Star Wars: Tales From The Galaxy’s Edge Enhanced Edition PSVR2 Review. It’s reasonable to say that Star Wars: Tales From The Galaxy’s Edge Enhanced Edition (try saying that really fast, ten times in a row) exists to fill a very particular niche and satisfy a very specific fandom. Which is to say that Star Wars: Tales From The Galaxy’s Edge Enhanced Edition is essentially a VR experience that has been crafted from the ground up by Disney’s ILMxLAB to thrust players into a trio of adventures in a galaxy far, far away.
Star Wars: Tales From The Galaxy’s Edge Enhanced Edition PSVR2 Review
An Enjoyably Immersive If Limited VR Excursion Into A Galaxy Far, Far Away
The emphasis there is on ‘experience’ too, just to be clear since Star Wars: Tales From The Galaxy’s Edge Enhanced Edition is more akin to a series of joined up experiences rather than overall cohesive game that would seek to tax the mind and motor skills of players duly. However, while its design might be more skewed towards providing an immersive experience rather than a challenging videogame in the traditional sense, Star Wars: Tales From The Galaxy’s Edge Enhanced Edition nonetheless manages to justify its own existence by appealing to VR newcomers and Star Wars fans alike that want to take an immersive journey into one of their favourite universes.
Originally beginning life as an impressive addition to the Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge area inside Disneyland Resort in California and Walt Disney World Resort in Florida, Star Wars: Tales From The Galaxy’s Edge Enhanced Edition invites players to experience a veritable microcosm of the Star Wars universe, putting players in control of everyone from a droid repair technician to a Jedi tasked with training their Padawan.
Certainly, Star Wars: Tales From The Galaxy’s Edge Enhanced Edition wastes no time in getting the player thrust right into the action too. After a brief smattering of tutorial screens to setup the control system and options, players find themselves in the space boots of the aforementioned droid repair technician who isn’t having a particularly good day as their freighter is being boarded by pirates and so it’s a case of grabbing the nearest blaster, laying waste to bad dudes and then getting the heck outta dodge (heading to the escape pod).
As a Star Wars fan, just that initial sequence feels like franchise catnip, as you’ve got the swell of John Williams iconic soundtrack in the background as you’re blasting enemies and physically interacting with the sort of environment that has only ever been glimpsed in film or TV. Of course, the PSVR2’s impressive visual grunt is brought to bear here too, as the pin-sharp 4K resolution affords the whole affair a degree of clarity and fidelity that just wouldn’t have been possible on PSVR.
Most satisfying is just how physical everything appears to be in the world. From pulling down switches and pulling out your trusty blaster (or lightsabre) to deal with incoming enemies to using power tools to unscrew metal compartments – complete with full and palpable haptic feedback as you feel the screws being released from their housing – the world of Star Wars: Tales From The Galaxy’s Edge Enhanced Edition feels beautifully physical and the PSVR2 Sense controllers do a fantastic job of conveying that sensation to the player.
Aside from its main story that casts players as the previously detailed droid repair technician, Star Wars: Tales From The Galaxy’s Edge Enhanced Edition has three entirely separate stories (or tales) that the player can indulge themselves in, from being a noble Jedi to taking on the mantle of a villainous assassin droid, the folks at ILMxLAB have done a good job in providing a compelling cross-section of experiences within the Star Wars universe for players to get stuck into. And again, it’s not particularly taxing stuff. Sure, there is some light puzzle solving to be done, some enemies to do away with, credits to be found which can be spent on various trinkets and a whole lot of spectacle to gawp at, but it’s clear that the design DNA of Star Wars: Tales From The Galaxy’s Edge Enhanced Edition hasn’t really evolved all that much from its amusement park experience origins.
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The thing is of course, that’s also completely fine. While any piece of gaming hardware arguably lives and dies by the quality of its games, with such an immersive platform like PSVR2, experiences like Star Wars: Tales From The Galaxy’s Edge Enhanced Edition also earn their keep if they can sufficiently exhilarate the player with audiovisual spectacle while also providing them with a detailed world to escape to for few hours. And that’s precisely what Star Wars: Tales From The Galaxy’s Edge Enhanced Edition achieves.
Absolutely awash in fan service including recognisable folks from the movies and TV shows such as C3PO, Yoda and others, dripping with Star Wars iconic audiovisual style with lashings of technical polish, Star Wars: Tales From The Galaxy’s Edge Enhanced Edition is an immersive slice of the Star Wars universe brought to life in gorgeous VR and ably bolstered by the PSVR2’s high-end specs, rendering the whole affair with a level of fidelity that just hasn’t been seen before on a home console.
Able to be entirely completed in just a few hours, it’s certainly fair to say that Star Wars: Tales From The Galaxy’s Edge Enhanced Edition is more of a morsel than a banquet and yet, it still feels compelling because of how lovingly authentic the universe of Star Wars has been replicated here. Though folks who aren’t fans of Star Wars won’t quite get quite so much from it, Star Wars: Tales From The Galaxy’s Edge Enhanced Edition nonetheless earns its keep as an attractive, if brief, showcase of what PSVR2 can do, all wrapped up in the delectable veneer of a galaxy far, far away.
Review code kindly supplied by Sony UK.
Star Wars: Tales From The Galaxy’s Edge Enhanced Edition releases alongside the PSVR2 hardware on February 22, 2023.