StarBlood Arena
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| StarBlood Arena | |
|---|---|
| Information | |
| VR/AR | Virtual Reality |
| Developer | WhiteMoon Dreams, SIE San Diego Studio |
| Publisher | Sony Interactive Entertainment |
| Platform | PlayStation VR |
| Device | PlayStation VR |
| Operating System | PlayStation 4 |
| Type | Game |
| Genre | Shooter, Action |
| Input Device | DualShock 4 |
| Game Mode | Single-player, Multiplayer, Co-op |
| Release Date | April 11, 2017 |
| Price | US$39.99 (launch) |
| App Store | PlayStation Store |
StarBlood Arena is a virtual reality arena shooter developed by WhiteMoon Dreams with Sony's San Diego Studio and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment exclusively for the PlayStation VR headset on PlayStation 4.[1][2] Players pilot one of nine armed battle pods with full 360-degree movement through enclosed arenas, in competitive and cooperative matches for two to eight players.[1][3] It was announced at PlayStation Experience in December 2016 and released in North America on 11 April 2017.[1][4]
The game needed an online connection to play. Sony shut down its servers on 25 July 2019, which ended all play because the game had no offline mode.[5] The game holds a "mixed or average" Metascore of 68 on Metacritic, based on 23 critic reviews.[2]
Gameplay
StarBlood Arena is a first-person shooter played from the cockpit of a small combat ship that can move in any direction, a design UploadVR described as a six degrees of freedom (6DOF) shooter.[6] The fiction presents the matches as tournaments run across the galaxy by the StarBlood Network and broadcast to viewers.[1][3] Winning unlocks ship modifications and cosmetic customization, and players climb online leaderboards.[1] TheSixthAxis reported that players earn an in-game currency called BloodBux to buy customizations.[7]
Controls
Weapons are aimed by looking: the game uses the PlayStation VR head tracking so that the player's gaze places the reticle.[8] The ship is flown with the DualShock 4 controller. In a PlayStation Blog post with tips from designer David Lee, R3 boosts the ship, Triangle switches between primary and secondary guns, Square fires the heavy weapon, the left trigger fires missiles, X drops mines and the touch pad opens the scoreboard; holding the Options button for a couple of seconds re-centers the view if the headset drifts.[9] The game required the PlayStation Camera.[3]
Pilots and ships
There are nine ships, each with its own pilot, play style and loadout.[3] According to WhiteMoon Dreams, every ship has two gun systems with alternate fire modes, a heavy weapon that charges from damage dealt and taken, shields, rocket engines with an afterburner, lock-on missiles, proximity mines and earnable mods.[10] Missiles lock on after the reticle stays on a target for about two seconds; the sniper Dregg needs about four.[9]
| Pilot | Ship | Role and abilities |
|---|---|---|
| Elsa | Mandible | Balanced soldier; her primary gun builds heat that can be released through the Thermic Lance alternate fire; Hyper Cannon heavy weapon, Stasis Mines and Slow Fields[10] |
| Blade | Raptor | Assassin; Wing Blades for quick dashes, a "Black Death" damage cloud as heavy weapon and Swarm Missiles[10] |
| Dregg | Deadeye | Sniper; "Ghost Gun" heavy weapon that shoots through walls and a Singularity Missile[10] |
| Buck | Close-range fighter without missiles; both triggers open two rail guns for a limited time, and a forward shield strengthens as he deals damage[9] | |
| Alice | Missile and long-range specialist; the only playable pilot in the demo, in which she uses a grenade launcher[9][8] | |
| Gundo | Cyborg pilot described by UploadVR as "great at any range"[6] |
Modes
Sony's overview at announcement listed four online modes: Carnage (free-for-all), Team Carnage (team deathmatch), Gridiron (a team goal-scoring mode) and Invaders, a four-player cooperative mode of endless waves.[1] In the cooperative mode, UploadVR wrote, the player and up to three friends defend three bases against increasingly difficult waves of enemies.[11] A single-player mode, Burn Circuit, is a series of matches against AI bots for each pilot; PlayStation LifeStyle counted ten matches per character, with golden skins as rewards.[12] A Skirmish mode allows customized matches against selected bots at an adjustable difficulty.[9] Competitive matches hold up to eight players, and PlayStation Plus was required for online multiplayer.[12][3]
Development
WhiteMoon Dreams co-founder and chief executive Jay Koottarappallil wrote that StarBlood Arena "began as an experiment" at the studio. The team built a prototype, and Sony then encouraged it to grow the project from a small shooting experience into a full game. He described the release as "the culmination of years of R&D" and said more than one hundred people had contributed to it.[4] The studio worked with Sony's San Diego Studio as its partner.[8] According to TheSixthAxis, the heads-up display was changed after the December 2016 reveal to show more information.[7]
