Iron Man VR Review

Ever since I got a VR headset, I've been in love with it. It truly is revolutionary what the device can do to immerse you into a world unlike your own and offer unique and enjoyable gameplay aspects that cannot be replicated on regular, flat-screen gaming. My first experience was with Fisherman VR, and this puzzle title really showed me what VR was capable of. Or, so I thought.

Come Marvel's Iron Man VR, developed by Camouflaj, to sweep me off my feet and wow me once again with VR. Now, this isn't to say that I'm bored of VR; it's just that this game sets such a high stake, I'm sure it won't be replicated any time soon, and it stands as my favourite VR experience thus far, and likely for a time to come.

Iron Man VR lets you take control of Tony Stark as you'll play through the prologue and get the grips of the Iron Man suit. Voiced by Josh Keaton (likely my new favourite Iron Man), the performance and story are astounding and do a phenomenal job of gripping you with cinematic shots.

The game starts off slow by giving you control of Tony Stark as he walks in front of a crowd, allowing you to select your desired locomotion and turning capabilities (not that this matters a lot in the grand scheme of things, but more on that later). The story starts as Tony talks to the crowd, and you relive the events that he is narrating: wearing the Iron Man suit, getting accustomed to it, and retiring his old Tony Stark A.I., Gunsmith.

This is where the game truly gives you control, as you'll immediately be taught how to take off. Rising above the floor by using the jet repulsors from Iron Man's hands was an experience that couldn't be replicated in regular gaming. In fact, much of Iron Man VR is an experience that I'd yet to be able to enjoy. The quick tutorial teaches you how to manoeuvre mid-air, wowing me with its design and smoothness overall, and then gets into combat basics.

Despite Iron Man VR being an — unfortunately — relatively short title, I appreciate how much time the developer takes to get you accustomed to everything. Combat unlocks new abilities as you traverse through the chapters and cinematic sequences are implemented for you to witness the story unfolding, giving the real feeling of how being both Tony Stark and Iron Man would be.

The narrative feels movie-like, as the writing and performance are delightful, and typical Tony Stark humour is delivered on point. My single complaint about the cinematics (and the experience overall) is how long I spent standing still, as the camera locks you in a specific location for extended periods of time. It isn't so much the standing still, but rather not knowing when I could move that felt a bit bothersome, and some of the scenes felt like Tony was standing around watching people walk for uncomfortably long stretches of time.

Iron Man VR truly excels in its gameplay, however. Taking control of flying, especially for a VR novice like myself, is difficult, but that was all part of the charm. Getting used to the controls wasn't impossible, and it gave me an experience that I'd never had in gaming before, something that I can seldom say nowadays.

You'll participate in numerous chapters as you take to the skies in the Iron Man suit and complete various objectives within each chapter. Ranging from defeating enemies to saving civilians trapped within buildings, you won't have to be a master at controlling the flying to perform well. For those looking for more challenging gameplay, Iron Man VR offers four difficulty options; as a novice, I started with the second easiest difficulty (the recommended one), but I swiftly changed to a harder one, which made me enjoy the game all the more. Enemies became more aggressive and dealth higher damage, but it felt reasonable and possible to handle, and I really enjoyed that.

As for customisation options, Iron Man VR lets you customise a lot of the Iron Man suit, including various weapons, mods (like increasing thruster speed), and even the armour design. The build options aren't so in-depth that they'll cause analysis paralysis, but you will be able to choose a different weapon per arm (which was really difficult for my left hand's ineptness), allowing you to prepare for any situation.

Finally, quests will rate you from 1–5 stars. Usually, I hate rating systems in games, I feel they're often too restrictive and force you to perform well even if you're bad at games, but Iron Man VR's is enjoyable and gave me the incentive to play more after I'd finished a chapter.

Everything about Iron Man VR, from the performance to the story and gameplay, astounded me. Flying and engaging enemies was difficult at times, but it was never frustrating or infuriating. I narrowly managed to get five stars on every mission by the time I finished the story and, truth be told, this game is one that I cannot wait to be able to pick up again.