Star Wars Battlefront: Rogue One X-Wing VR Mission

Publisher –Electronic Arts Inc.
Price – US $29.99/ EU €29.99 / UK £24.99/ AU $39.95
Release date – Dec 06, 2016(VR Mission)
Move Support – No
Pro Patch – Yes
Digital only – No
Reviewed on – PS4 Pro

I’m gonna preface this review by saying I am a huge Star Wars fan, which is why I held back on my review for this VR add-on to Star Wars Battlefront, released last year.  Battlefront itself is an online competitive shooter in the vein of the Battlefield series, but heavily stripped down.  It’s fun, but may not hold your interest compared to other, more fleshed out shooters. This is not that, so if the original game soured you, fret not as this is a Single Player Star Wars experience. With that out of the way, lets get to it.

The start screen had me looking up at an AT-AT and I knew right I away I was in for a VR treat!

X-Wing mission is exactly as the title describes, a lone VR mission behind the cockpit of the Rebellion’s go to dog-fighter.  It actually seems odd to add a single player portion to a solely multiplayer game, and only make it available to VR users.  I’m not complaining, but these 2 experiences are mutually exclusive, even though they are part of the same game.  The mission itself will take you 20 minutes or so to beat, but it’s a heck of a 20 minutes.

This is fan service plain and simple and because it’s built using the same engine as Battlefront, it has the visual backings of a very pretty game.  You play a new member to Rogue squadron and on your inaugural flight you’ll see Star Wars as you have never have before.  Flying along the rebel fleet, navigating asteroid fields and of course, fighting Tie fighters.  Almost every moment from start to finish is used to full effect.  Witty, light banter from your squadron, in and out of battle, carrys the story along, as well a visit from a character from the Rogue One Movie.

Fan Service aside, it not without its flaws.  Controls are an issue due to their simplicity.  You’re X-Wing turns easily enough but tight maneuvers just aren’t possible or anything fancy like a barrel role.  As a short mission, it’s easily excusable, but multiple playthroughs will have you wanting more.  The second major issue is the difficulty, it’s just way to easy and with no option to make the AI more difficult, every playthrough is a cake walk.  I understand the need to make this simple, especially when considering newbies to VR as cockpit sims tend to cause sim sickness more than others, but this option would have been a stellar addition.

Flying with the Rebel fleet is just the beginning of the this quick,awesome adventure!

As I mentioned, the visuals here are a beauty and experiencing Star Wars in VR was dream fulfilment.  The Start screen, hanger and a few key moments were dreams brought to life. Star Wars games almost never slouch on the audio either and this is no exception with every sound effect sounding exactly as they should, as well as some decent voice acting.  Everything here fully immerses you in the universe and this brief tale.

Shortcomings aside this is easily one of the best experiences I have had in VR.  It’s just to bad it’s attached to a full priced game that plays completely different from the VR mission.  Releasing this for $5(or free) as a stand alone would be completely fine IMO as it shows off what VR is capable of. On the off chance you own Battlefront and a VR headset, you need to play this immediately.

What would I pay? $10.  I actually paid around $12ish(on sale),but If you are only into the VR content than I’m sure even those prices may be a tough sell, that said if you can find a used copy of Battlefront this is worth playing, but don’t go spending the $40 asking price from the PlayStation store if this is the only content you care about in this game.