Pistol Whip quite cleverly (or perhaps inevitably) combines the gameplay of two of the most popular VR games, Beat Saber and Superhot VR. This is a rhythm game meets on-rails shooter that manages to mostly achieve its goals in making a fun experience that isn't just a variation on other rhythm games. And that is where, as I see it, Pistol Whip most excels. It is fun, interesting, and different. This is some of the problem with other games like Synth Riders or the Flow mode in Supernatural. They're doing something so similar to Beat Saber that while they have their own differences, I'm almost always going to want to go back to Beat Saber instead. Pistol Whip manages to achieve similar things as Beat Saber in being a fun VR game that doubles as a solid workout, without feeling at all like just a lesser attempt at the same game.

The biggest issue for Pistol Whip to me is that it has a very limited library. This is almost certainly due to the complexity involved in designing the levels. While I doubt I'd have the patience, I could realistically get through designing a Beat Saber map, but the same couldn't be said with this game; even the thought of it just feels really overwhelming. Accordingly, while I commend the studio on continuing to drip-feed us more content through free updates, there are still very few tracks available. At the time of this writing there are 2 full campaigns of 5 songs each with overarching stories, a couple B-sides that remix levels from those campaigns, a mini-campaign of 3 tracks, and then a smattering of 15 other arcade songs. They are in the process of adding what looks to be another series of 5 or so songs, 2 of which are out at present. It's just not a lot.

To compound this issue, I really just don't enjoy most any of the non-campaign tracks. I've grown to enjoy the Heartbreaker mini-campaign, but it's more of a chill dance series than anything too intense. As for the other arcade songs, I don't like almost any of the music and beyond that, I also found the levels for them quite dull. I've only played one of the songs from the new Overdrive series and thought the map was quite good and the song was mostly inoffensive, if not totally my thing, so we'll see how that goes. Still, even the best concept for a rhythm game is going to fall flat without decent music.

But wait, it says '4 stars' up there, huh. That's because what I do like in Pistol Whip is pretty great. The first campaign, 2089, is an alien planet sci-fi story with some spacey tracks and while I don't love it, I do find the maps are pretty fun and the music goes well with them. The story is cheesy, but I didn't come here for story. As I said, I like the Heartbreaker mini-campaign as it's nice to dance to more than just dodge and shoot like the others. But Smoke and Thunder is the campaign that really elevates this game. Every song is a banger with some really good songs worth listening to even outside the game. Beyond this, the environments and maps are really well-designed for a fun and immersive experience appropriate for the somewhat cliched but enjoyable Western story. If the team could manage to get out a campaign of a similar caliber, especially if they could do two more, I think this could hit 5 stars for me even considering that would still be a relatively small library.

One thing I don't see mentioned a ton is that the "rhythm" aspect of this rhythm game feels very toned down. Frankly, I'm not even always sure how to get a higher score and play it primarily as just an on-rails shooter. It's still fun that way, but I often wish the on-beat requirement for shots were a bit more intuitive as it often feels less like my timing is off than that I'm not totally sure what the game wants me to time it with.

As a last point, while I haven't gone into too much depth on the gameplay specifics, a lot of Pistol Whip is much more about dodging than shooting and the Superhot rules apply: if the enemy shoots at you, it will hit you if you're standing where you were when they fired. You need to be constantly moving since you can't really shoot all enemies before they fire their shots. So a good deal of what you're doing is dodging. This means you get a significant leg workout, especially when it comes to avoiding barriers and obstacles. This is a nice change from Beat Saber and other such games that are going to have you flailing your arms like crazy, but won't work your legs very much. I thus see Pistol Whip as a really solid game to supplement with when I feel like my legs haven't gotten much work in.

Pistol Whip has some really great ideas. My biggest disappointment is simply that they could do so much more with it if they just got more (good) content out there. I'm not sure how realistic that is given how slowly they've added recent songs, but I can dream. If you're thinking about getting Pistol Whip, I think it's definitely worth the buy, especially if you can get it on sale. I would just manage your expectations and not look to it as a Beat Saber replacement.

I really liked this game and has now become a staple that I play every now and then when I feel that I've sat on my ass too much. On low difficulties it's a neat rail shooter with good music. On higher difficulties it's a bullet hell that forces you to squat and move around to avoid the barrage of lead coming your way, which really gets your heart pumping.

