Budget Cuts 2: Mission Insolvency – The Review

Have you ever thought about what if your job, your position that you worked so hard for was suddenly replaced with robots? Machines that could efficiently do what you do much better, faster, and without pay. And while this is going on, there was more of a deeper plan to remove humanity from the picture so that only artificial intelligence is left to rule. It really is a scary thought and the way the world is heading, somewhere in some form or fashion, it has already been happening. So does Developers Neat Corporation and Fast Travel Games show us what it’s like to help put in end to this chaos all stealth-like? Let’s find out more with Budget Cuts 2: Mission Insolvency for PCVR.

I want to say this upfront that I tried many times with a variety of setups and configurations, that I first could not get Budget Cuts 2: Mission Insolvency to record anything and then when I did, the game footage was not centered, and then when I finally was able to get it centered, the sound did not capture. Not sure what happened as I never experienced this before, but I wanted to at least have this notated that this is what I experienced and if you are wondering why you may not hear any of the sounds. It’s not you. With that said…let’s continue.

Budget Cuts 2: Mission Insolvency is a sequel to the VR stealth game, Budget Cuts that came out in 2018. I personally have not played Budget Cuts and I almost wish I did as the Budget Cuts 2 picks up right where the first one ended. So there are some of the backstory of that I feel I may be missing, but going in knowing that this is a self-contained game in itself, I wasn’t too worried that this might be too hard to get from my view. But to help you with the premise of the first one and to help you get up to speed…the last human co-worker had been dragged off to the dreaded HR department, it’s up to you to zip, sneak in or go in like no one is watching and hopes that you are smarter than these robots and take them out. Fast forward, you made it out of the TransCorp office alive (cause you are awesome like that) only to discover more than meets a robots eye and humanity is about to be non-existent and do your magic as you try to sneak your way, take out the evil robots, enjoy some humor, it’s up to you to be the hero all humans need right about now.

One of the tools at your disposal is the teleportation gun that really had me smiling when I used it. Before you actually teleport, you shoot where you want to go to then being able to see the area around you so you can see if there might be enemies in that spot you want to go to which you can cancel and try a different spot, which I hope this implementation becomes a standard of sorts. Too many times I was happy go lucky only to go ahead with my teleportation and there was an enemy right there and I had to restart at the checkpoint. What you don’t want is that checkpoint having you right there where that enemy can keep firing at you and after many attempts wanting to give up, but don’t. Use the teleporter gun and what it has to offer to the best of your abilities.

Great thing before you teleport, is you can collect weapons and add them to your inventory. So if you see a whole bunch of knives, you may want to collect as much as you can that your inventory will allow, because these robots can fire at you and they will not hesitate to do so. So sometimes it does pay off to be more stealth and it is kind of satisfying to take a knife or scissors and taking it to the robots as their oil just leaks out. That will teach them to try and end humanity.

Normal robots are not the only enemies you have to worry about as there are a variety of ones keep you on your toes. There are robots that have shields and explosives and they know how to use them (I know this because I am sure many of my limbs were all over the place, I was just too busy not playing smarter and dying to actually see them), there are also drones that fly around to annoy you like flies. But I know what you might be thinking, if all you have is some scissors and knives, that can only do so much. This is correct, that is why you can get a bow for those further range attacks. Just make sure your aim is on point and you make the shot count, otherwise, your arrows will fly down the unknown depths and you would have wished your archery skills were more up to par.

But as you can see thus far, there are a variety of different areas you will be in to test your skills. From buildings, to outside of buildings to hoping from the top of trains, so regardless where you may end up, I would suggest to not take the rush in with a Xena like battle cry, but instead enjoy the environments, surroundings, and whatever surprises may come your way.

I do want to talk about the controls for a moment. What I loved the simplicity of it all. If I reached out, I could easily interact with the item. If I dropped an arrow, I could easily pick it up without any problems as the tracking was spot on. What I did have a little bit of an issue at first with with was when I was trying to hold the bow and then trying to get an arrow. It’s almost like I had to select the arrow first and then select the bow. I would love to be able to reach back over my shoulder with the bow in hand and then do this on a continuous basis. Like I said this was an issue at first until I really started getting used to the mechanics of everything.

Budget Cuts 2: Mission Insolvency is a title that you will have fun playing and works so well in Virtual Reality. It’s not one that you should just rush through as you will miss out on some of the fun and humor that is spread out (never pass up a moment to turn on the T.V.). Everything just flows as you would hope and expect it to and allows you to let out some aggression against some artificial life while living out your Hawkeye or Green Arrow dream.

Budget Cuts 2: Mission Insolvency is out now on the Oculus Store and also on Steam as a standalone or as also as the Complete Set Bundle with both Budget Cuts and Budget Cuts 2: Mission Insolvency. A review code was provided.

To learn more about Neat Corporation, please visit their site, like them on Facebook, and follow them on Twitter. To learn more about Fast Travel Games, please visit their site, like them on Facebook, follow them on Twitter, follow them on Instagram, and subscribe to their YouTube channel.

In case you missed the trailer, please enjoy. Until next time, I need to practice more on my stealth attacks.