Jack of All Controllers

• Developer – Squanch Games
• Publisher – Squanch Games
• Platforms – PS4, PS VR, PC, HTC Vive, and Oculus Rift
• Release Date – May 31st (PS4, PS VR) and June 4th (PC, HTC Vive, Oculus Rift)
• Price – $29.99
• Review Code Provided – Yes, by Squanch Games
• Reviewed on – PS4 Pro and PS VR

When I first gazed my eyes upon Trover Saves the Universe I fell in love. Rick and Morty is without a doubt just about my favorite show of all time. So having yet another game come to life from the co-creator of the show Justin Roiland should be a treat, right? Let’s find out.

This adventure begins with you, a Chairopian (a race of alien creatures glued to a chair that only has a DualShock 4 as a means of getting around), needing to stop Glorkon since he stole both of your dogs and placed them in his eyes, gaining the power of pretty much a God-like monster. It’s nothing too complex but that is how it works in the favor, this game isn’t meant to be taken seriously and is suppose to just be fun the entire way through. So kill the Glorkon, save the dogs, and that’s a wrap on the story. This game is as dysfunctional as the Rick and Morty TV show. You meet this purple eyed monster Trover who is there to you on your mission but as soon as things go south he wants to bail. The relationship between Trover and the Chairopian progresses quite fast and they soon become a good duo since Trover no longer complains about you.

Movement is determined by these blue checkpoints that you’re stationed at. Trover can move freely until he hits the point where you can hardly see him. At that point, you must come back and make sure that Trover warps you to the next blue portal so you can move places. So it isn’t a fully 3D game like you expect where you the character, are exploring. This could also be a restriction due to VR, but I feel it doesn’t harm the game in any shape or form. Along the way, Trover receives power ups by getting these little creatures that can be eaten by taking out the… creatures in his eyeballs. They will level up, basically in the grossest way possible. From there you will have the ability to do things like double jump, eventually dodge roll, and more. Another way to gain powers, this time for yourself, is to have aliens… spit on you… I wish I was kidding, I really do. Your chair will become superpowered and allow you to do things like grabbing items, going high up in the air so you can see above everything, and even the ability to throw stuff around. Collecting green power babies will allow Trover to gain more lives when you return to your spacepod which will come in handy since at the last half hour of the game, the difficulty gets ramped up to 11. Now there is also a non-explicit mode, but that isn’t fun. 😉

This game is just outstanding in terms of comedic play. I laughed almost about every single time someone spoke. Trover’s antics are top notch too. If he isn’t being a troll and yelling “fuck you” to someone then I don’t believe he is statified. Just the most random stuff comes out of not only Trover’s mouth, but out of all the characters you encounter. Like for instance, you meet Voodoo Person, and he is so awkward. He talks about getting the vile of Glorkon juice “primed and ready” in such a creepy and gross way then complains that his “anus hole” hurts from all the sticks he put up there. What in hell is even this game I thought to myself literally dying of laughter as Voodoo Person continuously moans. He wants you to essentially kill a village of innocent people, once again playing to the narrative of how amazingly disturbed this story really is. Doing that task grants you the trophy “WE ❤ MURDER” which is even worse since now you feel bad. Trover is also self-aware and breaks the fourth wall constantly by saying stuff similarly along the lines of “I was useless throughout this entire game” which is quite the hoot. I think I shit my pants when Trover and his ex-friend started going back and fourth over the fact if Trover was a “Chairist” or not and he refutes that remark by saying he knows many Chairopian people. I literally lost it, it’s just so stupidly amazing.

Enemies are something else, I swear you’ll fall in love with many of them. Glorkon made clones of himself and they are like people in say Square Enix’s Tomb Raider series before you approach them. They will have conversations but they’re not normal ones, they just ride on each other, calling them stupid and all that fun stuff. I wish more titles like this would be FUN, what games are meant to bring. When your foes make you want to fight more of them because they are so awesome, that is when you know you have a fantastic game on display. There are a few types of rivals overall, some ranged and some not ranged. They all fall in 3-4 strikes except for foes with shields. The quickest way to kill a particlar type is by taking a spear a monster dropped and throwing it at armed guards to knock off the armor.

“Dare I say, Trover might be the best game to experience in VR, only to be rivaled by Sony Interactive Entertainment’s phenomenal Astro Bot: Rescue Mission”

VR shines once again with games. While Trover is completely playable outside of VR, you can also play it fully in VR if you want. This makes the game alter some gameplay aspects; when prompted to answer a question, you’d have to actually move your head while in “flat” play, you are prompted to press the d-pad left or right. So you absolutely get an extra level of immersion and I appreciate Squanch Games for adapting to VR play rather than making the game the same between versions. The ability to control Trover in VR also seems to be a little more, free, I guess you can say. It just feels completely natural, meanwhile in flat play, it feels like Trover takes even longer to get to point A to point B. Now due to PlayStation VR’s limited tracking, Squanch Games put in a brilliant system. When you stare at the camera and look directly left or directly right with your head, all is good. Once you start to turn around, the screen slowly fades to black which lets you know where your position is which more games need, and this is even more critical with PS VR due to the single camera tracking. Dare I say, Trover might be the best game to experience in VR, only to be rivaled by Sony Interactive Entertainment’s phenomenal Astro Bot: Rescue Mission.

Speaking on the graphical prowess, Trover is so gorgeous. The style of the game just makes colors pop, the worlds are perfectly full of trees, rocks, platforms, just superb level design which is something missing in a load of VR titles. Trover in specific looks insanely detailed up close, it seems like a TV show CGI quality in a sense, so it’s impressive to say the least. The only downside visually, and I mean only, is it doesn’t seem to be a high resolution. I played the entire game on PS4 Pro (even when I did my 2 hour VR session) and it seems pixelated. It just might not have anti-aliasing but even a good distance away from my 4K display it just looks a little more subpar than I’d wish.

At the end of the day, Trover Saves the Universe might just be my Game of the Year. It is a perfect game in VR and even outside of VR it is just a thrill because of the impeccable comedy and stellar gameplay. The story is the games only true weakness, but literally EVERYTHING else makes up for that shortcoming. If you love Rick & Morty, I instantly would recommend this game to you. Hell even if you don’t, BUY THIS GAME, you will unequivocally love Trover. Also, dear Squanch Games, give pink Trover his own spin-off, do ittttttttt!

9.5/10

Trover Saves the Universe is an absolute blast and worth EVERY cent.