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October 2016

RIGS Mechanized Combat League

RIGS is basically a futuristic sports game that involves classic first person shooter mechanics with the addition of side objectives.  It was made by the same people that made Killzone: Mercenary, arguably the best game made for the PS Vita.  Gameplay consists of two teams of three battling in a few different arenas in a few different game modes.  Oh, and the whole thing is in VR.

 

RIGS was released alongside PSVR, and is one of the only games where you actually move around a lot as part of the gameplay.  In VR people tend to get nauseous when moving around because it doesn't feel exactly like moving around in real life.  RIGS attempts to combat this by technically having you sit still while controlling a large bipedal RIG.  It works pretty well.  I got a little bit motion sick at times but for the most part the preventive measures built into the game work well.  

 

You can play RIGS via online multiplayer, but you can also play single player and have all of the other characters operated by bots.  You play on a team throughout a tournament, so each loss feels like it actually matters.  Some modes are straightforward deathmatches, but another mode has a "football" that you need to get into the opponent's goal - sort of a cross between American and European football. Perhaps the most noteworthy mode includes getting three kills in order to be briefly supercharged, and then jumping through a centralized hoop while you are still supercharged.  This makes for frantic gunplay as people rush towards the hoop while opponents snipe at the people making a sprint for the center.

 

There are four main categories of rigs to choose from, with about seven minor permutations of each. There's a heavy RIG that's slow but has lots of defense, a small and quick RIG, a RIG that can hover but has low defense, and a tall slender rig that is pretty well balanced. Each RIG also uses different weapons and they are customizable, so there's a fairly wide variety of RIG options.  However, I do have to admit that I wish there were a few more RIG classes to choose from.  The game is well balanced and it might be difficult to balance it if there were more RIGS, but it would be nice if there were more like six to choose from.

 

There are various objectives to complete for sponsors, which basically unlocks new RIG skins, player skins, helmets, and victory dances.  I would say that the game is very well made, especially for VR, but there are a few shortcomings.  For example, there are only four different maps.  They're good maps, but four is pretty limited.  There also isn't a whole lot to do in the game other than play in these few game modes.  I'm not sure what I'd add, but the game does feel a little sparse.  To be fair, the game isn't sold at full price, which is impressive considering it is technically a full AAA game.  All in all, if someone owned a PlayStation VR I would definately recommend RIGS. It might even be a reason to buy VR!

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