Every time I walk into virtual reality, I feel a sense of excitement and anticipation, even though I have long been aware that most of the experiences that the This format offers hitting the mark. However, I can’t help but hope to be entertained. Maybe a little childish, but there’s something about putting on a helmet and disappearing into a world that appeals to me. I think the format itself and its unique experiences have great potential, but luckily I’m a seasoned gaming veteran and I can see a bad game no matter how good VR thinks it is. It doesn’t matter if the game gets boring later on.
Sora is the name of the little knight in shining armor that I control during this amazing adventure. The concept itself was inspired by the fantastic Moss games, which I think are in the top tier of great VR experiences. I focus on Sora from a higher perspective while providing a picture for the problems they face. The core gameplay mechanics are both clever and frustrating, ironically both enhancing and detracting from the experience. There are different types of matter around the environment that I can collect, and then I can open a wheel and fill a bottle that I can throw out to affect the environment and enemies. The first is like glue, for example, closing gaps, or making enemies stuck. The second allows Sola to bounce off platforms, for example, or turn enemies into guided projectiles.
The environments are colorful, but the fringe style makes them feel rather dull.
It is a quirky, interactive and fun concept that is widely used. However, on the wheel of the material that I choose to fill the bottle, the performance is not perfect either, and it is not always successful by throwing it. Even with automatic aim, the bottle would land too short or go nowhere, but most of the time it worked. However, in combat or when platforming requires time, it becomes very frustrating and needs some polishing to work properly. The idea of controlling a hero with a joystick and buttons while using your hands and movements sounds good, but here, it has to be better to really improve the game.
Aside from some environmental puzzles, there’s a lot of combat in Mixture. He likes to throw multiple enemies at you at once, and using the aforementioned glue bottle is a great tool that allows enemies to logically stop for a short period of time. Otherwise, Sora can avoid attacks by moving quickly. The game sometimes locks up areas where you have to defeat all the enemies to progress, and some of these moments feel like they were directly inspired by Moss , so if you’ve played it you’ll find a lot of it recognizable. However, much of the charm in these games is missing, especially the fairy tale charm and the accompanying adventure stories. There is such a story, but it is very sparse, with no characters or scenes to add any excitement.
Here’s a hint:
The VR format offers some interesting and immersive possibilities.
Unfortunately, the design and music are also rather boring. There are beautiful and surprising moments where VR shines, and in places the scenes and levels are very powerful, although they are rather bare and not all aesthetically pleasing. It has vibrant colors and good contrast, but lots of barren and rocky landscapes with poor detail and life. The problem is that even though things like plants and environments are different, the visual style still makes everything look like it’s shaped from the same angular template. Also, the character has a language similar to The Sims instead of a real voice, which doesn’t sound very good. The graphics are far from ugly, but nothing really impressive.
Variety is generally fun, but unfortunately the entertainment is weighed down by a few simple things. For one thing, Sola moves very slowly, and for those of us who prefer to rotate the camera completely rather than jump it around, that even feels very slow. This resulted in an overall speed and flow that I didn’t really like as I would have liked a bit more flexibility and speed. You can unlock more attacks and other upgrades over time, which make these things a bit better, but the speed at which I controlled the character and the camera felt too slow, which is still a shame.
The first boss of the game will teach you right away how to use the different bottles. Unfortunately, sometimes it is too difficult to aim correctly.
Here’s a hint:
A mix is a mixed bag. It has a unique concept of collecting and using items, and you feel involved when you’re not just controlling the character. As we saw with Moss and Astro Bot, the perspective used makes it practical and clear. There’s a hint of imagination that still makes it very interesting, but at the same time it feels very visually boring, and in the end it’s just a good adventure, both as a game and as a VR experience.
