Have you ever watched a movie and thought to yourself, “I wish I could be one of the action stars in this movie and kick ass”? Well, ever since I was a kid, I’ve had this fantasy and it looks like a video game has finally been able to deliver this feeling. The game I’m speaking about is Raw Data., and I was able to experience the PlayStation VR version. Not to jump immediately into the guts of this game, but yes, you can use a katana in the game!
FPS in a VR world
There are not that many PSVR games out currently that immerses you in actual close quarters and ranged combat like Raw Data does. With the ability to utilize both PlayStation Move controllers in each hand, you really feel like those are your hands through the VR headset. It’s actually a little unnerving at first since you’re in a virtual world, but you’re actually in your room or living room with just your VR headset. While playing Raw Data, you have to make sure that you have a lot of room to move around since you do use your wide range of motion with your hands and body while trying not to get killed by killer robots.
The Base Game and Solo Play
This was my first time playing a VR game where I’m holding the weapons in my hands, and truthfully it completely blew me away. I’ve personally seen a lot of movies in my lifetime and played a lot of games, but I never thought I’d experience first hand what it felt like to be in an actual first-person shooter that felt like I was in a movie. You will definitely feel the pressure when enemies swarm you.
Raw Data takes place in a Blade Runner-esque future in Neo-Shinjuku where technology reigns supreme. Your character is part of a hacker group known as SyndiK8, and you have to infiltrate Eden Corp, a corporation that helped to save humanity. As you progress through the story and find out more about Eden Corp, which to me was a little cliche, I still found it quite enjoyable.
The gameplay itself is like playing horde-mode but by yourself. As you proceed through different sections of the corporation, you’re either waiting for enemy waves to complete, protecting data cores in one location from enemy waves, or dodging deadly lasers while doing both the former. It can become a workout if you’re not used to moving around that much. Although personally, I enjoyed that part a lot.
The Heroes
The game lets you choose from four different characters that are their own specialized classes. They give the game a truly dynamic feel with a lot of replayability because of their differences.
- Bishop – Dual wields two specialized pistols.
- Boss – Armed with a powerful shotgun, powered gauntlets, and a grenade launcher.
- Saija – Cybernetic ninja that wields katanas and has telekinetic abilities.
- Elder – Nullifies all threats with his bow and arrow.
Bishop
This character is literally straight from the movie Equilibrium that stars Christian Bale during his younger years. That movie came out during the height of The Matrix movie era but flew a little under the radar. Bishop is based on the Grammaton Cleric and is armed with two highly optimized pistols that let you aim anywhere you can see with both your hands. You actually start with one pistol that you initially have to reload manually with your hands. This then upgrades later to dual pistols that you can reload almost instantly by placing both pistols on your hips quickly, letting you take down foes quicker without fear of the delayed reloading.
Eventually, you attain the special abilities to be able to slow down time and shoot continuously without reloading. These special abilities are especially great to use when robots are surrounding you, along with drones blasting you from the sky. You will start moving your hands and body like this. I’m seriously not joking. You will feel like a complete badass.
Boss
This character was a little simpler and a lot less on the finesse side when compared to Bishop. Not only does he have a shotgun that mows down enemies, but his hands are cybernetic and it gives you the ability to punch you enemies away like a badass. I only wished there was an attachment to your foot since I’d love to kick the crap out of enemies while yelling, “This is Sparta!” You later get the ability to go into a fury mode that lets you punch the living snot out of everything in your face. It’s so awesome. Boss also has a grenade launcher that lets you blow up pretty much anything and everything.
As I said, what Boss lacks in finesse, he gains in power. He takes out groups of enemies with one single buckshot, but the only annoyance I have is the constant reloading I have to do with his shotgun. Yes, I know it’s a shotgun, but that doesn’t make it any less annoying.
Saija
Saija is a great character to use. She is a cybernetic ninja who is a cross between Raiden from the Metal Gear series and a Jedi. You utilize a katana that’s pretty much a lightsaber that cuts through everything. You unlock the second katana later on, and that’s when it gets interesting because you start swinging in full circles around you and it feels really cool cutting down the surrounding bad guys.
You also gain access to telekinetic abilities by throwing, crushing, or slamming your attackers. I remember pulling one of the robots attacking my data core towards me with this ability, then slicing them in half with my blade. If you want to live out your fantasy as a ninja, Saija is the character for you.
Elder
The last character is the one where your patience is needed. Elder uses a bow and arrow and attempting to use one in a VR world is not easy. You have to draw and pull the bowstring every time you shoot and it does get tiring after a while. It does take some practice, but I would suggest that you stand at a forty-five-degree angle to fire.
Aiming with the bow and arrow is also tricky. I eventually was able to master the distance and aiming with the bow. You will miss a lot and you might not want to use Elder because of this, but I will say this: it did make me feel a little like Legolas from Lord of the Rings when I was consistently drawing and pulling arrows to kill the massive amounts of enemies that attack you and try to flank you.
Final Reaction
Raw Data is one of the best PSVR games I’ve played to date. Not only is the game very challenging, but the feeling of actually being in this futuristic world where you’re using your physical movements to affect it is pretty sweet. I do wish that more of the game was an actual FPS level where you gradually progress through it (there was one level like that) instead of just constantly protecting data cores. It was like consistently playing a tower defense game where you setup turrets to help you protect the data cores. Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t hate that, but I did think it was repetitive – but still fun. I would have given it a perfect score for the PlayStation VR release, however, since multiplayer was unavailable, this affected my final score. (You can check out our experience with multiplayer for the PC here.)
Rating: 4/5 Atoms
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