Firewall Ultra: this VR shooter’s doing my head in

Domagoj Belancic

1.9.2023

Translation: Jessica Johnson-Ferguson

Firewall Ultra could’ve been the next big blockbuster for the Playstation VR2. The emphasis being on «could’ve». In its current state, you’re better off staying away.

Firewall Ultra makes me sad and angry. I was really looking forward to this multiplayer shooter for the Playstation VR2. But the way it is now, I’d strongly advise you not to squander your hard-earned 40 francs or euros on this game.

The gameplay’s fun…

The basic gameplay of Firewall Ultra is simple and fun. Together with my three teammates, my task is to hack a laptop on a medium-sized map to extract secret information. The laptop’s location is revealed by hidden access points I can also hack.

One team takes on the role of the hacking attackers and one team tries to defend the laptop. No matter what side your team is on, clear communication among team members is essential to success.

Firewall Ultra is a sequel to the PSVR game Firewall Zero Hour. If you’ve played the predecessor, you’ll feel right at home. Not least because many maps from the first game have been reused. What’s completely new, on the other hand, is the PvE mode Exfil. In this mode, my team’s no longer playing against human opponents, but against computer-controlled soldiers. We also have to hack three laptops instead of one. I enjoy the co-op missions more than the PvP battles that are often too short and hectic.

… but the controls are driving me up the wall

Unfortunately, the controls in Firewall Ultra are a disaster. The game feels like a VR game made for people who don’t like VR. The appeal of VR shooters is that you control your weapons with movements and gestures. Firewall Ultra has opted out of including any immersive controls and, instead, has you pressing buttons for most of the time. I might as well play the game with a regular PS5 controller.

Targeting is the biggest shambles of all. In other VR shooters, you aim by holding your gun close to your face and looking through the scope. It’s intuitive and effective. In Firewall Ultra, I have to press the L2 trigger to aim. The game then automatically positions my weapon in my field of view. This makes motion-controlled aiming with the PS VR2 controllers extremely sluggish. I’m forced to make big motions to point my gun at enemies. That’s no fun.

Every now and then, when I press L2, the game places the gun in front of my face at the wrong angle. That way I can’t see the crosshairs because the gun’s tilted down too much. Instead of shooting straight ahead, I’m firing shots at the ground. Great. Resetting the weapon and pointing it horizontally again can usually only be done by virtual death. I apologise to my teammates who’re having to endure my cursing in these situations.

Reloading the weapon also works completely without gestures. I press the X button and everything happens automatically. Other VR shooters allow you to manually slide the magazine into the gun. The reload animation is buggy in some weapons. It all just feels so haphazard. Like a beta. It’s a crying shame.

Eye control’s giving me a headache

I enjoy it when games take advantage of the unique features of the PS VR2 hardware. Take the eye-tracking cameras built into the headset, for example. But Firewall Ultra has just gone overboard with the eye tracking.

Among other things, I need to use my eyes to change weapon mid-battle. This sounds funny because it is. It makes absolutely no sense. In other VR shooters, your weapons are attached to your body. You arm yourself with them by taking them from your holster. In Firewall Ultra, you need to press a button to open a pop-up menu where you select your weapon with your eyes. That’s just plain complicated, unintuitive and unreliable.

Grenades are also operated with your eyes. Instead of using a throwing motion to hurl them towards your target, you have to aim at the target with your eyes and press the R2 button. Why can’t I just throw the bloody things with my hand?!

Menu navigation from hell and painfully long waiting times

Eye control is also imposed on me to navigate the chaotic menus. As if they weren’t complicated enough. I’m constantly clicking the wrong thing. Not only because I’m accidentally looking at the wrong menu tile, but also because the eye tracking sometimes fails completely. This has never happened to me with other PS VR2 games.

Once you’ve fought your way through the menu jungle and successfully selected a game mode, you’ll have to be very patient. During my gaming sessions, I sometimes spent more time in the lobby than in matches. When there are finally enough people in the lobby, the game doesn’t start automatically. Nope. Instead, a painfully long countdown ensues. You can’t cancel or click it away, either. So there’s more waiting to be done.

Visuals from wow to meh

Graphically, the game fluctuates between beautiful level sections and dreary game environments. I particularly like the maps, which feature atmospheric lighting.

Many indoor maps look poorly detailed and lifeless in comparison.

Sadly, the game’s full of glitches that keep interrupting my game experience. In addition to the dodgy loading animation I mentioned earlier, there are times when my team members seem to be breaking every bone in their bodies. Again, this makes the game feel unfinished.

Pay-to-win mechanics

As in any current multiplayer shooter, Firewall Ultra has loads of unlockable characters, weapons and equipment for sale. You can pay either with the currency you’ve earned in the game or with real money in the Playstation Store. If you want to use the in-game cash, you will have to save up for a very long time. Per match you only earn a tiny fraction of what you need for a good weapon upgrade.

Players who buy upgrades with real money have a huge advantage on the battlefield. I, for one, treated myself to the game character Raha. Thanks to my purchase, I can see the outlines of enemies through walls. It’s totally unfair and has no place in a competitive shooter.

Verdict: an unfinished mess

The gameplay of Firewall Ultra’s fun. At least in theory. In its current state, the game feels like a product in early beta testing. The controls are moody, counter-intuitive and no fun. The menus are chaotic and annoying. Matchmaking takes ages. And pay-to-win mechanics give players unfair advantages on the battlefield.

The content variety is also pretty poor. A mere two game modes and eight maps are available at the start. At least developer studio First Contact Entertainment promises to listen to fan feedback. A content roadmap for the first year after launch is already in place. New characters, new weapons, two new maps and two new co-op modes are scheduled for release in the next twelve months. But these are all promises that have yet to be kept. In its current state, you should think long and hard about buying the game – even if you’re a hardcore VR shooter fan.

Firewall Ultra is available for Playstation 5. The game was provided to me by Sony for testing purposes.

Domagoj Belancic

Senior Editor

Domagoj.Belancic@digitecgalaxus.ch

My love of video games was unleashed at the tender age of five by the original Gameboy. Over the years, it's grown in leaps and bounds.

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