BEAT SABER PSVR Review - Sword Art

SPOILER-FREE REVIEW

While Beat Saber isn’t quite PlayStation VR’s killer app, it still serves up many hours of entertainment for those looking to dust off their headsets for a healthy revival of the rhythm genre.

When Beat Saber first boots up, it always displays a message to the player from the developers: if you get tired or sore, stop playing and rest. Out of all the VR games I’ve played, this is the game that wears me out the most. It made me think back to the days I spent exercising with the help of a trusty old Wii Fit board. Even slaying dragons in the frigid tundra of Skyrim doesn’t quite match the exhilaration of slicing through coloured blocks with two magic laser swords. It’s more than enough fun for enthusiasts seeking a blast from the past, especially since games like the infamous TapTap Revenge have gone the way of the dodo. It might not make others rush out to local stores and demand PSVR headsets, but it’s still a pretty convincing argument in favour of jumping onboard the VR wagon.

Beat Saber strikes me as a game that you’re less likely to take very seriously. Some people do, which is fine. If you’re particularly passionate about seeing your name and high score on the global leaderboard, this game will provide for you if you’re willing to suffer sore muscles. Out of all the VR games I’ve played, Beat Saber is the one that feels most like a physical workout. Even after only an hour of nonstop play, I had to pull myself out in order to wipe the sweat off my face. Its success is in its simplicity. It transforms your PlayStation Move controllers into a red and blue saber, one for each hand, which you use to cut through coloured blocks in time to music tracks specially chosen for the game. There are no complex controls to memorise here. Add to that a few modifiers, including the ability to make songs play faster or slower, and obstacles including bombs that force you to be precise with your cuts, and the result is a game with deeply addicting gameplay at its core.

And it is dangerously addictive. The main purpose of VR is to immerse, and the best VR games immerse you so well that you forget the world outside the headset and dive in. If we judge the success of a game solely by its ability to immerse a player, then Beat Saber would be close to the top of any top 10 list of VR games. Motion tracking can make or break any VR game that requires the Move controller, and thankfully Beat Saber is both precise and reactive. As I played, I got sucked into a deep zen state where I was replaying songs over and over again to try and beat my high score. Thankfully, the game lets you play how you want, and you’re free to do anything with the game, whether it’s engaging in VR cardio or putting your reaction times to the ultimate test. The game never forced me to do anything, and every time I booted up the game, I could dive right back in anywhere, playing the tracks I wanted to play at the difficulty I chose with the modifiers I wanted. There’s a campaign for those who want a more targeted, guided experience that leads you from the very basics and refines your skills until you’re prepared to handle the game’s top difficulty.

What holds it back is truly frustrating, and unfortunately it sounds like a fix would be a lot of work. You’re given a selection of songs to choose from, ranging from electronic to rap. Apply the modifiers I mentioned, and you get plenty of replay value. The tracks are also pretty good at differentiating themselves from one another, so you don’t feel like you’re going through the same motions every time you play. You can get hours of gameplay, but after a certain point, the selection of songs feels drastically limited. The developers have promised more songs as paid DLC, an announcement which manages to be both encouraging and mildly annoying at the same time.

The limited number of songs is something of an easier fix on PC, which has an enthusiastic modding community and programs that are receptive to their efforts. PlayStation has never been a mod-friendly platform and PSVR owners don’t have that option. The absence of a level editor means that we’re essentially stuck waiting for the developers to release song packs. I would have liked to be able to design my own, and given the strength of the core gameplay, I would have been more than willing to spend the time to do so. To the game’s credit, it does try to alleviate the missing library issue with the modifiers, but it’s still something of a conspicuous absence, and one that the people who had a go using my headset commented on frequently and often within the first few minutes of playing. The only real solution is adding lots of songs often and given that each level has to be essentially handcrafted, that’s no easy task to accomplish.

Despite that, this is definitely a must-have game for PSVR owners. It’s a little different to other VR games, which often try to woo players into making purchases based on the promise of being able to turn your head and gawk at something impressive in 3D. When you’re deep in Beat Saber in a zen state, tuning out all thoughts of the outside world while you slice and dice your way to that coveted new high score, it’s easily one of the best experiences that money can buy for this platform. There’s no dragons or mountains to gaze at in awe. Instead, there’s just you, your glowing swords and the music.