Starblood Arena

Spaced-out game show shooter makes VR fun again.

- Ian Dean

Complete 360 degrees of freedom in a shooter for PS VR means there’s only one question you want answering: does Starblood Arena make you want to burble a little bit of sick into your mouth? The answer is, thankfully, no. But wait! Don’t leave, there’s more to this multiplayer shooter than the (crucial) plus point of not making you dribble bile over your DualShock.

For a start it’s fun. Brain-fizzing, E-numbers, Star Mix fun. There’s no soul-searching millennial angst, no grand narrative with one eye on a BAFTA. Sat inside my APEX Battle Pod I get a giddy joy out of the simplest of things, like how my oversized cartoon cannons move and track targets with the turn of my head, or how I can customise my dashboard with bobbly gonks.

Once I push and thrust into the first arena – a complex weave of narrow tunnels leading to an open cavern fittingly called Catacombs – the real joy of Starblood Arena kicks in; it just feels good to dodge and weave about in this space. Using the sticks to move, and o and u to skim up and down on the x-axis, offers complete freedom. Primary cannons are on i and missiles on p – targeting is achieved by looking at an enemy and tracking its position.