Arizona Sunshine

Developers: Vertigo Games
Publisher: Vertigo Games
Genre: FPS
Players: 1-2 (campaign), 1-4 (survival)
Platforms: Playstation 4 (Reviewed), Microsoft Windows
Release Date: 27th June 2017 (PS4), 6th December 2016 (everywhere else)
Microtransactions: None

Head Shot Boom!

VR games are fun, Zombie games are fun too. If only there was a game out there that combined the two. There is? There’s a fuck ton of them? Oh, well if only there was a good one, that’s where Arizona Sunshine pops in.

You play Captain Generic Gobshite #1226445, starting in a cave you make your way through valleys, mines, train yards, a military base and little townships.

Your mission is to get to a radio tower and get out of the Zombie infestation. Simple, we don’t need much here at show me games to have fun.

Zeds Dead

I played the game using two move controllers you can however play using the joypad or the Aim controller (Mr. Ashton prefered the Aim controller). I liked having both arms free to swing and aim two guns independently.

Movement in Arizona Sunshine is tackled in a couple of ways, with the move controllers we have the teleport or warp mechanic. You aim where you want to warp to. The camera goes black and comes back upon completion, it’s often referred to as blink warp or blink teleport. The Doom VR game will use Blink warp as its main mode of transport.

This can take awhile to get used to if you haven’t played many VR games, but you’ll soon be warping out quickly and smoothly without much issue.

The joypad or Aim controller will allow normal transport, using an analog stick. I personally find this mode of transport causes me a little discomfort dependant on the speed with which you travel.

If you look to the floor whilst in the game, a halo is shown, showing you your orientation to the camera. It’s recommended that you have yourself facing the camera as much as possible, as sometimes your aiming will be off due to the camera recognition of your positioning. The Vive version will no doubt be better due to multiple Lighthouses.

Boomstick

Shooting feels great here, headshots are extremely satisfying. Dual wielding makes you feel awesome, especially during those pimp moments with a double head shot.

Plenty of firearms can be found dotted around the game, mainly pistols, but the occasional shotgun, SMG, or assault rifles are thrown in for good measure.

Sniper rifles are placed in a couple of areas in the game for you to have a dabble at long range head poppery. When using the sniper rifles you are looking down the scope it very fun.

Grenades however take a little while to get used to throwing. Well, at least my experience with the move controllers took a while. Due to the lack of weight, and the fact you have to actually throw the grenade there is a little mental disconnect. I ended up just under-arming everything I threw, then running away. My friend Ryan also had the same issue.

Door Is Ajar

During your meanderings through Arizona, you’ll happen across many cars, houses, and huts. One thing these all have in common is doors. Oh my, the doors.

Searching through abandoned vehicles, and buildings does warrant your time, but can be clunky with the move controllers. Reaching out out to open a door only to find you are a tad to close or frustratingly to far away happens often.

But walking down a highway, looking in the boot of cars is strangely immersive. Police cars often yield the most loot. But it’s worth searching other places. You may find a hidden weapon or two.

Brain Soup

Arizona Sunshine’s campaign took me approximately 3.5 hours to complete. I did it in one playthrough, stood up. With the exception of the mine level, I thoroughly enjoyed myself.

The mine level bugged me due to it’s darkness. Once I entered the mine, I was nervous but after 5 mins, my patience started to run thin. The awkward layout, the back tracking and the darkness even with the flashlight. I just wanted out. Now your experience may vary here, it was just one of my personal bug bares.

Once out of the mines, the rest of the game just cracked on at it’s nice pace.

Sarcy Shitbag

The games protagonist is a mouthy sarcastic shitbag. He’ll be chatty crap throughout the game. After 10 mins in I thought i was going to hate him, but I found myself warming to his nonsense. Also, due to the lack of actual story, he’s the only one speaking, so it would have gotten terribly dull without his gobby wit.

Press Start To join

Arizona Sunshine has a couple of game modes, Campaign and a Survival mode.

The Campaign we’ve just been through. The Survival mode, is exactly that. You must survive waves of zombies to score points and earn bragging rights.

Unlike the campaign, you can play this mode up to 4 players cooperatively. Which is pretty bloody sweet to be honest. Other than that there isn’t much else to say about it.

Wrapping up

Arizona Sunshine upon release for the Playstation was £9.99 for a limited time. The price then went up to £32.99. It’s price at the moment is £19.99.
Now I believe the cost of a game can and does effect the experience you may have with a game. It does me hence why I brought it up. Not that I have a specified monetary value per hour, but if something is finished in an hour and a half and it cost £50, I’d feel a little ripped off.

So my score is based on the amount paid and the current price (£19.99)

For that price I believe you are getting a fun, stress relieving game, which you could have fun with friends.

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