World War Z VR was developed and published by Saber Interactive and is available on Meta Quest and Steam right now. You can find it on the Steam Page HERE. World War Z VR does what it says on the tin; it adds the fan favourite zombie shooter game to the virtual reality platform, but is it any good? Let’s find out.
World War Z VR pits you as a select few characters from the original game and lets you jump into three big levels: New York, Tokyo, and Marseille. Like the original, you’ll level up your gear by doing runs with your AI teammates; unfortunately, no multiplayer here, which takes away from the experience a little. The AI aren’t helpful either, they rarely assist you and end up using your resources more than offering assistance. In each level, you’ll come across different obstacles like finding a fuse for the door to progress, protecting the survivors, and the most fun part, facing off a big horde of undead zombies that want to eat your brains. Some of the side objectives feel repetitive, but the horde sections are always enjoyable. Setting up defences and having them all run at you in 3D is an experience that only World War Z has made intense. Despite being made in VR, they still capture that dread you feel when they’re all running at you, wanting to eat you. It’s just a shame other parts of the game don’t seem to measure up to those moments.
Overall, I have seen mixed reviews for World War Z VR. Sadly, yes, it is a bit watered down, but for the price of just £14.99, it’s understandable. I kept playing and thinking, “This feels a little disappointing and missing something”. However, they’re only charging £14.99, so if I had bought this, I wouldn’t feel ripped off. After all, some companies are charging up to £59.99 for games that feel incomplete, yet World War Z VR doesn’t feel incomplete; it just feels like a side minigame that could have been DLC to the main game itself. Despite these feelings, it is a high-quality VR game; all of the weapons feel fairly unique from one another. Each weapon copies the counterpart from the original, which is great, and those horde moments are still absolutely stunning. However, I still cannot shake the feeling that overall it is a mixed bag. I feel adding multiplayer would have enhanced the experience, and perhaps more maps from the original would offer more variety. This would have been a much better experience. In VR, it feels like some games hit the mark with the content, and some don’t, and World War Z VR is definitely in the middle. The zombies are fun to kill, trying to stealth is enjoyable and getting to learn all of the guns is great. There’s a lot to love and a lot not to love. The game also feels somewhat underdeveloped in places, with occasional crashes and some frame rate slowdowns.
World War Z VR on Steam looks pretty good for what you get. Trying to emulate that many zombies on screen at once, especially in VR, probably isn’t the easiest task, but it does it well. World War Z VR still looks good; the environments are mixed. Some of the side streets look great with the puddles reflecting the lighting from the signs, whereas the planetarium in New York looked smashed together and looked nothing like a planetarium. The weapons do look great; they are very highly detailed and fun to use. The zombies also look good, but there are many repeated models. I can’t be too harsh, but a bit more variation would have been nice. The audio is on point, the zombies sound great, especially during the horde fights with the 3D audio, and the musical score fits perfectly.
Verdict
World War Z VR is a tough one to rate, I felt so mixed and conflicted the whole time. I have two big points. As a zombie VR game, it feels great. There are so many zombies on screen at once, the guns all feel pretty satisfying, and the pacing is perfect. The feeling I couldn’t shake, though, is that it feels watered down: the AI are sadly unhelpful, some of the environments are a letdown, and a lack of multiplayer is disappointing. I kept thinking the game is only £14.99, they aren’t charging £70 and saying “here’s a full game that is complete and has a ton of content” You get in and it’s nothing like that. It is a cheap game with enough content to validate the price point. The price point is ultimately why I think World War Z VR is worth a go if you want an exhilarating zombie shooter.
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