Many made the error thinking this game was a tactical shooter - it's not, like Doom VFR this is a pure adrenaline-pumping arcade-like shooter:
The game is here: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1636030/Crossfire_Sierra_Squad/
I had few expectations, and ended up with a great arcade shooter with awesome-ish graphics and very fast-paced adrenaline pumping action (after the first 3 or 4 levels).
I took some shots from the game - my colleague and I always discuss who should go in first 🙂
I've maxed out all in-game graphics settings and set Rift CV1 to ss 2.5 (about 27 mill pixel per frame combining both eyes) - and I'm getting solid 90 fps. Using an oc'ed RTX 3090 and i9 10900K - Win10.
View distance is vast - still solid 90 fps with extreme graphics settings
The game uses OpenXR drivers for SteamVR, but also supports native Oculus drivers for Meta hmds. I tested the game using Index and Rift CV1. Index wins for image quality (so would Quest 2/Pro), but CV1 looks surprisingly awesome too - and performance is excellent thanks to native Oculus drivers. CV1 has better sound than Index due to more bass, and oled is great too - so do not feel left behind even if you're rocking the old CV1 🙂
I'm as ready as I'm ever going to be 🙂 Now please open the door!
Like being in the Schwarzenegger movie Predator - although I'm not taking down the jungle here, but close enough 🙂
Lighting and shadows are very impressive, here are several examples - and this greatly makes the game look real and fuel immersion and presence:
See the HDR-like effect - nearly blindingly intense lighting as you exit a dark tunnel and go into full sunlight
Sunlight - volumetric light is also radiating from the bulbs, but harder to see
This picture might better show the difference between the HDR-like sunlight (left) and volumetric light from a bulb (right)
There are proper real time lights in the game. As you approach the light, it increasingly illuminates the gun. This did not happen with the fake lights in Red Matter 2 and Bonelabs
High-end PCVR dynamic shadows are all there - does not happen often these days where devs design VR games to run on phone gpus
It's by far not a realistic game, but having limited spare time with 3 kids and the wife, being able to finish a level in 5 to 20 min is fine with me. Missions are much shorter than Medal of Honor: Above & Beyond, but pushes my adrenaline more 🙂 Crossfire does not feel repetitive, you've got tons of weapons and you'll meet many different opponents and visit many different locations.
Here's some action:
Not sure this will end well for me...
Taking out the tank 🙂 And check out that view distance!
Got the tank 🙂 Still solid 90 fps with the explosion and all the fragments in the air
Like they say in Full Metal Jacket: "This is my rifle. There are many like it, but this one is mine. My rifle is my best friend. It is my life" 😉
Controls are great with full locomotion, smooth turning - and much more. You can choose right or left handed mode - but you can pick up weapons with whatever hand you prefer. Works great for left handed persons - like me. You can sit or stand, the game will automatically adjust to your height.
You're not alone in the game, but is accompanied by another soldier - he helps shooting opponents, opening doors and more
So far 9/10 in my book - within the game's arcade genre. Together with Vertigo 2, District Steel, and Undead Citadel, this game is one of the best I've played this year.
Btw - there are trees in the game - trees are hard to make as the leaves have many polygons and require many calculations
Note this is not really early access - the game is fully baked (you cannot release early access for PSVR2 too). In case there are issues with some of the many PCVR hmds, I guess devs are playing it safe calling the PCVR version early access. Using Index or Meta hmds, there's nothing early-ish or beta-ish over this game.
Lastly, you can do certain movements like this, also with the Rift CV1 (there is no Index finger tracking in the game)
A few more pictures from my latest missions 😎
Some urban warfare in the later missions - there are 13 singleplayer missions - check out the nice view distance
I think Raul should always go in first 😇
You can shoot some markings in the concrete
Uh-oh... And no, he's not on my side 😬
Someone needs to clean this room...
A nice touch of sunlight
You can shoot the windows - but destructible items are limited
I still need to finish 3 missions... Better get the kids to bed, I've got important stuff to do! 😁
A few more shots:
Great destructions of environments are included in the game 🙂
Poly levels are fine - see how round those tires look - this is PCVR
Another example of environments - one of the biggest battles is taken place here - this is the silence before the storm
Enemies broke down a wall here and attacked - this is not Alyx class graphics, but not bad either - and it's the game I can't stop playing right now
There are more than 60 missions - and most are co-op missions, but all co-op missions can also be played solo, where you get assistance from a computer controlled npc, just like in the campaign.
From time to time, I test the waters of Index subreddit (mostly PCVR users), VR subreddit (mixture of VR users) and Oculus subreddit (used to be a mixture of PCVR and Quest standalone users).
I tested the waters again yesterday - the following results are for screenshots from Crossfire (which look like Alyx class graphics, so these shots should capture the eye of most VR users):
1. Index Subreddit (posted 4 days ago)
2. VR Subreddit (posted 1 day ago)
3. Oculus Subreddit (posted 1 day ago - same as VR Subreddit)
Never had this happen before - not such a large difference. Seems users of Oculus Subreddit no longer care for PCVR. Once the Oculus Subreddit was my primary subreddit - seems I'm not alone having abandoned that ship.
Then again, most new posts in the Oculus Subreddit get no upvotes. It feels dead in there. The Oculus Subreddit once had tons of high-end VR enthusiast users, like we did in here. Those were the days, sigh.
