Dick Wilde 2 | PSVR Review

Many people who know me have heard me say how much I love arcade style shooters. I also love VR and where it is headed in the gaming industry. So when I was asked to give Dick Wilde 2 a shot on the PSVR I was elated to say the least. At first glance, I seriously thought that the game was going to be a cheap throw away title. Fortunately for me, the good people at Bolverk Games have gone and proven me wrong. So hop on your raft, grab your guns, and let’s cruise through why you should check out this game.

Help Take Back the River

Dick Wilde 2 is an arcade first-person style rail shooter. You are a nameless and faceless character who teams up with Dick Wilde in cleaning up areas of mutated creatures. The story is fairly simple. You must travel along the river destroying odd pests that are causing havoc for the locals. The river is loaded with all kinds of heinous animals from piranhas to rats throwing fireballs. There is also a great deal of trash in the river that can damage the raft on which you are floating. The only way to remove the animals and trash is with two guns at your side. Your health meter is also located at your feet on a TV monitor that is strapped to the raft, which I found amusing.

The game is broken down into three areas, each with an assortment of levels. You unlock new areas by acquiring keys in previous ones. Some levels even offer multiple paths and keys, which require replaying to progress further. This does give the game some variety, which definitely adds some replay.

Once you clear a level, it gives you an assortment of statistics on your performance with a rank of one to three stars. I ran through a few levels multiple times to gain a higher score, simply for the fun of it. If you have a friend who also owns the game, you can even team up and take on each level or boss together.

Taking Out the Trash Can Be Rewarding

As you progress through each level, you gain money for clearing the trash. Each checkpoint allows you to customize your character’s loadout with different weapons or power ups. These include additional health or armor for your raft. At first, I glossed over the power ups in favor of stronger weapons. Later in the game, however, they become a necessity.

There are also a few levels that are actually weapon challenges to unlock new guns, including a flare gun revolver and an energy ball launcher. The revolvers you start the game with are easy to use and can carry you through a good majority of the game. Some of the additional guns you can unlock look fun, but are not nearly as effective.

Dick Wilde 2 has cartoonish look, and while it fits the game’s theme, it’s nothing overly impressive. What the game does very well is give you the feeling that the fireballs and other objects are flying at you. Multiple times I found myself flinching and shutting my eyes expecting something to hit me.

The controls are very tight and well-crafted. You can fire the weapons you are holding from the hip or even aim down the sights for better accuracy. Surprisingly, one of the most entertaining areas is the main menu screen. You stand in Dick Wilde’s camp with two guns that shoot cocktail weenies. You can knock over just about everything in the camp in a kind of shooting range.

A Few Issues, But Nothing Terrible

The game does have a few shortcomings. The soundtrack is the same in almost every level and does get irritating after some time. At one point the music cut out for the remainder of the level. This was a nice reprieve, but I would have appreciated more tracks of music instead. Additionally, Dick Wilde’s quips at checkpoints are few and far between, which causes a lot of repeats.

The biggest flaw for me is the game is too short with only three worlds. Granted, this is a game designed with replayability in mind, but I would have like to have seen a bit more variety. Some of the enemies would occasionally glitch out and appear as a solid color. Their animations would freeze but still travel on their assigned path.

If you like arcade style shooters and enjoy VR like I do, look into Dick Wilde 2. Even though it is short and has a few hiccups here and there, I found the game to be very enjoyable and have played through multiple times. With many different items to unlock and the ability to try and chase a higher score, Dick Wilde 2 should provide even the most casual VR player quite of few hours of solid gameplay. So strap on your headset and help take back the backwoods.

This review is based on a PSVR copy provided by Home Run PR for coverage purposes and is also available on Oculus Rift and HTC Vive.