The primary time I performed Arizona Sunshine 2, I left feeling a bit nauseated, however I quickly realized this was resulting from my time spent away from taking part in VR video games. The second time I performed Arizona Sunshine 2, I used to be rapidly overwhelmed by its hordes of undead and left feeling like the sport was maybe unbalanced. By the third time I placed on my Quest 3 headset, I might rediscovered my proverbial sea legs, I might mastered the artwork of zombie crowd management, and I loved the sport for what it’s: an arcadey trek by way of the apocalypse.
Within the VR-exclusive first-person zombie shooter Arizona Sunshine 2, you will tackle the position of the unique sport’s hero for one more tour by way of an undead hellscape of airports, sewage tunnels, and rooftop parking tons, every of them loaded with ammo and “Freds”–the too-jokey protagonist’s phrase for zombies–in comparable portions. The sport’s intentions are clear instantly: This is not the type of sport the place you will want to fret about ammo reserves fairly often. This can be a energy fantasy, although not with out loads of pressure, too.
Arizona Sunshine 2 shines brightest is in these moments while you’re tasked with clearing out intimidatingly massive hordes of zombies. As talked about, at first I discovered this so tough that I assumed I didn’t account for something–a ability transfer, or a management possibility, or one thing. It seems I simply wanted just a little follow. Like a variety of VR shooters, you are able to do your self enormous favors by mastering the reload animation. Initially I fumbled round with that mechanic, which prompted me to take various bites to the jugular, however it did not take lengthy earlier than I mowed by way of undead like a John Wick Halloween spin-off.
That is thanks largely to the good taking pictures mechanics. Lining up photographs and clearing rooms is a constant pleasure as a result of it is dependable and highly effective. Strewn about most ranges are totally different weapons with their very own firing patterns. At first, I traded one pistol for one more barely totally different one, or a revolver. However later ranges add SMGs, shotguns, and the kind of selection you’d count on from a sport that hangs its hat (headset?) on dispatching Freds a dozen at a time. On a neater problem, the weapons come outfitted with pink dot sights, too, which I really loved as an added mechanic. I discovered myself switching between that and regular problem simply to raised recognize the instances I had such a bonus, whereas nonetheless making an attempt to enhance my goal with out that support. I discovered that this follow really did assist me do exactly that, too, which wound up feeling actually satisfying.
However the gunplay was already good within the first sport, so what does the sequel add? The reply to that query rapidly turns into apparent–and it’s two-fold. The extra typical addition comes within the type of melee weapons, that are simply breakable however normally serve nicely as an alternate assault mode for a couple of mushy craniums at a time earlier than they have to be deserted. Not like one thing like The Strolling Useless: Saints & Sinners, which tends to skew towards realism to the extent that your screwdriver can get jammed inside a zombie’s cranium, in AS2, melee assaults are extra arcadey, as soon as once more fulfilling that energy fantasy. Right here, beheading zombies feels extra like Fruit Ninja than a punishing lesson in sharpness and physics.
However the change that stands tallest really stands on 4 legs. Buddy the canine turns into your sidekick at some stage in the sport, and the well-trained good boy is a lifesaver–literally–quite typically. Getting previous these early hordes that gave me bother principally got here right down to studying to belief Buddy and sending him leaping for the decaying faces of the zombies heading my manner. Buddy’s instructions behave virtually like a Swiss military knife for the protagonist. You’ll be able to have him assault zombies, thus slowing them down and even killing them so you do not have to. He may fetch gadgets you in any other case could not attain like ammo or keys, and he may assist remedy puzzles, normally utilizing the same fetching mechanic.
These puzzles by no means transcend simplistic, however they assist fill within the ranges with greater than taking pictures galleries, breaking apart the pacing and giving me much-needed breathers now and again. It was by way of Buddy that I discovered how you can tame a horde and enter my John Wick circulate state, sending him to the left whereas I might headshot a couple of zombies on the best, chop off a couple of limbs with satisfying direction-based melee fight, and transfer by way of the now opened path. I might then flip round within the doorway upon my exit to immobilize the remaining few whereas Buddy would bark and return to me like he deserved a treat–and clearly he did, primarily based on the scene we would left in our wake.
The inclusion of Buddy means extra difficult assault patterns with extra lessons of zombies are doable, and that selection turns into a power of the sport, particularly when paired with the ample set-pieces that tended to restrict my freedom of motion with a purpose to promote a key second of the motion, like driving throughout an airport on a carry, or performing one thing akin to a live performance for followers who, regardless of their undeath, appeared fairly vigorous within the second.
Even with loads of ammo, rock-solid taking pictures mechanics, and the assistance of Buddy, these scenes managed to be tense as a result of as soon as a zombie does get in your face, it may be very exhausting to beat. I discovered myself counting bullets as I fired them off so I all the time knew when to reload, which fulfills the type of zombie fantasy I search for in each sport that includes the undead.
If ever this setup is not sufficient, you may as soon as once more play all the story mode in on-line co-op with one different participant. Nothing basically adjustments, for higher or worse, although it does profit from my basic perception that almost all every thing in video games is healthier in co-op. There are exceptions, however AS2 is not one in all them. The arcade-like shooter is a pure match for a good friend, whilst the sport already offers one on 4 legs. The one subject co-op creates is a story one; you are the “sole survivor” in response to the plot, which is already rudely dismissive of Buddy’s existence, however this moniker is additional nonsensical when you think about the co-op pal that may accompany you.
Nonetheless, this is not seemingly a sport most play for the story, which is an effective factor because the story is its weakest side by far. Like within the first sport, the protagonist is a wise-cracking, foul-mouthed dude whose whole persona is revealed by the use of dangerous jokes that aggravated me all through the sport. That downside is exacerbated by simply how incessantly he speaks. AS2 is a sport that suffers from the very video-gamey factor of getting a personality speak to themselves far too typically as a solution to information the participant. If he both spoke much less or did not make me cringe, I might have discovered this much less distracting, however these points as a pair soured a number of the good instances I used to be in any other case having. The story can also be devoid of any surprises. I mentally jotted down the place I assumed the story would go from the primary degree, and it basically performed out simply as I anticipated. Given the sport needs to be an journey greater than an precise taking pictures gallery, the shortage of stakes and gorgeous moments winds up dampening the degrees in a manner the gameplay by no means does.
Arizona Sunshine 2 will not be the legendary killer app that may lastly get individuals to imagine in VR. Nevertheless it’s actually the type of sequel that goes greater than its predecessor and is healthier for it. It virtually seems like a tall order to ask individuals to nonetheless care about zombies and VR in 2023 when so many appear to have shrugged them each off years in the past. However I am not such an individual, and should you’re like me, you will discover Arizona Sunshine 2 is an fulfilling, albeit predictable, highway journey by way of the apocalypse.