Unfortunately there are not a lot of stages and the quality of the music varies wildly (as is par for the course with rhythm games). From the two campaigns, Smoke & Thunder is a standout, with super catchy tunes that I still listen to outside the game. Even the story is kind of engaging. The rest cover the gamut between tolerable but bland and excruciatingly annoying.

The devs --bless their hearts-- try their best to stretch the gametime with a bunch of modes that try to change the gameplay and daily, weekly and monthly challenges, but they are not very interesting. I sometimes play a challenge if the stage has bearable music, but nothing can distract from the lack of content. Apparently there's a new update with custom level editor coming soon, but its success will depend on the community actually using it and creating good levels with good music.

I had the chance to play the game on a PSVR2, and I really wanted to love it. And you know what? At first, I actually did enjoy it, especially during the initial few hours. However, after playing through all the available songs in just four hours, my excitement started to fade. The game offers different difficulty levels, cool modifiers, and even weapon customization. Although I have to admit, I didn't pay much attention to the appearance of the guns I was holding. Whether they were tiger striped leather yellow and red or square striped white and blue, it didn't make a big difference to me.

When it comes to replaying the game with modifiers, it reminded me of a similar issue I had with some of the recent Hitman games. I was supposed to replay levels over and over until I mastered them, but it got repetitive and lost its charm. I tried experimenting with the modifiers in this game, but they didn't really change things enough to hold my interest. Sure, there were enemies with big heads or extra armor, and I could have infinite ammo, but it didn't make the levels feel different, except for one modifier that made bullets reflect.

The bullet dodging mechanics felt a bit strange to me. I couldn't quite find a smooth rhythm. The game encourages you to gracefully shoot down enemies, but the only way I found to dodge bullets effectively was by squatting down awkwardly and moving in circles. Just to give you some context, I've been involved in sports my whole life and even made it to the national team, so I don't think my physical abilities are the issue here. I can't help but compare it to a game called Superhot, where you also dodge bullets, but in a more elegant way. In Superhot, you can even block bullets with your hand, which adds an extra layer of strategy.

There are two campaigns, but they are very little more than an excuse to give some sort of theme for a sequence of songs.

Overall, while the game had its moments of enjoyment, it fell short for me. I would probably be less disappointed if it didn't cost 30 dollars for what was, for me, a 4 hour experience. I know VR games in general have a problem with their length, but I am still somewhat bitter about it. Power to you if you have a better tolerance of its repetitiveness, and there is a certain amount of replayability here, especially taking into account the fact that the developer keeps adding new songs to the mix. However, it unfortunately lost me. I tried going back with the recent Overdrive DLC content update, but the game just lost me and I can't seem to get back into it, no matter how hard I try. Essentially, it's a video game, meant to be a relaxation, so I am not eager to power through it too much just to get the most bang out of my buck.

Pistol Whip is a good but frustratingly-flawed game -- it is so close to being a must-play.

At first it is an absolute blast. Lots of content, different weapons to try, an overall well-polished experience. The music is good, not great, but considering the presumably small budget they did a good job with the music. The game succeeds at making you feel like a badass action star (at first).

After a couple play-sessions the cracks start to form. The level designs are repetitive, the enemies lack variety, and the quality of their placement varies between levels and difficulties. One track can slip you into an addictive rhythm, while the next simply dumps bad guys at you and makes your trigger finger sore.

The ultimate sin however is the bullet-dodging mechanic. In my opinion this mechanic single-handedly ruins the game. At first I chaotically dodged bullets by the skin of my teeth and it was exhilarating. But as I started to play at Hard difficulty, I figured out the answer: squat and lean to move your head in a circle. Constantly. With so many enemies to shoot and so many bullets flying at you, doing the circle dance is the path to victory. As you can imagine, a shooting gallery that requires you to move in a circle constantly is not a fun experience. You can use styles to turn off enemy bullets (not in campaign though!), but then you're left with a game missing a core component. Classic House of the Dead mechanics of shooting important enemies quickly, or shooting down projectiles would be far more appropriate.

Ultimately, it leaves me disappointed. I'd love to see a sequel that solves these problems. As it stands, it was an exciting flash in the pan that doesn't hold up to scrutiny.