Crossfire: Sierra Squad
| Crossfire: Sierra Squad | |
|---|---|
| Information | |
| VR/AR | Virtual Reality |
| Developer | Smilegate Entertainment |
| Publisher | Smilegate Entertainment |
| Platform | PlayStation VR2, SteamVR / Oculus PC |
| Device | PlayStation VR2, Valve Index, Oculus Rift S, Oculus Rift, Meta Quest Pro, Meta Quest 2, Meta Quest, HTC Vive Pro, HTC Vive, Windows Mixed Reality, Pico 4 |
| Operating System | Windows, PlayStation 5 |
| Type | Game |
| Genre | First-person shooter, Arcade |
| Input Device | Tracked motion controllers, PlayStation VR2 Sense controllers |
| Play Area | Standing, Room-scale, seated |
| Game Mode | Single-player, Online co-op (up to 4 players) |
| Language | English, French, Italian, German, Spanish, Japanese, Korean, Russian, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Portuguese (Brazil) |
| Release Date | August 29, 2023 (PSVR2 and Steam Early Access); November 1, 2023 (Steam full release) |
| Price | US $29.99 |
| App Store | Steam, PlayStation Store |
| Website | https://www.playcfss.com |
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Crossfire: Sierra Squad is a virtual reality first-person shooter developed and published by South Korean studio Smilegate Entertainment. It is the first VR entry in Smilegate's Crossfire franchise, a tactical FPS series that launched on Microsoft Windows in 2007 and became one of the most-played online shooters in Asia.[1] The game released for PlayStation VR2 and PC VR through Steam on August 29, 2023, with the Steam version launching into Early Access before a full release on November 1, 2023.[2][3]
Sierra Squad is an arcade-style shooter built around short, combat-focused missions rather than the search-and-destroy multiplayer of the original Crossfire. It supports a single-player story campaign, two-player cooperative squad missions, and a four-player horde mode.[4][5] The game holds a Metacritic score of 71 from critics.[6]
Gameplay
Crossfire: Sierra Squad is played from a first-person perspective using two tracked motion controllers, one for each hand. Players reload, switch, and fire weapons with physical hand movements, and the game emphasizes fast firefights with short mission lengths.[7] The arsenal contains 39 weapon types including pistols, assault rifles, sniper rifles, submachine guns, shotguns, grenades, and heavier ordnance such as the RPG-7 and a Gatling gun.[4][5] Players face 17 enemy types driven by the game's combat AI.[5][2]
The setting is the Crossfire universe's conflict between the rival paramilitary factions Black List and Global Risk, who in this story go to war over a newly discovered bioweapon.[8] Missions run between roughly 15 and 30 minutes each.[7]
The game is organized into three main modes. The Story Campaign is a single-player series of scripted missions; Squad Missions are mission sets playable solo or in two-player co-op; and Horde Mode pits up to four players against waves of enemies.[4] Smilegate's press materials describe 13 campaign missions and 50 squad missions, while several outlets reported a combined total of more than 60 missions.[5][8] Completing the campaign unlocks a Realism Mode that disables player-assist features such as the heads-up display, the bullet counter, and enemy location markers.[4][7]
On PlayStation VR2 the game uses the headset's hardware features, including 4K HDR rendering, eye tracking, and adaptive-trigger and haptic feedback through the PlayStation VR2 Sense controllers.[5] Eye tracking on PSVR2 is used for foveated rendering and aiming feedback.
Development
Smilegate Entertainment is the South Korean company behind the Crossfire intellectual property, which it launched as an online tactical shooter in 2007.[1] Sierra Squad is the company's first attempt to bring the Crossfire IP into VR, and it was produced by Smilegate's dedicated VR studio, whose earlier titles included Rogan: The Thief in the Castle and Focus on You.[5][2]
The game was announced on November 2, 2022 as part of the launch lineup reveal for PlayStation VR2, though it did not ship as a launch title.[2] Smilegate publicly demonstrated the game at the Game Developers Conference in March 2023 and at a PlayStation pop-up store in Busan in June 2023.[5] The studio dated the game for summer 2023 in May, narrowed it to August in June, and confirmed August 29, 2023 in late July.[2]
Release
Crossfire: Sierra Squad launched for PlayStation VR2 and for PC VR on Steam on August 29, 2023, priced at US $29.99.[2][5] The Steam version began in Early Access and reached its full 1.0 release on November 1, 2023.[3][9] On PC the game supports a range of headsets through SteamVR and Oculus PC, while the PlayStation version runs on PS5 with PSVR2; there is no standalone build, so PC headsets including the Meta Quest line require a tethered or wireless link to a PC.[4]
| Platform | Device(s) | Release date |
|---|---|---|
| PlayStation 5 | PlayStation VR2 | August 29, 2023 |
| Windows (Steam) | Valve Index, Oculus Rift S, Oculus Rift, Meta Quest Pro, Meta Quest 2, Meta Quest, HTC Vive Pro, HTC Vive, Windows Mixed Reality, Pico 4 | August 29, 2023 (Early Access); November 1, 2023 (full release) |
The game is available in English, French, Italian, German, Spanish (with separate Spain and Latin America localizations), Japanese, Korean, Russian, Simplified and Traditional Chinese, and Brazilian Portuguese.[9]
Reception
Crossfire: Sierra Squad holds a Metacritic score of 71 out of 100 based on 7 critic reviews, which Metacritic categorizes as "mixed or average".[6] Individual scores collected there include 79 from GAMES.CH, 75 from Gaming Nexus, Digital Chumps, and PlayStation Universe, 70 from COGconnected, and 60 from Video Chums and Hey Poor Player.[6]
In its 7.5-out-of-10 PlayStation VR2 review, PlayStation Universe praised the weapon handling, particularly two-handed sniping, and the large amount of content and replay value, while criticizing the generic story, voice acting, and visuals.[7] UploadVR's preview coverage framed the game as an arcade FPS in the tradition of earlier wave-shooter VR titles, focused on intense firefights and short play sessions.[8]
The game was named a Grand Winner in the Sony PlayStation Game (VR/AR) category at the 2023 NYX Game Awards.[10]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Crossfire (series)". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crossfire_(series).
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 "CROSSFIRE: Sierra Squad". https://www.gematsu.com/games/crossfire-sierra-squad.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 "Crossfire: Sierra Squad Now a Full Release!". 2023-11-01. https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1636030/view/3792653975031163051.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 "Sierra Squad FAQ". https://www.playcfss.com/en/faq.html.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 5.6 5.7 "Smilegate Unveils Information on Launch of New VR Title 'Crossfire: Sierra Squad'". 2023-08-03. https://newsroom.smilegate.com/en/eng/1691036869.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 "Crossfire: Sierra Squad Reviews". https://www.metacritic.com/game/crossfire-sierra-squad/.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 "Crossfire: Sierra Squad Review (PSVR 2)". https://www.psu.com/reviews/crossfire-sierra-squad-review-psvr-2/.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 "Crossfire: Sierra Squad Offers An Intense Arcade Shooter On PSVR 2 Next Year". https://www.uploadvr.com/crossfire-sierra-squad-psvr-2/.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 "Crossfire: Sierra Squad (app 1636030)". https://steamspy.com/app/1636030.
- ↑ "Crossfire: Sierra Squad - 2023 NYX Game Awards". https://nyxgameawards.com/winner-info.php?id=2492.