Sony’s PlayStation VR quality control procedures have been brought into question this week, after the release of a game derided as being ‘terrible’ and riddled with bugs.
After a short delay, Bimboosoft’s Rollercoaster Dreams launched on the PlayStation Store last week, priced at $19.99. At face value, the game’s premise seems like a perfect match for virtual reality: players get to create and manage their own theme park, whilst getting to experience the thrill of riding their created rollercoasters in VR.
The reality, however, has been altogether different. Within hours of the title going on sale, users took to social media [2, 3, 4] to complain about the game’s poor graphics, clunky UI and coaster creator, below-par translations (anyone for ‘flied potatoes’ or care to build a path with ‘asfalt’?) and nausea-inducing frame rate stutters. Upload VR, meanwhile, described the title as being “so terrible it’s almost good”.
If that wasn’t bad enough, the vast majority of this “made for PSVR” title can only be played in cinematic mode – with only the actual riding of rollercoasters being playable in VR – whilst its demo features no virtual reality support – including being able to experience a ride – whatsoever.
Sony has typically being praised for its stringent quality control over games that are released on its family of consoles either digitally or physically, and has never shied away from refusing a title certification if it fails to reach the company’s high standards.
However, with Rollercoaster Dreams joining a growing list of PSVR games and experiences that have been almost unplayable or widely criticised on launch – including the likes of Surgeon Simulator ER and The Martian – users are beginning to question whether or not Sony has relaxed its QA testing for PlayStation VR somewhat in light of its relatively shallow library.
