Yeehaw! High Noon VR is here, offering up a serving of Wild West showdowns with a VR spin. Draw ’em, pardner.
The idea of grabbing a couple of six-shooters and strapping on our cowboy boots to blast some pesky varmints was immediately appealing. But in a world stuffed full of waved-based VR shooters, there’s a question of whether High Noon VR can bring anything new to the table…
A static VR shooting gallery
Although a wave shooter of sorts, High Noon VR offers something new in the simplest of ways: there’s very little need for movement here.
Whereas many other wave-based shooters we’ve played require you to dash about in the virtual environment in combination with real-world movements to avoid incoming threats, High Noon VR is more of a shooting gallery. You stand on the spot and simply shoot at targets as they appear.
In some ways this is a refreshing change – as it’s certainly not as tiring or sweat-inducing as other wave shooters. However, you do need to be constantly turning your head to work out where threats are as they come quickly from different directions.
If you’ve ever been to a fairground and seen those Western-styled games where you have to fire an air-gun at pop-up targets and cowboys, then this game will feel immediately familiar.
The graphics are comically styled with a cartoon-like vibe, too. It looks like what would happen if the developers behind Team Fortress 2 made a wave shooter set in the Wild West. That feeling carries through to the amusing commentary from a disembodied voice who eggs you on and disparages enemies as they roll into the arena.
Shooting enemies causes bursts of “hit”, “headshot”, “combo” and points scores above their heads. A health bar also shows how much health baddies have left, which is handy when you start facing off against bosses in later levels.
Big, bad bosses
Gun-fighting is initially very tough. You start out with a single pistol and shooting accurately is tricky. Not because the game is poorly designed, merely because it’s meant to be that way. Wild West guns were hardly known for their accuracy – these are the days before proper rifling and modern bullet technology.
,
,
Quick verdict
We honestly liked High Noon VR despite the fact it’s lacking in several areas. It’s really challenging but not as exhausting as the usual wave-based shooters which makes for a refreshing change. Beautiful, amusing and a lot of fun for not much money.
Read full verdict
For
Comical graphics and voice-over
Enjoyably accurate gunplay
Plenty of weapons to unlock
Reasonably priced.
Against
Frustratingly difficult at times
Lacks simple things like health pickups
Quite short.
,
Source: Pocket-lint