Once more unto the breach
So, I ended up getting a Quest 3 for the Batman Arkham Shadow game and I realized that I really had been missing playing games in VR. I had managed to play a lot of the biggies with my Q2; played Half-Life Alyx, Star Trek Bridge Crew and a little game with brutal melee combat, absurd physics, and over-the-top humor. That game of course is Gorn, and I loved it; short as it was. So, I was super excited when I learned that the developer, Free Lives of Broforce fame was making a sequel and it is awesome.
The original Gorn as I said was all about over the top violence, crazy physics and lots of humor but what it lacked was any sort of reason for all the chaos. In Gorn 2 players aren’t just random gladiators but instead are warriors who are fighting thorough celestial realms; each of which is ruled over by a child of the God of the Afterlife. Please believe this isn’t God of War, it sounds super dire and serious but I can assure you that Gorn 2 is just as over the top as the original. Gorn 2 is simply more of what made the first game so great, an expanded arsenal of floppy weapons of death; each with their own physics system which made each weapon feel unique when wielding them.
MSRP: $19.99
Platforms: PC
Price I’d Pay: $19.99
And that’s not the only thing that’s new, in addition to the traps and enemy types there are also new power-ups that players will eat or drink. One of the early meats will make the players fist larger, I was able to pick up my opponents by the head, fling them with ease and have lots more physics fun with their bodies. The nice thing is that players don’t have to use these power-ups as soon as they are dropped on the field, instead saving them adds a layer of strategy to the gladiator melee game.
An enhanced physics engine leads to lots of chaos during each fight, knocking armor off of enemies is realistic, or as real as it can be in this over-the-top game. Thankfully the AI of the enemies have been drastically improved as well, opponents will even fight among themselves which can help you thin the herd and focus on the larger enemies. The biggest addition in my opinion is the boss fights, each of which have a very different formula and a bit of skill to defeat. The setup and payoff on a lot of the gags during the boss fights had me cracking up, the humor in the game is really something great.
I played using my Quest 3 connected to my PC and performance was great. Like most games though you will need a nice size area to play Gorn 2, also its not really a game that you can play sitting down. The only real issue I have with the Gorn 2 is the length, my run through took about 4 hours to complete. But the game does offer an Endless mode where players can take on waves upon waves of enemies and there is also an editor that lets players set up their own scenarios to fight through which will certainly add to the replayability.
Gorn 2 is a solid follow-up to the original; the new weapons, narrative and physics add so much to the already established formula of over the top. Players can expect flying body parts, floppy weapons and some genuinely hilarious moments. The boss fights are lots of fun, and the narrative is a really nice addition to what Gorn 2 offers; I do wish it was a tad longer but as the entity known as Q once said to Capt. Jean-Luc Picard; “All good things must come to an end”. Gorn 2 is a great reason to knock the dust off the VR device in your life, and its coming to everything so there is no reason to not jump into the arena.
Review copy of game provided by publisher.
