C-SMASH VRS preview: “It could be a true must-play PS VR2 title”

Cosmic Smash is a name familiar to an admittedly small group of people. It was a futuristic sports puzzler that combined both Squash and the classic game Breakout. Released initially as an arcade cabinet in Japan and the EU (with a Dreamcast version released exclusively in Japan), but it never made it over to the US.

Twenty-two years later though, a crack team of all-star developers Wolf & Wood and publisher RapidEyeMovers have brought what has now become a cult classic into the modern day.

With an art style most reminiscent of 2016’s SUPERHOT, the original game saw you travel through a subway system completing rapid-fire puzzles in which you must hit a ball at specific targets in a squash court. C-SMASH VRS is essentially the exact same premise, but the game has now been thrust into a modern VR setting.

For more, check out our rundown of the best VR games.

A new perspective

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The game switches to a first-person camera and puts you in complete control of the racket. Moving the action from the subway to a space station, this new art direction is incredibly stylish while still paying homage to the original. Levels in the game come quick and fast, and see you trying to take down one of five types of blocks that come in a multitude of shapes and sizes.

Some blocks grant power-ups, some split into new blocks and some you can just send your ball straight through. To make things difficult, you'll have walls to swing around or specific targets to avoid. But, thanks to a well-designed UI system, this all comes across very clearly without having to read tonnes of tutorials on what each block does.

Gaining momentum and keeping up a rally takes some getting used to and, at times, can be a little frustrating, especially when the ball goes a little higher than you think you probably could've reached. For the most part, though, a mistake is quickly overlooked, and you get back in action almost instantly with another serve.

40 love

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Speaking of serving, C-Smash VRS does something a little different than a typical tennis-like game and puts the ball in the middle of the court. Done to avoid the clunkiness of throwing an imaginary ball, it instead floats in the middle, and you must drag it towards you to kick things off. Part of me wishes I could do exactly the opposite of what the developers want and throw said imaginary ball, but I dread to think how many times I'd end up missing that initial serve.

Like breakout and pong before it, you can also move left to right to cover up your wall. This can either be done in the real world (provided you have a space large enough) or using the Sense controller's stick. With the game essentially only taking place in a straight line, left or right movement feels surprisingly smooth.

Like any VR title with forced movement, it can disorient you fast, but thanks to the PS VR2's complete facial coverage, losing yourself in the world is a lot easier. Plus, if you completely lose track of your space, PS VR2’s new passthrough function is a great way to reorient yourself.

You can experience the game Solo, in Co-Op and, of course, just like the title suggests, in Versus. While I didn't get to check out the Co-Op mode, the Versus mode is very addicting. It takes away the puzzle aspects and boils it down to a sort of target-based game of squash.

Each player has a wall of blocks in different shapes that you have to hit to remove. Each time you remove a set, a new variation of blocks appear, normally adding more smaller targets. After a set timer ends, a winner is decided based on how many of your opponent's blocks have been destroyed.

While this mode is much simpler than the single-player, it still retains that same addictive gameplay. With a good opponent, you can build up rallies fast, and it starts to wear you out, just like a real game of squash would.

Smashing sound

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One thing worth highlighting is the soundtrack, which sounds like it's been ripped straight from the 2000s in the best way possible. It offers a retro-techno feel that you'd expect to hear in a dingy underground German nightclub and one that feels right at home in this retro-futuristic world.

This should come as no surprise, though, as it’s crammed full of original tracks from Danalogue and DJ Ken Ishii, the latter of which made some of the best tracks on Rez Infinite.

Despite being based on a game that’s 22 years old, C-Smash VRS feels incredibly fresh. We were fortunate enough also to be able to check out the original game on an arcade machine, and to see how far it’s come now is a sight to behold. If the entire experience is just as addictive as the snippets we played, there is potential for this to be another exciting Rez-like experience and it could be a true must-play PS VR2 title. 

If you want to check out C-Smash VRS for yourself, the good news is that you can get your hands on a PS VR2 demo for the game on March 23!