For some, some of the best childhood memories is playing with G.I. Joe, Transformers, or even a combination of anything and everything that you could get a hold of with your friends and just let the imagination of the battle while outside and just having a blast. Bringing vehicles to the mix was an added bonus to the fun that everyone was having. It’s that type of simple fun that brought a lot of smiles to many children’s faces. But as those children start to grow and have families of their own, there still could be a thought every now and then of a way of getting away just to relive some of those memories again. But does Developer, Phaser Lock Interactive allow you to escape to those memories? Let’s find out with Final Assault for the PlayStation VR.
Final Assault is a WWII themed RTS that has you either going against an A.I. or another real-life player in a strategic playing field that has you trying to destroy the enemy’s defenses by either using air and ground support with a variety of different soldiers and vehicles. But it’s not just as simple as placing or pointing where your soldiers shall go, but you have to make sure you have the right mixture and strategy in order to try to win this war.
So before you begin this battle that you fought so long and hard to get to, you will need to make sure that both Move controllers are charged, make sure you understand the layout of the battlefield, and you may want to check your assureness at the door or you might just recieve the Virtual Reality check you have been avoiding.
Now, before you go in jumping into war, no matter how much fun you think it will be (and it is), do yourself a favor and do the training basics. This will allow for you to understand how you will move within the battlefield, as well as learn about the objectives of the campaign, but also, you get to customize yourself from your gloves to even your helmet, which is important if you want that intimidation factor (or at least believe that there is one) when facing another person as it will sure to show them that you mean business and you are not to be taken lightly. On another note, this did not work for me as I got annihilated by the person I went up against that I swear he must have unlocked every single weapon there could be. Because before I knew it, it was ta D-Day bomb flying toward my head and destroyed my base.
I will say that after going through the training, it was very well thought out and gave you enough hands-on to get you to feel comfortable about the battles. I really did like placing a jeep or a tank and then being able to draw a line in the direction I wanted them to go in battle. Being able to learn how to target the enemy felt very smooth and satisfying.
You have three different modes to select from, Campaign, Skirmish, and Multiplayer modes. In Campaign Mode, it’s not really a Campaign Story Mode per se, but it does help set the tone of the battle. In Skirmish Mode, you will need to send your troops and vehicles to try and destroy the enemy lines, and of course, Multiplayer Mode has you going against a real person in the ultimate battle of skill and strategy. I found that I really spent most of my time playing the Multiplayer Mode. Each player of this 1 vs 1 battle is represented by a head and arms. But once the battle starts, you really don’t see them, which might be a good thing as you don’t want to get too distracted as you you have enough to worry about with all that’s going on.
In order to deploy your army, you have to hold up the clipboard that have different units separated. You have the ground that could be in the form of a motorcycle to even aerial vehicles. What you have to pay attention to is not only where the enemies are coming from as there will be multiple paths, but also the enemy can set up on hills, behind buildings, just about anywhere as well as you can. But as you hold up your clipboard, you earn a certain amount of money that is used to buy your army so they can come out and hopefully take care of the more difficult situations and assist your ground soldiers before they get wiped out and the enemy continues on their path of destruction without any heart or soul. Trust me, I saw it many times over and over as they killed my troops…poor poor Bob, you shall be remembered or at least, we will join you soon.
You will notice on the clipboard that in order to reach a certain part of your army, it will come at a certain cost. Your money will continue to grow a slower pace than I would like (I say this with a smile) or when you collect the random supply drops. But keep in mind, those supply drops, the enemy can also collect those as well. So in order to get the more desirable units, you will either need to collect those supply drops or wait for the money to build up. But keep in mind waiting too long could be the result of your enemy taking that advantage and heading towards your base. But, if you use the money too quickly, you may not have a strong enough attack to defend your base. So this really is a strategy game of cat and mouse.
So let’s see, we have not only the battlefield to be familiar with, we have enemies that are coming at you with an attitude, their vehicles that seem to have taken a class in road rage, planes that will sweep down to attack you as well as the planes you may send out, all while trying to keep the sanity of the fun and chaos that is presented.
There are some things I hope can be added. For one, a way to increase your money just a tiny bit faster. It is really not that slow, but, maybe it’s my impatience for wanting the higher tiered items in a response of watching Bob and the others get destroyed. Second, I would love the ability to be able to make our own maps from different areas and weather. I think it would add more fun to the chaos and select Winter for an example, and if you didn’t move your troops, then the snow could cause them to be covered and make it that much more difficult to try and win. And third, I would love to see the ability to have more online players in one epic team battle or free for all type of battle.
Overall, Final Assault is fun to play where not only you can lose track of time, but be brought to those simpler times with our friends and just have some fun. And with all that’s going on in the world right about now, couldn’t we all use more of simpler times in our lives?
Final Assault is out now on PlayStation VR and is also available on the Oculus Store, Steam, and Viveport. A review code was provided.
To learn more about Phaser Lock Interactive, please visit their site, like them on Facebook, follow them on Twitter, and subscribe to their YouTube channel.
In case you missed the trailer, please enjoy. Until next time, I have some more battles to attend to.
