So after 90hrs of Mass Effect, and another 60+ hours in Destiny, I have decided to go into a VR mode for a while and blow through a few shorter games.
First on that List was Eagle Flight by UbiSoft.
Now UbiSoft has always marched to the beat of their own drum, be that good or bad, they are one of the few publishers out there who really feel comfortable with new IPs and have no problem taking chances on oddball titles from time to time.
On of those games is Eagle Flight.
It came out last year in the release window of the PSVR and Ubi took a real chance releasing a game like this for a completely untested and budding hardware platform.
But that bet paid off, with a decent sell through of about 130k, that is more than 10% of PSVR owners who have picked up the game. A heck of a lot better than most new IPs attach at.
The game itself is set in a fictional future Paris. There is no real timeline as to when things are set, or what caused the earth to be without humans, but there are some subtle hints for those digging.
I will get back to a theory I have about the world at then end of this review, it will be a minor spoil, so be warned.
The game itself is in my opinion one of the best uses of the PSVR to date. The tracking and movement system are phenomenal.You use you head as your only means of control, looking left and right you slowly turn in that direction, while tilting your head slightly left or right gives you a tight turn.
This system works unbelievably well and is incredibly intuitive. Within minutes of putting on the PSVR headset you will be soaring through broken buildings, across the water, through sewers and cave with pin point accuracy.
It feels very natural to use your head in this way, and your mind very easily accepts the control scheme.
The controller itself is used for small bursts of speed, to “eagle cry” which is used to shoot down other birds, a shield button and once the game is finished, the O button become a direction lock, so you can look around why flying over the city, making it much easier to find the collectibles in the game.
One downside I did find though, is that for the first time ever in VR I had a major VR hangover.
For about an hour after playing my head was swooning. If I tilted my head at all my brain kinda went a little sideways.
I think this has a lot to do with the turn scheme in the game. You mind is tricked into thinking when you tilt your head your vision is going to pan left and right, but when you come back to reality the mind does not know the difference, so it still presumes you are going to shift vision left and right.
So if you are sensitive to VR in any way, this game may not be for you. I have very very strong VR legs and literally nothing in VR bothers me, and really, it was not the playing that was the problem.
Fingers crossed this is but a hiccup and not something that is going to happen more often.
The world itself is very well crafted and has a bit of a cartoony look to it. There are no super high res textures, but everything looks just detailed enough to make you believe it.
The city is covered in years of growth, with bears, wolves, elephant and giraffes now roaming the streets.
** Spoilers coming (for Eagle Flight and Assassin’s Creed) **
It is my belief that this word and the Assassin’s Creed universe are one and the same.
We know at the end of AC3 that Desmond freed Juno onto the world, and that she is hell bent on destroying humanity.
Well I am pretty sure this is the fallout for future AC events.
In one area of the city you actually find a crashed Satellite. I scoured it the best I could for some sign of it being from Abstergo, but flying past I could not find any markings.
But with the constant talk about the Abstergo satellites that were to be launched, it is kind of a cheeky tie in.
No clue f this will play out in future AC games, but I would not be surprised if we find there are ties to the franchise in a sequel maybe.
** Spoilers Finished **
All in all Eagle Flight is one of the most enjoyable VR experiences I have had (outside of porn, hahaha) But in all seriousness, Ubi has really done an amazing job with this game, it is fun, very accessible to new comers, and offers a TON of replay-ability.
There are timed challenges for all missions, and you get a up to a 3 star rating for each mission, with over 125 stars to collect, each unlocking more difficult challenge modes.
There is 25 story missions that ultimately unlock all districts of the city.
On top of all that there is a ton of collectibles, each one has 15-35 feathers to find hidden all over the place, and fish to catch down by the water.
And as if that was not enough, there is a full on 3v3 multiplayer component, that plays out like a capture the flag type mode.
All in all one fantastic game package and a very welcome addition to VR.
A solid 8.5 / 10 and highly recommended to all PSVR owners (unless you are very VR sensitive)
The Compulsive Canadian Gamer 