Play paintball virtually! Game Review: SnapShot VR by Giant Scam

SnapShot VR, developed by Giant Scam, is a fast-paced first-person shooter that places you in a virtual paintball battlefield featuring custom maps, avatar customization, as well as stats and leaders boards. SnapShot VR is a team-based PvP style that allows you to work with others to either eliminate the other team or cross enemy lines and reach the objective, whichever comes first. SnapShot VR is currently available on VivePort and will be available on Steam September 1st, 2020.

Game Details

Upon starting your game and logging into your account, you are placed in your own personal lobby where you can see leaderboards, join available games, create your own game lobby, and customize your avatar. Avatar customization is a bit limited right now but has already been expanded from the first time I logged in. So, I can tell they are still working on and adding different options and ways to make your avatar stand out from others. Most customizations are limited to the face visor and helmet, at this time, and not the rest of the body.

One of the first questions I have in any VR game is movement. I feel, how you interact with the game and the environment is one of the most important features in VR. ShapShotVR has three movement settings, depending on your VR needs and/or preferences. The default movement being “Rails”. The standard point and click to an area and your avatar glides to the destination you have selected. The second option is “Puppet”. This is a nice touch but, I have to admit, I don’t think anyone playing at home would have the full range movement of these large scale battlefields to run around this freely (not to mention cable limitations). The last option, and my personal favorite, “joystick”. Depending on which hand you have selected as your master control, Joystick allows you to move freely as you move your joystick. With the fast pace of this game, and limited space most of us have at home, I highly suggest the joystick setting. Also, for those worried about motion sickness, the game ran smooth enough to joystick around and not feel dizzy or disoriented.

One thing I did notice during my gameplay, however, was that there is a bit of collision between your headset and objects at a time. Especially in the lobby. Accidental movement too close to an environmental object places your point of view inside the object, leaving you staring into a void of pure black nothingness. Which, if you didn’t realize you were too close, can be a bit disorienting until you get used to it or know well enough what happened and can move out and correct it. I’ll be honest, I didn’t realize I was next to a tall block in the lobby once and thought my headset went out. In the grand scheme of things, this is a small issue and does not affect the overall satisfaction of the game.

Maps

As far as maps go, they really did do a great job of giving variety in this area and even allowing some maps to have lobby shields so eliminated players could not see the battlefield and call out enemy positions to their teammates.

Now, warning, on certain maps, most of the game is played on the floor. I know, sounds funny right? It kind of is but it’s not too uncommon to be crouched down behind a low barrier and crawling around to find the enemy before they find you. Which is how some of these maps are utilized unless you want to be eliminated by being the only player not using cover. However, some players seem to thrive just running in with their guns blazing out. My only critique on this is the animation for crouched players is quite hysterical as it looks like a very low crab walk, depending on how low you go.

Snapshot of the Arena Area

Graphics & Avatars

Finally, the graphics. The graphics of SnapShot VR are pretty basic. If you’re into games for graphics alone, then maybe this isn’t the game for you. I feel like the game would benefit from some textures (ie – stone walls, various floor types, weapons skins, avatar armor skins, shading, etc).

I feel that little bit of flare would make the game more immersive and potentially help change the feeling of each map. For example, having a desert and stone map, a medieval ruins map with moss on the walls, etc. Of course, this isn’t anything that’s necessary to the gameplay or the game but just some thoughts I had during my experience.

Overall

Now, remember when I said this game was fast-paced? To be honest, most matches I played lasted about a minute before one of the teams was totally annihilated, hardly ever worrying about defending one’s own base. Depending on the map, sightlines are so wide open that one could be eliminated the moment the match starts. This happened to me a few time but I’m also not a SnapShot VR veteran. So, maybe just “getting good” is in order for me.

All in all, SnapShotVR is a fun gaming experience. The fluidity of the gameplay is commendable and their Discord community is very active and attentive. I highly suggest joining their Discord server for community game times, filling teams, or just finding positive gaming connections to later destroy on the battlefield. I’m excited to see this game go fully live and look forward to seeing where they go and what else they will add in the future.

System Requirements

SnapShot VR is scheduled to launch on Sept 1st on Steam.

#SnapshotVR, the VR game that feels like playing paintball in the future, is LIVE on Viveport and Viveport Infinity!https://t.co/8ISgFAKSjN@htcvive @NxlPaintball #vr #virtualreality #videogames #gamedev #paintball #nxlpaintball pic.twitter.com/vsXkluMXZR

— GIANT SCAM (@giantscam) July 28, 2020

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Nate (aka DocInTheBox)

Entertainment Correspondent and CFO for Temple of Geek

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