Hands-On: Blood And Truth

After the fantastic "Astro Bot: Rescue Mission another VR game will be released in the first quarter of 2019, which delighted numerous players with its demo in "The Playroom VR". This time, it's not a cuddly and innovative platform game, but a shooter that utilises the new technology to its full potential with lush firefights and first-class graphics.

VR critics are many, VR fans even more so! And this is particularly true of Sony's PSVR a good reason. This is because high-calibre titles are released here at regular intervals, which have also developed significantly in terms of gameplay over the past two years since the headset was launched. In addition to several games in the Christmas season, there are also a number of new releases in the first quarter of 2019. One of these is the action game "Blood and Truth", in which we not only mow down enemies with a pistol, shotgun or MP, but also experience a story. How well our colleagues from Games.ch enjoyed the demo on a Audition event in Munich in the following.

With both hands

For PSVR owners who have played the demo collection "The Playroom VR" extensively, we could easily explain what you can expect in "Blood and Truth". Just as "Astro Bot: Rescue Mission" is based on the "Robot Rescue" demo from the Playroom, among other things, "Blood and Truth" is based on the action demo "The London Heist". Basically, the game works in a relatively similar way to the VR shooter "Bravo Team". Just like there, you do not move freely through the environment, but advance from cover to cover in the levels at the touch of a button. Unlike there, however, certain of these points are only released once you have defeated part of the current wave of enemies. A much bigger difference, however, is that you play "Blood and Truth" with two Move controllers and are not allowed to use the Dual Shock 4 or the Aim Controller supported by "Bravo Team" and other shooters.

However, there is a good reason for this. Because in "Blood and Truth" you always use both hands in the game. For example, once you have emptied the pistol in your right hand, you use the left hand controlled by the other Move controller to manually pull a new magazine out of your breast pocket and then insert it into your gun. In theory, this also works without having to look down at your breast pocket. We managed to do it without looking down, but only very rarely in the demo. It works in exactly the same way with all the other weapons in the game, whereby in the case of a double-barrelled shotgun I push the two cartridges into the barrels of the unfolded weapon. To carry out this reloading process, your left hand must be free. In principle, however, you can also hold one weapon in each hand at the same time. While you stow handguns such as pistols on belt holsters to the left and right of your body, you can tuck away a larger weapon by actively stowing it on your back. This makes "Blood and Truth" feel quite authentic, as far as authenticity is an appropriate term for an action game.

Rear sight, front sight and rear sight

The clearly outnumbered enemies on a building site in "Blood and Truth" do not cause too much damage. However, we strongly assume that the difficulty level of the demo is deliberately set particularly low. However, we still had a little trouble aiming at first, as we often held our weapons too low. We only realised after a few minutes that we weren't aiming with the rear sight and front sight. However, we only really recognised this because a green aiming dot appears as soon as we are pretty much exactly over a target. What helps is to hold the Move controllers closer to the VR headset.

This applies both to enemies who are on the same level and to those who attack us from a higher position. The optional bullet time, which you can activate for a brief moment, also helps, especially with those who are a little further away, although you can usually still get a little closer. Although rail shooter-style battles - which is not what "Blood and Truth" is, even if we manually decide when to change cover - are usually quite static, we can't say that in this case. Every now and then, the enemies change cover or throw a hand grenade in our direction, which we can grab and throw back.

However, the action is also enhanced by various mini-game-like interludes. At one point, for example, we climb up a scaffold to a higher window. It may sound strange that we can do this with just one free hand without falling off. However, if we had to constantly worry about putting the weapons away and actively pulling them out, it would be much more of a pain in the arse than such "inconsistencies". In addition, we had to open a switch box with a screwdriver and then actively position and turn the first one. While this still seems a little imprecise in the current version compared to the handling of the firearms, we didn't really get the lock-picking mini-game. Here we have to use, turn or lift two tools, one in each hand, to get the lock piston into the right position.

In the first castle, we managed this (probably by chance) within a few seconds. In the second castle of the demo, in which we apparently free our mother in the role of our hero (or perhaps just a woman we call that for unknown reasons), it took considerably longer. But at least such interludes add some variety to everyday shooting, which is why we don't want this to be taken as critically as it might sound at first. Whether the story implied by the "mother" is any good? No idea. But we don't expect too much from "Blood and Truth" in this respect. The only thing that is clear is that you play a policeman and get involved with gangsters in London.

Although the level structure of "Blood and Truth" is heavily adapted to the cover mechanics in many areas, it still offers a certain amount of variety with indoor and outdoor levels, narrower paths and more spacious open areas. The graphics quality is in the top third of previous PSVR titles, even though the earlier version still has some minor issues. For example, the tracking of the Move controllers here and there is not quite as precise as we would hope for in the final version. On the other hand, the headset's tracking of head movements or when we actively stand up from cover (we played sitting down) always works perfectly. However, the sound in particular still seems to be relatively unfinished. Shooting noises and explosions are fine, but the music and other sound effects are still a yawning void at times. Of course, this could all change by the time the game is released in more than three months' time. But it has to if "Blood and Truth" wants to shine not only in terms of gameplay but also in terms of atmosphere.

Screenshots (PlayStation.com)

Conclusion

It would probably be too much to say that "Blood and Truth" is as good an advert for the possibilities of VR games as the aforementioned "Astro Bot". In view of this outstanding VR title, however, this comparison is also decidedly unfair. Because "Blood and Truth" does its job extremely well. The firefights are fun, the gaming experience with firearms, hand grenades, climbing and a few (not contrived) mini-games offers an appropriate variety. The only thing the developers still need to improve is the precision of the tracking and, above all, the sound. Apart from that, however, you can expect an extremely promising shooter in the first quarter, which is much closer in quality to the very good "Firewall" than the at best half-baked "Counter-Strike" clone "Bravo Team. You just have to have Move. But if you don't have it yet: Blood and Truth" seems to be worth the investment!