Super Stardust Ultra VR

{Super Stardust Ultra} is an amazing game. So far, so good, but we all knew that already. Housemarque's colourful, intense and balanced franchise has entertained us for a while now, becoming part of the studio's DNA, and with good reason. After {Resogun}, however, we thought that the studio didn't have any more tricks up its sleeve, and that maybe they had peaked (at least when it comes to their particular brand of arcade shooters), but then Sony revealed that {Super Stardust Ultra} was to be among the first titles for PlayStation VR.

At first glance, {Super Stardust Ultra} looks like its old self. That's not a complaint, because the basic game in itself is among the best arcade titles on the newer PlayStation platforms whether you play it on a flat screen with a DualShock controller, or whether you brought the experience with you on the PlayStation Vita. Moving the little spaceship around on a number of miniature planets, upgrading weapons and shields and, more importantly, shooting anything that moves, is still immensely satisfying. The game hits the arcade sweet spot which is quite rare; your little spaceship explodes into a thousand pieces and you are frustrated out of your mind, but you still can't help heading back in for just one more go.

However, Sony hopes to add another dimension to {Super Stardust Ultra} by making the game a launch title for PlayStation VR, but is it possible to squeeze more out of the experience?

The answer is a definite... maybe.

First of all, all the normal modes in {Super Stardust Ultra} are now available in VR, which works in a quite nice, albeit unambitious, way. You put on the headset, and thus have more freedom of movement while you move the spaceship around. The game has been zoomed in a bit, and therefore you need to move your head considerably more in order to look from the bottom of the planet to the top of it, or from side to side for that matter. Without a doubt, VR adds more intensity, tension, and immersion to the experience, but it doesn't change your perception drastically. In many ways, it makes no difference to use your expensive VR headset here, but it still works well, nonetheless.

However, what will attract VR players is a new mode; Invasion can't be played without a PlayStation VR headset. It has been tailor-made for virtual reality, and has been built from scratch in order to meet the needs of immersion. Here, you get the chance to experience every Stardust player's dream, that is to be in the cockpit while you fight all the enemies on the surface of the planet.

We are, however, not dealing with the circular miniature planets that otherwise characterise the series, but rather a closed valley that works as an arena for your battle against thousands of enemy monsters and spaceships. You use one analog stick on the DualShock 4 to control where you hover across the ground, and the other stick to find a more exact direction. You use your vision to orient yourself in the cockpit, where you can access information about weapons and shields.

The set-up itself is a basic horde mode, where waves of different enemies rush towards you. Here, you are stuck on the ground on a horizontal surface, so naturally enemies are coming from the air as well. It is not particularly deep, and the gritty graphic filter many of the PlayStation VR release titles feature can easily turn out to be a problem, but the immersion is still spot-on, and when it comes to placing the player in an exciting virtual context, {Super Stardust Ultra}'s Invasion part is among the best.

We must admit, though, that we experienced an extreme amount of motion sickness after just a few minutes the first couple of times we played it. This is primarily due to the way in which you control the spaceship. It feels a bit like a train, where you have to switch tracks every time you move. Your spaceship moves very quickly while you frantically look around for enemies in the air and on the ground, all the while having to orient yourself in the cockpit. The frantic setup easily becomes overwhelming to your senses, but it does subside after a few sessions. This is often the case with a number of the more intense VR games; you get more seasoned with time.

The main issue here is that {Super Stardust Ultra} in itself is an amazing arcade game, but PlayStation VR doesn't really add the extra dimension of entertainment that it should. Invasion provides something different, but it doesn't contain the overview that gives the normal modes their immense entertainment value. Likewise, the normal modes are sublime, and VR certainly doesn't make them any worse, but it's hard to argue that you need to use a VR headset to experience {Super Stardust Ultra}.

The game still offers a wonderful experience, and as always, it's a joy to blaze away at meteorites, monsters, enemy spaceships and everything in-between. Invasion is an interesting addition, where you can expect some fine entertainment here and there, provided that your stomach is made of steel. The positive grade is thus mostly founded in the quality of Housemarque's original game, but if you are looking for software that can justify your PSVR purchase, you should keep looking.