Gnomes vs. Fairies: Greckel’s Quest (Steam VR)

System: Valve Index, HTC Vive & Oculus Rift
Price at Time Of Review: £7.19
Comfort Rating: Red (Extreme Movement)
Genre: Platform
Input: Gamepad, Keyboard & Mouse
Best Playing Position: Sitting
Multi-Player: Yes
Age Rating: 15+

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Description: You are the last free Gnome, on a quest to rescue the enslaved Gnomekin from the evil Fairy King and the spells of his Fairy Daughters. Jump, slash, and twirl your way through mystical worlds riddled with Mushroom Monsters, Kittybats, Gorphs, and more. Harness untold magic and recruit new allies to unleash magical mayhem in the final stand against the tyranny of the evil Fairies.

Review: The game’s story, as the title would imply, revolves around a war between fairies and gnomes, the latter of which has been imprisoned by the former. As the sole uncaged gnome, you must set out on a quest to save the other gnomes and retrieve their resources from the evil forces of the fairy queen. I quite like the fairies’ character designs, they’re appropriately cute in just the right way for a treacherous set of female villains: cute, but never nice. I like the intro scene, with the rock band rocking out while telling the player of the adventure he’s about to experience. Overall, the story is obviously no Lord of the Rings, but it does its job well in motivating the hero’s journey, and it’s rather endearing in its silly fantasy manner.

The moment this game starts to start to see things that have obviously been influenced by other games. From Mario 64, Zelda and even Spyro the Dragon, there are elements in this game from each of them and it is all the better for it. Gameplay-wise, this is a mix between an action RPG and an N6 style 3D platformer. You jump around, fight enemies, collect tokens and avoid traps just like you would in a 3D platformer, but you also get to obtain items, upgrade your gear and level up like you would in an RPG. I really like this mix, and I’d love to see more games following this formula.

While it is pretty clear Gnomes vs. Fairies: Greckel’s Quest was not made for VR, it doesn’t stop it from being a pretty good little platformer which is an area that is severely lacking in the world of VR. If you can ignore the countless bugs and nausea-inducing camera you will find a great looking game that is fun to play from start to finish. So not exactly a VR classic, but worth a download anyway and there is more than enough levels to justify the asking price.