Trover Saves the Universe

Trover Saves the Universe is an ambitious and solid first outing from the team at Squanch Games. There’s a real game here with some actual replayability thanks to hidden power babies, a few branching paths, and the crazy amount of voice acting that went into it. It looks good, it plays good, and it is guaranteed to make you laugh out loud several times during your adventure. At a price point of $29.99, you’re getting quite a deal considering the amount of content being delivered, especially for a VR experience. While Trover has a few flaws, the overall package executes what it sets out to acco...

To say Trover Saves the Universe is a good VR game would be an understatement. It perfectly blends over-the-top comedy and solid combat while making the most of the VR technology at hand by dragging players into the world and making them centre of the story. Its brand of comedy will not be to everyone's liking, but I still think Trover Saves the Universe stands on its own as one of the best VR games released to date.

So, I just finished saving the universe. Well, technically, a weird purple guy named Trover saved the universe, but I helped him along from the comfort of my couch. Along the way, we electrocuted a guy in a bathtub, pushed someone’s house off a cliff and yanked two dogs out of the eye holes of an evil dude named Glorkon. And it was awesome.

Trover Saves the Universe is a short and sweet VR platformer wrapped in one of the most ridiculous video game stories you’ll ever see. Justin Roiland and Squanch Games have done an excellent job of taking the ludicrous, freeform humor of Rick and Morty and molding it around a straightforward but enjoyable 3D brawler – even if it’s lacking the complex and well-crafted plots the best episodes of that show are known for. It loses something when played in 2D, but takes such great advantage of its unique VR mechanics that it’s one anyone (or at least anyone over 17, given its rating) with a headset...

Trover Saves the Universe is slick, unexpected, and vulgar beyond belief. You likely already know if the sort of humor in Trover is for you, and if its not, you should give Trover a wide berth. But if you are the sort of sicko that likes this sort of stuff, there is a surprisingly solid game lurking beneath the rapid-fire jokes and bizarre imagery.

If you are a fan of Rick and Morty and own a PSVR headset, Trover Saves the Universe is a must-play. And even if you have never watched the show, I would still recommend picking the game up. Your sense of humor might not line up with Justin Roiland, but the $30 price point is a fairly low investment compared to other titles. Trover Saves the Universe can be completed in under about 5 hours but can be extended by finding all of the power babies in each world, which will probably contain a lot more funny banter between Trover and the environment. Trover Saves the Universe overall is a great expe...

Same old story: Trovers killing Glorkons.

There’s a concept I call “VR smoothing” in which an experience that technically can be played without VR hardware is made better with VR. Trover Saves the Universe is still going to be laugh-out-loud funny no matter how you approach it, but the additional context and enhanced mechanics when using a headset make it a little bit sweeter. Just look at it as more of a comedy experience that happens to be a platformer.

A rare, honest-to-goodness video game comedy that will delight Rick and Morty fans but also features some imaginative use of VR.

Luckily, Trover Saves the Universe is worth playing regardless of the uninspired combat. Players won't be compelled to stick with it for the barebones gameplay, but rather, to see where the story goes and what crazy character they will encounter next. It's certainly not the most engaging game from a gameplay standpoint, but its story and humor will make it difficult for anyone to quit before they reach its unexpected conclusion.

Trover Saves the Universe was created with a very specific audience in mind. Fans of Roiland’s work will absolutely adore this game, but those who don’t like his particular style of humor will find this game’s writing tasteless and annoying. The game is a little weak on the gameplay front, but the hilarious dialogue and beautiful scenery more than make up for that. Trover Saves the Universe is an excellent game, but only a select group of people will enjoy it.

So should you get Trover Saves The Universe? Given its thirty dollar price tag, a lot of Trover's flaws can be overlooked, yet that's still a steep price for a short game with little replay value. Sure, the game offers dialogue options, but your choice of "Yes" or "No" has zero effect on the plot. Fortunately, the title screen notes that "Hot Free DLC" is on the way, which might help in the long run.