Promises of Immersion Dulled By Restrictive Gameplay

Mobile Suit Gundam: Silver Phantom is a new sort of VR film hybrid for Quest, mashing up a movie’s worth of real-time rendered narrative with sprinkles of first-person gameplay, billing itself an ‘interactive anime’.

On paper, it sounds really cool, offering you essentially two ways to step into your favorite anime universe and experience it in all of its Shonen glory. In practice though, it’s a total guessing game of when you can get to have fun, and when you’re expected to just sit back and live out your new life as a camera–person-chimera.

Silver Phantom, which enlists you as the protagonist in the beloved mecha-filled world, will no doubt tickle the fancy of hardcore Gundam fans by virtue of the fact that, well, it’s Gundam, however most others will probably be left scratching their heads. Me included.

But not for the characteristically heavy doses of exposition or patently Japanese social mores on full display—I’m a dusty, old anime fan myself—but because it packs in all of the lesser ills of VR filmmaking while being way too precious with moments of fun.

In Silver Phantom’s quest to offer up both embodiment and immersion though—slightly different concepts—its managed to fumble both at the same time. The film’s narrative richness and visual flash envelopes you entirely (immersion), but is substantively hindered by relying too heavily on replicating traditional shot composition in VR, which is a shame, because everything looks awesome, from characters expressions to the full-blown mecha action happening in space.

While its smattering of first-person game mechanics are meant to make you feel like you’re really there and have an effect on the environment (embodiment), those moments are doled out at seemingly random intervals, leaving you to constantly question why you’re being unceremoniously dropped back into a first-person POV to engage in one-off jobbies—essentially feeling like the little brother who’s only allowed to play with an unplugged controller all while the real action goes on around you, never knowing when your older brother will concede and let you press a few token buttons.

I admire the trio of developers (Bandai Namco Filmworks, Atlas V, Albyon) for taking the risk on developing the two-hour narrative, although it just doesn’t feel like the future of cinematic VR to me, but rather one that has replicated the same mistakes early 360 filmmakers have made ever since enterprise-level VR cameras saw their boom in the mid-2010s.

Switching cameras too often is jarring, and treating your head like it’s on a boom is something you either don’t really mind, or vehemently hate. Either way, it comes at the cost of embodiment, as you never know when your POV will switch, and whether you’re back in your body for brief moments of action.

And (rant continues) instead of letting scenes breathe, and calling the user’s attention to specific action, you’re basically encouraged to keep your head still—worsened by the fact that frame rate is fairly jumpy, making subtitles difficult to read. Granted, you can experience it with English audio and no subtitles, but that does little for those looking to experience it in Japanese with English subs (signature look of superiority). If neither are your first language, it will be a little tough to get used to.

When the final credits roll, Silver Phantom’s replay value comes in the form of an optional mixed reality wave shooter, which feels stylistically similar to the ‘Xortex 26XX’ mini-game in Valve’s The Lab (2016). Going pew-pew-pew with toy-sized Gundams in your own living room will never not make me feel like a kid again—but one who was left more than a little scorned by not getting to have more fun during the main event.

There’s also a cool MR gallery that lets you get up close and personal with a handful of mechas—something fans should definitely appreciate.

In the end, you can pay $16 for a substantially worse movie-going experiences, so take it for what you will. It’s a flashy, sometimes fun experience that Gundam fans will probably gel with, which is great. But just not for me.

If you’re into it, you can get Mobile Suit Gundam: Silver Phantom on the Horizon Store for Quest 2, 3 and 3S.