is unbeatable and at some point he becomes the owner of his own virtual world. It's up to you to beat him. You have to do it further with regard to the story. The graphics are relatively simple and imbued with a neon color scheme that fits perfectly with the style that Blasters of the Universe is trying to put down.
Once you start the game, you start in the Armory - the place where you choose a shield and where you assemble your weapon. You start with a limited supply, but as you play more, more and more parts become available. The rifle consists of a total of five elements for which you can unlock all parts, varying from the body of the rifle to the type of ammunition. This is also one of the nicest aspects of the game, because as you keep getting better, it helps to experiment with different compositions. Some combinations work better than others. The shield offers less variation, because the shield is not adjustable, but you can choose from a number of different shields that all have different characteristics. For example, one shield is small.
Short but sweet
Blasters of the Universe knows (unfortunately) only four levels and that seems short but the replayability of each level is great. Each level introduces new enemies and new patterns. Combining different types of enemies that fire different bullet patterns at you appears to be the most challenging aspect of this game, because there is no way you can slow down the game to make it easier. Do you take too long to finish off a certain enemy and are you hit? Then you lose one heart out of a total of four. The game then slows down so that you can orientate yourself on your playing field, after which the action rages relentlessly. At any moment you have to look around to see if you have not missed an enemy who just happens to send you some bullets in your direction. Can you survive the madness of a level, Then you will be treated to the confrontation with the final boss. All four bosses are super cool and defeating a boss gives you a real kick.
In addition to the 'Story' mode, each level also has an Endless mode in which the high score (and the position on the online leader board) is central. In addition, every week a challenge is added by The Secret Location, where you have to complete a specific objective in the shortest possible time. You can choose between the two difficulty levels; Casual and Hell. And Casual is a misleading term, especially if you have little or no experience with the genre. Not to mention the idiot Hell variant. I would therefore also immediately recommend to first play the Casual difficulty level to build a general feeling for the game. Only then are you ready for the Hell mode. You have to avoid bullets in both modes (your shield does not last forever!
In no time at all, the sweat breaks you out, because you have to bend, rotate, swerve and crouch so much. Fortunately, the tracking in Blasters of the Universe works excellent which makes it a pleasure to play. It is certainly not perfect, but that is a problem that is due to the hardware and not to the title. Sometimes the image stutters for a while, but in all cases that was quite easy to solve by pausing the game and performing a recalibration. Not useful in a bullet hell VR shooter, but something you quickly take for granted because the game is so fun to play. Blasters of the Universe is also the first VR game where I found the cable of the VR headset annoying, but that too is a disadvantage of the hardware and not the fault of the game. In any case, it does not stop you from having fun.
So you need enough space to experience Blasters of the Universe in its full glory. The first time I played the game I did not notice it and soon I was stuck with the motion controllers everywhere. After shifting the table, chairs and other stuff, it quickly became a great experience. The game can also be played perfectly by left-handers, because you simply change the motion controllers. That seems trivial but it is not possible in every VR game (the DualShock 4 is not supported). The price of the game is relatively mild given the time you can spend on it - especially if you have a PSN subscription. The main downside is that we would have liked to see even more levels, even more bosses and even more difficult challenges because the game is so damned away.
Conclusion
Blasters of the Universe is a love letter to the shoot'm up arcade games of bygone times and the VR support modernizes this almost forgotten genre with verve. The game has only four levels and that is not much, but this disadvantage is compensated by the high difficulty and the high replayability of the levels. The tracking of the headset and the controllers works like a charm and the moment you do experience a problem, it is solved by recalibration. The game has a high 'one more time' content and is great to play. If you do not like physical exertion, then this game is not for you, because you'll have to work hard to finish the game on the 'Hell' difficulty level. Currently the game only costs €16.99 if you have a PSN subscription (regular price is €19.99) and if you like this genre and have PlayStation VR, then you owe it to yourself to purchase this title. Developer The Secret Location has delivered a wonderful first game with Blasters of the Universe and we want more!
Pros
➕ Fatty style
➕ Fat soundtrack
➕ Physical effort required
➕ Delicious gameplay
➕ Nice tribute to shmup genre
➕ Tracking works well
Cons
➖ Short
➖ Physical effort required
➖ Space needed to play well
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