Bravo Team was revealed during E3 2017 and a handful of the Way Too Many Games crew were very skeptical about it. I wrote them off because they don’t own a PSVR and I know the potential PSVR possibilities and how great Until Dawn: Rush of Blood is (a PSVR title also made by Supermassive Games). With Supermassive Games at the helm I was excited to see a tactical military shooter making its way to PSVR. Visions of taking cover, peeking around corners, and blind-firing all seemed like a good idea at the time. Well, I should have listened. While Bravo Team does in fact contain all of those mechanics I envisioned, it’s so poorly executed that it’s hard to believe it came from the same company that made one of my favorite PSVR games.

Bravo Team is set in a modern day fictional Eastern European city. During your escort mission something goes terribly wrong (like we haven’t had that plot a hundred times). With the VIP stolen and a corrupt military trying to kill Bravo Team, which consists of two soldiers, they must cross a couple streets and go through 2 buildings to find their target.

I’m not even a little bit joking about having to just cross a couple streets and buildings. The game is only 2 hours long for a reason. I mean, the game would probably be over sooner if they didn’t decide to use the worst padding mechanic ever for a shooter and have never ending waves of enemies. Not only are the enemies never ending until you move forward a little bit, they all run out with the same stiff animations along the same line and to the same cover spots.

If that doesn’t sound like a hoot-n-hollerin’ good time then you’ll be happy to know that each enemy also looks exactly the same. With only a couple variations in the form of a heavy soldier and a S.W.A.T. looking enemy that you only see a couple times.

I wouldn’t mind as much about the enemy design or the unlimited flood of enemies if the gameplay was good. Sadly, the gameplay is completely boring, repetitive, and janky. You essentially just go from cover-to-cover, popping up and shooting enemies. It’s sort of like Time Crisis if Time Crisis was bad, colorless, lacked weapon variety, and didn’t have any bosses. The biggest sin this game commits is the way it handles moving to cover. It will actually pop you into a stationary 3rd person view as you watch your character run to the cover you selected and then pops you back into first person.

There are a litany of problems with this method. For one, it completely ruins the immersion. Two, often times the stationary camera will position itself within a wall or just aimed at a wall so you can’t see anything. Three, you can’t aim or shoot enemies while you’re moving. Four, it just ruins the flow of the combat. Five, once the camera goes back into first person, if your Aim Gun is not pointed straight, it will position the gun incorrectly and you’re stuck with messed up tracking until you move again and fix it.

Speaking of the Aim Gun. Besides the issue I listed above, the overall implementation just doesn’t feel right. Unlike Farpoint, the Aim Gun feels sluggish and lags behind during quick movements. I also experienced some sever aim drifting which got frustrating. The worst offender was the sniper rifle. Not only was it janky to try and aim through, the scope wouldn’t even activate unless you had it a couple inches from your face. Speaking of the weapons; what a dull selection. There is the standard AR, shotgun, sniper and pistol. That’s it. And not only is it a small selection, you don’t even get the option of the shotgun or sniper until the last half to 2/3rds of the game.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t speak about the god awful AI and the random glitches they bring. I already mentioned above about them just running out from their spawn spots like mindless drones, but this also applies to your partner. There were a couple times that my teammate got stuck in the floor, under a desk or just randomly walked through a wall. He would run out in the middle of gunfire and take cover on the wrong side of the battle. And shooting the enemy AI is basically like playing a game of wack-a-mole. There were times where an enemy would take up cover right next to me, but acted like I wasn’t even there and was focused on my teammate. In fewer words . . . they be dumb.

There isn’t much to say about the graphics, honestly. The entire game is unbelievably bland, with that classic 50 shades of brown look. The level designs are just short corridors with nothing interesting to see. The enemy design is also just as boring, with the standard terrorist look of camo and a black balaclava. If the visuals don’t bore you then the sound design certainly will. There are no notable tracks, the voice over work is boring, but I guess it fits with the game’s theme of being unimaginative. And to follow along with the poor sound design, why wouldn’t the guns lack any punch?

I can’t describe the immense disappointment I feel with Supermassive Games having put out Bravo Team. The game feels like they just slapped together an idea with no thought or love behind it. I hate to say it, but this definitely tarnished my view of them creating VR games. If they continue to pursue PSVR titles I hope they take their time and give it some love. Bravo Team will definitely go down as a massive misstep for them and the fact they’re charging $40 for this title is completely shocking. Whatever you do, stay away from this title, spend your $40 on something else.

Graphics: 2.0 Bland, colorless, just all around visually unappealing.	Gameplay: 1.0 Boring, repetitive cover shooter with poorly implemented motion controls.
Sound: 2.0 Music is uninspired, voice acting is terrible and the guns all lack punch.	Fun Factor: 0.5 There isn’t anything redeeming about Bravo Team. It feels like it drags on even though its run time is only a couple hours.
Final Verdict: 1.0

Bravo Team is available now on PSVR.