I’m aware that I’ve been pretty negative about MarineVerse Cup, which frustrates me because there were some genuinely great moments, fleeting though they were. I loved sitting in the boat and looking up towards the sails as they billowed in the wind, and the feeling of catching the wind just right and hearing the air whip past was exhilarating. Though, as you’re probably sensing, these moments were few and far between. MarineVerse Cup feels more like a sedate Sunday at a boating pond, rather than the thrill ride of sports sailing.

There are plenty of issues that still need refining like opening the menu, lack of saving and lack of a properly seated option. Even with all of that, there’s still hope. The world-building and narrative ideas show great promise and it would be tremendous to see further editions expand the premise. Only then would Rhythm of the Universe: Ionia be worth exploring.

Sam & Max: This Time It’s Virtual! is one of those VR experiences you want to love because the characters are so well defined, amusing and likeable, even when Max is handing you a bundle of lit TNT. That’s not enough to carry the experience when a big chunk of the gameplay is either shallow or frustratingly twitchy. Clocking in around 3-5 hours, once the final boss was down that was really enough, with no desire to pop back into improve a mini-game ranking. The pictures of all the old games were kind of cool though.

Gnomes & Goblins started out so well and would have easily suited that style for another hour, providing a short entertaining experience. Instead what’s been presented is a piece of content with two distinctly different sides, the latter trying to flesh out the former with inconsistent gameplay which waters down the charm. If you pick up Gnomes & Goblins enjoy the beginning sequence and then replay, just don’t go any further.

Throw Anything feels like a game show mini-game which has been extended way too much. It provides a decent amount of amusement for short periods but the gameplay mechanic soon loses its lustre and that’s not counting the other issues mentioned. It’s an idea that sounds great on paper for a VR experience with lots of interactive elements both in the core campaign and elsewhere yet the delivery falls flat.

ZED was such a promising title, and with Cyan Ventures helping to back it for launch, all the ingredients were there for a unique experience. However, that’s not been the case. A pretty videogame does not necessarily make for one that excites and enthrals. There has been some great VR content arrive this year, ZED is not one of them.

As the name indicates Escape Room Series: Robbery at the Museum is the first in a possible long-running escape room series – the start of the videogame showcases nine titles, eight of which are ‘coming soon’. However, there are plenty of issues to iron out before VRFocus could recommend it. With the irregularity of the puzzles, scenery which mostly looks cobbled together from basic Unity assets, and improvements needed with the hand design, if you’re after an escape room experience look else ware.

Unearthing Mars 2: The Ancient War is an improvement on the first Unearthing Mars, but the impressive visuals writes a cheque that the lacklustre gameplay simply cannot cash.

Magic Flight Academy needs to offer an awful lot more for the single-player experience for the price. What exists on Steam is exhilarating and reasonably fun, but simply isn’t worth the price of admission, especially when you consider the high-quality VR titles available on Steam for the same or lower price that offer much more in way of content.

Sniper Rust VR is trying quite hard to be the Sniper Elite 4 of VR, but sadly lack the setting, storyline, characters and polish needed to be in that league. A lot more work needs to be done before it can be considered as a recommended title, especially in terms of graphics and the great, gaping plot holes. What works in a casual mobile title does not always translate well into PC, especially in VR.

All in all there’s nothing to recommend Train Runner VR. Gameplay is shallow and repetitive, the character models look like they came from a 90s cartoon show trying 3D for the first time, and it’s priced at $19.99! Here’s a certainty, if you buy Train Runner VR on Steam you’ll request a refund with 30 mins. Save yourself time and money and just don’t.

Despite entertaining and satisfying basic gameplay, Shooty Fruity ultimately fails to rise above its roots as a wave shooter, with simplistic visual style, lack of story or multiplayer. It also aims to copy the supermarket setting a little too well, resulting in the annoying voice and muzak-style background music, which doesn’t help endear it to the audience. Shooty Fruity is a fun way to kill a couple of hours, but offers little else.

High Noon VR is one of those VR experiences that doesn’t do anything particularly wrong, the visuals are good and the main shooting aspect works perfectly well. But it’s in a very crowded genre that features some awesome videogames with unique selling points, such as Raw Data, Blasters of the Universe, DOOM VFR, Space Pirate Trainer and many, many more. It’s fairly cheap, so if you love cowboy style shoot-em-ups then give it a go, otherwise there are much better examples of this genre out there.

There is one massive upshot to the lack of content, and that’s the fact Blobby Tennis is free. And it needs to be or players wouldn’t be too happy if they paid for this. So is Blobby Tennis bad, actually no it isn’t. It’s not glitchy, everything looks and plays well, it just feels like an early access title that’s good for first-timers to VR. If the developer can expand the experience adding further replayability and more features then it’ll be more the better for it.

Ultimately, Heroes of the Seven Seas fails to rise about its roots as a simplistic mobile title. There is fun to be had sailing around and blowing stuff up, but at best it will kill a couple of hours before boredom sets in. In the end, the short length, poor writing and uninspired graphics let it down considerably. The PlayStation VR is capable of so much better than this.