Tumble VR

A confession straight off the bat: we never played the original Tumble on PS3, so please forgive our ignorance as to the extent of content overlap between the titles. Supermassive Games has said that they have taken the original and "rebuilt it from the ground up for PlayStation VR," adding that they've "designed a load of new levels to make best use of the VR environment and have added some great new modes as well." If you've played the first game then you'll have to do some digging and decide whether the move to VR and the aforementioned new content is enough to warrant the double dip.

Tumble VR is, for the most part, digital Jenga, or at least variations around that theme. Instead of trying not to knock a tower of blocks down you're mostly trying to build them up (well, except for one mode where you use explosive charges), or link them together, or balance things on platforms, and so on and so forth. But like Jenga it involves blocks and patience, and a dash of skill.

It's a puzzle game at heart and it has you playing a range of different challenges, and there's a nice selection that'll keep you going for some time. From simply building a tower of blocks <insert height here> tall to more complicated challenges that have you balancing a number of shapes on a small platform or reflecting lasers through lenses, there's a really nice variety of activities and Supermassive keeps things moving along at a steady speed and never lets it get stale.

As you play you're treated to some lighthearted commentary from a Guilty Spark-lite floating robot who chatters to you as you play, letting slip the occasional put down and generally adding a bit of fun to the experience. The writing isn't at the same level as, say, Portal, and sometimes we found ourselves groaning a little, but it just about does the job.

The controls work quite well for the most part. You pick up blocks using the DualShock or the Move controllers, and then you can rotate them and drop them into position (we actually preferred the DS4, however). There's also, from time to time, a platform that you can also rotate for better access. It's a simple setup, but it works, although sometimes the play space can feel a little limiting as you're trying to place blocks exactly where you want them.

There's a lot of puzzles to complete, and they come in a variety of different flavours. Some have you stacking blocks of varying properties as high as possible, or playing limbo and packing them as tightly as you can while a bar passes above knocking over anything that sticks out too far. There's a decent selection, but you'll like some of them much more than others (for example, the ones that involve using mirrors to reflect lasers felt a little out of place and we didn't enjoy them too much). The threshold when moving between "zones" is actually quite low at first, and you get access to new content by earning medals for completing puzzles (bronze medals are easier to earn than gold ones, naturally).

There's even a multiplayer mode for those who want to play with their non-VR headset wearing friends. It's not the main feature here, but if you want to play with (actually, against) a buddy at least there's the option. Like some of the games in Playroom VR, it's good to see studios working on different ways of bringing non-headset wearing players into the mix so it isn't always just about the player sitting alone and isolated in their own virtual space.

Overall Tumble VR is a relaxing and enjoyable puzzle game. There's some challenging moments in there for sure, but you're welcome to skip them and come back to them later (or not at all) if you so wish. The VR component works really well for the most part, except for the tracking can be a little frustrating at times, not because it's game breaking, but because when the controller drifts out of the play space it flashes red and makes a jarring noise. But that's our only major gripe, and for the most part we had a nice time playing Supermassive's block-based physics puzzler.