I felt that I couldn't really to a first play of this until I'd played it both with and without VR on the PS4. Before I ramble, VR wins.
The multiplayer is locked until you complete the first mission of the story mode with both factions. The AI Fleet battles are locked until you play the tutorial. The Player Fleet battles are locked until you hit rank 5. After crashing and burning through these walls, everything is open and you can start getting blown out of the sky and unlocking customisations.
Rather than being limited to a linear progression on snubfighter parts, you are given requisition tokens which can be redeemed for anything from ion cannons to modified shield projectors. One part is one token, levelling up a rank usually nets 2 tokens and 200 visual unlock credits. I've not gotten deep into the visual customisations, but I've seen that you can change the colour scheme of your fighter on the outside along with decals, and visual extras on the inside, like holographic projections. I've found my greatest success with using ion cannons to knock out an enemy, then finish them with missiles or torpedoes.
I have found my least successful set up was trying to play it on the TV. The reduced resolution of the PSVR really doesn't matter because on the TV it is all SO FAR AWAY! Not the TV, but getting the cockpit onto the TV means ~40% is taken up with that, leaving about 60% for the starfield ahead. It makes actually shooting things down just that little bit more difficult.
VR has drifting issues that we commonly find with the set up, but it also gives you the ability to interact more naturally, to track enemies by watching them rather than having to move the entire ship. Lock-ons are not based on your head movements, so there's no advantage there.
Yes, the power distribution options are there! I would have liked the fire-linkage options that the Rogue Squadron games gave us back in the day, but we can't have everything. I'm still happily re-enacting all my favourite flying bits from Michael A. Stackpole's X-Wing series of novels and comics (Bantam House and Dark Horse respectively)
What I'm also doing is finding that I just can't get away from the really good players. I have found it a little frustrating. In VR, I can dip and dodge around debris, asteroids, etc. but on the TV I'm bouncing off stuff and losing shield coverage instead. Star Destroyers are accurately depicted as bloody tough and packed with enough turbolasers that I feel like Porkins out there most of the time. Yes, you can shoot out the guns on the star destroyer. Otherwise you'll die pretty quickly. Who am I kidding, you will anyway.
I've tried to give myself options with the controls - analogue vs. discrete throttling, switched the control sticks, inverted y (like there's any other option). I went back to the default today and found it easier than I remembered.
There are 4 ships per faction - fighter, bomber, interceptor and support. Each has some overlap with the others as to what can be equipped for blasters/shields/etc, along with unique parts for each. It'll take some time to figure out what works for you and what doesn't.
I haven't played enough to give a big thumbs up/down, but as a Star Wars fan, it is plenty to enjoy. As a fan of games being fun, I'd like some more balancing to even out a few bits here and there. For example, and I know this is accurate to the source material, but TIE fighters having no shields? One good hit and I'm toast most times. Which would be fine if there were more allowed TIE respawns, but both numbers are the same.
9m30s Dogfight Mode from a random game
The multiplayer is locked until you complete the first mission of the story mode with both factions. The AI Fleet battles are locked until you play the tutorial. The Player Fleet battles are locked until you hit rank 5. After crashing and burning through these walls, everything is open and you can start getting blown out of the sky and unlocking customisations.
Rather than being limited to a linear progression on snubfighter parts, you are given requisition tokens which can be redeemed for anything from ion cannons to modified shield projectors. One part is one token, levelling up a rank usually nets 2 tokens and 200 visual unlock credits. I've not gotten deep into the visual customisations, but I've seen that you can change the colour scheme of your fighter on the outside along with decals, and visual extras on the inside, like holographic projections. I've found my greatest success with using ion cannons to knock out an enemy, then finish them with missiles or torpedoes.
I have found my least successful set up was trying to play it on the TV. The reduced resolution of the PSVR really doesn't matter because on the TV it is all SO FAR AWAY! Not the TV, but getting the cockpit onto the TV means ~40% is taken up with that, leaving about 60% for the starfield ahead. It makes actually shooting things down just that little bit more difficult.
VR has drifting issues that we commonly find with the set up, but it also gives you the ability to interact more naturally, to track enemies by watching them rather than having to move the entire ship. Lock-ons are not based on your head movements, so there's no advantage there.
Yes, the power distribution options are there! I would have liked the fire-linkage options that the Rogue Squadron games gave us back in the day, but we can't have everything. I'm still happily re-enacting all my favourite flying bits from Michael A. Stackpole's X-Wing series of novels and comics (Bantam House and Dark Horse respectively)
What I'm also doing is finding that I just can't get away from the really good players. I have found it a little frustrating. In VR, I can dip and dodge around debris, asteroids, etc. but on the TV I'm bouncing off stuff and losing shield coverage instead. Star Destroyers are accurately depicted as bloody tough and packed with enough turbolasers that I feel like Porkins out there most of the time. Yes, you can shoot out the guns on the star destroyer. Otherwise you'll die pretty quickly. Who am I kidding, you will anyway.
I've tried to give myself options with the controls - analogue vs. discrete throttling, switched the control sticks, inverted y (like there's any other option). I went back to the default today and found it easier than I remembered.
There are 4 ships per faction - fighter, bomber, interceptor and support. Each has some overlap with the others as to what can be equipped for blasters/shields/etc, along with unique parts for each. It'll take some time to figure out what works for you and what doesn't.
I haven't played enough to give a big thumbs up/down, but as a Star Wars fan, it is plenty to enjoy. As a fan of games being fun, I'd like some more balancing to even out a few bits here and there. For example, and I know this is accurate to the source material, but TIE fighters having no shields? One good hit and I'm toast most times. Which would be fine if there were more allowed TIE respawns, but both numbers are the same.
9m30s Dogfight Mode from a random game
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