
I played Espire 1: VR Operative on my PSVR some time ago, and had a great time with it. It was a solid little stealth title that, despite some issues, still managed to be a solid experience. However, little did I know that my Espire 1: VR Operative journey wouldn’t end there. Even though support for the PSVR version ended some time ago, the Quest version had since seen enhancements to visuals, AI, UI, and even gameplay tweaks to help refine it in line with the developer’s original intentions.
As such, it’s time to revisit the game to see how well it holds up on the Meta Quest 3!
Many thanks to the publisher for the review code.
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AN ESPIRATIONAL OPERATIVE
Espire 1: VR Operative sees you taking on the role of an elite operative in the near future. The plot revolves around the protagonist, an agent who remotely controls an advanced espionage droid known as an Espire. This allows the operative to conduct missions without physically being in the dangerous environments they infiltrate. Your mission, as part of the Intelligence Force of Australia, is to escape the IFA facility that is currently being overrun by terrorists.
It’s a very by-the-numbers stealth plot that I found rather uninteresting to follow for the most part, but I certainly appreciated a lot of the lore that it sets up. From the IFA to the concept of the Espire units themselves, it’s a great world to be in even if I rarely found myself caring about the actual story events.
Getting used to the basic is rather straightforward due to the game’s excellent tutorialisation as you begin the game. You start off with a rather basic Espire unit, which has access to the essentials: a tranquiliser pistol that is great for knocking out unarmoured targets, but has to be manually prepared for the next shot; an electric baton for close range stuns, which also doubles as a healing tool amongst other things; and your trusty gloves that allow you to climb up any service. It’s a nice simple toolset, that allows you to be relatively stealthy. What’s particularly noteworthy is the game’s overhauled UI system. Whilst I actually liked the original look, it’s hard to deny that the update makes things look far sleeker and seems to fit with the visor far better than before.
The game has six missions, and each one has a range of objectives for you to complete. Whether it’s destroying laptops, obtaining keycards, or so-on, there’s plenty to keep you busy as you sneak around. Taking enemies out quietly and dragging their bodies to a secluded spot is certainly a good strategy, although their dumb AI is easy to exploit should you wish to go in heavy handed. I often found guards would forget about me or just start staring at a wall (or sometimes not even see me despite being clearly in their line of vision), making the Rambo style a viable option. Doing so will affect your mission rating, however, so if you don’t like to be scored poorly then you’d best learn how to stay out of sight – something which is pretty rewarding to do considering your Espire unit can climb more surfaces than you’d expect.
As you progress further into the game, you’ll start acquiring some more tools to assist you: namely the Espire Vision and the Instinct Vision. Whilst I rarely used the latter’s slow motion function due to my desire to stay quiet, the former allows you to see targets through walls – even if they’re using cloaking technology. It’s a vital skill when sneaking around, and I found myself using it with a fair degree of frequency.
It’s a great combination of stealth mechanics that make for some pretty satisfying gameplay for the most part. The thick-as-bricks AI does put a dampener on that, as do some of the various bugs that I encountered throughout my playthrough (one of which was so severe that I had to exploit loading zones to make it work as intended), but I still couldn’t stop playing. There’s just something deeply satisfying about the game that made me want to advance despite the game’s issues.
The one issue that did almost spoil things for me though was the dreadful waypoint system. To find out where you need to go, you need to take out your electrical baton and throw it on the ground so it can create a visible line showing you where you need to go. It’s an interesting concept, but it barely ever works properly. So many times, you attempt to throw on the ground only for it to magnetise back to your body. You need to find the sweet spot just far enough away for it not to magnetise, but still close enough to work. Considering how open a lot of the areas are, it’s something you’ll need to use a lot, thus making it quite an annoyance.
There are certainly issues affecting Espire 1: VR Operative, but there’s still a fun six or seven hours worth of stealth action gameplay to be had in the main campaign; not to mention the additional challenge modes that you can take on, as well as some DLC content too.
VERDICT
Espire 1: VR Operative is a great foundation for this VR Stealth Action series. Sure, it has some issues with the enemy AI and some unfortunate bugs, but the fundamentals are a lot of fun and there’s plenty of content to keep you busy for quite some time.
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