PSVR games involving magic and becoming a wizard have been starting to appear more, especially in the last year. And one of the more popular wizard titles on Oculus Go, Rift, and other headsets is a game called Wands. I heard good reviews on other platforms and so when it was announced for the PSVR, I was excited to check it out! So, is Wands any good?
Wands is a PSVR wizard 1 versus 1 combat game. The game is both playable with AI and online players. You can look for random players or create a private room that only friends can join. When you start the game you are inside of the games main hub, which is where you’ll be able to change characters, check the leaderboard, mess with spells, and start matches. Matches are best when playing with online opponents, as the AI are extremely easy to kill.
The gameplay consists of using 4 different spells to defeat your opponent. Each round is a player versus player game with a time limit, and the only way to win is to kill the opponent once. You wield a wand, with four different changeable spells. There are over 24 spells in the game to unlock and creating a good load out is fun and keeps the game interesting. You can also create multiple load outs if you get to a higher level. You level up by playing matches, and for leveling up you also receive tokens to purchase new spells.
Once you start a match you are put into one of many beautiful and unique maps, and you’ll have to teleport to move around the map. I know that might sound terrible, but hear me out. There is no free movement at all, and the teleportation is only to specific points, which honestly made the game more strategic for me. I was forced to think about what the best place to move to was, and I couldn’t just spam teleportation because it uses mana. You have both a health bar and a mana bar in the game. The mana bar is drained by teleportation and each of the spells you use, but each drain a specific amount. The health bar acts as you would expect, it’s drained by attacks, and once it hits zero the game ends. But there are health power ups that randomly spawn around the map, which take a few seconds to pick up.
The game supports both the Dualshock 4 and the move controllers. The move controllers are more immersive, but the Dualshock 4 is best for being competitive. One issue some people will have is that in the settings you cannot change the click turning to smooth turning, so if click turning bothers you, stay away from this game for now.
So Overall, I enjoyed Wands! It’s certainly not amazing, but I thought all the mechanics worked well and brings a gameplay experience that is strategical and fun to play. The game is at it’s best when playing with a friend though, so I wouldn’t pick this up unless you have someone to play it with or don’t mind playing with random players. If you’re into 1 versus 1 multiplayer games, this is a fun time. Otherwise you might want to wait for a sale or skip it.
