Not all adventures in distant galaxies have to be heroic. If something brought the Disney juicer to Star Wars, it is necessary to expand the protagonist role to include simpler and more mundane characters. Anyone can be the star of an action adventure and Payum-Payum if they are in the right place at the right time. This idea motivated the designers of the Galaxy’s Edge attractions in Walt Disney World and Disneyland Resort and has now left the parks with the video game Star Wars: Tales from the Galaxy’s Edge for Oculus Quest.
IAMxLAB is behind this production, which is a little less cinematic than Vader Immortal. It was very good for them to shake off all the solemnity that brings with it the trilogy with which this team debuted in virtual reality in order to gain freshness, joy and rhythm of the game. Because you are not playing one of the most important characters in science fiction history, you are just a nut on a cargo ship unlucky enough to work for a pirate boss when he appears.
The opening scene is a tutorial for control, movement and combat in the ship. But you won’t know this until you’re done, as it’s an approach from Tara Rashin’s Lethal Guavians that forces you to learn how to use the pistol, healing capsule, how to interact with the levers and the extraordinary tool 3 -in -1 before they fry your brain. Don’t worry, you will succeed, you will escape in your lifesaving capsule and you will reach Batuu, where it all really begins.
With three very similar games behind him, the control over the character you have in Tales from the Galaxy’s Edge is very good. The hands respond exactly, you can see this by playing space arrows, and the gun aiming is as good as you need it to be and as bad as you remember from the movies. It’s always a pleasure to hear the sound effects in this scenario and see the rays go by your side, but this is about firearms, not lightsabers, so you can make a lot more of them. But it’s not an over-the-top marksman, it’s fairly light, and there are rarely more than three or four enemies on screen at a time. However, it is neither easy nor can you go crazy.
One of the decisions I liked best about this approach is that if hit directly on a moderate difficulty level (there are four to choose from), you’ll die pretty quickly. I died many times and all because I didn’t act, well, like in the movie. The world is at your feet and you have to take advantage of it: you have to duck or lie down to protect yourself and to protect yourself behind a box or barrel. Because as long as your living room has space, you can walk freely through the visible play world. Only when you reach a physical limit do you need to move the doll. Since we don’t live in palaces or have played it in an industrial warehouse (mental note, try it) the best game is to take a position and move a few meters around it to get to another location .
Here’s one of the conflicts of virtual reality, especially when it’s a title that goes beyond the fan and reaches all audiences: movement and dizziness. It affects me more than I would like, and it’s running well enough and stable that it doesn’t have to affect me. But those who are not used to walking in VR, whose teleportation system is very good and very fast. In the toughest games and the final monster, it’s even a little cheat in your favor.
Batuu is that wild and flowery planet that moviegoers know from the Clone Wars. A remote place where little happens, but the First Order’s domains stretch that far. The story isn’t too much to know either, as there are only four linear scenarios one can advance through to complete a simple initial mission like salvaging the cargo. The story takes on color when C3PO and R2D2 enter the scene as you feel a little rebellious, but it ends abruptly once you team up with them. The first story or part should be named exactly that because the intense six hours of play that go on culminate in a battle that leaves the plot unfinished. More ‘tales’ will arrive and it will be seen where they want the game to go.
By the way, those who finish it and are surprised not to find Yoda who complete the secondary missions because they will be surprised. It’s just a very simple Easter egg, but how could a Star Wars VR video game be without lightsabers?
With this duration and these few levels, transferring it to a normal game would be a criticism, but in VR everything runs at its own pace and is perfectly acceptable as you know it costs 25 dollars. Because everything it offers, even if it’s small, is of quality. There aren’t many weapons, not many collectibles, no enemy types, and no side missions. Yes, there is a good amount of dialogue that is perfectly distributed between the levels through the communicator or personal encounters. And when you add in the voice dubbed with the usual actors like Frank Oz and Anthony Daniels, the narrative ending is exquisite.
If it’s fun to hear, it’s also very pleasant to see. In the epic of the RTX 3000 series and next generation consoles, one could sum up that the textures are blurry and the image is out of focus. However, my point of view is the opposite. With Oculus Quest 2, you can fall to the ground, spin without stopping, spread your arms out to point at the Matrix, and freak out to infinity without losing your bearings for a moment and without a cable breaking you. All of this with very good character modeling, very stable image fluidity and sufficient sharpness. The biggest flaw is in the dynamic resolution settings, depending on the view (a technique that saves resources) as it can make you resigned to the game at times. Of course, there is a lot of room for improvement in this regard, but this is the wireless virtual reality of 2020.
Star Wars: Tales from the Galaxy’s Edge is a little adventure that allows you to connect in the most natural way with the life of a survivor in Batuu. No hero cloak or strength, just your human skills, some very harmful weapons and drones. Closer to The Mandalorian than The Return of Skywalker, for convenience and to get a lot done without being presumptuous.
