Combat Troops VR Reviews

I personally think this game is very good , great even.

Combat Troops is one I've owned for a while now, but only very recently came back to. It's not perfect by any means, but honestly? It's hard to complain with the price tag. Also the fact that it's still in early access has me hopeful for it's eventual full release. I'll start with some things I don't like. The laser pointer UI is really not great. I don't mind it for changing settings in menus, but during gameplay it feels unnatural to point a beam of light to pick things up. In other VR games force grabbing feels way more natural, and I think this is the area that needs the most refinement. Another small gripe is the settings menu. I didn't realize that in order to turn on haptics you had to go to the main headquarters and use the wall menu there. I'd rather a universal menu that allows me to access all settings at all times, even during the initial tutorial. Also I feel like controller haptics should be enabled by default, but maybe there's reasoning behind it not being? Either way you can turn on haptic feedback. Just need to use the correct settings menu. That said the settings menu leads me to one of the major Positives about this game. There are a lot of tweaks that the user can do, but my favorite by far is the ability to enable and crank up perceived item weight. I wish every VR game had options for this as I'm someone who loves simulated weapon weight/inertia, but I know many who hate it. Allowing the player to disable/enable and change the strength of it is phenomenal and the dev deserves a round of applause for it! Inventory is done in a really novel albeit a bit strange way. You can carry two primary on left and right shoulder slots, and two small secondary in front (also some vest equipment slots), but then the backpack is just a logo that floats in front of you to the left. I think I'd prefer if the backpack was tied to a shoulder instead at the sacrifice of a second primary slot. If for no other reason than to de-clutter player view. The bag itself is fun to use though. You stick your hand in the top and turn the controller to select which item you want to pull out via a radial menu. I will say I'd like if it had defined clicks into place when hovered over an item. Just to prevent over scrolling to the wrong item. Still a really cool way of doing storage! Combat (hey it's in the name of the game!) in Combat Troops is what I'd call more arcade fun. Zero Caliber/Crossfire Sierra Squad are probably the two most similar VR games to it on the market. It's not gonna revolutionize the VR shooter genre, but it's fun, weapons are punchy, and reloading is satisfying. Though there is a weird quirk where you can stick a rifle mag into the grip of the gun rather than the actual mag well. Think it may be confusing the two handed weapons grips for pistol grips. I do get a bit of a chuckle every time I do it on accident so it's more of a funny bug. Not game breaking. I'm gonna lump sound design and visuals in together because I want to keep it 100% with y'all. This game feels like the definition of asset flip. Like I think they've got a decently solid foundation in terms of game feel, but at times visually and audio wise it's chaotic. Voice lines feel like a random amalgamation. Explosions will make you think your headphones are about to blow up. I appreciate that it does feel like a loud battle, but it's just not cohesive. Same for the visuals. It's a mishmash of random camo, armor, vehicles, etc. On occasion everything comes together to look kinda decent, but this is definitely a game you play for the gameplay. I'd describe the overall mood as... if there was a G.I. Joe VR game made in the 90's. Which if that's what the devs were going for they nailed it. I've yet to see everything the game has to offer, so I'm not sure what the full scope of it really is. So far I've been going in, blowing things up, shooting the bad guys, and having fun. For around 10 bucks I think it's worth giving a shot. It's the type of game where I'm like "I really wish they had a bigger budget" because they honestly are doing a lot of cool things with the game that much more expensive VR titles don't even bother with. Combat Troops is far too ambitious for it's own good. I'd love to see it get a nice polish pass before it finishes development, but I'm not disappointed with it! Hope the devs stay in the VR space and continue to improve their craft. There's clearly a lot of passion going into this even if it is quite rough around the edges. I hope more people decide to give it a chance and provide their feedback to the devs! This could become a VR hidden gem, but only time will tell.

