You’ll be able to pilot an X-Wing in this PlayStation VR mission.
I’m sitting in the pilot seat of an X-Wing, taking an escort pattern around an Alliance fleet along with a squad of other X-Wings. That’s when we get the distress call from a U-Wing ship suffering mechanical issues near an asteroid belt. We get into position to assist and make the jump into hyperspace. Now i’m navigating a belt of asteroids, avoiding the large ones and blasting the smaller debris to clear a path in front of me. We must now escort the U-Wing to safety, a vessel that is transporting a “person of interest”.
Then it happens in the blink of an eye — a group of TIE fighters descend upon us and all three-minutes of training i’ve undergone to prepare for this moment kicks in. A Star Destroyer drops in our flank and blasts the U-Wing out of space — the battle begins.
For the next 10-minutes, intense space dogfighting ensued, completely immersing me in the cockpit and battle. A fight that was at times so immersive, that I often forgot I was actually in the DICE Los Angeles office and this whole thing was in virtual reality.
This is the roughly 20-minute X-Wing VR mission that is set to launch December 6th for free to anyone who owns both a PlayStation VR headset and Star Wars: Battlefront for PlayStation 4.
Developed by Criterion Games, in collaboration with Battlefront developers DICE, the VR mission was first teased at E3 earlier this year, and is exclusive to Sony’s headset. The chance to be an X-Wing pilot in VR is a dream come true for many Star Wars fans and even the developers who created it as well. All timed to release just over a week before Rogue One: A Star Wars Story hits movie theaters December 16.
The Star Wars marketing machine is running full steam ahead and making good use of immersive technology aside from this latest VR mission. Last week, a drama-filled Star Wars: Rogue One 360 Experience was released in collaboration with Verizon and People Magazine. For those without a VR viewer, the latest issue of People Magazine comes with a Cardboard headset that lets you jump in the pilot seat as well.
The X-Wing VR Mission was also playable ahead of its release during PlayStation Experience 2016 this past weekend at the Anaheim Convention Center.
