Super Stardust Ultra VR

Super Stardust Ultra VR
Information
VR/AR	Virtual Reality
Developer	d3t
Publisher	Sony Interactive Entertainment
Platform	PlayStation VR
Device	PlayStation VR
Operating System	PlayStation 4
Type	Game
Genre	Shooter, Arcade
Input Device	DualShock 4
Game Mode	Single-player
Release Date	October 13, 2016
Price	US$19.99
App Store	PlayStation Store

See also: VR Apps and VR Games

Super Stardust Ultra VR is a virtual reality version of the arcade shooter Super Stardust Ultra, published by Sony Interactive Entertainment for the PlayStation VR headset on PlayStation 4. It was released on 13 October 2016 as one of the headset's launch titles. The VR version was developed by the UK studio d3t for Sony's XDev Studio Europe; the game it expands comes from the Super Stardust series of Housemarque, the developer of Resogun.

The package contains the classic third-person modes of Super Stardust Ultra, playable in the headset, and adds Invasion Zone, a VR-only mode played from a first-person cockpit view with aiming tied to the player's head movement. Sony's PlayStation Blog called it the first time in any Super Stardust game that the player could jump inside the cockpit. The game holds a Metascore of 66 ("mixed or average") on Metacritic from 13 critic reviews.

Reviewed 13 October 2026. Developer and publisher credits, announcement, launch and store release dates, US price, store requirements and rating, mode and control descriptions, d3t development notes, Metacritic and OpenCritic aggregates, and every review score and quote, each checked against the cited PlayStation Blog, d3t, UploadVR, Engadget, store, aggregator and review pages. About review dates.

Background

Super Stardust Ultra is an upgraded PlayStation 4 version of Super Stardust HD, Housemarque's 2007 twin-stick shooter. It was announced in December 2014 with new planets, new modes, visual upgrades, local split-screen play for up to four players and a returning co-op mode, at a price of US$12.99. The PS4 game went on sale on the PlayStation Store in February 2015 with nine single-player modes, among them Blockade and an Interactive Streaming mode in which viewers of a broadcast vote on what happens next.

Gameplay

Classic modes

In the original modes, a third-person twin-stick shooter, the player steers a ship around tiny planets and destroys asteroids and enemy waves. Super Stardust Ultra VR supports all nine of these classic modes inside the headset. According to Sony, the player gets "a full 360 degree view of the solar system" while fighting enemy waves in a meteor storm. In his review for Hardcore Gamer, Jeremy Peeples noted that these modes keep a bird's-eye view of the action rather than a cockpit view, and that the player can look around the surrounding space by turning their head. UploadVR wrote before launch that the original modes would be "fully playable with a DualShock 4", and that the traditional game can be played either on a television or in VR.

Invasion Zone

Invasion Zone is exclusive to PlayStation VR. The player sits in the cockpit of a ship on a planet's surface and defends the area against waves of enemies that attack from every direction. The ship carries plasma cannons, missiles, EMPs and an Inertial Disruptor. The targeting system follows the player's head movement, so the player looks at a target and pulls the trigger to fire. The mode has two difficulty levels and online leaderboards.

In PlayStation LifeStyle's description, the left stick moves the ship forwards, backwards and sideways, the right stick rotates it, and enemies come on three levels: insect-like creatures on the ground, hovering units at the player's height and airborne battleships. Reviewers noted that the mode uses a single battlefield; CGMagazine described it as a flat map rather than a sphere, with fewer enemies, points and weapon upgrades than the standard game. Instead of the asteroid-breaking of the classic modes, Invasion uses a health bar that is refilled by power-ups. UploadVR compared the mode to Rebellion's Battlezone and reported finishing it on normal difficulty in about 25 minutes.

