VR Shooters have come a long way since the dawn of VR. At this point, we have some really stellar shooters for our VR headsets which range from horror to wacky shooters that are excellent for simply strapping on the VR and going on a fun shooting experience to kill the time. Dick Wilde 2 is such a title which is excellent for picking up and shooting some mutated sea life and other creatures. However, the fun just lasts for a short time.

Dick Wilde 2 is the sequel to the original Dick Wilde which was a very punishing VR shooter. At paper, it is a huge improvement over the first title and brings many new things to the table but in action, is it really worth going for? This is our review of Dick Wilde 2 and we will go over each and every little detail about Dick Wilde 2.

Bolverk Games has done a good job in making Dick Wilde 2 much better than the first title in the series. When you first start the game, the game seems extremely fun and less brutal than the first title. The game also features more content than the first title in the franchise and it brings co-op with it which is a very big addition to the second title in the franchise.

Dick Wilde 2 looks very cool with its animated visuals and catchy soundtrack playing in the background. It surely sets you in the mood to get out your revolvers, get on a raft and sail down the rivers and waterways to kill some mutated fish and other sea creatures. Nearly every enemy in Dick Wilde 2 wants to kill you.

You will come across some very unique enemies this time around which include mutated fish, shielded jelly fish, giant rats and dam building beavers. This time around you will also need to check out the skies because you will be also bombarded with fireballs from the sky by ducks and bats. The game sets off very slowly and gives you time to get comfortable with the game mechanics.

The main campaign of Dick Wilde 2 is divided in three unique worlds which get tougher and tougher as you progress. Each world has six campaign levels and 1 boss level. Apart from these levels, each world also has four gun challenges which you must complete to unlock new weapons for some reason. If you cannot complete the challenges, you are left with the most boring weapons in the game to play with.

At the start of the game, you only have access to a revolver, UZI and a small shotgun. The shotgun is useless in most situations unless you want to wait until the enemies or projectiles are right in your face. UZI suffers from very low accuracy and revolvers are well, revolvers. There is no reload in the game otherwise you would have spent half the level reloading your revolvers.

The guns are pretty expensive to purchase and you have to purchase them again and again in every level. Same goes for different upgrades. The purchases cost a lot of money so you cannot opt for both options. You have to sacrifice one thing or the other. During my playthrough, if I focused on upgrades, I was unable to buy good weapons and if I purchased good weapons, I was unable to get upgrades.

The initial three weapons are also useless in later level because they are slow to fire, inaccurate in most cases and not effective when there is too much going in the screen. You must unlock additional weapons or it will be very hard for you to complete the later levels with the initial three weapons. Weapons are decent but they are nothing too amazing to drool over.

You unlock new levels in the game by earning keys which can be earned by killing golden carps in the game when they jump out of the water. As you earn more and more keys, you get access to the boss battle of the world and then if you manage to beat the boss, you get access to the next world. Here, you must rinse and repeat to unlock the third and final world of the game.

While playing the main campaign levels of Dick Wilde 2, you will have multiple ways to complete the level. You can pick your options and then come back to the same level to try the other route and collect more golden keys. It adds replaybility to the levels but once you have acquired all keys and three stars, there is not much to do in each level.

The game is pretty smooth and bug free while playing. There is no lag while playing and the shooting is pretty solid after you unlock better weapons. The game also really throws it in your face in certain situations. Sometimes the screen is so full of action that you cannot even focus on what is happening and you keep getting damaged which leads to an early death.

Dick Wilde 2 is less punishing than the first title but it is certainly not a walk in the park. It still punishes you at times. It is not impossible to beat but will surely make you sweat in some certain situations. The weapon system could have been a lot better and the fact that you have to buy everything again and again every time you start a level just kind of makes it less fun to play.

You get a very limited budget and by the time you get access to good weapons, the level is over. Just like the weapons, your upgrades also last for a level. You must strategies and choose between the weapons and upgrades because your funds are not infinite. You get more funds in the levels by destroying debris and also killing enemies but they are mostly not enough to fund both the upgrades and good weapons.

The fact that it is a shooting game but it forces you to stick to a single gun for an entire level because you have to pay again and again to get them is a bad mechanic and it really killed it for me. The levels get bland and boring after some time because you are doing the same thing again and again. There is very little freedom of picking weapons and having fun with them.

Dick Wilde 2 is a big improvement over the first title but sadly it is still lacking in many areas. Co-op is a very good addition to the game. Although I did not try co-op myself but I think it is still a good option to add to this title for people who have friends to play the game with. The level design is decent and guns are just plain boring.

Verdict

Despite giving you a strong start. Dick Wilde 2 fails to maintain its charm for a long time. It is an excellent title for short VR shooting sessions however for long time, it is just too bland and boring. You are basically repeating the same process over and over again with no added bonus for the next level. Still it holds its own place in the VR shooters and if you have nothing else to play, it can be a short termed distraction from boredom.

Final Score: 6/10