Firewall: Zero Hour is a virtual reality take on Rainbow Six: Siege

First Contact Entertainment has said it’s developing a single-player mode for its virtual reality first-person shooter, Firewall: Zero Hour. But multiplayer is the way to go. In 4-on-4 matches, you’re either attacking or defending, but it’s great fun either way. The PlayStation VR exclusive will be out later this year, and players can use both a PSVR Aim controller or a standard gamepad.

At a hands-on demo, I played three fast-paced matches of Firewall: Zero Hour and I would sum it up as a VR version of Rainbow Six: Siege. In each round, one team is defending a laptop while the other is trying to take you out while hacking in to steal the sensitive information.

In the demo, I only got to try out one map, a kind of industrial setting with a server room that left plenty of opportunity for cat-and-mouse games. However, I imagine that First Contact will roll out new maps for the full release. The studio has said that players will be able to upgrade characters, weapons, and equipment, though it hasn’t unveiled if different characters will have special abilities like those in Rainbow Six: Siege.

It was my first time with the Aim controller, which kind of felt like a rudimentary Nerf gun made out of PVC pipes. In the past, I didn’t have much interest in the gun-shaped accessory because I didn’t play many shooters. But VR has brought me around on gun games and I found myself enjoying using the Aim a lot more than I thought I would. Handling a firearm and aiming down the sights in a virtual space is satisfying, and Firewall: Zero Hour amplifies that by giving you the freedom to move around, duck behind cover, and peek around walls to try to get off a shot. The Aim just completed the illusion of realistic gunfights.

Playing Firewall: Zero Hour, I missed having two controllers like the Oculus Touch, simply because reloading guns has become one of my favorite things to do in VR. However, the Aim has the benefit of making you take the physical stance of hunkering down with a sidearm and waiting for the enemy. I’m not sure that playing the game with a DualShock controller will have the same effect. However, regardless of which controller you use, Firewall: Zero Hour has a lot of promise based on its quick, adrenaline-filled matches.