Battle Zone VR | Review and Screenshots (PS4)

Hover mouse over screenshots for commentary.

October 2016

Battle Zone

Battle Zone is a PlayStation VR game where you play the entirety of the game inside of a giant tank. The demo of this game was the first thing I ever played in VR and it's what sold me on the technology. It just feels so cool to be zipping around in the tank and looking around in all directions.

The game can be played in single player or in up to four player co-op. The PSVR headset has a microphone built into it so everyone can easily talk to each other. There are a variety of mission objectives but the bulk of the gameplay is avoiding enemy fire and nailing them with your own. You can choose to play in a light, medium, or heavy tank, each with their own pros and cons. You play across a large map and select which spot to go to next. As you progress through the map you gain money, which you can use to improve your stats or, if you find a supply depot, buy new weapons. The difficulty is constantly increasing as time goes on, so you'll want to balance how quickly you move across the map - you'll want to be well prepared for the final battle but if you take too long earning money then the enemies will get extremely tough. Not to mention that you have limited lives.

The game itself is pretty hard. A few weeks after it released I checked the trophy list and only about one percent of people had beaten the game. I understand that a patch was released that made the game a bit easier, which is probably a good thing. I think there could have been more game modes added to give greater variety to the gameplay, but overall it's a solid game and pretty much a must-have for PSVR owners.

The game doesn't actually look this way - in VR you feel like you're in the cockpit of the tank and you can look all around.	That big green circle is your radar.	This is the map screen. The white beams of light are where shield generators are - they are tougher levels but if you don't complete them before getting to the volcano at the end, the last level is super hard.
Flying enemies are best dealt with with either the machine gun or homing missiles.
		The shield generators are covered with spinning shields that you need to destroy before the generator will take any damage.
Boom. Dead.		Each time you upgrade a stat they get more expensive.
Enemy tanks are red. The art style isn't photorealistic but it actually works quite well in VR.	The final battle takes place in the hart of an erupting volcano.

After each level your ship covers itself in armor, and when you start a level it slides back off so you can see.
	BOOM!
A Nemesis Tank will spawn after while, and it is frickin' hard to take down. For most people it will kill you repeatedly and basically cause a game over. I found a decent way of taking it on and got a shiny trophy for it.
Some end game stats.