Set your sights on being the FBI’s best as Lethal VR shoots onto PlayStation VR

Welcome to VR training recruits! I’m Alex Ward and I’m Creative Director at Three Fields Entertainment. Today we announce our latest game, Lethal VR, a fast action weapons training experience for PlayStation VR.

As a UK based independent developer, we’re excited to be partnering with the brilliant UK team at publisher Team17 for this game, which is targeting a holiday 2016 release.

Lethal VR gives players the chance to test their shooting and throwing skills in a virtual training environment. You will get the chance to step into the shoes of an FBI recruit, and if you’re good enough, you’ll also get the chance to recreate a few scenes from some classic movies.

 
In order to complete your training, you’ll have to master a variety of different weapons and techniques. You’ll be tested with both handguns and knives, submachine guns and throwing stars. We’ll track how fast your Quickdraw is, but also your speed, accuracy and consistency. Special scores are awarded for both Bullseyes and Headshots. Your scores will be tracked and your performance will be rated in over 30 different challenges spread across 5 simulations. Do you have what it takes to earn a “Lethal” rating in every challenge?

As you successfully complete each Simulation, you’ll unlock some special Bonus challenges. These feature legendary weapons from the world of the movies. Online leaderboards will allow you to compare your scores against your Friends via the PlayStation Network.

You’ll be able to try you skills with the following weapons:

• A gold plated gun inspired by the weapon in the film The Man With The Golden Gun
• A very big knife inspired by the knife in the movie Crocodile Dundee
• A Magnum revolver inspired by the weapon in the film Magnum Force
• Throwing Stars inspired by those seen in the movie Kill Bill
• A razor tipped Bowler Hat inspired by the one thrown in the film Goldfinger
• An automatic machine pistol inspired by the one seen in the film Robocop

 
As developers, the arrival of PSVR inspired us to think about both the stories we could tell and the worlds we could now allow you to step right into. Lethal VR was inspired by some famous sequences from some of my favourite movies – Point Break’s opening sequence, Magnum Force’s police training range, and the opening from The Man With The Golden Gun (Warning: last link contain strong violence).

These sequences, and many more like that, have always stayed with me, and I’ve always wanted to be able to try my luck on a shooting range like those shown in those movie clips. If you’ve always wanted to – we’re giving you that chance with Lethal VR.

The closest I came was back in 2006. I was directing a shooting title called BLACK for the PlayStation 2 in my previous job as Creative Director at Criterion Games. I spent countless hours watching shoot out scenes from popular action movies. I also spent a few days at a gun range in Las Vegas, Nevada. They had a system that projected DVD video scenes onto a special wall that you could fire real bullets at.

It was designed to train US police officers and tested their skills in a variety of different situations. I spent a few hours studying it, and actually appeared on the front page of the local Las Vegas newspaper firing a revolver at the screen. However, it was nothing like the sort of gun range that Keanu Reeves or Clint Eastwood got to use. Nor did the targets pop up suddenly as either friend or foe. And shooting at real people on a paused DVD felt much more terrifying than entertaining to me.

 
So I decided to start building the experience I’ve always wanted to play with the small but incredibly talented team here at Three Fields Entertainment.

Paul Phillpot used the power of Unreal Engine to make the weapons feel right in your virtual hands. Chris Roberts authored all 31 weapons challenges using his deep knowledge of action movies (Chris was the first person to dual wield our handguns in VR).

Phil Maguire and Alex Veal took on all the programming side of the development. Phil worked on tracking controls with the Move Controllers, and really nailed the feeling of throwing a virtual knife through the air. Alex has the fastest Quickdraw time in the office.

Simon Phipps created all of the front-end screens, artwork, and FE flow. His fast drawing talents really nailed an almost 1970’s comic book style for the targets.

 
All sound effects and title music for the game were created in-house by John Guscott. John was inspired by Simon’s early 80’s “Hollywood computer” style of presentation – influenced by movies such as “WarGames” and “Blue Thunder.” The audio design captures not only the energy and intensity needed for each weapon, but also the larger-than-life style we wanted to accomplish.