Call of Duty VR: Jackal Assault Hands-On Preview
During the Call of Duty XP 2016 briefing, Activision announced that Jackal Assault, a Call of Duty PlayStation VR experience will be coming to PlayStation 4 later this year. As you can imagine, this announcement didn’t exactly get the crowd in the stands on their feet. Yet, when it was revealed it would be free to Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare owners, the fans seemed a little more receptive. Well, lets just say a lot more receptive. While at COD XP I was fortunate enough to get my hands on the Jackal Assault demo, and needless to say I walked away incredibly impressed.
Going into this Call of Duty VR experience I had low expectations. Aside from the Raw Data VR demo I played at E3, nothing on the VR side of the house had really caught my attention. I’ve played some trippy tech demos but overall nothing screamed “I must buy a VR unit now”. Frankly, most of the games felt a little shallow thus far. The Jackal Assault experience on the other hand didn’t feel that way at all.
The demo itself takes place in a large storage container. It was an odd place to hold a demo but it provided the perfect dark atmosphere to take off into outer space. In Jackal Assault you command (as you would guess) a Jackal which is a vehicle in Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare that can fly and fight in air and space. This is exactly what you do in the VR game. You launch out into space, shoot down debris near a satellite station and then take down a horde of enemy aircrafts. The concept is rather simple, but it is just so fricking fun.
What makes this VR game so remarkable is how I felt like I was right inside the cockpit of my own personal fighter jet. The motion sensor rumble chairs certainly add to the effect, but looking around in the PlayStation VR headset at the control panel, and at my virtual legs and arms inside the cockpit was amazing. I expected a VR game on rails but instead I got a game that gave me the freedom to fly about and control my jet as I pleased.
Firmly planted in my rumble chair with the PlayStation VR strapped to my head, launching into space from the loading bay is a terrific experience. Your chair jolts as you fighter jet hits warp speed into space. Once you get going, it was a smooth experience. It wasn’t a jerky or jarring at all. A nice touch is how my pre-flight instructions are voice by Jamie Gray Hyder (who plays Salter in Infinite Warfare).
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“What makes this VR game so remarkable is how I felt like I was right inside the cockpit of my own personal fighter jet.”
Once in space, I was instructed to follow my captain through a series of panels. This allowed me to become acclimated with the games controls. Basic controls involve trusting the engine with the left stick, shooting with the right trigger and guiding missiles with the use of your headset. Once we arrived at our destination we were instructed to clear out some debris with our weaponry. Soon after, we were bombarded by a series of enemy space crafts.
The action intensifies a great deal when the aerial dog fights ramp up. Shooting down as many enemies as possible was the goal and the game keeps track of your kill count. I managed to shoot down 28 enemies during my time and each one was satisfying. The lock-on missile system worked surprisingly well too. By simply holding down the left trigger and looking towards your enemy you can take down enemy fighter jets with ease. The Call of Duty engine really shines when it comes to targeting, flying and blasting enemies away.
The Jackal Assault VR demo easily surpassed my expectations. Going in I expected nothing more than a tech demo. Instead, I played a PlayStation VR game with a ton of potential. The fact it’s free with your Infinite Warfare purchase is certainly a bonus but I’ll be honest it also has me a little concerned. For the price of “free” can we expect a deep VR experience? Probably not, but this Call of Duty VR game feels and plays like the real deal. It could potentially be all the reason you need to pick up a PlayStation VR unit.
***Note: the screenshot above is from Infinite Warfare, not from Jackal Assault. Jackal Assault screenshots were not provided by the publisher***
