Towards a Perilous Journey is a shmup or shoot em’ up VR game from Bordeaux, France studio Sparkly Games. Use your controllers to take flight with arcade-style spaceships and blast through anything that gets in your way to the tune and beat of electronica.
Shmup VR in Towards a Perilous Journey
Shoot, dodge, escape destructive enemy bursts and maneuver through and around obstacles mid-air. Towards a Perilous Journey is a double-handed VR game where your controllers morph into spaceships or one ship if you mesh them together to use only one controller.
Each ship has energy sensitive weaponry and defense systems, which are
“Energy management is a key element in “Towards a Perilous Journey”. You accumulate energy by destroying enemies. Spend your energy reserve to improve your offence and defensive systems”. For example, “activate a secondary weapon or to merge your ships into one bigger and stronger. Energy can also increase your score.”
Players will be flying through passageways, mountain passes, canyons, and more in arcade mode shoot em’ up. Fly around in 2 night and day environments and try to defeat and unlock 24 levels in Journey mode to work towards building up your flight and shooting skills.
The game’s graphics are clean, simple, and colorful. The over-the-shoulder and third person POV vertical scrolling gives the player a sense that the worlds you’re flying through are passing by with urgency but are not frantic. It looks laid back but challenging, which is a great way to spend an evening or on a quick break.
Electronic Artists Ignite Gameplay
Music has a way of motivating us when we game, exercise, and even study. The game’s tunes sound like they’ll stay exciting, energizing and motivating to gameplay and become an earworm you won’t mind keeping a beat to.
Towards a Perilous Journey has a soundtrack of 24 rhythmically catchy electronic songs. Artists on the game’s soundtrack include Andre Jetson, Broke For Free, Michett, Nihilore, Pierlo, Simon Mathewson, Six Umbrellas, and Stereofloat.
The soundtrack isn’t just for keeping the action moving forward, it’s used as a helpful indicator to the player that things are going to get more difficult. “Music background is specially designed to warn you from upcoming enemies.” says the game’s release.
I watched a gameplay video called “Chronicle 12” on YouTube and the music from Caprisqui and Andre Jetson played well with the minimalist environments the spaceships were flying through. Towards a Perilous Journey looks like it will keep your attention and focus during those difficult to get through cascades of space bullets, bombs, and tubed obstacles.
I will be doing a review of this game in January once it’s released on the Oculus Store and Viveport on January 25, 2019.
