What if you the opportunity to be something more than you were? Someone where people would come to you when the world needed you the most? Would you take it without any thought, regrets, or danger? But if you did become that person, how would you change including your attitude? How would you be perceived in the eyes of those around you? It’s something most people would not think about but is a good look at the different sides of things. So does Developer Greensky Games show us what it’s like to be a hero with an attitude? Let’s find out with SWARM for the Oculus Rift/Rift S and Oculus Quest/Quest 2.
SWARM is a fast-paced, arcade-style grapple shooter, that has quick sessions, bright colorful worlds, and globally competitive leaderboards that will arm you with just a grappling hook and your handy pistols, you’ll be plunged into a flow state as you grapple, shoot, and battle your way to destroy the SWARM and help save the day. So like any superhero in their own rights, you just don’t become one of this stature without proper training, so you can swing, turn, and shoot as you try not to die either by the SWARM attacks or missing that grappling opportunity and then watch as you fall down below.
What you will see when you try SWARM for the first time is how easy it is to use your pistols to grapple and shoot your way around. And for those wondering if there is any motion sickness, I am very happy to say, that Greensky Games, did a wonderful job to make sure that your gameplay would be as easy and as fun as possible. Pulling down to give tension, pump your hands up and down if you need to gain some height, use the thumbsticks to rotate, and just have a blast at shooting anything that comes your way as you leap over them.
Now, it’s not all just try to shoot everything your path or different paths, the enemies of SWARM tend to have a few tricks up their mechanical sleeves. They will shoot lasers, missiles that will follow you, and some other trickery things that I do not want to give away. But since there are leaderboards, you want to make sure your score is the best of the best. So shoot those enemies, launch yourself into them, there will be SHARDS that are around that you will want to try and collect as that will increase your score multiplier and doing this all while trying to stay alive the best way you can.
There are special abilities such as Zipping, that will allow you to lock on an enemy, press the A button and get to feel like a slingshot as you can take out enemies. There is also slow motion, which slows everything down and does come in handy when you are facing those tougher boss battles. But if you think it’s just going to be your pistols those special abilities to help you out, there are at times, where you can grapple to a platform above and get different weapons that can really give you an edge at the times when you need it the most, like new enemies being introduced that have their own special attack to add to the mix.
If you do find that things are too difficult, the game will pop up a message asking if you want to switch the difficulty, which of course, you can switch at any time. It’s just a nice way for those who may be having an off day or for those new to this type of genre to still be able to have some fun and rack up those leaderboards on the different difficulties. But I will say, no matter the difficulty…no matter how challenging SWARM may get, there is something about soaring through the air in the different arenas as you look down and just shoot down, behind you, and even if you are about to crash below, you can still pull off the shots and grapple at the last minute if, and I say this if there is a platform to grab on to or an enemy to zip into. But there has something I have always wondered, why hasn’t there been a time where if you crash into the water, something like a shark could eat you? Well, wonder no more, because in SWARM, it is a thing and it’s funny.
Let’s look at the graphics and sound for a moment. The cell-shading art style that is used in SWARM just comes alive with colors even with all the action that is going on. Seeing the different enemies and bosses all moving around with out any hesitation to the gameplay or immersion is great. Nothing too bright and nothing too dark, it’s just the right mix and is very pleasant to the eyes. I do like the comic book art style in between the different worlds. Some may feel that it may not add to anything, but it does set up the story for the next area. With the sound, you are going to here those explosions all around you as you grapple, fall, and soar your way to victory. Then when you add the electronic soundtrack to play along with, just completes everything nicely.
There are a few things that I would love to see added. For one, additional worlds. Yes, there is a handful of worlds that are separate into different sections, but it would be kinda of cool to see our hero try to help out in other places in the world like Norway. How come there is never trying to save Norway? The only other thing that I would love to see added is multiplayer. Think about it, being able to grapple and swing as you try to avoid other players and then zip in or use that one slow motion ability to get that final hit. It would be a blast.
SWARM shows us the fun of being a superhero with weapons and with an attitude. It gives us the short round blasts to just give us enough time to take that mental break and keep coming back to increase our standings on the leaderboards. Sometimes it’s the fun that is missing from our lives to give us that grappling balance that we all need from time to time. Life is too short, and if we keep swinging past the times that matter the most, we might just miss those important opportunities in life.
SWARM is out now for the Oculus Rift/Rift S and Oculus Quest/Quest 2 on the Oculus Store and will be coming to Steam and PlayStation VR. A review code was provided.
To learn more about the game, please visit the site, and make sure to like them on Facebook, follow them on Twitter, join their Discord, and subscribe to the YouTube channel. To learn more about Greensky Games, please visit their site.
Also, check out the SWARM interview.
In case you missed the trailer, please enjoy. Until next time, the leaderboards are calling my name.
