Rescuties! VR by mode of expression is a welcome and refreshing addition to the current repertoire of VR action games. In this game, you’re not blasting baddies’ brains, shooting arrows at villains, or wielding any weapon at all. As you may have already guessed, the objective is to “rescue cuties” and get them out of harm’s way. The cuties are actually low poly babies and baby animals that are being rushed out of a dangerous situation into your arms. All you have to do is catch them, and throw them to safety. While that may sound pretty simple, it’s surprising just how challenging it can get!
The game starts in a level selector room where cuties encased in transparent balls are shot from a chute in front of you. Behind the chute are tunnel openings of three different arcade modes, and one for free play. To select, catch a ball by gripping your controller, then aim at the mode of your choice. In arcade mode, you unlock levels and cuties as you go along. The availability of free play levels also depends on your arcade game progress. Currently, there are more than ten scenarios and 50 unlockable cuties. There’s quite a good mix of scenarios, some expected like burning and flooded buildings, pets up a tree, a sinking boat, etc. Others are a little more fun, such as the nursery nap-a-thon where you catch babies, place them in cribs for a few, before the parents come knocking and you have to throw the babies back into the right parent’s arms. There are a few with very interesting names that we haven’t unlocked yet, such as Ice Floe Fracas and Cosmic Conundrum.
As for cuties, you get a variety of puppies, kitties, duckies, and all sorts of babies. There’s even a baby wearing a VR headset, one with Trump’s hair who sprinkles paper money around, a pirate one, a vampire one, and Frankenstein’s monster as a baby. And just as you thought the cute factor was already high enough, the dev also added a smooching feature. With it, you hold the baby as close to your face as possible to hear a smooch, and a kiss mark is left on the baby’s face!
Rescuties! VR is way more than what you expect it to be, and it is a game for everybody. The throwing physics is akin to that in American football. I struggled at the start and couldn’t even complete the first arcade level because I couldn’t time my grip right and the cuties kept bouncing off my hands. And as for throwing, you really have to put your back into it. But once you get into the groove of things, you’ll be shuffling them cuties around effortlessly. Each level also has a challenge meter with three difficulties represented by emojis. The higher the difficulty, the faster the cuties are thrown at you, and the farther or higher you’ll have to throw them into safety. Luckily, you can grip and throw with both hands, so it’s not so much of a logistical nightmare. In the midst of rescuing, you’re also thrown food items like cookies and pizza, that are actually power-ups for freezing time or getting extra points and other cool modifiers.
According to the dev’s Kickstarter campaign, Rescuties is a “very VR VR game,” in that it optimizes immersion in terms of depth perception, 3D space and sound, and physical input. It’s one of those games that you can easily get into, and I mean really into. The graphics style lends itself to allow for an extremely optimized game, so gameplay gets even more immersive as you’re not dealing with frame drops or tracking issues. Rescuties manages to achieve a very polished, fun VR experience with more depth lurking behind the cuties than one would expect, certainly at least more than I expected. The selector room could use a little organizing, IMHO. It currently seems a tad cluttered, but that might go with the overall “baby” effect. In any case, we’ve had a blast rescuing cuties and highly recommend you rescue a few for yourself!
Disclaimer: ViveReport is not held responsible for any psychological damage from Cutie Overload.
Join the Rescuties Reserve by clicking here! Available on Steam for $14.99 (Currently on sale for $11.99 until October 26th)
-shurl
Vive Report 
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