Before StarBlood Arena, WhiteMoon Dreams had run a Kickstarter campaign for Warmachine: Tactics (2014), which raised more than US$1.5 million.[5]
Release
The game was revealed at PlayStation Experience 2016 on 3 December 2016 with a spring 2017 window.[1] In February 2017 UploadVR reported release dates of 11 April in the US and 12 April in Europe, with exclusive skins as a pre-order bonus.[6] WhiteMoon Dreams announced on 31 March 2017 that the game had gone gold.[10]
| Region | Release date | Price | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| North America | 11 April 2017 | US$39.99 | PlayStation VR exclusive[4][13] |
| Europe | 12 April 2017 (announced) | GBP 34.99 (UK pre-order) | Date as reported by UploadVR and TheSixthAxis[6][7] |
| Japan | 29 June 2017 | 5,292 yen including tax (download) | Package edition 4,900 yen plus tax; rated CERO A[14] |
A free demo arrived on the PlayStation Store in August 2017. Alice was its only playable pilot, but players could view the statistics and animations of all nine.[8] The game was later a PlayStation Plus bonus title for PlayStation VR owners, available from 2 January 2018.[15] Road to VR reported that the free period for PlayStation Plus members ran from 2 January to 6 March 2018 and that a free demo was also on Sony's VR demo disc.[16]
Server shutdown
In January 2019 the official product page stated that online features would end on 25 July 2019 and that the game would not be playable after the servers closed.[17] According to UploadVR, which quoted a post by Koottarappallil, Sony made the decision and informed the studio by phone, and WhiteMoon was given no chance to save the game, with no option to run the servers itself or release new content. Koottarappallil also wrote that the game had launched in April 2017 "with zero marketing and PR support". His post opened with "People, we loved this game so deeply", and UploadVR reported that WhiteMoon itself was not facing closure.[18] Road to VR reported that WhiteMoon Dreams had proposed an offline mode with bots, which Sony rejected. The studio held a last weekly "Wednesday Night Wars" community event before the servers went down on 25 July 2019.[5][19]
Reception
On Metacritic, StarBlood Arena has a Metascore of 68 ("mixed or average") from 23 critic reviews.[2] OpenCritic lists a Top Critic Average of 68 from 16 critic reviews, with 25% of critics recommending it.[20]
| Publication | Score | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Metacritic (aggregate) | 68/100 | 23 critic reviews[2] |
| OpenCritic (aggregate) | 68 | Top Critic Average, 16 critic reviews[20] |
| PlayStation LifeStyle | 9/10 | Reviewed by Chandler Wood[12] |
| TheSixthAxis | 7/10 | Reviewed by Jim Hargreaves[21] |
| Metro GameCentral | 7/10 | Score as listed by OpenCritic[20] |
| Push Square | 6/10 | Reviewed by Sammy Barker[22] |
| PlayStation Universe | 6/10 | Score as listed by OpenCritic[20] |
| Destructoid | 5.5/10 | Score as listed by OpenCritic[20] |
Chandler Wood of PlayStation LifeStyle praised its "tight and addictive combat" and called it "one of the most comfortable VR games I have ever played" despite its 360-degree movement. His complaints were that loot-container items did not explain what they were for and that the customization menus were long to scroll through.[12] Jim Hargreaves of TheSixthAxis called it "easily the most fun I've had while strapped into a virtual reality headset" and found "a surprising amount of depth and nuance" in its pilots, but wrote that "servers are pretty much dead" at the time of the review and called the game overpriced, with single-player options limited to bot matches.[21]
Sammy Barker of Push Square found it a "moderately entertaining" shooter with fast combat that was not sickening, a useful heads-up display and a fun four-player co-op mode. He argued that PlayStation VR's small audience meant it would not have the community the format needed, and noted barren servers and a game that returned players to the start screen after each multiplayer match.[22] UploadVR's Jamie Feltham called it "a rock solid shooter" but wrote that "what's really holding Starblood back is its server issues", that it was "a little too niche to become the definitive multiplayer PSVR game", and that players seeking a single-player VR shooter "will come away disappointed".[11]
