Overkill VR: Action Shooter FPS Review

A few days ago we had the chance to get our hands on the VR Shooter Overkill VR, now you are all probably thinking not another FPS on the Rift but bear with us, this one is different and we feel it may just have enough to do to keep players entertained!

Now Overkill VR has entered a pretty crowded area with games like Robo Recall and the recently reviewed Drop Dead VR, so how does it match up against these two? Find out below…

Description of the games story and features:

Overkill VR has players take the role of leader of the rebel resistance. As leader your role will be to fight The Faction, a group of evil warmongers. During combat, you’ll have to break through in an increasingly hostile environment and defeat an ever-growing number of enemies. It won’t be easy, and you’ll need to keep close track of your guns and weapons and upgrade accordingly. But Overkill VR offers a wide range of guns, including serious kill machines, to make your job easier.

Many upgrades for your armory become available only as you advance in the game, so make sure your scores keep improving as you go through each stage. Power ups, multiple kills, wombo-combos, and headshots make the points add up, so be on your toes and play your best. Your life depends on it!

Be smart. Use the environment and take advantage of its different covers to protect yourself. Use the realistic aiming system to get a good shoot. There are many ways to complete a zone, so look at the possibilities and pick the one the will work best for you.

Overkill VR Has Plenty Of Content!

The game features a massive amount of levels, guns, upgrades and a cover system that is completely different to any of the others!

The levels are all set out on a map and players receive a star rating after the completion of a level, the more stars the more levels unlock therefor allowing players to progress through the game. Stars are earned through completing missions along with any objectives.

Alongside progressing through the levels players get the chance to unlock and upgrade many guns! These guns and upgrades are brought through the money earned during levels for kills, headshots, kill streaks and the amount of stars acquired throughout completing the level.

Guns, Upgrades, Power-ups And Aiming

The upgrades for the guns really set Overkill VR apart from the rest, each one has so much customisation! From aiming sights, extended mags, grips, lasers and loads more. Players can also upgrade the characters armour and even the heavy artillery that is sometimes on offer in some of the levels.

All this content won’t matter if the gameplay isn’t up to scratch though and I am pleased to report that it does handle things well for the most part! I have to admit after the first few levels I was left a little bored and unentertained, honestly at that point not holding out much hope for the game! Once the guns and upgrades did start to become available though the game really starts to pull you in!

The upgrades to the guns make a massive difference to the way the guns react, grips help with recoil, dot sights make aiming much easier, while scopes will actually have the player closing one eye looking through the scope to hit oncoming enemies.

Progressing through the game unlocks some handheld items like grenades and they are a blast! (Pun intended) Actually throwing the grenade felt natural and the damage caused was spot on!

Throughout the levels little flying targets will appear which when hit activate power-ups like ammo, health or just a nuke to clear the level of enemies if you are getting overrun.

Fans Of Time Crisis Might Want To Take A Look At OverKill VR!

It has been stated by developers that they wanted Overkill to have a Time Crisis feel and to a certain extent it does, players will have to duck down into cover and manually reload guns to survive the enemy waves shooting at their position. Cover on the game varies and players will actually find themselves laying on the floor to actually get down low enough to be covered by the low and small in-game wall on the game!

Hip-Fire Or Aim?

Guns can either be used one handed or two handed, I personally stuck with one handed use as the two handed aiming felt a little twitchy and not very natural in the way you need to have the Touch Controllers, aiming with two hands is more accurate but actually getting the gun in a straight line to even see the red dot in the sight can be a hard task in itself.

Hip firing though while most would expect it to be less accurate I personally found much easier!

No Auto Reload, You Need To Do That Manually!

This is where the cover system becomes essential, players will need to duck down or go back behind whatever cover is on the level and actually manually reload the gun. To reload the game requires players to press a button on the touch controller to release the mag from the gun and then actually line up and insert a new mag. Once players get the hang of it cover won’t be needed but the first few try’s will most likely cause death so it will require practice to speed up the process.

Cover Is The Difference Between Life And Death

The cover system is one of Overkills main features and as the levels get harder it becomes essential to survival! Each level will have something for players to take cover behind, some levels will have players hiding behind a small wall while others will have them laying flat out on the floor behind a very small short wall. I personally found this one of the games best features, keeping me moving after every teleport to the next area.

Motion Sickness isn’t a problem

Anyone who suffers from motion sickness will be fine with Overkill, movement is controlled by teleportation to the next area. There was one time I did however experience motion sickness and this was an area when the game seemed to glitch out and put my character forwards and then in the air, it wasn’t the best feeling in the world but only happened once!

Things can get a little repetitive

This is something that most wave shooters tend to suffer from, Overkill VR does try hard to vary things up with some levels allowing you to use things like a fixed machine gun to mow down enemies while other levels have you moving through the level ducking behind different types of cover. For a while this does vary the game up, things still do however feel repetitive after a few times and some boss battles will have you basically sitting behind cover, shooting an enemy until he finally blows up without even really needing to try.

Graphics Are A Little Rough

The visuals are really where it is hit and miss for Overkill, textures look grainy and enemy characters look very undetailed. Animation from the enemies is pretty bad at times as well, with some flying across the screen to get to cover while others lag, for me animation and graphics really affected the immersion. Overkill isn’t trying to win awards for it’s graphics though and it was always intended to be an arcade shooter with gameplay being it’s biggest asset as well as loads of content!

The last thing I wanted to talk about was the sound, i’m happy to report guns sound really good and add to the immersion. There is also some cheesy voice acting at the end of each level but all in all the sound is fine and most players won’t have any complaints!

Verdict:

Ok so is it at the level of Robo Recall? Sadly not but seriously if you are a Time Crisis fan or just someone who likes to be able to customise weapons before the fight Overkill VR has so much to offer! The graphics and animation are a little dated and some players may find things very repetitive. The things that make Overkill stand out though are the guns, customisation, good cover system and plenty of levels which make Overkill’s £15 price feel good value and offer players plenty of playtime for the money. If you are into arcade shooters Overkill is definitely one to check out!