Once upon a time it was a perfect city: New Austin had everything to offer. Residential areas that housed millions of people, food production towers that stretched into the clouds, and robots that catered to every need. But after the world's most advanced AI experienced an act of human aggression that jeopardised all life on Earth, it decided to take care of the fate of humanity itself.
"Scraper: First Strike" is the first episode of a planned five-part VR sci-tech shooter and has been available as an early access version for Oculus Rift, HTC Vive and Windows Mixed Reality for a few days now. We strapped on the virtual hover pod and tested the first instalment with the HTC Vive.
In "Scraper: First Strike", you take on the role of Casey Maxwell, the pilot of the modded hover pod. You are also a member of the Human Resistance Force (HRF). Your mission is to help the HRF restore a secret military base and push back the AI-controlled "Humech" robots that have taken over New Austin. Not a spaghetti mission.
To the weapons
You will soon be introduced to the virtual hovering rubber boat with its gripper arms and familiarised with the most important movement mechanisms. The default setting is free directional movement (smooth locomotion), in which the two touchpads of the Vive Controller are used for locomotion control and turning manoeuvres. However, additional comfort options such as teleportation and adjustable circular movements are also available.
The real fun begins with the two variably equipable mech-grip arms, which allow you to indulge in spherical VR thoughts of power. In principle, you experience the entire shooter from the cockpit of the mech armour. A lever and a switch also provide plenty of oomph and VR variety, allowing you to unleash a salted charge on your opponents or recharge your shield energy. The adventure is enriched by a variety of weapon upgrades. A shotgun and a flamethrower are also included.
This certain look and feel of moving your arm weapons in the air with the controllers and waiting for a few nasty robots is a lot of fun at first. However, during the firing salvos and defensive manoeuvres, the arm shooting feels a little bumpy. You almost have to be a Japanese udon noodle maker to operate a shield button, a lever and two firearms at the same time. At the beginning, your shield defence is still very low, which lowers the adrenaline level at the start.
A control system with hiccups
A pity, really. The whole atmosphere, even if a little too much of "Raw Data" The film is more or less skilfully staged. The graphics and soundscape are also of an advanced nature. You can tell that VR professionals want to create something interesting. And yet there are a few problems with the controls and the general gameplay. The weapon selection, which is done using touch gestures, is not as accessible with the Vive controls. I found it difficult to change weapons quickly by pressing the touchpad and rotating it at the same time, followed by pressing a button. Movement with directional presses without teleportation also has its problems. A few additional speed adjustments for quick changes of direction would be appropriate here.
Something is still missing
I still can't get much out of the advertised RPG character of "Scraper: The First Strike". To be fair: I only played the mech shooter for just under three hours, as you can only occasionally get armour upgrades again with somewhat long deck walks. The artificial intelligence of the enemies also leaves something to be desired. Especially the annoying first opponents and the sluggish manoeuvrability gnaw at your patience to finally experience more cannon fodder and action. After the first few hours, my judgement is somewhat mixed, although this is by no means a typical sausage-and-bread shooter. The approaches with the cockpit controls and the weapon upgrades are exciting, but the developers should decide early on which VR path they want to take.
"Scraper: The First Strike" has been available as an Early Access version since 21 November for around 30 francs on Steam and also in the Oculus Store (29.99 USD) available. The Realisation for PlayStation VR is due to be released in December. We can only hope that the developers will make some improvements in the coming weeks.
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