See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 Tomas Franzese (2016-12-03). "PlayStation VR Exclusive Starblood Arena Revealed at PlayStation Experience". DualShockers. https://www.dualshockers.com/playstation-vr-game-starblood-arena-revealed-playstation-experience/. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 "StarBlood Arena". Metacritic. https://www.metacritic.com/game/starblood-arena/. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 "StarBlood Arena". PlayStation Store. Sony Interactive Entertainment. https://store.playstation.com/en-us/concept/227196. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Jay Koottarappallil (2017-04-11). "Put on an Explosive Show in StarBlood Arena, Out Today on PS VR". PlayStation Blog. Sony Interactive Entertainment. https://blog.playstation.com/2017/04/11/put-on-an-explosive-show-in-starblood-arena-out-today-on-ps-vr/. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Scott Hayden (2019-07-24). "PSVR Shooter 'StarBlood Arena' Goes Dark Forever Starting July 25th". Road to VR. https://roadtovr.com/sony-starblood-arena-psvr-shutdown/. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 Jamie Feltham (2017-02-15). "PSVR's Starblood Arena Looks Like A Mix Of Overwatch And Descent, Arrives Soon". UploadVR. https://uploadvr.com/starblood-arena-release-date/. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Aran Suddi (2017-02-15). "StarBlood Arena's Release Date Set As April 12th". TheSixthAxis. https://www.thesixthaxis.com/2017/02/15/starblood-arenas-release-date-set-as-april-12th/. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 Matt Spencer (2017-08-14). "Test out your space combat skills in Starblood Arena PS VR demo, out tomorrow". PlayStation Blog. Sony Interactive Entertainment. https://blog.playstation.com/archive/2017/08/14/test-out-your-space-combat-skills-in-starblood-arena-ps-vr-demo-out-today/. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 9.4 Gillen McAllister (2017-04-21). "Master PS VR shooter StarBlood Arena with these expert tips and tricks". PlayStation Blog. Sony Interactive Entertainment. https://blog.playstation.com/archive/2017/04/21/master-ps-vr-shooter-starblood-arena-with-these-expert-tips-and-tricks. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 10.4 Jay Koottarappallil (2017-03-31). "StarBlood Arena Has Gone Gold! Meet Elsa, Blade & Dregg". PlayStation Blog. Sony Interactive Entertainment. https://blog.playstation.com/?p=190003. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 Jamie Feltham. "Starblood Arena Review: Box-Ticking 6DOF Fun On PSVR". UploadVR. https://uploadvr.com/starblood-arena-review-in-progress-psvrs-newfound-star/. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 12.3 Chandler Wood (2017-04-11). "StarBlood Arena Review - VR's Overwatch (PSVR)". PlayStation LifeStyle. https://www.playstationlifestyle.net/2017/04/11/starblood-arena-review-vrs-overwatch-psvr/. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
- ↑ David Jagneaux (2017-04-14). "New PSVR Releases For The Week Of 04/09/17". UploadVR. https://uploadvr.com/new-psvr-releases-for-the-week-of-040917/. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
- ↑ "【PS VR】360°アリーナが舞台のオンラインSTG『Starblood Arena』は6月29日に発売 価格は5292円(税込)に". gamebiz. 2017-05-02. https://gamebiz.jp/news/184086. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
- ↑ Matthew Groizard (2017-12-27). "Deus Ex: Mankind Divided and Batman: The Telltale Series join PlayStation Plus in January". PlayStation Blog. Sony Interactive Entertainment. https://blog.playstation.com/archive/2017/12/27/deus-ex-mankind-divided-and-batman-the-telltale-series-join-playstation-plus-in-january/. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
- ↑ Scott Hayden (2017-12-28). "'StarBlood Arena' Will Be Free to PlayStation Plus Members in January". Road to VR. https://roadtovr.com/starblood-arena-will-free-playstation-plus-members-january/. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
- ↑ Aidan Simonds (2019-01-28). "StarBlood Arena Will be Shutting Down in July 2019". PlayStation LifeStyle. https://www.playstationlifestyle.net/?p=743181. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
- ↑ Jamie Feltham (2019-01-29). "Starblood Arena Dev On Server Shutdown: 'We Loved This Game Deeply'". UploadVR. https://uploadvr.com/starblood-arena-shutdown/. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
- ↑ Jamie Feltham (2019-07-23). "PSA: PSVR Exclusive Starblood Arena Shuts Down Thursday". UploadVR. https://uploadvr.com/starblood-arena-shut-down/. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
- ↑ 20.0 20.1 20.2 20.3 20.4 "StarBlood Arena". OpenCritic. https://opencritic.com/game/4130/starblood-arena. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
- ↑ 21.0 21.1 Jim Hargreaves (2017-04-17). "StarBlood Arena Review". TheSixthAxis. https://www.thesixthaxis.com/?p=286348. Retrieved 2026-10-13.
- ↑ 22.0 22.1 Sammy Barker. "StarBlood Arena Review (PS4)". Push Square. https://www.pushsquare.com/reviews/ps4/starblood_arena. Retrieved 2026-10-13.