A Fun Singleplayer VR Tactical Shooter On The Meta Quest 3 - Tactical Assault VR Review

I keep coming back to Tactical Assault VR. Whenever I want to jump into Virtual Reality and do a bit of Singleplayer tactical shooting there’s no game that I’ve found myself drifting towards loading up for a few missions more often than this one.

Part of me wonders why, and the answer I keep coming back to is just how snappy and satisfying the whole experience is. Despite having very basic and blocky visuals, Tactical Assault VR is the closest any Singleplayer shooter on the Meta Quest 3 (it is also on PCVR via Steam by the way) has come to absolutely nailing the sound and most importantly the feeling of a quick and responsive tactical shooter in Virtual Reality.

There are, weirdly enough, very few good representations of a Singleplayer VR Tactical Shooter out there for the Meta Quest 3, though there are some in development on PCVR. Onward is another good example I suppose, but its Singleplayer is lacking when compared to the game we’re talking about in this article.

A long ranged firefight in Tactical Assault VR, a fantastic VR Tactical Shooter

There are two areas that this game is incredibly strong in and has only become stronger in over time with updates. The first is one that is really important for any tactical shooter whether in Virtual Reality or on the flat screen, and that is the AI.

Varied Missions And Reactive AI Are A Must For A Good VR Tactical Shooter

What is a VR tactical shooter without difficult AI opponents? Multiplayer focused games don’t have this problem, because they can rely on other players being smart and reactive. Tactical Assault VR, despite featuring Multiplayer PvP options, is much more focused on the PvE aspect of things.

The challenge in this game isn’t fighting other players as much as it is fighting against AI enemies that can and will take you down with a single bullet if you’re not careful. They’re not to be underestimated, and both you and they will go down when hit very few times, or just once if the shot is to the head.

Breaching a room with a pistol in Tactical Assault VR

This is a hallmark of any tactical shooter game. The AI opponents must be capable and they must respond very quickly. Otherwise what would be tactical about the game? You’d just breeze through every door and corner recklessly and without the need to think about your environment and your opponents in a tactical manner.

While still not up to the level of some flatscreen games like Ready Or Not, I have to say that the NPC opponents in Tactical Assault VR are very impressive and beyond anything found in other VR Tactical Shooters.

They can be suppressed by hits and near hits and will change positions to chase you or go prone to avoid incoming fire. Sometimes they will respond to nearby gunfire by running to the scene and supporting their fellows. However that isn’t always the case, and you’ll still often find AI opponents sticking to their patrol paths or just standing in a room just a few meters from where their buddies are being gunned down in plain sight.

Still, the enemies in Tactical Assault VR are leaps and bounds better than most VR shooters on the Meta Quest 3, and they’ve been getting better all the time. They can hear you coming if you’re too loud and be ready to shoot you in the face the moment you open a door that they’re covering. Sometimes they’ll even shoot through the door if you’re on the other side.

Speaking of doors, there is also an impressive collection of missions in Tactical Assault VR, and more are being added all of the time. Each of the main missions has an objective, a custom map, and its own suite of tactical considerations for the environment you’re fighting in and the mission you are completing.

This huge bank map offers some unique tactical considerations in a VR Tactical Shooter

Each of these maps makes you consider each set of buildings and environments differently and gives you different routes to take and options to consider for how you approach them. So you’ll have to reconsider your loadout and choice of weapons for each. If you fail, well that’s always a lesson learned you can take to your next attempt.

It would be nice if enemies had a little more variance in their roles, like snipers or machine gun bunkers, but there are some very impressive examples, like a Technical Truck on one of the newer maps.

There’s even a randomized shoothouse style map with procedurally generated doors and enemies and a training map that also features some randomization to enemy placement. If you want to get as tactical as possible then there are a bunch of options in this VR tactical shooter.

Of course, if soloing a mission seems too difficult, and it’s pretty clear that they’re meant to be very hard to solo, you can always team up with others in Multiplayer. Though in Singleplayer it’s the difficulty in finishing a mission that keeps me coming back, otherwise I would have completed them all a long time ago and gotten bored.

A VR Tactical Shooter With Varied And Responsive Guns

So the missions are varied and interesting. The AI is better than most. What about the weapons? A lot of games whether in Virtual Reality or on the flatscreen easily fall into the trap of making weapons feel very similar to each other.

Tactical Assault VR doesn’t have that problem, and for a VR game that’s even more impressive. Virtual Reality means that you’re using even more of your senses to really get in tune with what you are doing in the world of the game.

In VR you aren’t just seeing what is happening on a distant screen, the screens are so much closer to your eyes, and your actual body movements correspond to what you’re doing, so you have a much greater sense of being within the game world.

Your feeling of touch and balance comes much more into play than on the flat screen, especially when it comes to handling objects. That’s why it’s so great that the guns in Tactical Assault VR feel so varied and different from each other.

One of the many fantastic weapons you can enjoy in Tactical Assault VR, a fantastic VR Tactical Shooter

Guns with a bullpup design, or smaller SMGs, will have you naturally holding your hands closer together than more traditional assault rifles with the grip towards the rear of the rifle and the foregrip near the front.

Each of the weapons controls better if you hold them like they’re intended to be held. Actually having to adjust your grip to the length of the weapon not only increases immersion but naturally improves your ability to react and aim.

Even without the physical weapon to feel, it’s incredible how each of the guns in Tactical Assault VR can feel different to hold despite there being nothing physically in your hand to grab onto except for your touch controllers.

Though that’s something common to many polished VR shooters, where Tactical Assault VR really shines is how each of the weapons feels to fire as well as hold. Weapons generally sound very punchy and each shot feels like it has real weight to it like firing a real gun, because the varying amount of recoil to each weapon not only makes each unique but also feels very realistic. It’s clear a lot of time and effort went into making the weapons of Tactical Assault VR feel good and weighty like actual weapons.

Each action you take on your weapon, putting the magazine inside, or pulling back the charging handle to load a round into the chamber, lacks the floatiness and feeling of weightlessness that a lot of objects in VR games have. Firing them also feels like a dream.

Larger weapons naturally have more recoil and really kick the gun back, and the weapons really sound impressive too whether they’re loud or suppressed. The entire ensemble of tight VR controls and sound design clearly shows that a lot of attention and care has been given to each of Tactical Assault VR’s weapons. Switching between them changes how you play and leaves a lot of room for personal preference.

Despite the very low res look of Tactical Assault VR, which I think is likely a big reason that it is not more popular than it is, this is a level of polish in weapon design and implementation only seen among other legends of the genre like Into The Radius or Onward.

This even extends to the other parts of your loadout like the various tools and grenades that you can use from flashbangs to bulletproof shields to breaching charges and breaching shotguns.

A little sniping in Tactical Assault VR

This has been a quick review of why Tactical Assault VR is such a fantastic Singleplayer VR tactical shooter. While at the time of writing this game is still in development it is getting better all of the time and has already nailed some of the basics of what makes a tactical shooter excellent. It’s a quick and easy game to jump into for a few rounds and really makes you take things cautiously and respect its difficulty. Enjoy!