After about 10 hours of Star Wars: Tales from the Galaxy’s Edge comprehensive enhanced edition on the shiny new PlayStation VR2, returning to the old Meta Quest 2 version felt like walking backwards down a flight of stairs in slow motion. I was.fun and definitely necessary The Last Call DLC, plus a series of improvements that take advantage of the new headset’s haptic bells and whistles, plus cinematic color depth, found the droid I was looking for. Be aware, though, that you’ll have to stick beyond the first three hours of a half-baked original campaign and its really bad writing.
Tales from the Galaxy’s Edge begins on a sober note. Waking up in the cabin of a freighter, you stepped into the role of an unnamed, voiceless droid mechanic, sometimes smuggling illicit goods on the side. In that early moment, you stumble aboard a ship while a character talks to you via a transmitter. You can take wonderful pictures.
A crash landing brings you to the planetary surface of Batuu. This is a backwater world featuring the settlement of Podunk, which might be recognized as the setting for the Star Wars-themed section of Disney’s actual theme park. Here, he meets Seezelslak, a private proprietor of a cantina, and Mubo, a droid repair shop owner who is his main smuggling client. They’re infuriatingly cheesy at first, coming across as overtly offensive dialogue that looks like it’s pulled directly from The Phantom Menace – and you can’t skip it. It’s treated as a hub area, but it’s a shame you can’t explore the settlement itself.
From the opening, a chance to bring your Star Wars fantasies to life with fully modeled blasters, satisfying shotguns, throwable lightsabers, rocket launchers and ambiguous weapons that can be comfortably dual-wielded or two-handed as needed They’re all so lifelike, like you’re holding real Star Wars props. The fleshed-out arsenal is particularly punchy with tactile feedback and the Sense Controller’s trigger resistance, and each blast can repel your trigger finger with an impressive level of force. Small interactions like solving a puzzle to open a door or chest feel like a child playing with a toy that roars, shoots fire and sparks.
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If you’re wondering if you can play as a Jedi, you do! But that chapter is more of a side adventure than the main course. is spent on blowing up simple levels. The first few are true criminals in the tutorial category that will kill you. – It’s almost like the world of Final Fantasy 7 Remake. .
It’s not until we get to the Last Call DLC content that the original 3-hour story seamlessly expands into a 10-hour arc that finally sees the characters have a good time. Filled with intricately told stories, it makes you feel like you’re living for yourself. In fact, you actually accomplish the following: play through three short but much more satisfying chapters and step into the shoes of Empire Strikes Back Jedi and Assassin Droid IG-88. Chapters spread the story stakes between quests as you arrive exactly when you need them, clear your pallets, and make your way towards Galaxy’s Edge’s legitimately epic finale mission.
Move around the world by tilting the left thumbstick, and teleport by pushing the right thumbstick inwards and pointing to your destination. That’s pretty standard fare for anyone who’s used the Quest 2 or other roomscale style VR headsets, but using the original PSVR’s directionless Move controllers is the primary VR experience. It’s still a big step for those who want to experience it. It’s a pity that you can’t move while pressing the crouch button, but of course it’s VR, so you can crouch and move in real life. Also, press the O button to activate the jetpack. It doesn’t feel great at first, and requires an in-game upgrade before you can move around there instead of just hovering, but after that, when you’re not unnaturally encountering invisibility, smoothly gliding across the battlefield is Pretty cool. Boundaries.
Either way, facing off against roaming pirates, mercenaries, battle droids, ferocious local animals, and the First Order itself is a lot of fun. Their AI isn’t all that smart, but unlike when I first played on the Quest 2, the PS VR2 can render distant enemies without obscuring too much detail, so you can see bad guys at a distance. Makes chasing more fun. The standoffs are tense, as a few shots in the right place can kill you or someone else, but the combat is balanced enough to be enjoyable enough in the face of danger. You can summon up to 3 friendly droids to follow and fight alongside your allies. This makes it feel like you can win battles even if you’re inferior in numbers or guns in every way, but repairing them with a multi-tool can be a pain.
Speaking of tools at your disposal, there’s also a handy scanner activated by a button on your left wrist that lets you catalog points of interest in your codex, and a handy drag-and-drop inventory system that lets you place loot directly into your pouch. and easy management. Healing yourself is as easy as placing a canister of bacta in front of your face, pressing the trigger and spraying. Pulling out pouches, reaching into inventory, and throwing floating droids and grenades into battle is natural.
And it all sounds great. It’s fun to hear the iconic Star Wars blaster noise bouncing around you in all directions, especially if you’re using 3D audio. The mesmerizing original soundtrack, mixed with a blast of vibration in the headset simulating a blaster bolt passing through my face and an explosion nearby, completely pulled me into the Star Wars universe. I was. The only major cracks in Illusions were during occasional glitches, like when a weapon crashes through geometry. Needless to say, most of the objects you manipulate are not fully physics-simulated, so they won’t react to every movement. .
