Arcade Paradise VR Review (PSVR2) – Something Trong?

When Arcade Paradise released in 2022 it was the talk amongst the Finger Guns crew; even becoming Rossko’s Game of the Year in the ’22 edition of our annual list. One by one, members of the team were playing through it, loving it and subsequently recommending it. Consistently praised for its delightfully nostalgic homage to management sims and arcade cabinets, Arcade Paradise was certainly living up to its name. There’s been no contrarian effort on my part for not playing it, there have just been that many games on my ever-growing backlog. However, after the announcement of Arcade Paradise VR, it felt like the perfect time to check it out.

Much like the last lot of dirty washing left in the basket, I wasn’t to put it off for any longer and finally put a load on in my virtual laundrette. If you’re familiar with the flatscreen experience of the game you’ll be glad to know the foundations of the game are still relatively intact, but there is an overhaul on how you’ll divvy your time up, as well as the overall economy. Has this new dimension and changes in gameplay kept the ’90s dream alive? Let’s get into it.

Just Doing Laundry And Taxes

Exactly like the base game, Arcade Paradise VR sees you begrudgingly taking over your Dad’s laundrette to finally make some money for yourself. Quickly discovering some old arcade cabinets in the back of the building, you notice they have a pretty penny left inside them. With the arcade feeling like a more lucrative venture, the game sees you managing both aspects of the business in divergent ways. The story has been untouched and is disappointingly delivered with the same 2D cutscenes you’d have seen in the base game, though there aren’t many outside of the game’s intro.

Running the business will see you manually picking up baskets of dirty clothes, selecting whether they’re lights, darks or a mix on the machine; and then drying the washed clothes based on the colour of the basket. It makes for a lot more of an engrossing experience compared to the base game. Yes, it’s a lot more time-consuming but to compensate for that, your days at work are generally longer. When you’re not washing and drying clothes, you’ll be cleaning up rubbish lying around, cleaning the toilet and removing gum to earn some maintenance income and emptying your arcade machines for the cash they earn from customers.

Everything is gamified, much like how we all cope with the mundane in real life. You gain a rank for how well you clean the clothes, how far you throw the rubbish into the dumpster, time spent attacking the bog with your brush. It’s all thoroughly entertaining despite reflecting real life almost too well. I opted to go for smooth movements, but you can also teleport. The game supports various VR settings to your liking. Most items snap to your hand whilst you’re working, so you’re never reaching too far within the geometry of the game.

Trouble In Paradise?

However, it doesn’t feel quite 1-to-1 with my actions. Often my hands would get in the way of the washer door, gum would not be recognised when I try to pinch it and if I bump into the environment the screen flashes uncontrollably. There are a handful of these moments that create discomfort, which affects the length of time I would spend per session. This might be down to the PSVR2 hardware and may play better on other platforms, but this game, more than others caused motion sickness with very little gameplay time.

Outside of some of those VR-specific issues and after making some cash from the menial task of washing and maintaining, you’ll be building your arcade empire at the back of the shop. Starting off with a few cabinets, you’ll slowly start to renovate a bigger space to put more games in. They’re not just an alternate source of income but an abundance of entertainment for you to play yourself.

There’s a noticeable difference in the money you earn in Arcade Paradise VR. It feels like Nosebleed Interactive understands that VR playthroughs are more incremental play sessions, making the graft for cash feel way more obtainable. It’s a welcome overhaul to the game’s economy as I already had a bunch of arcade games to play by only Day 4.

No Tokens Required

Knowing when to put down the detergent and enjoy the fruits of my labour has been a personal battle. With the way I play games, I can’t see something that needs doing and leave it alone to do the fun stuff. It speaks to the ethos of Arcade Paradise VR, striking that balance of business and pleasure is essential to the game’s progression and how much fun you have with it.

Yes, I could have easily spent all day manually loading and unloading washing machines. In fact, I did, a lot. But I realised I was missing the point, there’s no quota to necessarily reach. Arcade Paradise goes with your pace and once I was rid of my self-prescribed interior pressure, I finally properly enjoyed all the games. Which there are a lot of and 6 more now with the VR release.

I wrongly presumed that all games would have VR support as the cabinets you’d see in the base game play exactly how they used to. Did I grab the steering wheel on Racer Chaser when I first approached? You bet! However, it’s still just the use of the analogue stick to play. Maybe my expectations were a little too high to have the 30+ games converted into VR, but I don’t think I’m alone with the notion. The VR additions are a treat though. Especially Smoke ‘Em which is the closest I’ll get to reliving Time Crisis-style dreams in the comfort of my own home.

Putting It On A Cold Wash

Arcade Paradise VR doesn’t quite have the visual finesse that its flat screen counterpart has. Colours are slightly washed out, textures are less defined and lighting is a bit dull. It’s not a deal breaker by any means but for a game that didn’t feel too graphically intensive, and to see it get quite the downgrade is a shame.

Outside of that, I’ve run into a few bugs like being stuck in doors, or within the level, rooms not opening and even minigames not spawning. I’m sure this’ll be fixed later down the line but for now, it’s bringing down the quality of the VR experience.

With all that said, when the game works as intended it is just as much of an addictive loop as it’s always been. You’ll never have as much fun doing laundry as you will in VR and you still have over 40 games to play inside your shop when you’re not busy crunching the numbers, expanding the business and creating an arcade paradise.

With the foundations of Arcade Paradise well and truly intact and even some subtle improvements to the game’s economy, the VR experience elevates many aspects of the base game. However, with some difficulty in its controls, some jarring flat screen moments and a few bugs this isn’t quite the new way to play.

Arcade Paradise VR is available now on PSVR2 (review platform), Meta Quest and PC via Steam.

Developer: Nosebleed Interactive
Publisher: Wired Productions

Disclaimer: In order to complete this review, we were provided with a promotional copy of the game. For our full review policy, please go here.

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