Our Score

8/10 - Very, Very Good

The Good

Fun arcade gameplay with lots of replayability through multiplayer

The Bad

Even on the game's easiest setting, it's still frustratingly difficult at times, especially with end-level boss battles.

Release Date

September 29, 2022

Developed By

Sumalab

Available On

Meta Quest 2, PCVR (as Crisis Brigade 2: Reloaded) | PSVR (as Crisis VRigade 2)

Reviewed On

Meta Quest 2

Shooting bad guys is always fun. I've been doing it since, well, before I was really allowed to. Those trips to the arcade with Mum and Dad always landed me at the Time Crisis machine with a handful of pound coins. Over the years, the old machines were replaced with newer editions, and yet I never saw the ending to any of them. As a farmer's son, I had no chance of putting enough pennies into the machine to see the final credits. Poor bloody me.

Well, now here we are in 2022, and I'm the one having the last laugh while the arcades go under in this crapshoot of an economy. That's harsh, but true, and I stand by it. I've got a Meta Quest 2 headset and a copy of Crisis Brigade 2: Reloaded - I don't need my parent's money anymore, thank you very much. I can throw my headset on, push my dining table to the back of the room, and really go to town on the bad guys - all without having to dump a month's worth of pocket money for an hour of entertainment.

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Crisis Brigade 2: Reloaded is the sequel to Crisis VRigade, a Time Crisis-inspired shooter that I originally hated on the PSVR. No, really, I bloody detested the thing. It was only after playing the Quest version (pre-Meta transition) that I came to appreciate what the game was all about. Yes, it was tough as nails, but with the improved tracking on the Quest, I actually felt like I was in a fair fight - plus, I got to multiplayer with my go-to VR buddy, Jeremy.

The sequel takes the same core concept as the original but turns to quasi-realism instead of stylized silliness. Where the original had bad guys with oversized masks, Crisis Brigade 2: Reloaded goes for a mix of realistic/comic-book visuals for its bad guys, while the game's environments are more rooted in realism. This is a move that shows the series maturing, moving away from the silly bobble-head Trump masks worn by enemies in the first game, and the low-poly environments that made up its levels. A maturing that forces players to take things a little more seriously this time around.

Launching with three levels, a few difficulty options, a shooting range, and a time-attack mode, Crisis Brigade 2: Reloaded packs enough to make it worth the price of entry. It's not easy, though, and if you're playing on anything above the Rookie setting, you can expect to get a good few hours of sweaty shooting before you've seen it all.

Each level has a maximum runtime of seven minutes, and you begin each round in the floating hands of a SWAT team member with just enough cover to keep you alive. In true Time Crisis fashion, your job is to clear each area of bad guys before automatically moving to the next hunk of cover. However, unlike the light-gun machines at the arcade where you duck in and out of danger by stepping on a pedal, Crisis Brigade 2: Reloaded implores you to move. Like, really move. Sure, if you're a Billy The Kidd clone you can get away with stepping out from cover, blasting a couple of clips, and calling it a day, but for everyone else, it's a little more involved.

Personally, I like to get really physical. I don't just pop my head around cover or blind fire - I get down on the ground, bare knees grazing the carpet I really need to vacuum. I'll squat, crawl, and Matrix-dodge if it gets the job done. And it does. And it also ruins me. After a 45-minute session, my thighs and my bum were on fire - this is a physical game, if you want it to be. On Rookie mode, where the game offers some basic assists, you can get away with minimal movement, but crank the difficulty up and you'll have to sweat your way to success.

Crisis Brigade 2: Reloaded level 2 combat with the upgraded pistol

That might sound like hard work, but honestly, it's really good fun and if you're a lazy sod like me, it's a stealthy workout that doesn't feel like a workout, at least not until you try to tackle some real-life stairs and then you eat some floor.

This time around, the developer, Sumalab, has added some form of progression to the game. There's still no story to speak of, so there's nothing to really follow, but you do earn in-game cash for your action-movie antics. These coins can be redeemed for better starting weapons, extra lives, cosmetics, and even the long-forgotten "continue" when you've taken one too many bullets to the face. I'm not normally one to care for such in-game trinkets, but I found they were actually useful and helped me out massively. My tip - get the riot shield as soon as you can; it's easy cover and if nothing else, it can save your knees from the un-fun kind of rug burn.

Crisis Brigade 2: Reloaded scarface boss battle

After several hours of ducking, dodging, dying, swearing, and, of course, shooting, I can say I'm more than satisfied with Crisis Brigade 2: Reloaded. I've not yet had the chance to go online with my VR partner, but as long as it works as it did during the AppLab release, it'll be golden.

For those of us with fond memories of pushing coins into arcade machines and handling sticky light-guns that only worked half the time - Crisis Brigade 2: Reloaded is great fun, and a throwback to a simpler time of gaming. Even if you're a youngster who has had to go on the TikTokTubeBook to find out what an "arcade" is, you'll have a blast, too. There's enough single-player content and multiplayer, as well as the promise of future content updates to make it worth a download on your headset of choice. Just remember the knee pads.

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