Blood and Truth from the London Studios who brought us the cool PSVR tech demo London Heist is a short but fun story driven action shoot em up. Here’s my review on how this game brought the experience of being an action star in your living room.
Gameplay and Story
Story follows an ex-soldier named Ryan Marks who returned to London after his father’s death to protect his family from a London crime boss. Blood and Truth is an on rails shooter of sorts.
As the player you get to choose the paths to take to progress the game but there is no back tracking and no free movement. Unlike Bravo Team which was released a while ago, the transition between the movements are done in a smooth manner and the player can continue to fire their weapons. In the more frenetic sequences you will find yourself moving between different covers for a better shot at the enemies and to dodge enemy fire.
Gameplay for most parts is divided into the frantic shooting sequences, some interactive gameplay and cutscenes. There is a lot of dialog in this game to drive the story along. Some may find this a turn off and it certainly adds to the length of the game. However once the action starts you will soon forget about the draggy storyline and dialog.
You can find an assortment of assault rifles, grenade launchers, shotguns and handguns to collect in the game. Players can hold the forestock of rifles for a better aim too which is neat. Shotguns requires a pump action for reloads which feels very satisfying to perform in game. You have a maximum of 2 hand guns and 2 rifles to switch during gameplay. Unlike the demo, you can now reload your weapons while holding one as well.
Music, Sound and Graphics
Music is heavily inspired from typical spy thriller action movie. The orchestral score during some of the action sequences suits the game’s atmosphere very well. The voice acting in the game is one of the better ones I’ve seen. Motion capture on the character animation is also very well choreographed. Sound design is perfect and a good pair of headphones will convince you that you’re in an action movie.
If you have played any recent shooters in the past year, you will find that the graphics here in Blood and Truth falling short. I have seen issues like objects clipping and draw distance bugs during gameplay. Despite that, when I’m thick in the action, they don’t bother me anymore. The draw for VR has always been the feeling of immersion during gameplay.
Conclusion
I completed the main story in about 4-5hours. VR is a great medium for shooters like these. They capture the essence of taking cover, blind firing and frantic reloading very well. There are other mini game modes which makes for a fun party game to showcase VR to your friends and family. Move controllers are highly recommended for this game.
Blood and Truth PS4 store page
https://store.playstation.com/en-my/product/HP9000-CUSA15013_00-ASIAFULLGAME0000
Be sure to check out my other review on Farpoint that offers a similar experience in taking cover and blind firing at aliens this time
https://www.kianyang.co/review-farpoint-ps-vr/