The jewel in Oculus Quest’s launch line-up isn’t available on any other headset, but it isn’t a full game. Instead, it’s the start of an episodic series, the first of which offers barely 40 minutes of story gameplay. But what a 40 minutes that is.
Created by a division of ILM, rather than a traditional game developer, the game is a stunning experience from the first second, as you play the role of a smuggler who unexpectedly finds themselves a captive of Darth Vader. It turns out you’re part of a bloodline that can unlock an ancient artefact on Mustafar (the lava planet from Revenge Of The Sith and Rogue One) that grants immortality.
The sense of scale is extraordinary, as you stare up through your spaceship’s cockpit as a Star Destroyer looms into view or fly down to enter a giant underground city. The Quest’s lack of power is clearly visible in some very low resolution textures and yet the overall effect is still stunning, with some very impressive virtual characters that feel believably solid and real.
The ability to walk around the virtual sets is a huge benefit of using Quest but the fact that the controllers are so accurate even more so. Soon enough you get to wield a lightsabre and you’re transported into a Star Wars fan’s wet dream. Not only can you deflect laser bolts but the lightsabre fights finally offer the kind of motion-controlled combat fans have been denied for years.
The combat’s secretly quite simple, relying almost solely on parrying in one of two directions, but the ability for enemies to crowd around, so you have to keep checking every direction for attackers, neatly disguises the fact. The pacing of the fights feels right too, with tense seconds waiting for an attack and then a flurry of action.
Speaking from a Star Wars nerd’s perspective the only thing we didn’t like was the sassy droid, who talks and acts only like a regular human, but the portrayal of Vader actually has some nuance to it, with some surprising moments of dialogue.
The story may be short but there’s also a multi-stage challenge mode where you have to fight remotes (which, again, is so much like the movies it almost made us weak at the knees with wish fulfilment) and other increasingly dangerous opponents. It’s actually quite hard, and has its own minor unlockables, which further justifies the already perfectly reasonable asking price.
Score: 8/10
