

I had the most fun playing the standard way on varying difficulties, but modifiers do help mix things up. That’s a small number, exacerbated by the fact that they all look a little similar, but each has high replayability and a distinct soundtrack. I attribute that to the well-executed art direction.ĭeveloper Cloudhead Games is promising more in the future, but right now only 10 levels are available. I quickly learned to distinguish between the guys that take one, two, or four shots, and felt awesome in those moments where I counted off my bullets perfectly amongst a large group of foes. You only face three types of enemies, but I was impressed with the simple design of their body armor that indicates how many shots are required to take down each type. The overall art style can best be described as a colorful fever dream with human-like shadows. By contrast, there’s a fair amount of things flying at your face in Superhot VR, but there you have the option to block bullets with your gun instead of dodging. Whipping your head out of the way occasionally to dodge a bullet can be exciting, but I would have liked to do it less, which is especially impossible on the harder difficulties. All the good design in the world, though, doesn’t change the fact that dodging bullets and obstacles requires a lot of head movement, which is not my favorite thing to do in VR. Not only are they well-highlighted, but on-screen prompts let you know when they’re coming from out of your field of view. Incoming projectiles are fairly slow-moving, so you have plenty of time to get your head out of the way (and knock it into a nearby bookshelf, but I can only blame myself for that). I enjoyed playing it like a high-speed shooter, ignoring the rhythm and immediately taking out every enemy as they appeared in front, above, or below me just as much as I enjoyed my runs where I made sure my bullets synced with the music.Įven when you’re not actively shooting you’re being shot at, but Pistol Whip does a good job not blindsiding you with stray bullets.


It is a rhythm game, but your only incentive to keep the beat going is your score.
