The Arizona Sunshine has been a title that I have been playing a lot on both the PC and the Oculus Rift. It is an excellent zombie shooter with a huge amount of content. However, while it can be played on the Quest, it doesn’t feel like the same experience as playing it on Steam or even on Go. Let’s get into why this is exactly from my viewpoint.
Arizona Sunshine
The premise of Arizona Sunshine is easy enough to follow: you are trapped in a small town in Arizona after zombies have taken over most of the area, including your previous group that came to investigate an incident going on in this area. Luckily for you, you explore around and find some help from a helicopter pilot who flies you out of there and drops you in the middle of a desert where you need to find some more survivors and get away from this hellhole.
What struck me at first was the fact that it looked like such a huge area with nothing around. It has been four years since I last played this, but I do remember looking around and thinking “where am I going to go?”. After some exploration, another survivor flies by on a copter and shows you an outpost where you are supposed to meet up, so it gives you something to head towards. You are equipped with two weapons, one for zombies close range (like your fists) and one for longer ranged attacks (usually guns). Every weapon has its own ammo types which can be swapped out easily enough if they run out, but at a cost of other ammo types.
Arizona Sunshine – Oculus Quest [image source https://uploadvr.com/arizona-sunshine-oculus-quest/] The game does feel like a slog for the first two chapters and it feels almost like you are just heading in circles due to all the zombie spawns around there while trying to solve quests and unlock doors that only certain questlines can open up. It is not unplayable by any means, but I found myself having to check my map more often than I would have liked since everything looks the same in this zone. This takes me onto another point that makes Arizona Sunshine different on Quest: oculus draw distance versus PC version. “Draw distance” is what you think it is. When you ran out of ammo for your guns, the game will switch to your fist which has infinite range unless your fists run out. The draw distance on Oculus Quest makes this not longer than 1-2 meters away from you until they are right next to you. On PC, however, I remember having my character throwing punches across the whole map and seeing zombies fly across like ragdolls if their HP was low enough (which would be fun to do on Quest but alas…). That isn’t all though; towards endgame quick scoping with an assault rifle can take care of most crowds quickly, but it also has a long cooldown time that gets even worse due to how spammy quick shooting can get with the controller.
In terms of content, you have a lot to do with multiple playthroughs and side quests available for those who want to get the most out of the game. There are Horde style levels where waves of zombies spawn until they reach a certain point or you kill them all, Survival where you need to survive for as long as possible, and then hunting sections which can range from going after some bears or going into a wild hunt of zombie hordes. All these modes require you to level up your own character with experience gained from killing enemies and doing quests/completing miscellaneous tasks given by NPCs in order to unlock weapons and equipment that can be used later on during missions. Arizona Sunshine has some really good ideas behind it but doesn’t execute it to its full potential. The game overall feels like a chore with all the zombie spawns and leaves me wanting something more, but I will go back every now and again just to feel satisfying by blowing zombies up with grenade launchers or quick shotgun blasts to their head. If you are looking for another zombie shooter on Quest where you don’t have to think too much about inventory management or aim down sights, then Arizona Sunshine is the game for you!
Rating: 5/10