This is an Early Access Review and as such opinions and scores are based solely on the state of the game at the time of review and subject to change as development progresses leading up to final release.
Growing up in the arcades of the 80’s I was a big fan of games like Lunar Lander and Gravitar; two games that featured realistic physics when it came to gravity and inertia. In these side-scrolling games with rasterized terrain you had a fixed amount of fuel, and you had to pick your landing spot and navigate to a soft landing before you ran out of fuel – the more challenging the LZ the higher the score.
In FIRMA, you get that same level of realistic physics only this time you are piloting that landing craft from the inside and viewing the landscape in glorious virtual 3D. It’s very cool to see a functional base with vehicles driving around below and other landers flying around doing their own thing. Using the Xbox controller, piloting your TL-6 Transit Lander is intuitively easy using the sticks to control thrust and the B button to drop packages that you collect by landing on them. Once you have finished the 2-minute tutorial you will be ready to start your day’s work picking up and delivering packages around the base. There might even be a few non-delivery odd jobs waiting for you.
The game is divided into episodes and missions and each mission has six objectives that can range from simple deliveries to checkpoint races or even some search and destroy missions. FIRMA eases you into all of its nuanced gameplay by gradually increasing the challenge level. At first you simply deliver a package from A to B, but the next time you need to have that package inspected by dropping it off at security then picking it back up for final delivery. The color-coded dots on the radar mark fuel stations as well as your current mission objectives.
The checkpoint races are some of my favorite, as you are guided around the landscape by a twisted path of green fuel spheres, much like PAC-MAN dots, and fly through glowing checkpoint gates. The search and destroy missions are super-challenging, as your fuel is being consumed at an accelerated rate forcing you to seek out refueling pads along the way to your target. It can get really stressful when a large mountain stands between you and your next refueling station.
The VR interface is simple yet immersive with a minimal cockpit that shows your radar, and information screen, and a fuel and damage meter. At first you only take damage by bumping into things but later on some of the enemies will actually start to shoot back. The Oculus Rift is used to generate an immersive 360-degree viewing experience as well as precise forward targeting for your guns. The graphics are very clean, and I experienced no VR sickness, even in game sessions lasting longer than an hour. The audio presentation is outstanding with realistic sound effects, good music, and some great voice work for the com chatter.
Missions are scored and you are rewarded with up to three medals, and some missions like the races log your best time, which will certainly create a competitive factor for those who like to better their past performance. There is also talk of a multiplayer component coming in the final release. Hopefully this will be something more substantial than simple leaderboards for the missions. We’ll be sure to cover this once it’s added.
If you own an Oculus Rift you definitely need to check out FIRMA. Even in its early access state, there is a surprising amount of challenging content waiting for you in all the various missions. I’ve been playing off and on for over a week and still haven’t finished everything, but even as it stands now I can highly recommend checking this fun and addictive combat flier out. Where else can you play as a futuristic UPS driver whose delivery vehicle has side-mounted machine guns?
I have Firma on the Rift, highly recommended. I do get a little bit of sickness when i make extreme moves but everything looks sweet …love the music and the way it feels on the controls.