Final Assault on the PSVR could have been dreamt up by someone playing Toy Soldiers and then asking themselves, what if this was in VR? How cool would that be? Well, after a week or so of playing Final Assault, the answer is ‘cooler than ice.’
Hailing from Phaser Lock Interactive (the people who brought us the totally brilliant Final Approach and Twisted Arrow), Final Assault is a rare gem indeed. A real time strategy game in virtual reality. Yes, read that sentence again; a real time strategy game in virtual reality. With the PSVR stuffed to the brim with horror, sports and racing titles, you can literally count the number of RTS games available on the PSVR with the fingers of just one hand. But what RTS offerings lack in quantity, Phaser Lock Interactive has made up for in spades with sheer quality.
Set in a fictional WW2 battleground, Final Assault is a cartoon-styled strategy title that offers a passing nod to the real WW2 but refrains from actually recreating the horrors of the Nazi / Axis menace. In Final Assault you are an over-seeing commander who has to decide which troops to use and how to use them. You hover over the battleground, using your wands (PS4 controllers) to drag yourself around the screen. You have the option to simply drop units – jeeps, tanks, artillery and aircraft – on the battlefield or, should you desire, you can trace a path with your wand which will tell them exactly where to go.
As with all RTS titles, you’ll manage resources and make quick decisions on your strategy for taking out the enemy. Think rock, paper, scissors and you’re heading in the right direction. Once you’ve deployed troops there’s a cooling down period which leaves you perilously exposed to counter attack so you’ll have to have a strategy for attack and defence at the same time. Excellent. With levels of difficulty for the campaign modes, Final Assault makes it fairly easy to accustom yourself to its mechanics. The first time I launched what I think was a Spitfire into the air and used my wand to draw a circle for the plane to patrol around was nothing short of sheer magic.
Graphically, Final Assault employs a colourful kid-friendly pallet that does a fantastic job of concealing the games intricate rock-paper-scissors complexity. Everything is bright, bold and vivid enough to be at home in a Nickelodeon cartoon.
The battlefields are packed with detail and the sensation of hovering over the war torn battle arena while your men march or drive forward at your command is something that is truly unforgettable. The in-game sounds accompanies the light hearted visuals with a decided focus on larger than life characters and nothing even approaching adult language. The focus on Final Assault is set squarely on making you feel like you’re a kid again playing toy soldiers – but in a VR world. With two single player campaigns, free play and cross platform multiplayer, Final Assault offers hundreds of hours of game play. Enough bang for your buck and a great way to pass the time wherever you are in the world. Highly recommended.
