Trover saves the Universe – PSVR | Review

By James Perry
| 22nd June 2019
| PS4, PSVR, Review
| 0

Trover saves the universe is a weird game, no other way of putting it. Justin Roiland from Rick and Morty brings across the madness and ‘so what’ attitude of that world into this game. And to be fair, it works, if you like that style.

It is hard to describe what this game is. There is platform puzzling with a bit of combat, exploration and third and first-person viewpoints. Available to be played as a standard PS game or through PSVR, the game mechanics work fine in both. The VR version does offer a better grasp of depth when moving Trover though so was more enjoyable that way for me.

So, the story is Glorkon, some alien lifeform has stolen your two dogs to fill his eye holes and becomes super powerful. Yes, you read that correctly. It is then your job to try and rescue your dogs and save the universe from them. Along the way, you will be treated to some great laughs and pretty decent gameplay as you explore different worlds collecting power babies and defeating Glorkon’s army.

You are a Chairorpian, who is permanently in a floating chair and who controls that chair with a very DualShock looking controller in their hands. You control Trover, a purple creature who has some kind of baby things as eyes. Trover plays like a standard character on the analogue sticks with buttons for jumping and attacking while you move around in your chair by placing Trover in teleport pods and teleporting to them.

Now that might sound complicated, but it plays well once you get the hang of it. You can fly up in your chair to get a better view of puzzles and the map which comes in helpful when trying to complete some of the jumping sections. It all comes together as you get upgrades for your chair and Trover.

There are not many upgrades in the game but keeping with the bizarre world let me explain how you unlock your upgrades, and no it isn’t holding square over a skill try point. You will be given power babies with a new upgrade. You hold that baby in your hand while pulling one of your eyes out, which are also babies. The power baby will then eat the old baby and then you place that back in your eye. Upgrade unlocked.

Now the gameplay is fine, and I didn’t find myself bored or frustrated at any point but where this game starts to excel though is the interactions, dialogue and experience you are about to be brought into. Trover talks directly to you, making you feel part of the game. You can actually respond to questions by nodding or shaking your head while in VR.

I happily sat there listening to the arguments Trover would have with alien enemies or characters across the world. It is hard to not just enjoy it and relax into the bizarre world you are in. However, equally the dialogue may be the biggest thing some people don’t like about this game, luckily you can play the censored version of it, I didn’t. Even better, go for a second playthrough and you might find so slight changes to the chat.

Away from the interactions, you will be exploring some colourful and weird worlds. There are some jumping puzzles that will never really push you too far and the combat remains pretty basic. Your upgrades come together nearer the end of the game to make combat a bit more interesting but once again nothing too challenging. Overall, the game is pretty relaxed and just wants you to enjoy it.

There are green power babies to collect on each world, these are stored on your travel ship and offer upgrades. Once again, the weirdness comes into play as each of these green power babies has their own little bio. They offer a bit more of a challenge as you try and locate them on each world. Plus, as Trover keeps reminding you, there is a great reward for collecting them all.

Final Impressions

The game will only take you about 6 hours to play so it never really feels like it drags on too much. This game is built of its weird and wonderful world. The dialogue between characters. The laughs had from meeting characters in the world. However, you do need to enjoy this style of comedy otherwise this game might be torture for you.

*Code kindly provided by the publisher for review*

Developer: Squanch Games / Publisher: Gearbox Software
Release date: 31/05/2019
Platforms: PSVR
Platform Reviewed: PS4, PSVR