The first-person shooter (FPS) is a tricky genre to pull off at this early stage in virtual reality (VR). Though it may be the type of videogame that immediately springs to mind when first thinking about the tech, the current limits of the likes of the PlayStation VR head-mounted display (HMD) and others present some key issues. Despite this, UK-based studio Guerrilla Cambridge is tackling the FPS head-on with RIGS: Mechanized Combat League for PlayStation 4. The studio is well aware of VR’s issues, however, and has recently assured that it will be delivering an ‘accessible’ FPS that still has ‘a lot of depth’.
The team’s Gareth Hughes and Alex Kanaris-Sotiriou explained as much during this month’s PlayStation Experience. “So the control system, I think, is paramount to the experience,” Hughes noted. “So one of the things it fundamentally does is it facilitates kinda anybody to pick up and play. Now that doesn’t meant that it’s a shallow experience but it means that it’s not reliant totally on people with pad skill. So I know a lot of my friends are like ‘Ah, I don’t really want to play competitive shooters because I just get owned all the time because I just can’t aim quick enough.’ Now with our control system you’re basically using VR itself to aim. So you can aim much, much faster and much accurately than you would with a pad. So the accessibility for a wider audience is really, really there.”
Kanaris-Sotiriou continued: “I think that accessibility is really key because we’ve found that people who have played the game, the reaction has been amazing. And there’s been people who aren’t first-person shooter fans who have played it and found it so intuitive and natural to use that they’ve been really evangelising about the game. And that people’s connection with it and how intuitive it feels, yeah, it’s a pick up and play feel.”
Despite this, Hughes was keen to note that RIGS: Mechanized Combat League still possessed depth. “Absolutely, but it’s not dumbed down by any means,” he added. “I think we’re still providing a game with a lot of depth, especially tactically. So it’s less about pad skill, more about positioning, more about your strategies and how you’re using your power modes. Are you playing a defensive role? How is your team operating together?”
It’s not yet clear when RIGS: Mechanized Combat League will launch. VRFocus will continue to follow the title closely, reporting back with any further updates on it.
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