Vive puzzler Fantastic Contraption hits PlayStation VR next week

The incredible machine

The weird and whimsical Fantastic Contraption releases next Tuesday, July 11 for $20 on PlayStation VR, and as someone who missed out on the Vive version, I’m still curious to try it. You kind of need to see it in motion, but surface level, it’s a game about building toy-like machines to solve puzzles.

“We redesigned the gameplay experience especially for PS VR, taking advantage of the likelihood that you have a favorite place to relax in front of your PlayStation 4,” explains Radial Games’ Chris Floyd. “We’ve included special PS VR-only features that allow you to resize and position your gameworld at the press of a button, which we’re sure you’ll find slick and amazing.”

There will also be exclusive new levels and, for folks with PlayStation 4 Pro, you’ll see enhancements:

• 8xAA – We averaged out all those sharp corners for smoother looking curves!
• Higher-resolution textures – you can almost smell that wood-grain!
• Improved backdrops and scenery
• Additional special-effects and visual flairs
• Extra island decorations
• 125% resolution oversampling – A fancy way of saying that things look real sharp in there.

It’s nice to see everything laid out so clearly. A few times now, I’ve advised people on whether or not they should spring for a Pro when buying their first PS4 with the intent to get into VR, and I could’ve used concise notes like this to point to as an example. This port of Fantastic Contraption seems like a best-case scenario, though I am a tad worried about the hardware’s finicky PlayStation Move tracking.

Fantastic Contraption Launches July 11th for PS VR [PlayStation Blog]