Since the PlayStation VR launched last October I sure have played my fair share of games on it where you play as a bird. Games like Eagle Flight and How We Soar to name a few but developer Kaio Interactive has come up with their own virtual bird game called Leave the Nest. Now you may remember a certain mobile game that captured everyone’s attention like crazy where you flapped your way through pipes as a bird. Well Leave the Nest is basically a virtual reality version of that game.
Leave the Nest is basically an endless runner where you play as a bird and have to flap your wings to get as far as you can. You play in a first person view while always moving forward and can move left or right through three lanes. To keep flying you literally have to flap your arms should you choose to play using two PlayStation Move controllers. If that doesn’t sound appealing to you Kaio did include Dualshock 4 support as well. Using it the X button flaps your wings while the circle button is used to dive. The left analog stick lets you switch between lanes. I played using both control options and found both of them to be fun but the Dualshock 4 is probably the better option for longer play sessions.
So while you flap your wings trying to get as far as you can you’ll have to dodge obstacles in the level such as buildings, trees, falling objects, ghosts and lots more. You do that by moving between the lands I mentioned before or by going over or under them. You can pick up certain powerups along the way that will aid you and help you survive longer. These can include magnets that attract more powerups towards you or shields to protect you against objects. Each time you play you’ll have to make it through different zones each with their own aesthetic such as forests, beaches and more. Much like other endless runners there are challenges you can complete as well such as collect so many of a certain thing and so on. If you do complete challenges you will be rewarded with more zones and more birds to play as. Getting as far as you can will put you further up the online leaderboards so you can see how you stack up with the rest of the community.
The game really isn’t that deep like most endless runners but as something to jump into real quick every now and then it can be fun. If you have other people to play with it can be fun to take turns and watch other people flap their arms around with the Move controllers. The graphics in the game are fun and cartoony but could have been more interesting. If you like trophies Leave the Nest has a bunch of them but they aren’t easy. If you want this Platinum you’re going to be putting in some work.
So while Leave the Nest doesn’t do much to stand out from the endless runner crowd it is fun and it’s really the only endless runner game on PlayStation VR right now. It has plenty of things to work towards unlocking and the online leaderboards give you a reason to go back and do another run. It’s relatively cheap so if you are looking for a fun new game to take turns and play with your family or friends this is worth looking at.
*Review copy provided by the publisher
Leave the Nest
$12.99
Pros
- Fun Casual Endless Runner
- Lots of Different Birds to Unlock
- Online Leaderboards Encourage You to Play Another Run
- Great Price
Cons
- Visuals Could Be Better
- Game Could Become Boring Fast
