Doctor Kvorak's Obliteration Game

Review

Come on lads, it’s almost time . . . you don’t want to miss the start of the most popular gameshow in the galaxy! This new contestant, a blueish creature that wobbles around looking strange, I reckon is going to obliterate everything. Shhhhh, here comes Doctor Kvorak - I am so excited! “Welcome to Kvorak’s Oblitaration Game and let me introduce you to our latest participant . . . YOU!”

Doctor Kvorak’s Obliteration Game is a puzzle / platformer game where you control one or several contestants (depending how far along you are in the game) who will decide the fate of the planets. You’ll either save or destroy them.

This game can be played on VR and none VR systems. Personally, I played three hours on a VR setup and three hours on a non-VR, to get a good feel of what the game has to offer on both options.

Your host, Doctor Kvorak is an interesting character, to say the least. He thoroughly enjoys talking about himself (don’t we all) and how smart he is. He also has a thick German accent, which made me laugh the first time I heard him.  When you launch the game, your character will spawn on these suspended rocks and only a few of them will be connected to each other via a see-through blue bridge. Move your character to one of the connected rocks and start your level or zone. As you progress, you’ll unlock new paths to the next suspended rock.

The gameplay is really fun whichever way you play it, VR or not. Essentially, you have to pick ten pieces of the planet and reach the big red teleporting platform at the end of the stage to save it. If you don’t, the planet will be destroyed. They are fifty other collectable items to pick up per zone and several artefacts as well to unlock skins for your characters. The zones (levels) are well-designed, and it will take you between twenty to forty minutes to finish the first few. Then it will become slightly longer and harder.  Manoeuvre blocks on tiles with symbols and flick switches to activate stairs or doors. Some of the blocks self-destruct when you touch them, so be careful not to stand too close or you’ll die. The other ways of dying are if your characters drop off the platform and fall into space, or if they are touched by lightning bolts, cannons or others obstacles. If you’re going to play the game in VR, what I really enjoy is the spacy atmosphere when you look around. It’s very easy to control your aliens, and they’ll occasionally look at you when passing by, which is funny and cute. Top down view setup and the camera movements are fine. Non-VR, you see your character in third person. I find the camera control not as good as the VR experience but fine. Apart from that, I really enjoy the game either way.

The graphics are fine and the soundtrack is fun. Plenty of contents and it will take you a while to save all the planets. I personally think that the puzzles should have been slightly harder.