Development

Sony announced the game on the PlayStation Blog on 27 June 2016, alongside a VR version of the pool game Hustle Kings. The Super Stardust section of the post was written by Pedro Sousa, an associate producer at XDev Studio Europe. At the time, UploadVR reported that the game was being developed by XDev Studio Europe and that Housemarque was not porting it. Sony's launch post later credited the game to d3t Ltd, and UploadVR described d3t as "a UK-based work-for-hire studio".

d3t's case studies list Sony XDev as the client for two pieces of work: the port of Super Stardust Ultra to PlayStation VR and the new Invasion Zone mode. According to d3t, the PS4 game already ran at 60 frames per second on a legacy engine, and the frame rate had to be doubled so that each eye received the same quality. The team started on early hardware that kept changing, reworked the user interface for the added dimension, and found that players responded better when only the planet rotated rather than the whole background. For Invasion Zone, Sony asked for a PlayStation VR exclusive that would fit the Super Stardust universe, with online leaderboards as a key requirement. d3t says the new viewpoint gave the mode a "look to aim" mechanic; the team had to bring "the planes lower and lower until they were easier for players to spot" and gave them audio cues for spatial awareness, and maintaining 60 frames per second required reworking the legacy engine.

Release

Sony listed Super Stardust Ultra VR among the games available at the launch of PlayStation VR. It was sold as a full game on the PlayStation Store and on Blu-ray at retail, and owners of Super Stardust Ultra could buy a PlayStation VR upgrade instead of the full game. UploadVR gave the price of the VR version as US$19.99, compared with US$12.99 for the earlier PS4 release.

Event	Date	Notes
Announcement	27 June 2016	PlayStation Blog post; pre-orders for the full game and the upgrade
Release on PlayStation VR (PlayStation 4)	13 October 2016	PS VR launch title; digital and Blu-ray

The US PlayStation Store listing gives a release date of 10 October 2016 and a price of US$19.99. It requires the PS VR headset and the PlayStation Camera, lists 1-4 players and the genres Arcade and Shooter, and carries an ESRB rating of Everyone 10+ for fantasy violence. Metacritic also lists 10 October 2016.

Reception

On Metacritic, the game has a Metascore of 66 ("mixed or average") based on 13 critic reviews, four of them positive and nine mixed. On OpenCritic it has a Top Critic Average of 67, with 30% of critics recommending it.

Publication	Reviewer	Score
Metacritic (aggregate)	-	66/100 (13 critic reviews)
OpenCritic (aggregate)	-	67 Top Critic Average, 30% recommend
Hardcore Gamer	Jeremy Peeples	4/5
Gameplanet	Matt Maguire	8/10
CGMagazine	Melanie Emile	6.5/10
GamingTrend	Ron Burke	55/100
Push Square	Sammy Barker	5/10

Much of the criticism concerned Invasion Zone. Jamie Feltham of UploadVR wrote that the mode has little to do with Super Stardust, that its scoring lacks the original's hook, and that "If you've owned Stardust before, there's simply not enough here to warrant a new purchase." Melanie Emile of CGMagazine found that in Invasion mode "The whole affair feels slow" next to the regular game, and argued that the game could not throw many enemies at a player who aims with their head without causing whiplash. She concluded that Super Stardust Ultra VR "is missing the charming intensity that makes this game so addictive". OpenCritic quotes Push Square's Sammy Barker as calling the game "a tired attempt at repurposing an ageing experience", and GamingTrend's Ron Burke as calling Invasion "a shallow nausea-inducing horde mode".

Other reviewers were more positive about the package. Jeremy Peeples of Hardcore Gamer wrote that aiming with head movements "feels far more natural than just using the right stick" and called the game "a great value", since it includes the standard game, the new VR content and VR versions of the regular modes. Blake Grundman of PlayStation LifeStyle wrote that the VR version "adds a level of immersion to the game that wouldn't have otherwise been possible using a standard HDTV", but that "Invasion simply doesn't have the legs to sustain more than a few sessions, before growing tiresome"; he suggested that the VR content could have been an update to the PS4 game.