Pistol Whip
| Pistol Whip | |
|---|---|
| Information | |
| VR/AR | Virtual Reality |
| Developer | Cloudhead Games |
| Publisher | Cloudhead Games |
| Platform | SteamVR, Meta Quest, PlayStation VR, PlayStation VR2, Pico |
| Device | Meta Quest 3, Meta Quest 2, Oculus Quest, Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, Valve Index, Windows Mixed Reality, PlayStation VR, PlayStation VR2 |
| Operating System | Windows, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5 |
| Type | Game |
| Genre | Rhythm, Shooter, On-rails shooter, Fitness |
| Input Device | Tracked motion controllers |
| Play Area | Standing, Room-scale |
| Game Mode | Single-player, local multiplayer (Party Mode), online leaderboards |
| Release Date | Quest / Rift / SteamVR: November 7, 2019; PlayStation VR: July 30, 2020; PlayStation VR2: February 22, 2023 |
| Price | US$29.99 |
| App Store | Steam, Meta Quest Store, PlayStation Store, Pico Store, Humble Store |
| Website | https://www.cloudheadgames.com/pistol-whip |
Pistol Whip is a virtual reality rhythm shooter developed and published by Cloudhead Games. Players move automatically through stages set to music, shooting enemies and dodging incoming fire in time with the beat. Cloudhead describes it as a "physical action-rhythm game where film-inspired gunplay and blood-pumping beats collide."[1] The game draws on the cinematic gunplay of action films and combines it with the music-driven scoring popularized by VR rhythm titles.[2]
The game first released on November 7, 2019 for Oculus Quest, Oculus Rift, and SteamVR headsets, followed by PlayStation VR in July 2020 and an enhanced PlayStation VR2 version in February 2023.[2][3][4] It won Immersive Reality Game of the Year at the 2020 D.I.C.E. Awards and was named Road to VR's SteamVR Game of the Year for 2019.[5][3]
Gameplay
Pistol Whip is played from a first-person perspective. The player is pulled forward through each stage on a fixed path while enemies appear in the environment, and the goal is to shoot them in time with the music.[2] An auto-aim assist reduces the precision required, which Cloudhead designed so players can focus on movement and timing rather than fine aiming.[6] Each stage, called a Scene, is set to its own track, and hitting enemies on the beat raises the score.[1]
Alongside shooting, players physically duck and lean to avoid enemy fire, since incoming shots are dodged with real body movement rather than a button press.[2] When an enemy gets close the player can strike it with a melee "pistol whip," which also restores health, and weapons are reloaded by aiming downward or by a melee motion.[6] Because the experience uses no artificial locomotion, it is often used for fitness, and Cloudhead added fitness tracking to the game.[1]
Difficulty levels carry separate leaderboards, and optional modifiers change the rules, for example enabling dual-wielding or limiting ammunition, with score multipliers tied to the modifiers chosen.[6] The later Styles system collected these modifiers and accessibility options into customizable loadouts.[1] A local multiplayer Party Mode lets players take turns competing on the same headset.[1] The game runs on the Unity engine.[6]
Development
Cloudhead Games began work on Pistol Whip in 2018, after earlier commercial results from the studio's previous projects had underperformed.[6] The team set out to make a title that was accessible, easy to share and stream, visually striking for content creators, highly replayable, and suited to ongoing post-launch updates aimed at the Oculus Quest audience.[6] At launch the game shipped with ten tracks licensed from the label Kannibalen Records, with Cloudhead promising regular music and level additions.[2]
After release, Cloudhead supported the game with free content. The 2089 expansion, released in December 2020, added a Cinematic Campaign Mode built around a five-chapter science-fiction story, new enemy types including robots, new weapons, and revised mechanics, with music from synthwave artists Magic Sword and Processor.[7] A second campaign, Smoke & Thunder, arrived on August 12, 2021 for Quest, PlayStation VR, and PC VR. It told the story of two sisters, Jessie and Tess, in an Old West setting across five new stages with new tracks, weapons, mechanics, enemies, and a boss fight, and it shipped alongside the new Styles system.[8][9] Smoke & Thunder added songs from The Heavy, Black Pistol Fire, Bones UK, Devora, and Magic Sword.[9]
