The character of Deadpool is divisive. He’s not a hero that many have neutral feelings for. You either appreciate his caustic, perpetual dialogue and complete disrespect for the fourth wall, or his vulgar and violent attitude will never win you over and you’re done giving him the opportunity to try. I am among the small percent who does often tire of Deadpool’s schtick, but am happy to give it up for the jokes that absolutely work on me. His virtual reality video game fares similarly to his appearances in other media. Both the dialogue and gameplay sometimes grated on me, but there are a number of impressive moments and the occasional strong joke that surprised me and made me laugh.
You are, unsurprisingly, inside the head of Deadpool in Deadpool VR. What begins as a freelance job to return the SHIELD Helicarrier to its rightful owners turns into participation in an intergalactic reality show to travel the universe and collect B-tier Marvel villains and make them fight for a different B-tier villain, Mojo. The story is straightforward to the point that Deadpool calls out its predictable nature often, but that’s okay, because Deadpool VR is not about the plot. It’s about personifying the Merc with a Mouth, sometimes to a fault.
The amount of dialogue in Deadpool VR is staggering. And it’s made all the more impressive when you learn that each of the different variant Deadools you can replay the levels as have different lines, even in the primary story sequences. Unfortunately, the majority of Deadpool’s jokes simply do not hit, and Neil Patrick Harris’ performance vacillates between an impression of Ryan Reynolds’ take on the character, indifferent line readings, and the occasional enthusiastic embracing of a good punchline.
The jokes that worked for me were the ones that dug into obscure video game references and ridiculed design, like poking fun at doors inexplicably unlocking when you kill enough bad guys. It’s too bad the game isn’t available on PlayStation VR2 where my constant eye rolling over jokes that did little more than reference pop culture could be tracked. But when Deadpool waxes poetic about how Vanquish was underrated or wonders out loud what Jeff Minter-flavored ice cream might taste like during a level inspired by Llamasoft’s visual aesthetic, I can’t help but admit I was charmed. But the hit rate is overall lower than I’d like.
Actually playing as Deadpool is a matter of using his twin guns or twin swords with the occasional grenade thrown in for good measure. Combat is frantic to the point of me turning up the VR comfort settings a little more than I usually do, but I enjoyed pulling off impressive kills. Jumping in the air to kick off a bad guy’s head and grab his dropped gun out of the air in slow-motion to shoot his cohorts feels good, but it’s a move I pulled off a lot. I also am generally tired of swinging swords in VR. I don’t find the action fun in just about any VR game, and Deadpool VR is no different. Thankfully, gunplay is solid and a totally viable way to tackle most encounters.
The combat highlights come in the boss fights, which aren’t particularly challenging, but are fun exercises in superhero choreography that I always looked forward to. Between the levels where you pursue and defeat bosses, however, are battles intentionally designed to feel like online modes in multiplayer maps played against bots. Playing through those sequences always felt like trudging through the lame parts to get to the fun parts. It made the last act of the game, an extended set of back-to-back battles against the collected bosses on those types of levels, disappointing.
Your mileage in Deadpool VR will really depend on your patience with the character. Developer Twisted Pixel nails the tone and rhythm of Deadpool in what he talks about, how much he talks, and how he can’t be bothered to take anything seriously. It can be annoying, but there are good jokes, and the action mostly stays fresh. The frequent combat rooms get redundant, but there are impressive on-rails sequences and even a handful of fun-but-simple VR puzzles to keep most elements from overstaying their welcome. I just can’t in good conscience say the same for the character himself. And I am sure he will be mad at me for it.