‘Breach and clear, I’ve got your six.’ First Contact Entertainment Inc. is back bigger than ever, with their latest creation Firewall Ultra, published by Sony Interactive Entertainment. I’m very excited to dig into the latest PS VR2 exclusive and tell you all about my gameplay experience over the last few days.

Enlisted as an elite contractor and stepping into a shadow-filled, secret world of high-stakes multiplayer tactical espionage, in the next evolution of the Firewall franchise. Develop your strategies and unique playstyle to complete top-secret objectives with skilled contractors, customisable weapons and load-outs, and an array of high-tech equipment. Form your squad with three friends and write your own unique story, as you take to the battlefield and attack your targets. There may not be an epic story campaign to talk about, but there is certainly no shortage of memories to be made, once you’ve found a squad that you gel with.

Loading up for the first time players will launch into a training area where you’ll learn the basic mechanics. Once you’ve got the hang of the essential basics like reloading, throwing lethals and tacticals, aiming down sights, and using various gadgets like door blockers that prevent the enemy from opening a door, you’ll be ready to run the gauntlet and progress to the main hub. During my time in the training area, I also picked up my first of many ‘wow that’s cool’ moments, in regards to the use of eye-tracking technology. Holding down a button and navigating the weapon/tactical menu with my eyes made the selection feel precise and intuitive.

The coolest moment for me though came from learning how to counter the ever-awful flash bangs. Copping the full brunt of a flash-bang will result in a blinding burst of light, that left me not only unable to see anything but blinding white light but also left me feeling a bit disoriented. In order to counter this often devastating effect, the player will physically close their eyes briefly, which completely negates the effect and keeps you in the fight. Aiming down sights certainly took me a little bit of time to get used to, squeezing the left-hand trigger and focusing on your target with your eyes. Players can also tighten their aim and zoom in on their target by closing one eye. Though this is an incredibly useful feature, I found it to be a little slow to initiate and in need of a little fine-tuning.

The main hub area is where you will party up with your squad, customise your loadout and operator, and test out the tweaks to your build at the firing range. Before I get into the PVP and PVE game modes, I must touch on a couple of pretty major negatives that I found in regard to progression and unlocks. At the end of each match of PVP and each round of PVE players will be rewarded rep and crypto. Upon reaching the required rep level the player is then able to unlock new weapons, attachments, and gadgets using their hard-earned crypto.

While there is a tonne of various guns, attachments, and gadgets to unlock which is great, these feel extremely grindy to achieve. Even with a subsequent patch that has seen a boost in rep and crypto, I still feel like this needs to be addressed further. Players can also take on contracts to help boost their rep level and crypto balance, however, sadly I can’t even begin to talk about these as they aren’t yet active within the game. This may put a lot of potential players off, however, I do give credit to the team for how well and quickly they are addressing these issues. With that out of the way let’s get into the PVP and PVE game modes.

In PVP mode two teams of four will face off in a best-of-three battle. The attacking team will set out to capture the defending team’s intel, while the defending team must seek out and eliminate their enemies while protecting the objective. Each match I played typically ran for around five to ten minutes, which was more than enough to have you eager for more. However before patch 1.04 went live which saw a reduction in time between games, I spent more time waiting for the next game as the 2.5-minute timer ticked down and the impatient left the lobby which further increased queue times.

This time was further tweaked in patch 1.05 which has since made the process much more enjoyable. This patch also introduced the ability to blind other players by shining your torch attachment in their eyes, giving you a very nice and welcomed opportunity for a tactical advantage. PVP is for that highly competitive squad looking to dominate the competition. This mode has the potential to be showcased in the highly competitive eSport scene, which I’d honestly love to see.

PVE mode is an entirely new addition to the Firewall franchise, for me this is where the squad magic happens. This is an extraction-based mode, where you and your squad will first seek out to breach the firewall, tracking down one of two breach locations. Players will then navigate their way to three computer locations, which they must defend while they download valuable intel. Once the team has successfully achieved their objective, they will then make their way to the extraction zone in order to complete the match.

Having suffered a VR-related injury on a different game, I only managed to get two or three attempts in on my first day before I was, unfortunately, unable to play for a couple of days. It was time once more to strap in and gear up for more. This time fortune smiled upon me as I found myself grouped up with an incredible squad and this is where the magic happens. Achieving our objectives was no walk in the park as we soon discovered, being brutally taken down by one singular enemy in record time. The enemy AI will stop at nothing to hunt you down, breaching doors with C4, laying traps like proximity mines, and even just simply gunning you down with overwhelming force.

Whilst we may have laughed heartily at the fact that we were just decimated by one enemy, we quickly became a force to be reckoned with. We started forming solid plans to achieve each objective, and before you knew it the lobby was filled with the chatter of what we were seeing and hearing. “Flash bang, close your eyes,” “They’ve breached the door on your left,” “I’ve got your six,” “Enemy is stacking on the door in front,” “Objective completed, let’s move.” Effective communication plays such an important role in helping to increase your squads’ chances of surviving these brutal encounters. Not only is this mode incredibly fun, rewarding, and challenging but it’s also been an incredible way to make some new friends.

I found myself easily absorbed by the game world, often finding myself getting turned around as I all but forgot I was playing a game. The visual experience on the whole is incredible except for a few minor caveats, which can hopefully be addressed in a further patch. The biggest issue that I faced visually was during a reload. When you initiate a reload and watch the animation the gun would often make it look as if your wrist was snapping back into place as the animation would finish.

I noticed this made me feel a little squeamish as if someone had popped my dislocated wrist back into place, especially when I was completely immersed in the action. Everything is presented in such stunning detail, so much so that I was even able to read the small text along the barrel of my gun, even without the enhancement of my glasses. I love the scale and variety of lighting environments in each of the maps, often taking advantage of a very dark corner in a bid to ambush the enemy.

The sound being delivered through the use of 3D audio is nothing short of brilliant. The extremely satisfying click clack, boom of a shotgun, the gentle hissing of a smoke grenade going off, and the rumbling quake of an explosion from C4 and grenades sound incredibly life-like. Coupled together perfectly with crystal clear voice chat, as the squad communicates to effectively gain control of the situation. Raining all kinds of hell against your enemies has never sounded so good. Blend this all together with the soundtrack that feels as if you’re about to star in a Mission Impossible movie, your ears are going to have a great time.

Overall Firewall Ultra delivers a very solid multiplayer espionage experience that looks and feels incredible. Even though the progression balancing and graphical hitches do make things feel a little undercooked, this is one title that is only going to get better with age, provided we continue to see the level of support and love from the team at First Contact Inc.
What are you waiting for squad up, strategize, communicate, and dominate today on PS VR2

Written by: Gary Nielsen