[h1]An immersive milsim that leans more arcade-like. Very fun and pretty impressive![/h1] Combat Troops VR plays like if you took Call of Duty and injected it with Arma. It is sort of like a VR version of Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising. The gameplay is quite fast and furious while there are quite a bit of mechanics and lots of guns in the game. [b]--- The Visuals ---[/b] The graphics are nothing to run home to mom about, but they are decent. They have that sort of 'indie' style to them, but they are consistent so nothing does not seem out of place. [b]--- Sound Effects ---[/b] However, the sound effects, this is where the game really shines. The sound effects definitely make you feel that you are in a hot zone on the battlefield. The helicopters and jets flying over head are probably some of the most realistic sounds I have heard in a game. The jets are so loud and deafening which really adds to the immersion. The sound effects for the weapons are very good too! Major kudos to the developer in the audio department! [b]--- The Gameplay ---[/b] What does this game play like? You have 10 maps and each map gives you objectives via a PDA. Mainly the objectives are destroy targets, kill enemies, and go to the evac zone to leave the map. They are basic, but it works here. You really do feel like a soldier on a battlefield and I could say this could be used as a PTSD simulator. lol. You are ambushed everywhere it seems by enemies. [b]--- Grenades ---[/b] There is another area in this game that truly impressed me. That is with the grenades. The grenades in this game are VERY realistic. They way they are thrown, and bounce on surfaces are done so realistically. Plus the sound effects of the bouncing of the grenades sound very realistic. Enemies throw these, so hearing a grenade land near you adds to the PTSD factor, lol. Be warned, the blast area of the grenades are pretty large, so if you hear one land next to you, BOOK IT! [b]--- Enemy Aircrafts & Ground Vehicles ---[/b] Another thing that I was impressed with is how the aircrafts work in this game. You don't pilot any, but enemies do. Every now and then enemies order air strikes around the map and helicopters will hunt you and your teammates down. But, the most impressive thing I saw in this game is if you try to shoot down a jet with an anti-air missle launcher, the aircraft will deploy flares and will confuse your rocket. This was such a cool touch of detail that truly impressed me. There are also ground vehicles (Tanks and anti-personnel humvees) as well that are driven by enemies. Just like the helicopters, they spawn at random on the map and hunt you and your team down. This adds to the dynamic strategy to the game making you strategize on the fly on seeking shelter and how to take the ground units out immediately so you can proceed on your mission objectives. Very fun! [b]--- Sprinting Mechanic ---[/b] You can sprint in this game, but not by a button click. Instead you swing your arms like STRIDE or Blades and Sorcery. It can be a bit difficult to get used to, but I actually prefer this type of sprinting. It adds to the VR gameplay and is pretty exhilarating as it adds to the action as you swing your arms heavily when trying to evade grenades and enemy gun fire. [b]--- Virtual Crouching ---[/b] This game has kind of an interesting virtual crouch option. Just like a lot of VR titles, you have the option to click a button to virtually crouch. This aids in accessibility, it especially aids me because I play VR using a treadmill and being strapped in limits my vertical motion. However, unlike many VR titles that have virtual crouch, if you toggle crouch in this game and you physically duck, your motion is multiplied which helps to get into a prone position. This absolutely feels great and I wished more VR titles used this type of virtual crouching. Plus, you can hold down the virtual crouch to even duck down further virtually. It feels good! [b]--- Inventory System ---[/b] The inventory system is a mixed bag, in my opinion (no pun intended). The way the inventory system works is you have a backpack that you grab not over your shoulder (unlike other VR games), instead you grab an icon that is on your lower left side in front of you. The backpack does get in the way at times, especially if I am throwing items away. If I throw it with my left hand, most of the time it will go into my backpack (which is the opposite of what I am trying to do). If the backpack was just over my left shoulder, this would not be an issue. Grabbing items from the backpack is kind of a pain. Unlike many VR games, you put your hand into a hole in the back pack, then you twist your hand around to grab the item you want. Thankfully there are hot spots on the front and sides of the backpack, but anything else you are going to be sitting there fighting with the little turn wheel as you twist your hand around. Would rather have a backpack system like in Into The Radius or Z.O.N.A. Putting things into the backpack can also be a bit un-intuitive. You can either grab the item from the world and store it on the backpack icon (lower left) or pull the trigger of the hand you are grabbing with. The trigger pull just feels odd and most of the time I accidentally do it. So, once I accidentally store something, I have to get my backpack out, fight with the selector wheel to grab the item, then finally throw the item away using my RIGHT hand. Very un-intuitive and should be improved on. Especially since the game is full of action. I feel if the backpack was, again, over your left shoulder, this would not be an issue. [b]--- Gun Holsters ---[/b] Another issue outside of the backpack system is how the guns are stored. Mainly the pistols. Yes, you have two pistols, one on each side of your belt. However, these like to get in the way of grabbing ammunition from your belt. What I like doing when I start a mission is take my pistols and throw them. Never needed them, only got in the way. One way for the developer to fix this is to move the pistols so they are on your sides, not in front of you near the ammo belt. Also, having two pistols is a bit excessive I feel. Perhaps the other pistol holster could be used as another hot spot for any other inventory item. [b]--- Multiplayer is Coming Soon! ---[/b] Currently the game is single player only, but the developer is currently working on adding multiplayer. I hope this comes soon. I feel this would be an excellent co-op experience and add to the tactical gameplay the game does have in its core. [b]--- Overall ---[/b] Do I recommend Combat Troops VR? Absolutely! Yes! This game has got to be one of the finest hidden gems I have found on Steam. A lot of the mechanics are done well here! The gameplay is tough and may have some rough around the edges on some areas, but it is fun! I will definitely be coming back to this game regularly!