Pavlov is a fast-paced first person shooter (FPS) VR game that has been highly regarded as one of the best PC VR games for the last two and a half years. Although this game is in early access, it finally feels like a product that is nearly finished and ready to be played by the masses outside of early access. We don’t expect any major engine changes to this game anytime soon, but it can still be improved greatly. This is what we think.
When you first get into the game, you have an unguided tutorial. This is a fun place to learn how the weapons work, learn to use your controllers, know the locomotion system, and most importantly, find the menu. You are given every weapon in the game to practice with, unlimited clips, and even a fun wristwatch to keep you company in your lonesome virtual world. You are going to want to spend some time in this dojo before you get started on anything else like a team death match, but if you’re familiar then you can go ahead and get started.
The best features of this game shine a bright light, but the problems of this early access version of Pavlov are glaring. Below we are going to list the positives and the negatives, and then dissect them.
Positives
- Dedicated Servers
- Competitive Search And Destroy game mode
- Casual fast-paced game modes
- Bots
- Matchmaking
- Offline/Practice mode
- Voice Chat
Negatives
- Not optimized for Valve controllers
- Hard to move around freely with questionable locomotion
- Guns beed instructions for more complicated weaponry
- Unbalanced loot and levels
There is plenty more to like about this game than dislike, but it is in early access for a reason. One thing we touched on in the negatives is the unbalanced levels and unbalanced weapons. The developer took to Steam to explain this, how they will fix it, and a new game mode when asked why it was still in early access. “Mainly to gather the funds that i need to finish the game and to gather feedback to property balance the game, being a multiplayer only experience it could easily be ruined by unbalanced maps and weapons. Siege mode will be developed during early access with the help of the community.”
Early Access?
This game has plenty of different bots, game modes, and guns as it stands right now. Although there is only map to play right now, the developers are looking to change this. If you are wondering if this game is going to rise in price after early access, this is another statement from the developers answering that question on Steam. “It’s important to note that i will favor (not-pay-to-win) micro transactions over increasing the price, even going free to play if player-base is small (with proper rewards for people who bought it initially)”
It is impressive that instead of increasing the price, they are opting to explore the idea of going free-to-play. If you are familiar with Fortinte, you know how successful that game has been. Epic Games have made the blueprint for succeeding in these games. Make something so good that everyone wants to play, make it so affordable that it is inclusive to everyone, and put out buyable options in the game that are exclusive and fun to use.
Overall, this game is worth playing although it is in early access. If you are susceptible to motion sickness, you need to be cautious as the game is very choppy when looking side to side and moving front to back. Expect this game to be much improved in the future, but for now it is very fun to play.
