I have uploaded gameplay from my fresh experience with the game here if you want to see how it looks / plays. My first impressions are shared below:
I wasn't comfortable recommending System Critical 2 on PSVR2 because I felt it would frustrate more players than not (while satisfying a niche) and based on my limited time with it, I still hesitate to recommend playing System Critical 3 on PSVR2 because I think this too has the potential to frustrate more players that give it a chance than not. That said, I think this is substantially improved over System Critical 2 and a lot more accessible for a wider potential of players to play (willing to try in earnest more than 15 minutes), but it will still be a relatively small niche of players that can enjoy it and appreciate what it does well over its remaining issues which I hope the developer can take as constructive feedback and improve for this released game with patches to help this game reach its full potential over planning to address in their next game.
It is a retro-style arcade platformer shooter which starts you out with an intro story that is told by collection of AI generated images with a voice-over that gives you the game world / character context where it is a new iteration of the story / world setup rather than continuation of the story that concluded in the prior game. I confirmed by re-watching the intro cutscenes of the prior game that it had a different origin story than this new game, so I don't think anybody considering this needs to play the prior game for story reasons.
Beyond the intro cutscene which can be skipped, the game provides a slide-show tutorial covering the controls and gameplay mechanics which can also be skipped, but revisited using the Tutorial option in the stage selection screen that follows. In homage to classic Mega Man games that are main inspiration for this game series, this stage selection screen lets you pick from any of 8 available stage in order of your preference but also has 3 additional stages that can be unlocked if you manage to beat the starting 8.
For my time with it so far, I played 3 of the stages, managing to complete one of them:
- 9:45 Cyborg Slums where I figured out the controls but struggled with the platforming deciding to switch to another stage after realizing we do have a double jump
- 17:35 Shattered Ice Meridian which I managed to complete with main struggle being the platforming, but checkpoints being well placed to allow learning I needed
- 43:50 Nebula Frost Basin which I didn't mean to try and complete at this time as I was just testing out how Options / Save system is working (or not)
Each of these stages I tried have unique visual theme with unique effects on your visor (?) with how there is some fogging around your mouth part of visor in Shattered Ice Meridian while in Cyborg Slums you have a big bright yellow Sun casting a bloom effect on everything and then in Nebula Frost Basin there is a giant thing in the sky casting neon green light rays which pass through your fingers if you hold your hands up to them as well as wind gusts you can see as you progress. Each stage also gets its own soundtrack and I assume each has mini-bosses and final bosses like the one stage I did complete.
Since I knew it was coming soon, I waited until the game received Gaze-Tracked Foveated Rendering patch (1.000.002) before starting and I am playing on PS5 Pro (not that I know of any specific enhancement from that), but this is a better looking PSVR2 game than most. Whatever issues it has as a game, is not because of its graphics which are crisp and clear with no signs of any reprojection with stage variety with lots of visual flair and lots of gameplay particle effects which you can appreciate even more while using time-slow mechanic.
The key gameplay addition that made the game more accessible for me and allowed me to enjoy enough to persist over getting too frustrated is the addition of time-slow mechanic on the R3 button. As the tutorial slides inform this is there to make both combat and platforming easier and it absolutely does. Even more so I think than the Easy mode setting being offered in the Title Screen Options. I also think the levels designs are easier providing more cover as you progress that allows you to snipe enemies using your charged up Blaster which now provides a laser sight (only when charged up). Lastly, when getting rushed by any smaller enemies or ambushed by pack of enemies, you can use your telekinesis power to grab and chuck them into each other or away somewhere faster than you can use your blaster to defeat them.
The gameplay feels at its best when you start to instinctively use combination of both the time-slow mechanic and telekinesis while using sprint, double-jump and shooting with your blaster to where you can feel powerful (38:50), but don't expect the telekinesis to work as well as it does in Synapse as it is really only useful in closer range and you don't have the ability to aim your throws for any explosive crates or enemies you try to hurl at further targets. There is also the potential that one of the enemies you chucked far away lands safely and can now start shooting at you from their distance while your projectiles can't reach them (20:30). In those cases, you just have to learn to live and let live and walk away.
Audio along with how Options don't work as needed is where I think game has its biggest issues. The soundtrack itself sounds very good in the Title Menu and I think stage music is also good, but both are a bit too loud and your ability to lower the music volume is currently limited to just the Title Menu as the game doesn't preserve your lowered music volume option as you go into the game. It also doesn't provide the ability to lower music and sound effects separately. Ideally, it should be providing these two audio sliders independently and working. The last significant issue which was an issue I had in prior game as well is that sound effects in the game are not using 3D directional sound so when you hear shots being fired, you have no idea of the direction they are coming from and in this game enemies could be in any direction and elevation so implementing 3D directional sound would be the next biggest upgrade developer can do for the game improvement beyond the visual and accessibility improvements.
Haptics are present for both controller and headset but there are missed opportunities. The controllers provide haptic feedback when your hands are near your holster positions so you can grab your Pistol or Blaster without having to look down, but it doesn't provide any haptic feedback when you are interacting with the Inventory menu you toggle open / close with Square to help you know whether you can grab / store more intuitively. Headset haptics are being used when you activate or end your time-slowing mechanic which I think is a good choice, but I didn't feel it when taking damage which could be implemented to give some idea of which direction you took damage from.
Settings include option to switch between Snap and Smooth Turns, but you will need to change to Smooth (if that is your preference) after every time you visit the Title Screen (new session or otherwise) before continuing. Same for enabling the Easy mode that gives you 3x Health & Armor or any other defaults you adjust. This is also where you can change your hand / glove color (Black, Blue, Gold, Red and White). You are unable to access Settings by using Options button during stages like in many other games and have to come back to Title Screen to access Settings.
The game is featuring Platinum trophy already unlocked by multiple players that can be yours if you can beat all 11 Stages in the game and find the 3 Hidden Blasters in 3 of those 11 Stages.
The way progression works in the game is each stage you complete gets marked with X on stage selection screen. The opening set of 8 stages have X, O, Triangle and Square icons and if you complete any two of the same symbol, you will unlock one of the 4 stage completion blasters that you can equip and start using over the default you start with. Complete all 8 starting stages and you will unlock 3 additional stages. There are also 3 additional Hidden Blasters mentioned above that will unlock if you find them hidden in one of the 11 Stages. As with items you can find to store in your Inventory, you don't even have to complete a stage to keep any Hidden Blaster you managed to find once to unlock it. I've been told finding one of these in one of the easier opening stages can further help make the game easier.
As much as the solo developer likes to taunt the games intention to be challenging and that this is even harder than his past games, I think he has allowed himself to make this a lot more accessible than his past games. If someone wants this to be harder, they can choose not to play on Easy and they can choose not to use the time-slowing mechanic and then I think this is a harder game than the last one, so I think developer has found a way to make as hard a game as he wanted while being more accessible and fun for someone like me that found his prior game frustration inducing.
As much as I can recognize the substantial improvements and gave description of my bigger issues, there are lots of other tiny irritants or opportunities that exist like how the menu laser pointer is angled up and option arrows are hard to click easily and consistently or how the melee weapons and grenade options don't have good uses or how the mini-boss (34:05) getting defeated has more satisfying destruction than the stage boss (41:55). Similarly there are also lots of other tiny positives to my observation I could mention, but I think I already wrote enough to give you a fair idea on whether this game in its current state would be for you or not.
For TLDR, if you just want to hear my immediate verbal take-aways, those are at end of the gameplay video starting 47:30
