When I think of some of my favorite games on PlayStation VR the Pixel Ripped series from developer ARVORE always come to mind. Both Pixel Ripped 1989 and 1995 released on the original PlayStation VR and just earlier this year Pixel Ripped 1978 arrived on PlayStation VR2 (check my review of that one here.) Now the team has gone back to bring Pixel Ripped 1995 to PlayStation VR2 adding new features that take advantage of the hardware. Here is my review of the updated version.
Pixel Ripped 1995 is a lover letter to gaming during the 90’s. I was still a kid back during that time but I have fond memories of playing various games on my Sega Genesis as well as my cousin’s Nintendo platforms. Suffice to say that any time I play something that makes me remember my young gaming days I get pretty excited and Pixel Ripped 1995 had that effect on me. To set up the story, you once again play as the hero from the first game Dot and are battling against the villain from the first game Cyblin Lord. Cyblin is up to no good again trying to steal another Pixel Stone and so you as Dot must set out to stop his evil plans again.
The quest this time takes you to the year, you guessed it, 1995. Here, Dot takes over a gamer named David and must work together with him through games within games while also trying to avoid David’s nemesis, his mom. Just like in Pixel Ripped 1989, you’ll shift between playing as both characters. While playing as David you’ll be trying to stay focused on the screen while other characters like his mom and dad try to distract him. While playing as Dot, you’ll be adventuring through different types of games that will remind you of classics such as Metroid and Streets of Rage among others.
Things that you do in the game can have an effect on Dot’s world and there are even cool moments where you’ll be trying to play two games at the same time and have the ability to use things between the games. Other moments in the game you’ll be trying to conquer scenarios where things from the game come into David’s world. I loved all of this stuff in Pixel Ripped 1989 and Pixel Ripped 1995 delivers even more awesome moments and scenarios than the original. Every moment controlled well with the Sense Controllers and I never had tracking issues or any other real performance issues. The game also uses the adaptive triggers on the Sense controllers and delivers feedback through the headset which helped to make the whole experience more immersive than when I played it on the original PlayStation VR.
Not only is the gameplay itself great but ARVORE has delivered once again on the visual design as well. The cartoony world is as beautiful as ever with everything having a nice crisp art style to it. The pixel art graphics of the games you’ll be playing are wonderful and all of the character models are solid. Better yet the PlayStation VR2 hardware now allows you to run the game at 120fps making it smoother than ever. Audio work is also commendable with every game having a wonderful soundtrack that brought me back to those retro days of playing games as a kid. As for the trophies in the game the developer even listened to feedback here and gave this sequel a Platinum trophy for all of us who care about that sort of thing. I really couldn’t find a lot wrong with the game other than the fact that I wish it lasted longer than just a few short hours.
Pixel Ripped 1995 is a step up from the original Pixel Ripped 1989 and plays better than ever on PlayStation VR2. It brings even more wild moments and gameplay sequences that once again are only made possible thanks to virtual reality. It’s a perfect game to play when you want to get lost in a world similar to one you may have grown up in or see what it was like for the rest of us back then. If you owned this game on the original PlayStation VR the free upgrade makes it easy to jump in while anyone new to the scene should absolutely add this to their PlayStation VR2 playlist.
*Pixel Ripped 1995 is available now on PlayStation VR and PlayStation VR2. Reviewed on PlayStation VR2. Review copy provided by the publisher for this review.
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