Space Channel 5 VR: Kinda Funky News Flash! presents an opportunity to inhabit 1999’s idyllic vision of 1960’s culture through 2020’s virtual reality. Delivering this extremely specific hallucinatory novelty required an alarming price tag and the notice of a brisk runtime. Space Channel 5 remains a lustrous expression of the Dreamcast’s ethos, and a chance to actively embrace it merits attention and applause. Space Channel 5 VR is a brief, beautiful celebration of a bygone era.
Space Channel 5 VR is not challenging as a video game, and its exercise mode does not have enough content at launch to offer a serious workout. That being said, reuniting with Ulala in VR will be a memorable experience for fans of the series. If becoming a part of a short but atmospheric musical sounds fun and you already have a PS VR and two PlayStation Move controllers, Space Channel 5 VR is worth trying.
Space Channel 5 VR: Kinda Funky News Flash! is an ode to its Dreamcast roots. While it is as short as the original, it translates perfectly to the PSVR. The game’s got style, and it’s great to see the shiny world of Ulala come to life once again. If only it was priced a little more reasonably.
While PS VR ought to be a
natural medium for Space
Channel 5, it’s hard to see
Ulala as more than a nostalgic
opening act for the rest of the
competition. [Issue#174, p.87]
The worst part about this was that every second of this game was enjoyable. It was funny. It was charming. The music was great. I had a lot of fun. But ultimately the gameplay sort of just boils down to Just Dance in VR and Just Dance releases at a discount price and has more “game” just by the sheer number of songs. I mean there really isn’t much to say about Space Channel 5 VR other than there is not enough game here for the price they are asking, and more salt is poured into the wound because what is here is a lot of fun.
Space Channel 5’s dancing aliens and high camp work well in VR, but with only around half an hour of gameplay this represents astoundingly poor value for money.
This is a hard one to gauge, because it's not the quintessential VR game on the market - honestly, it's not even the quintessential VR rhythm game on the market - but SC5 was not exactly the quintessential rhythm game on the market, either. But what it did have was originality, and a control scheme that was perhaps less precise than its simplicity required. Fun, but flawed, but memorable.
To that end, KFNF! is, outside of the continued lack of Space Michael, the quintessential version of Space Channel 5, as it adds crisp enhanced visuals, new content, and motion controls that are at least as precise as they need to be and then some. It retains all the personality of the old game, and just in case somebody gets tripped up by anything, it uses Ulala as a third-person move guide on top of the initial morolian cues in a clever way by creating a true player character - identical twins and Space Channel 5 interns working under Ulala named Roo and Kie (i.e., 'Rookie', har har) who look to Ulala for instruction. On top of the story mode, it also includes a calorie counter for those who may enjoy that sort of thing, as well as an in-game character guide and model viewer, added costumes, an Arcade mode to play straight through the missions in short form, and a Trial mode for added challenge.
It’s really sad to see such a promising and ridiculously amazing video game franchise be revived 17 years later, only to be disappointed with a shallow cast, loss of loved characters (including the likes of fan-favorite Pudding), and identical playable characters (both of which only target ONE audience and don’t help to engage male players). However, the music is stylish, the animation is near-flawless for a video game, and Cherami Leigh is the ideal replacement for the one, and only, voice of Ulala — Apollo Smile. But the two overall, and most disappointing factors, of this game is the short gameplay and how the developers completely ignored Pudding altogether. The game is not worth the sale price, that’s true, but it’s worth a shot if it’s free and if you’re a die-hard Sega or Space Channel 5 fan.
SummaryDance is your power to protect the earth against invading aliens. Sega’s legendary Dreamcast rhythm game “Space Channel 5” is coming to virtual reality as ”Space Channel 5 VR Kinda Funky News Flash!” Your task is to master a series of life saving dancing poses while tuning into the cool beat. Experience the return of Ulala for yourselves...