For the PlayStation VR2 version, Cloudhead rebuilt the game's feedback around the platform's hardware. The release uses the Sense controllers' adaptive triggers to add progressive resistance that drops to zero at the moment a weapon fires, finger touch detection and six-axis motion for the firing experience, controller and headset haptics tied to reloads, melee hits, and impacts, and 3D audio that positions sounds such as bullets passing near the player. It also added 4K HDR visuals and used the console's SSD to shorten scene transitions.[4][10]
Release
| Platform | Release date | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Oculus Quest, Oculus Rift, SteamVR | November 7, 2019 | Initial release; cross-buy between the Oculus Quest and Rift versions[2] |
| PlayStation VR (PS4) | July 30, 2020 | Slightly delayed from a planned July 28 date[3] |
| Pico | Released on Pico headsets via the Pico Store[1] | |
| PlayStation VR2 (PS5) | February 22, 2023 | Enhanced version; free upgrade for existing PlayStation VR owners[4][11] |
On Steam the game is sold for US$29.99.[10] The PlayStation VR version launched at US$25.[3] The PlayStation VR2 release is a free upgrade for players who already owned the PlayStation VR version.[11]
Reception
Pistol Whip received generally favorable reviews. On Metacritic it holds a score of 83 from 12 critics on PC, 88 from 12 critics on PlayStation 4, and 90 from 5 critics on the PlayStation 5 (PlayStation VR2) version.[12] Road to VR scored the original 8 out of 10 and named it the site's SteamVR Game of the Year for 2019.[3] Push Square rated the PlayStation VR2 version 9 out of 10, calling its combination of rail shooter and rhythm mechanics a strong launch title for the headset.[10]
At the 23rd Annual D.I.C.E. Awards in February 2020, Pistol Whip won Immersive Reality Game of the Year, an award presented by the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences, beating nominees that included Asgard's Wrath and Blood & Truth.[5]
Commercially, the game was among the better-selling titles on the original Oculus Quest. By late 2020 it was one of a small number of apps to have generated more than US$3 million in revenue on the original Quest alone, and Cloudhead reported that its sales increased roughly tenfold following the launch of the Quest 2 in October 2020.[13]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 "Pistol Whip". https://www.cloudheadgames.com/pistol-whip.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 "Pistol Whip Launches In November On Quest, Rift, and SteamVR". 2019-10-28. https://www.uploadvr.com/pistol-whip-november-quest-pc/.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 "Super Stylish Rhythm-shooter 'Pistol Whip' Finally Arrives on PSVR". 2020-07-23. https://www.roadtovr.com/pistol-whip-psvr-launch-date/.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 "A look at Pistol Whip's PlayStation VR2 haptics upgrade, out Feb 22". 2023-02-03. https://blog.playstation.com/2023/02/03/a-look-at-pistol-whips-playstation-vr2-haptics-upgrade-out-feb-22/.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 "Pistol Whip, Blood & Truth Win At 2020 DICE Awards In Immersive Reality Categories". 2020-02-14. https://www.uploadvr.com/pistol-whip-blood-truth-dice-awards/.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 "Pistol Whip". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pistol_Whip.
- ↑ "Pistol Whip 2089 Will Add Cinematic Campaign Mode". 2020-09-24. https://www.uploadvr.com/pistol-whip-2089/.
- ↑ "Pistol Whip Smoke & Thunder Marks New Era For Cloudhead Games". 2021-08-05. https://www.uploadvr.com/pistol-whip-smoke-thunder-release/.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 "Pistol Whip goes full Red Dead in free "Smoke and Thunder" DLC for Oculus Quest". 2021-08-05. https://www.androidcentral.com/pistol-whip-goes-wild-west-free-smoke-and-thunder-dlc-oculus-quest.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 "Pistol Whip (PSVR2) Review - Still One of the Best VR Games You Can Play". 2023-02-22. https://www.pushsquare.com/reviews/psvr2/pistol-whip.
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 "PlayStation VR2 offers cross-buy and free PSVR1 upgrades". 2023-02-10. https://mixed-news.com/en/playstation-vr-2-offers-cross-buy-and-free-psvr1-upgrades/.
- ↑ "Pistol Whip". https://www.metacritic.com/game/pistol-whip/.
- ↑ "Pistol Whip, Apex Construct, Waltz, More Report Huge Quest 2 Launch Sales Increase". 2020-10-20. https://www.uploadvr.com/quest-2-launch-sales-increase/.