Zombies and VR seem to go together if the Oculus Store is anything to go by. There are small budget and big blockbuster zombie games on Quest and Rift, but Arizona Sunshine is arguably the biggest.
Placing you in the middle of nowhere in a post-apocalyptic Arizona desert, it’s your daily routine to fight off hordes of undead until a radio signal convinces you to go and look for other survivors and a potential safe house. Of course, getting there is the real battle and this game isn’t shy of sending large numbers of shambling zombies after you while you hunt for weapons and ammo to keep them at bay.
The original Arizona Sunshine appeared on VR systems 3 years ago and has since benefited from upgrades, bug fixes and new modes. While the Quest doesn’t have everything from the Rift version (and is, sadly, not cross-buy) it does come with Horde Mode which has recently been updated with new content added and really improves the longevity of the game.
The story is fairly short but full of humour and plenty of zombie killing. There’s a nice set of character designs for the zombies, too. Occasionally, you’ll need to find various objects and double back a little but for the most part this a corridor shooter that just happens to be set in a large space and it does a good job of making it feel like quite a big area while still funnelling you into a set path. This does, of course, mean that sooner or later you’ll finish the story, but different difficulty modes, multiplayer co-op and the excellent Horde Mode help to keep the action going once you do.
The Quest’s graphical grunt isn’t exactly on par with a full gaming PC but
Vertigo Games and Jaywalkers have pretty much built this version up from scratch to take advantage of what is there, including the 360 free movement that the Oculus Quest provides and the results are pretty impressive. The original wasn’t exactly the best VR game, graphically and this version is never going to look as pretty as the Rift version with so much going on in the large play area but it does a damn good job of trying, all the same.
Tracking of your shots is accurate and reloading provides an interesting approach where you need to place your weapon on your belt to reload, which does feel a little odd. Comfort is ok for a fast moving game with lots of scenery and a large, moving horizon, though you need to make sure you’ve got the movement set to teleporting rather than walking if you get VR sickness. I found that this mode is the most comfortable and wasn’t too bad. Walking normally is impressive but you do need to be able to cope with motion in VR to use it.
Arizona Sunshine is a solid zombie shooter for Quest that provides a lot of fun and is pretty polished. It stumbles a little in running time for the main story but makes up for this with the excellent Horde mode.
Arizona Sunshine (Quest)
£29.99
Pros
- Large game area
- Solid shooting mechanic
- Horde mode adds longevity
- Good use of humour
Cons
- Main story is a little short
- Not as good looking as other Quest games
