Firewall: Zero Hour

Firewall: Zero Hour in Brief:

• Exclusively for PS VR - headset necessary
• Single or co-op shooter play available
• Recommended playing with the Sony PlayStation VR Aim Controller
• Any wobbles on launch solved by downloadable patches

The First Good Virtual Reality Game?

Comes from First Contact Entertainment, this is an excellent look at the future of gaming, what the makers must have hoped for when they launched the PSVR. Firewall: Zero Hour's success will not just result in shipping more copies of the game, but also the VR headset itself. Lots of those who have a powerful PS4 Pro sitting in their house will suddenly be very tempted to spend the £200 or so and invest in virtual reality.

Simple Premise, Works

Thankfully, this is quite simple - each match pits attackers against defenders, with the former trying to deactivate a firewall switch and then download some data from a laptop. As a defender, you have to either wipe out the attacking team, or at least hold them off for a certain number of minutes. In this respect it is more similar to something from the Tom Clancy tactical shooter stable than the likes of Battlefield. While this may strike you as rather simple, more like a game mode on Call of Duty, bear with us, because that's where the VR element makes Firewall: Zero Hour.

Sheer VR Immersion

• Essentially keeping the concept uncomplicated allowed the designers to put their resources into making an addictively intense virtual reality experience. In the headset you are constantly checking to see whether anyone is trying to sneak up behind and get the jump on you, anxiously checking whether your teammates are in position. Defending the firewall switch? Then you'll be sweating buckets listening out for the ever-so-light tap...tap...tap that is the other team's footsteps as they inch closer to you.

• Once the atmosphere is down, the next thing to nail is the control. Now, you can play it with your regular DualShock 4 controller if you like, however considering you are already instinctively in the game, it makes sense to be able to fire your gun instinctively too. Which is where the Sony AIM controller comes in. Maybe not as wonderfully dynamic as Nintendo's Joy-Con, it does work excellently in tandem with Firewall: Zero Hour, with excellent tracking meaning your pointing and shooting is deadly accurate.