Faithful in brutality and cameos, a game for series fans disappoints on many levels.
The main series of The Boys is set to come to an end later this year, when Amazon airs Eric Kripke’s (Supernatural) fifth and final season.
Before things kick off April. 8, fans of the series with a virtual reality (VR) headset, can dive into the familiar world and meet familiar characters, as they play as a new character.
The Boys: Trigger Warning, developed by ARVORE (Pixel Ripped series) puts you in the shoes of Lucas Costa, someone shot up with the serum infamous to series fans that grants superhuman abilities. As Costa, you’ll take on various and brutal missions, using a variety of powers granted to you by the “Compound V” encountering faces that those from the series will recognize.
The game is only out for Meta Quest headsets – though it is set to release at a later date for the PlayStation VR2 (PSVR2) and PCVR.
You’re on a quest for revenge against the Armstrong family who have taken everything from you; and fight alongside The Boys – this includes Mothers Milk, Kimiko – played by their series actors – and Butcher who is not portrayed by Karl Urban.
The team saves you with Compound V, the infamous series drug which gives people superpowers, and sets you on a quest to take down these evil supes.
The game plays heavily into stealth, meaning you’ll have to sneak around and take down all the enemies – good thing you have a bunch of powers at your disposal. But this is actually one of the biggest detractors as those familiar with the show know that action and gore are part of the formula.
Who wants to crouch and wander around, hiding from guards the entire time. A game like this almost demands intense action and being forced to knock out guards and hide until the alarm dies down is quite annoying considering what could have been.
At least you’re treated to exploding heads and a violence whilst undertaking your covert missions.
Sneak up behind people and pop heads, toss items into people, and use other abilities you can pickup along the way to meet your inevitable goals. You’ll also get x-ray vision and teleportation.
All things take time to master, and things get more difficult as you progress, but luckily the enemies around you are complete morons – either that or they’re just so use to violence that a dead body with an exploded head is so commonplace, they don’t even flinch when they walk past it.
Mechanically speaking the game is straightforward but basic. You’ll perform the majority of your tasks with the triggers – sometimes adding in the grip buttons – thumbsticks move you around and the usual suspects.
Issues do arise when you’re trying to throw items with your telekinesis, as they don’t always go where you belong. In fact, simply trying to pickup an item could spell disaster if you easily get the wrong one. Items thrown will also sometimes disappear into the abyss, clipping through walls and when they should be taking out your enemies.
There are not a ton of items in the world with which you can interact – very similar to the recent MIB game – and unlike the aforementioned game where graphics work out well, these pull you out of the drab and dreary game, reminding you that you paid $40.99 to play.
Graphically the game is flailing, with the world around you flat and untextured, characters look like cheap animations that were made for a much older console – at some points it’s like they’re molded out of clay and plopped in front of you.
There were significant issues related to framerate – with numerous instances of things slowing down to the point where they stood still. A couple of times these framerate drops were so bad that the game could not recover and crashed.
Considering the popularity and size of the property, it’s a real shame that the game – which is supposed to be canon with the series – fails so hard as Season 5 is set to premiere.
Something like this should be a welcome addition to the overall universe, rather than a massive failing that ends with a collective “meh.”
Overall, The Boys: Trigger Warning is a surprising failure from Pixel Ripped developer ARVORE. Maybe we were just expecting too much, or the diversion from their successful series, was just too much to put on the developer.
The game flails a lot and doesn’t do too much right, creating something that even fans of the series will probably not enjoy unless they’re that hard up to hear a show’s actor speak to them.
Make no mistake, this game is absolutely made for people who have read the comic series or watched the show. It can be fun for those with a particular taste, though it is definitely a niche title that won’t attract too much attention – especially at this ridiculous launch price.
Maybe when it goes on a sale and has a few patches, the game will be alright, but your money is better spent on other things and not lining the pockets of whomever gets paid.
There’s a small chance that the PSVR2 version could have better graphics and less issues, but at this point who knows what to expect.
The Boys: Trigger Warning was reviewed on the Quest 3 after purchasing from the Quest store at full price.
