A hero shooter like Overwatch has been missing in VR so far. That’s why I took a look at Larcenauts today
Today, I ventured into the arenas of Larcenauts and spent a few hours beating up online opponents (and bots, unfortunately) with most of the heroes. You can read more about how I liked the game and why it has some serious weaknesses in addition to its strengths in the rest of the review. Do me a favor, though. Before you rush into the store and buy the game, please read the review to the end.
A typical hero-based shooter like Larcenauts thrives on its diversity and unusual hero abilities. The game includes a total of 8 different heroes that can be unlocked bit by bit. As the game progresses, you can also upgrade your abilities or even exchange your weapons for better versions. Since the heroes are one of the positive aspects of the game, I will briefly introduce you to the different heroes and their abilities.
Calima
The first heroine is called Calima, she is the infiltrator of the group. Equipped with a shotgun and a submachine gun, she can quickly perform a dash function over a short distance, quickly dodging potential enemies or bullets. Also, in close quarters, she can use her second ability to increase her rate of fire or negatively affect that of the enemy.
Further, she can also throw a smoke grenade to create a wall of smoke. Thus, she can quickly mislead her opponents.
Evander
The next hero is Evander, also known as the Sniper. He is equipped with a sniper rifle and a hand cannon. The abilities he can use are a cloaking device to be invisible for a short moment. Thus, he can quickly escape into cover when the heat is on. As another ability, he has traps that damage enemies and prevent them from moving for a brief moment. He also has a grenade that can mark enemies red for a short time, making them more visible.
Bosun
Moving on, Bosun is an engineer with a loadout that consists of a blaster, a pulse pistol and a number of handy gadgets such as a turret that can be placed anywhere and that automatically shoots enemies for a short period of time. It also has armor that protects the player from damage for a limited time and a grenade that makes enemies more vulnerable to damage.
Vod
Vod is the funniest hero in the game, using melee attacks to knock out enemies. The quick-witted hero can also cling to enemies and confines enemies to a small area around him. He also has a grenade that deals damage over a short period of time and also slows down the movement of enemies as well.
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Thal
Then we have Thal, a giant robot that has the title “Guardian”. He has a machine gun, a pistol and, most importantly, a number of shields that serve as his defense. One shield is attached to his hand and another shield can be thrown on the ground in front of him as a barricade. Last but not least, he has a grenade that deals damage to enemies and can heal allies at the same time.
Chi
Another specialist you can unlock is Chi. This mysterious-looking medic, who could fit perfectly into the current world situation, is equipped with a transfuser. This can be used to heal teammates or drain HP from enemy heroes instead. Her other abilities include a crystal cocoon that temporarily protects Chi from attacks and a so-called Ghelani Field that heals all teammates around Chi. She also has a leech grenade that converts damage taken from an enemy into HP for Chi herself.
Salters
Salters, on the other hand, is more explosive. With a grenade launcher, a pulse pistol and a number of deadly gadgets, she can do some serious damage. This grenadier can also rush at enemies and drop a teleportation pod, to which she can return at any time. Furthermore, she also has an explosive grenade in her arsenal.
ARC-L6
And the last hero we introduce is ARC-L6, the mercenary of the group. This mercenary robot uses an assault rifle, a pulse pistol, and one of its abilities is to glide across the ground to move faster or avoid enemies. Further, he is equipped with proximity mines that explode when enemy movement is detected. He also has a plasma grenade that triggers a chain effect where nearby enemies damage each other.
There are a total of 3 different game modes, which are broken down as follows. Once we have the traditional Team Deathmatch, where two teams compete against each other. Another mode is Refuel, where you can capture 3 different points on the map by occupying them for a few seconds and eliminating all the opponents which may be present. The team that has captured the most points wins. The third mode is Uplink, which is more or less Capture the Flag. You have to find a ball-like drone and bring it to a certain point on the map. While you’re trying, the opposing team can shoot down the drone carrier and secure the drone for themselves. Again, the team with the most points wins. The modes are pretty classic in themselves, but still a lot of fun.
As far as maps are concerned, it looks rather meager. We only got 4 different maps at launch, which also seem quite generic. They are just typical team vs. team maps without many surprises. One is a more canyon-style type of map, one map is in the green with some industrial buildings, we get one map with big mushroom trees and one map with a mine. More maps are yet to come via an future updates and one has already been announced for fall of this year. Let’s see what else is coming.
Unfortunately, the game also has a few things that grinds my gears. One example is the reloading animations of the weapons. Yes, you read that right. Animations. So you can’t reload your weapons yourself, but suddenly feel completely ripped out of immersion while your arms wave around in front of you on their own and load a new magazine into your weapon with crazy show-off animations. Also, the default settings allow you to also see two wiggling hands in front of you while sprinting. These can be turned off, but this may cause your gun to glitch wildly as you run. In the future, manual reloading of your weapons is planned, which will be done in an upcoming update. But overall, the game looks more like a lame flat-to-VR port. It’s a shame, but we’ll see if the developers really make the game playable with updates coming in the future.
Unfortunately, there are more bugs and problems. Sometimes the game jerked a lot or once a friend even completely fell through the ground textures into the programmed nothingness. Other players also had connection problems and for some players the arm length of the heroes did not match their real arm length, as they provided the same arm length for all body sizes. And this is just the tip of the iceberg. New bugs are being discorvered daily by the playerbase. The game generally feels more like a beta test instead of being a game ready for sale. Also what caused an outcry is that at launch, no other headsets are supported other than Oculus devices. The developers claim that there is a problem with the Unreal Engine 4, and you can see the commentary here:
Commentary of the developers:
Unfortunately we ran into an issue with UE4 and SteamVR compatibility so it is Oculus only for now. We are working with all parties involved to get this addressed ASAP.
This is super disappointing for us as well… we love SteamVR.
There is already a roadmap from the developers, which shows that they want to fix many bugs. However, this seems rather forced, since they have already received an excessive amount of negative feedback and the Steam reviews have also been rather negative. I’ll say here again that you’d better wait and see if they can really deliver on their promises. The game is definitely not worth the money in its current state.
What has been ignored by the developers so far are various balance problems. You can equip all characters with different weapons and various ability enhancements. This means that players with better equipment can use the respective abilities of the heroes more often or longer and have stronger weapons. Since there is also no direct matchmaking, new players will also often have to compete against already experienced players or teams that already have much better equipment, or are already better in terms of gameplay. Also you may be packed into a team that is filled up with bots due to a lack of players and thus lose the game. Because the AI of the robotized companions resembles that of a toaster. Without smart functions. This can lead to frustrations very quickly.
I am still speechless. The idea of Larcenauts is brilliant and the heroes are very diverse. But that doesn’t help with all the problems the game has right now. It also doesn’t feel like a finished game and is more of an early beta version. That’s why it’s just not worth the $30 price tag. Feel free to keep an eye on the game and see if the bugs and issues are fixed faster before the active player community has left the sinking ship. I will also keep track of future changes and update the review if the developers improve the game in a timely manner. But in the current state, you’d better keep your hands off Larcenauts. This is especially true for users who use a headset other than a Quest, Quest 2, or Oculus Rift S.
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Source: https://arvrjourney.com/larcenauts-an-amusing-heroshooter-with-weaknesses-and-bugs-436574c5abea?source=rss—-d01820283d6d—4
