''I GOT SUNSHINE, ON A ZOMBIE DAAAAY''
Developed: Vertigo Games
Published: Vertigo Games
Genre: VR FPS
Release Date: Dec 5th,2023
Platforms: META Quest/PSVR2/PC
*Review copy provided to me by Vertigo Games
Arizona Sunshine 2 is a sequel to the fun zombie VR game of the same name and it is developed and published by Vertigo Games. Coming off the extremely fun VR game, Arizona Sunshine, the folks over at Vertigo Games decided it time to make the sequel even bigger and better than before. But, do they succeed in making this the ultimate VR zombie experience? or should it have stayed in the house like Carl from The Walking Dead? Only one one to find out, so lets go!
STORY:
Welcome back to sun-kissed, zombified Arizona. Narrated by the unmistakable quips of our dark-humored protagonist, Arizona Sunshine 2 sets you on an all-new limb-strewn adventure in search of answers. In a post-apocalyptic world where every bullet counts, experience the thrill of realistic combat as you wield all-new and fan-favorite weapons–from shotguns to machetes and flamethrowers.
''BRO, PUT ON SOME CLOTHES''
GAMEPLAY:
In Arizona Sunshine 2, you as a player must navigate a world overrun by zombies. Wait, DONT SAY THE ZED WORD, Shaun says we cant. But then again, he and Ed aren't here, so I guess its ok to say it for this review... hopefully. As we were saying, with the world in an apocalyptic horror and on the brink of desctruction, there is nothing left to turn to for yourself but loneliness and self slighting humor. Luckily you have the one thing in the world that can make everything better immediately, besides going to the Winchester for a pint and waiting for all of this to blow over. What exactly is it you ask? a cute little pupper doggo named Buddy. This little cutey is found near a downed military helicopter and you can't help but love him almost immediately as he will be integral to yor journey as you explore the destroyed and desolate landscapes and fight for survival against the ever engaging threat of zombies, who are referred to in this title as ''Freds''. Hold up, Freds? did that old squeaky youtuber suddenly clone himself and create an army of zombies after himself or something? Thats pretty disturbing because that guys voice was pretty dang annoying. But... were getting way off topic now, let's just shift our focus back to the safe and familar review of Arizona Sunshine 2. Much like every zombie apocalypse ever made, the main characters for some reason always seek out the help of the military, who'm always seem to be the cause of said outbreaks nearly 95% of the time. Who knows, maybe this time it will be different and they will actually help?. Yeah... I think there's more of a chance of Kojima making a game heavily focused on gameplay over movie cinematics than that, so its definitely a longshot.
Gameplay wise for this title, if you have played the first title in this series, then don't expect much of an innovation or upgrade this go around. I mean that's not exactly a negative against this title, far from it, its the age old case of ''if it aint broke, dont fix it'', which is similar to me and fart jokes. I'm going to laugh at a random fart joke till the day I die and no one is going to fix my brain to think otherwise, that's just the rules. Returning elements here in Arizona Sunshine 2 are the familiar elements of weapon variety, with a large abundance of guns to use like pistols, machine guns, etc, onslaughts of zombie hordes, wrist storage, etc etc, each one being key to surviving and trudging this ever dying world as you progress step by step through immersive and engaging levels that has you scavenging for ammo for your weapons, finding new ways to stave off the reaper of death that is at your doorstep, or take time to sit back and enjoy the actual storyline taking place this go around, one of which that I feel is leaps and bounds ahead of where the first game took us, bar none. Sunshine 2 really does make the case of adding a small bit of ''new'' can evolve a game, even more so than a game that tries too hard and adds TOO much to its plate food and ultimately leaves you with a sour taste in your mouth. Like eating a jelly bean from the Harry Potter world, you're going to end up with something very nasty. The game keeps it releatively simple with smooth gameplay mechanics that react quicker than usual FPS VR games do, which is probably one of the more surprising aspects of it, if I'm going to keep it honest. From my own personal experience, having played dozens of VR games from PC, Oculus Rift, PSVR and now PVSR 2, you tend to get the general feel of how each dev approaches their games for this niche genre known as VR gaming. Some devs push graphical capabilities, which ultimately leaves their game nearly unresponsive or extremely clouded in lag for their gameplay elements , which ruins the experience, whereas other devs focus on gameplay only over graphics, and kills all immersion you could've had, which is a bummer. Arizona Sunshine 2 I feel falls somewhere in the middle, graphically it looks great, not overly amazing, but great nonetheless, and the control functionality themselves are stellar and responsive to where everything feels real time with no real delay in your actions you take. Now if the devs can only take their skills with that and implement it into my real life to make my brain not lag, then maybe I actually finally beat U.N. Squadron on SNES for once. But alas, it aint happening anytime soon.
Besides the nice looking graphics, the great feel to the controls and its fun and snappy gameplay, you also have a really good crafting system that allows you to create tons of new ways to kill your silly zombie threat without having to bust their gut open and poisoning the well, or thinking they're drunk and pushing them back to fall on a metal tube and yelling at them, ''YOU GOT RED ON YOU''. With the crafting system in this title, you're able to create explosives from materials you have gathered during your journey as you mesh together things like metal, adhesive, and even alcohol. However, this is where you start running into issues with the game. In this title, you're heavily supplied with materials and other items to gather and salvage, but you get a very small inventory space to actually hold it in, which means you're going to be dropping or discarding way more than you take in, which is a complete waste of time in my opinion. Honestly I feel the devs could've utilized Buddy in this aspect by giving him a pouch or something to wear that allows you to give him extra items to hold that you cant fit, but nope, instead his role is just to bring you items or attack a zombie every now and then, which is useful for sure, but also feels like another missed opportunity at expanding the gameplay and putting a bandaid on the inventory situation. Like come on, you have really great controls, great graphical fidelty, gun play that is near top of the list for a VR title in this day and age and a game narrative that is filled with funny humor, rough crudeness that takes you on a deeper emotional journey with the protagonist that dwells into the more hurtful aspects of humanity like dealing with your sisters cancer while you yourself slowly cling to the last bit of human connection you can possibly hang onto as your grip on reality in this apocalyptic world, slowly starts to unravel, with only Buddy, your little pupper friend, the last thread that keeps you dangling from falling off a cliff. But.... nope, you can't have your inventory space. YOU GET NOTHING, YOU LOSE, GOOD DAY SIR. We totally got Willy Wonka'd, but it's alright.... i just ask that you, come with me, to a game, where inventory isn't just, pure imagination, take a look....and you'll see... into your imaginaion.
''WHO'S A GOOD BOY, WHO'S A GOOD BOYYYYYY''
OVERALL:
At the end of the day, Arizona Sunshine 2 ends up as a really great VR experience. It has minor mishaps like giving the player way too many items and an extremely limited inventory space and under utilizing the full capabiliy of Buddy, but other than that, with a stellar narrative, engaging combat that feels fast and intuitive, reloading mechanic that reacts quickly, fun crafting sytem that offers new ways to fend off zombies, inclusion of a dog companion that helps fend off enemies or finds you materials to use for crafting, graphic fidelity that makes the game one of the better VR showcases here in 2023, etc etc. With all the positives this title has going for it, its hard to NOT recommend this to VR owners. So with all that having been said, my verdict is clear, GameNChick says BUY NOW
