Perfect PlayStation VR Review

Perfect is a first-person relaxing exploration game available from retail stores as part of The Assembly and Perfect double pack or for download from the PlayStation Store for PlayStation VR. NDreams have experience in developing and publishing virtual reality games in partnership with developer Near Light in which in addition to Perfect; NDreams has released The Assembly, Bloody Zombies and Shooty Fruity on PlayStation VR, while Perp Games have brought Perfect to retail as they have successfully achieved with a large quantity of PlayStation VR games. Can Perfect deliver the ultimate relaxation in not only virtual reality, but also gaming in general?

Perfect’s entire premise is to allow the player to relax, discover and escape to places that most people could only dream of visiting once in a lifetime; therefore there are no complex gameplay mechanics as it is designed to make the player unwind and shake off any stress in the process.

Environment design is essentially Perfect’s bread and butter as it has the strongest bond with the core premise. There are three locations including the Northern Lights, a tropical beach and mountainous regions that each contains multiple areas for the player’s viewing at day or night time. However, exploration can only occur through teleporting to certain areas without the capability of walking to room scale or teleporting only a few feet ahead at a time; which limits the potential of discovering new areas during each gameplay session.

Controls are appropriately mapped to one or two PlayStation Move controllers with the control scheme consisting of pressing X to teleport to an available highlighted area; pressing the trigger button to pick up an object such as a stone, wood or a lantern; utilising the gyroscopic motion sensing functionality to throw or place an object back down again at your preferred velocity then releasing the trigger button; pressing the trigger button to interact with an object such as turning on a radio; the ability to look from side to side and up and down through the PlayStation Camera’s head tracking working in harmony with PlayStation VR; holding select to capture a picture; pressing start or the move button to display a menu to exit the environment back to the main menu. The respective PlayStation Move controller that is closest to an object capable of interaction vibrates to show that an object has been highlighted and is within reach.

Graphically, there are some standout visuals including an amazing recreation of the Northern Lights at night with a beautiful moon, while sitting next to a log burning fire as particle effects show the projection of embers away from the fire as the snow falls. Elsewhere, a picturesque tropical beach hosts foliage on palm trees rustling in the breeze, while fish swim in the corral reef as the sea ripples and butterflies flap their wings as close as landing on your Move controllers, alongside mountainous regions situated by the sea reflecting the glimmer of the sun shining in the sky as hot air balloons and hand gliders move through the air. Instead of seeing a pair of hands picking up and interacting with objects; the player sees the Move controllers which can detract a little from the immersion.

Perfect’s presentation is rather minimalist as the main menu immediately provides a portal to each of the three locations during day and night which can be navigated through the gyroscopic motion sensing functionality of the PlayStation Move controller before pressing X or the trigger button to choose a specific environment, alongside a menu background of blue and cloudy skies.

Sound effects include picking up and dropping objects, alongside the ambience of your chosen surroundings such as birds tweeting and distant wolves howling, water rippling in the sea, a crackling log burning fire and more besides; complimented by tranquil music or alternatively listening to your own Spotify playlist through PlayStation Music.

A rather odd omission is the lack of a trophy list which could have simply included a bronze trophy for visiting each of the three locations during the day and at night time, alongside a further bronze trophy for visiting each area during day time and night time as well as gold trophies for visiting everywhere, interacting with every stone, radio, lantern and log as individual groups of objects and collectively for interacting with every object before receiving a platinum trophy to showcase how relaxed you are feeling.

For family and friends situated in the same room; the TV presents what the player is experiencing, albeit without the same quality of depth. However, as the social screen output has the same environments and audio; anyone watching gameplay within the same room would also feel relaxed.

Perfect’s replayability stems from three beautifully depicted environments each containing multiple areas in day time and night time and experiencing your favourite music in a more relaxing environment, while Perfect’s most recurring replay value is through how unwinding it is for the player.

Analysis