Shaun Munro reviews Defector…
With hit VR spy romp Blood & Truth seemingly being a PSVR exclusive for the foreseeable future – if not forever – PC VR owners will undoubtedly have their interest piqued by Twisted Pixel Games’ (Wilson’s Heart) attempt to follow in its footsteps.
But an underwhelming execution ensures that Defector falls short of its PSVR brethren’s imagination and ingenuity, even if its low price tag and short, snappy play-time should stave off too much disappointment or frustration.
Defector is honestly a bit of a schizophrenic experience, both in terms of its gameplay and its narrative. It’s tough to recount the exact plot, if only because the game seems even less concerned about it than the player is ever asked to be.
Just as Blood & Truth unfolds in non-linear fashion with a police interrogation prompting the player to recount their various spy shenanigans, similarly does Defector present a fairly rote frame narrative as an excuse to deliver Mission: Impossible-aping set-pieces that showcase the protagonist tracking down defecting agents…or something?
Despite the threadbare plot, early on things are definitely promising gameplay-wise. It doesn’t take long for players to be thrust into the middle of some perilous action; an early sequence involves leaping out of one plane and grabbing onto the side of another, and the immersive quality is genuinely pulse-quickening. Again like Blood & Truth, several sequences require the player to grab ladders and rickety hand-holds, and when they inevitably give way, the tension is palpable.
But these sweaty-palmed moments sadly drop off rather quickly, and over the course of three snappy hours, there’s actually surprisingly little excitement in Defector, but a whole lot of sitting around and talking.
This feeling of listlessness is unaided by some oddly obtuse mechanics that may stump players for an indecent length of time; an early sortie in a dingy gambling house requires the player to locate a guard’s misplaced watch, and the solution is neither obvious nor intuitively laid out. This isn’t the only time in the game this happens, either, and you probably won’t feel stupid for failing to grasp the fairly esoteric nature of these objectives.
There are inspired individual beats throughout the game, though; the aforementioned Tom Cruise-starring spy franchise gets blatantly invoked if the player chooses to impersonate a Cockney gangster, wearing a printed face-mask and all. Branching dialogue options meanwhile have promise, especially as players are encouraged to leaf through dossiers providing information on each of their dialogue partners, though generally the consequences of failing are so low and the answers so hilariously obvious that there’s not much tension to speak of.
But Defector‘s biggest issue is its baffling dearth of combat. Despite trailers advertising plenty of bombast, there’s not much shooting to be had at all. A fleeting moment where you get hold of a mini-gun is cathartically chaotic but all-too-brief, and even then, it’s basically just presented like another VR wave shooting set-piece.
And as for fisticuffs? They’re both limited and clunky; a marquee sequence where you chase down a perp requires the player to wait for a small, specified window to land a flurry of punches, highlighting one of the game’s general gripes – the over-world often wrestles interactivity away from the player and only allows them to do things when the script wants them to.
Most of the gunplay is packed into the final level of the game, where it takes an ill-judged and deeply repetitive divergence into full-on sci-fi territory, equipping the player with a ton of unconventional weaponry, as they face fleets of anonymous enemies and…trundle through stealth play that’s neither interesting nor irritating; it’s just…there.
It’s a shame as, presentationally, this is quite a solid package. It’ll be nothing new for VR vets, but the environments are solidly detailed – especially a gloriously reflective hotel lobby – and the human faces look relatively convincing. V.O. is also better than the material arguably deserves, with the actors clearly trying their damnedest to make the hokey material sing – and even then, who’d begrudge some hammy camp in a game like this?
Even if you’re left crestfallen by the end result, there is one inviting reason to play beyond the credits; the branching mission options present some alternate scenarios, and handily, Twisted Pixel allows you to play out these new sequences without needing to slog through entire missions again.
Overall, Defector does feel a bit like a skeletal VR tech demo rather than a fully-formed project, and that is what above all else separates it from the decidedly more sturdy, intuitive and entertaining Blood & Truth. Not a terrible way to spend part of a lazy Sunday afternoon, but hardly the blockbuster actioner it clearly could’ve been.
Pros:
+ Some awesome individual set-pieces.
+ Feels like Mission: Impossible in VR (at times).
+ Solid sound and visuals.
+ Decent replay value.
Cons:
– Limited VR interactivity.
– Occasionally vague mission objectives.
– Combat is both clunky and minimal.
– The final level is terrible.
Rating: 6/10
Reviewed on Oculus Rift.
Shaun Munro – Follow me on Twitter for more video game rambling.
