Space Channel 5 VR review: The worst value proposition for a PSVR game yet

Enlarge / Space Channel 5 hero Ulala (center, in yellow) deserved so much better. (credit: Grounding Inc.)

For anybody in the tiny Venn diagram of users who have heard of and are anticipating this week's Space Channel 5 VR, I have very bad news: it's the worst value proposition of any PlayStation VR game ever made. And while this Dreamcast-era revival's issues could be forgiven in isolation, the game's mix of price, brevity, simplicity, and ho-hum aesthetics makes it a bummer for anybody with hopes of a new, solid VR-dancing option.

Space Channel 5, for the uninitiated, is a beloved rhythm game made by Sega for the Dreamcast and PlayStation 2. It pioneered a "mods in space" aesthetic, as if a groovy British dance club from the '60s took off in a rocketship. Its star, an intrepid "space reporter" named Ulala, engages in Simon-style dance battles with monsters; she watches a pattern of button taps to the beat of the music, then responds in kind. It's similar to rhythm-gaming classics like Parappa the Rapper.

The best thing I can say about Space Channel 5 VR: Kinda Funky News Flash!, which is currently a PlayStation VR exclusive, is that it neatly translates the original game's formula to a version with motion controls. The original game limited its players to tapping four cardinal directions and a single button, while SC5VR replaces all button taps with arm motions. Move your hands up, to the sides, down, or forward, then mix and match these for approximately 15 dance moves.

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