SPACE RIFT: Episode 1 (PSVR)

System: PSVR 1
Price at Time Of Review: £15.99
Comfort Rating: Red (Extreme Movement)
Genre: Space Shooter
Input: DualShock Controller
Best Playing Position: Sitting
Multi-Player: No
Age Rating: PG

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Description: SPACE RIFT: Episode 1 is a breathtaking action space adventure with a captivating story specifically designed for Virtual Reality! Experience up close how it feels to fly missions as a space pilot and get into intense firefights with enemy drones. After a devastating meteor shower, Earth has turned into a desert wasteland. Humanity has been forced to relocate to Mars, where they live under the strict leadership of megacorps WEISS and PANDORA.

You take on the role of Casey Black, who has been slaving away as a pilot for WEYSS. After being labelled a traitor by a computer error, your only chance to survive is joining the rebels of the Anoxia Station. There you find out about their secret project: the S.E.E.D – a mysterious device which could lead to humanity’s salvation. As a maverick mining pilot, you help the rebels while gathering valuable minerals, under constant threat from PANDORA’s flying drone army. Will you be able to bring independence and freedom to the rest of humanity on Mars?

Review: The story goes that you are on planet earth that has pretty much been destroyed and turned into a wasteland thanks to a rather nasty asteroid. The good news is humanity lives on, just under the surface of the planter, being run by megacorps Weyss and Pandora. You play the role of Casey Black who was once a crack space pilot but is now a traitor on the run. The only way you will stay alive is to join the rebels of the Anoxia Station. This is a war for oxygen and humanity is counting on you to make and launch the S.E.E.D. bomb which will make enough oxygen for everyone, without them having to pay the corporations.

While everything looks decent enough I wouldn’t go expecting anything like Elite Dangerous. There is still quite a lot of exploring to do here and the dogfights can get pretty action-packed. Controls as well are pretty decent and it only took me a short while to work out what to do. The first episode is split into 5 chapters which introduce you to the main characters of the game as well as most the things you will need to do along the way. Then, after each mission, you get to spend your hard-earned credits on various upgrades which further hints at a long future for this game.

While I can see that it is trying to be some big adventure in space it is a pretty short-lived one at the moment. But I can only guess that in time there will be further episodes released which will expand on this game’s depth. The good news is even now it looks fantastic and has a lot of potential, particularly with the storyline. The dogfighting is also pretty decent as is the potential for upgrading everything on your ship. It’s a good first part, but it will leave you longing for more…let us just hope there is some further down the line, too many episode games never get past part 1.