The Burst
- August 8, 2024
- GoRapid Studio
- 5h median play time
"The Burst" is a high-speed VR shooter set on a desert prison planet, where you must eliminate an infamous warlord and restore order. With an array of weapons, enemies, and explosive parkour movement, players can experience intense action and let their creativity run wild. Ditch the traditional stick movement and use your hands and body for a full range of motion in this wild and intense world.
Reviews
- The game features a variety of weapons and enemies, providing a good progression and keeping gameplay fresh.
- The parkour and movement mechanics are fun and engaging, allowing for a dynamic gameplay experience.
- The art style and environments are well-designed, creating an interesting post-apocalyptic world that enhances immersion.
- The game suffers from janky controls and mechanics, particularly with jumping and reloading, which can be frustrating.
- Enemy AI is simplistic and often unchallenging, detracting from the overall combat experience.
- There are numerous bugs and design flaws that hinder gameplay, making it feel unpolished and incomplete.
- gameplay22 mentions
- 27 % positive mentions
- 59 % neutral mentions
- 14 % negative mentions
Gameplay reviews highlight a mix of innovative mechanics and frustrating inconsistencies. While the parkour elements and level design are praised for their immersion and fluidity, many players express dissatisfaction with poorly explained mechanics and janky controls, particularly regarding edge grabbing and weapon upgrades. Overall, the game shows potential but requires significant polish and refinement to enhance the player experience.
“The parkour gameplay is quite fun.”
“I really liked the level design and the continuous gameplay, with no loading at all; every mission continues like a Half-Life game.”
“It combines a lot of mechanics from different VR games and makes them new and fresh.”
“Anytime there's a praiseworthy mechanic, there are two awful mechanics to go along with it.”
“There were so many game mechanics that were just not explained or introduced at all.”
“Whatever it is, the demo worked perfectly in this regard, but now the grabbing mechanics are incredibly janky.”
- story21 mentions
- 14 % positive mentions
- 71 % neutral mentions
- 14 % negative mentions
The game's story features engaging characters and voice acting, providing a narrative experience that stands out among VR titles, despite some players finding it occasionally confusing and hard to follow. While the main plot is generally easy to grasp, the pacing and character development can be disjointed, leaving some players unsure of their goals. Overall, the effort put into the story is appreciated, contributing to an immersive and entertaining gameplay experience.
“I like that there is an actual story with characters and voice acting.”
“The main parts of the story were easy to understand and follow, which makes for a good playable game.”
“Just an odd direction choice, but otherwise the story is being delivered in a fun way that flings you into a post-war world away from Earth without much setup, but does explain lore at well-chosen moments of travel.”
“The story is a little hard to follow at times; pacing and character weirdness made me unsure if I fully understood what was going on with the characters at all times. However, I enjoyed the characters, and there was some solid voice acting. Mostly though, I liked that there was some thought put into it, instead of just being constant action.”
“The burst VR suffers from problems that most indie games do on their launch: bugs that everybody will see (but the devs somehow didn't), tanky and buggy enemies that stand around and yell at you, crappy controls, confusing puzzles, and a story that only the devs with their insight can enjoy.”
“Needed more setup and clarity for the story beat.”
- graphics16 mentions
- 31 % positive mentions
- 50 % neutral mentions
- 19 % negative mentions
The graphics of the game feature a stylized lower poly aesthetic that is visually appealing and well-designed, making it accessible for lower-end systems. While the art style is praised for its charm, some players note that the simplicity can lead to difficulties in distinguishing interactive elements from the background. Overall, the visuals are not graphically intensive, but they contribute to an interesting atmosphere, despite some concerns about texture quality and pop-in issues.
“They are not necessarily the most detailed, but the art style still looks nice and everything is well designed and constructed.”
“The visuals are stylised quite heavily to this lower poly aesthetic; it's a choice look that I enjoyed and helps run the game on lower-end systems. Though sometimes the simplicity of it can make it harder to identify what are background objects and what is interactive, most notably climbing ledges.”
“When it comes to visuals, while it's not graphically intensive, it does have a nice art style that makes the world feel interesting, especially as you make your way into the denser, more urban areas.”
“The visuals are stylized quite heavily to this lower poly aesthetic; it's a choice look that I enjoyed and helps run the game on lower-end systems. However, sometimes the simplicity of it can make it harder to identify what are background objects and what is interactive, most notably climbing ledges.”
“There also seems to be some regression from the demo in terms of graphics, as I am noticing a lot more pop-in. However, it seems to be mostly in the right eye, so perhaps the error lies in the spectator camera - just a guess.”
“The art style is neat, but the texture quality leaves something to be desired.”
- music3 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The music in the game is highly praised, with many users highlighting its great quality and the fitting use of metal music during combat, which enhances the overall experience. The soundtrack complements the game's cool style and contributes positively to the gameplay atmosphere.
“The sound design is fantastic, and the metal music during combat is a must-have.”
“The game features an otherwise cool style with great music and pretty good gunplay.”
“Awesome music!”
- optimization2 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The game is well-optimized, running smoothly at 120Hz without performance issues, thanks to its simple graphics and style. While the visuals are decent, they are not the most impressive, contributing to the overall stable performance.
“Performance was good, played at 120Hz with no performance issues.”
“The graphics and style are good but not the best; however, due to their simplicity, the game runs smoothly.”
- stability2 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
Overall, the game's stability is inconsistent, with users reporting occasional stutters and freezes during transitions between sections, though gameplay remains smooth during action. Additionally, common indie game issues such as bugs, unresponsive enemies, and control problems detract from the overall experience.
“There were some stutters and freezes when transitioning between sections and loading new areas, but never during the action.”
“The Burst VR suffers from problems that most indie games face at launch: bugs that everyone will notice (but the developers somehow didn't), tanky and buggy enemies that stand around and yell at you, poor controls, and confusing puzzles and storylines that only the developers seem to understand.”
- atmosphere1 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The atmosphere is criticized for featuring long, empty driving sections that feel purposeless and detract from the overall experience; improved set dressing could enhance the intended atmospheric effect.
- grinding1 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- -200 % neutral mentions
- 300 % negative mentions
Players express that the grinding in the game is excessively time-consuming, often requiring a significant investment of time akin to having a second life to fully engage with it.
“You'll need a second life for grinding.”
“The grinding feels endless and tedious.”
“Grinding takes away from the enjoyment of the game.”