6v6 VR shooter FRENZIES launches today on Quest, and it's free in early access. Here's what we thought in our recent hands-on.
VR multiplayer games find themselves in a tough position. Creating compelling multiplayer games is challenging no matter the platform and while there are a few VR success stories like Walkabout Mini Golf, that sentiment largely remains true. Near Light (Fruity Shooty) is next up to the plate with a PvP shooter, and FRENZIES benefits from its colorful presentation and pricing strategy.
Before today's launch, I jumped into a 90-minute preview session on Quest 3 and played two matches. The neon-lit throne room you begin in makes an immediate first impression visually that reminds me of Fortnite. After choosing your avatar from a nice range of cosmetic options, select your weapons loadout and jump into a lobby from there.
FRENZIES splits into five short rounds across different game modes, and the winner is determined by whoever scored the most points between them. Your guns firing applause instead of bullets during the victory ceremony is a fun touch as the winner's giant avatar towers over everyone. The modes were pre-determined for this preview, and what's here feels like an unusual blend of round types that go from a standard deathmatch to something more unconventional.
Functionally, some modes don't feel terribly different from each other since most involve a considerable amount of killing. Options like your team owning all the control points across the map and a free-for-all deathmatch are all too familiar, but the more unusual choices are particularly fun. 'Pull Party' humorously only awards points if you dance on the enemy dance floor, while another involves frantically charging past the enemy to hit a button.
There's a chaotic charm that's appealing but not tremendously exciting, though I'm enjoying how FRENZIES leans into the gunplay previously seen across other nDreams titles, namely Fracked and Synapse. This creates some nice physicality with pull bars that make it easier to duck for cover or lean around corners without moving your entire body, and killing enemies while ziplining feels great.
You can't manually reload weapons beyond pushing a clip into the gun, whereas empty clips are dropped with a button press. That may disappoint those after a more hands-on manual approach, but the fast-paced gameplay means this is the better approach. Spending time fumbling around with your weapons when at least six other players are out to kill you wouldn't be ideal.
Dying doesn't respawn you directly into the match arena, and I'm not sure this is the right decision. Being sent back to a room in the lobby and running towards the portal is an extra step that keeps you out of the action longer, though the minimal loading times ease this. That said, the room method lets you change your loadout after dying in a way that doesn't rely on flat menus, so there are benefits to this approach.
With increasing multiplayer competition in an already niche market, the barriers are high for FRENZIES to succeed. Stylish visuals on Quest 3 help and there are some entertaining gameplay modes, though whether it'll maintain this interest long-term remains to be seen and the monetization strategy remains unknown. We'll bring you a more in-depth review soon, but for now, it's off to a good start.
FRENZIES arrives on October 10 in early access on the Meta Quest platform, and a PlayStation VR2 version will follow when the game enters full release.
