2024-04-19 12:00:00
Every time I enter virtual reality, I feel a sense of joy and anticipation, even though I’ve long been painfully aware that most of the experiences offered by this format aren’t quite up to par. Still, I can’t help but hope that I’ll be entertained. Maybe a little childish, but there’s something regarding putting on a headset and disappearing into a world that appeals to me. I think the format itself and its unique experiences have huge potential, but luckily I’m a seasoned gaming veteran and can spot a bad game, even if I think VR is cool. Immediate appeal doesn’t matter if the game becomes boring later.
Sora is the name of the little knight in shining armor that I control in this fantasy adventure. The concept itself was inspired by the fantastic Moss games, which I consider to be at the next level of truly great VR experiences. I focus on Sora from a higher perspective while illustrating the struggles she faces. The core game mechanics are both clever and frustrating, ironically both enhancing and detracting from the experience. There are different forms of matter surrounding the environment that I can collect, then I can open a wheel and fill a bottle that I can throw to affect the environment and enemies. The first is similar to glue, for example to fill gaps or trap enemies. The second allows Sola to bounce on platforms for example, or to transform enemies into guided projectiles.
The environments are colorful, but the avant-garde style makes them rather dull.
It’s a quirky, interactive and fun concept that is widely used. However, depending on what substance I choose to fill the bottle with, the execution isn’t perfect either, and throwing it isn’t always successful. Even with auto-aim, the bottle would land too short or go nowhere, but most of the time it worked. However, in combat or when platforming requires timing, it becomes very frustrating and requires a bit of tweaking to work properly. The idea of controlling a hero with a joystick and buttons while using your hands and movements feels good, but here you need to do better to really improve the game.
In addition to some environment-based puzzles, there’s plenty of combat in Mixture. He likes to throw multiple enemies at you at once, and using the aforementioned glue bottle is a great tool that logically allows enemies to stop for a short period of time. Otherwise, Sora can dodge attacks by moving quickly. The game sometimes locks down areas where you must defeat all enemies to progress, and some of these moments seem to have been directly inspired by Moss, so if you’ve played it you’ll find many of them recognizable. However, much of the charm of these games is missing, especially the charm of fairy tales and the adventure stories that accompany them. Such a story exists, but it’s sorely lacking, with no characters or cutscenes to add excitement.
Here is an announcement:
The VR format offers interesting and immersive opportunities.
Unfortunately, the design and music are also rather boring. There are some beautiful and spectacular moments where the VR shines, and in places the scenery and levels are very strong, if rather bare and not very aesthetically pleasing. There are bright colors and good contrast, but there are a lot of barren, rocky landscapes with little detail and life. The problem is that even though elements like plants and environments are different, the visual style still feels like everything was cast from the same angular template. Additionally, the character has Sims-like mumbling language instead of an actual voice, which isn’t very pleasant. The graphics are far from ugly, but nothing really impressive.
The mix is generally fun, but unfortunately the entertainment is weighed down by a few simple things. On the one hand, Sola moves quite slowly, and for those of us who prefer to turn the camera all the way around rather than having it jump, even that feels very slow. This resulted in an overall pace and fluidity that I didn’t really like as I would have liked a bit more agility and speed. You can unlock more attacks and other upgrades over time, which makes these things slightly better, but the speed at which I controlled the character and camera felt too slow, which is always Shame.
The first boss of the game will immediately teach you how to use the different bottles. Unfortunately, sometimes it’s too clumsy to aim correctly.
Here is an announcement:
The mixture is a mixed bag. It has a unique concept of collecting and using materials, and you feel involved when you’re not just controlling the character. As we saw with Moss and Astro Bot, the perspective used makes it practical and clear. There’s a touch of imagination that still makes it quite interesting, but at the same time it seems quite boring visually, and in the end it’s just a good adventure, both as a game and as a game. VR experience.
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