The Phoenix Gene is a 3rd particular person on-rails shooter that launches at present on the Quest platform. Learn on for our full overview.
To be totally frank, I believe that rising up, or reasonably being a grown up…sucks.
As soon as upon a time, my life was stuffed with piloting motion figures by imaginary landscapes and doing battle with the worst unhealthy guys that my creativeness may create (or that my birthday cash may present). However as occurs to most of us, age and accountability bought the higher of me. Finally I downed my toys in favor of pseudo-maturity, although I by no means stopped craving for that very same sense of surprise.
What’s it?: An on-rails third-person narrative shooter.
Platforms: Meta Quest (reviewed on Quest 3)
Launch Date: Out Now
Developer: HEROmation
Worth: $24.99
Why am I telling you this? As a result of once I noticed the primary trailer for The Phoenix Gene, all of these emotions got here dashing again. The gameplay appeared precisely like the truth my formative creativeness positioned upon the true world as I performed, and it appeared that on the ripe previous age of [insert unnervingly high number] my timelines would lastly collide; adulting would lastly convey me again to enjoying with toys. Properly, type of.
The one query left now could be who did it higher; builders HEROmation, or eight-year-old me? Allow us to play…
Troping The Gentle Improbable
The Phoenix Gene sees the participant tackle the function of Jackie, a younger janitor working at one of many largest company entities on the earth. Amid a stupendous lack of narrative preamble, a fiery, dragon-like creature known as Firestorm seems and informs you that you’re a provider of the Phoenix Gene. Jackie’s life is subsequently turned the wrong way up, and now she should embark on a busy journey to uncover the secrets and techniques of the multiverse (type of) and, after all, save the world.
It’s a narrative constructed on a set of well-worn sci-fi tropes; you’re the chosen one, some AI has gone rogue, a lifeless mother or father had a secret – all that served with a supersize bag of ‘beware the hazards of company greed’. Although none of it digs notably deep, the story is woven into the sport sufficient that it gives context to the motion and prevents the expertise from feeling like an aimless floating taking pictures gallery.
Slipstreamy When Moist
As Jackie begins to unlock the potential of the Phoenix Gene, she positive factors entry to a metaphysical realm known as the slipstream, a multidimensional vortex of alternate timelines. This slipstream serves as a lot of the sport’s bodily setting in addition to a automobile for some core gameplay mechanics.
With a complete of eight ranges on provide, every taking round 15 to twenty minutes to finish, The Phoenix Gene might be completed in a couple of hours below ultimate situations. Because of the clumsy controls and the often infuriating issue spike, gamers are more likely to spend considerably longer navigating the slipstream, and not essentially in a method that may really feel rewarding.
Throwing My Toys Out The Pram
Just like video games just like the admirable Yuki, the gameplay in The Phoenix Gene sees gamers controlling their character very a lot as one would possibly play with a toy. Your Phoenix, Firestorm, hovers in entrance of you and could be grabbed and handed from one invisible hand to the opposite, permitting you to information the character by the sport world together with your bodily actions.
Firestorm additionally doubles as your weapon, flinging fireballs and different assaults at your enemies as you goal by tilting and rotating your fingers. At first, this feels fairly cool and really early on there seems to be some potential for the gameplay to be actually enjoyable. Sadly, the execution shortly undermines this potential and the sport devolves right into a irritating battle in opposition to awkward design choices and unintuitive controls.
Along with flying and taking pictures, Jackie and Firestorm additionally possess a actuality toggling capability paying homage to Ikaruga. Gamers can swap between the chances, alternate realities inside the timeline that primarily simply swap Firestorm between purple and blue, making Firestorm impervious to enemy assaults of that colour. Switching chances can even alter the bodily atmosphere, transferring objects out and in of the present actuality.
Whereas theoretically fascinating, this factor of the sport is sorely underdeveloped from a stage design perspective and sometimes serves extra as a distraction than a compelling mechanic.
Frustration By Design
Ranges in The Phoenix Gene are a wholly on-rails affair, with the gameplay weaving by the pseudo-psychedelic panorama of the slipstream. Whereas most video games of this ilk would see you progressing straight forwards in order that gamers can have a transparent line of sight on impending challenges, The Phoenix Gene takes a distinct method, weaving the invisible rails by the bodily atmosphere. Once more, this reads prefer it ought to be nice; nevertheless, the truth is much from implausible.
As the sport attracts the participant alongside these invisible rails, there isn’t a indication which path your phoenix will take. Which means within the coronary heart of the motion, the place you might want to dodge enemy fireplace coming from throughout you whereas avoiding bodily obstacles, your character would possibly veer off unexpectedly, working straight right into a sure loss of life state of affairs.
This lack of directional steerage is exacerbated by the truth that when switching fingers, your phoenix typically resets to a central place that may seem behind you in case you have been transferring in your IRL house, one thing which is assured to occur. It successfully disappears from view. All which means within the warmth of battle, understanding the place your character is and the place it’s going is totally unreliable.
Additionally, in a wholly unintuitive piece of design logic, Firestorm can not flip round AT ALL, regardless of the very fact he can shoot in full 360 orientation. That is little question in order that the participant can stay oriented to the onward route of journey. Nevertheless, when attempting to keep away from obstacles and dispatch baddies approaching from all sides, it’s discombobulating to see fireballs shoot out of its again or wings.
For a recreation that calls for tight reflexes and spatial consciousness, this restricted, disorienting and downright awkward management scheme feels actively at odds with the gameplay.
The Phoenix Gene is an on rails recreation whereby motion inside the recreation world is totally automated, so there aren’t any consolation choices for teleport fashion motion. There are nevertheless choices for vignettes, in addition to easy and snap turning, which is simply as nicely seeing because the compelled motion could be comparatively disorienting at instances.
Stepping Again In Time
Visually, The Phoenix Gene appears like one thing that might be at residence on the unique Quest. Whereas shiny and vibrant, every little thing simply feels a bit low-res and visually noisy. Environments (notably the slipstream) really feel generic, animations are stiff, and character fashions really feel fundamental. All in all, the artwork route brings again recollections of the bygone period of standalone VR gaming.
There are some fascinating ranges that introduce some dynamic visible elements, although. The extent that sees you flying down the aspect of a constructing rescuing a bunch of base jumpers was each probably the greatest trying, and most enjoyable to play segments of the sport. Firestorm’s character design is fairly nice, and transferring your phoenix round such as you’re enjoying with a brilliant cool dragon toy was initially an pleasant expertise.
Sadly, the audio doesn’t fare a lot better. Voice performing is flat and stilted, though in equity the scripts haven’t given the actors an enormous quantity to work with. The music is a nondescript mélange of video-gamey sounds that, whereas practical, do little to raise the environment or distinguish moments of rigidity or triumph.
The Phoenix Gene – Ultimate Verdict
Sadly, The Phoenix Gene reads higher as an idea than it performs as a recreation. Whereas the thought of controlling a dragon-like creature by a chaotic multidimensional rail shooter sounds enjoyable, the truth is that the sport’s let down by complicated controls, outdated visuals and poor design selections that go away it feeling clumsy and sluggish.
In contrast to Yuki, which delivers comparable mechanics in a quick, responsive method that celebrates the nostalgia of play, The Phoenix Gene in some way makes a chore out of utilizing a toy-like avatar to blast robots into smithereens.
UploadVR makes use of a 5-Star ranking system for our recreation evaluations – you’ll be able to learn a breakdown of every star ranking in our overview tips.
