I remember when this game was announced, thinking it was just going to be a port of the first space channel 5 to VR, and was pleasantly surprised when they said that it was going to be its own bespoke game. Unfortunately, like a LOT of other VR titles, this game doesn't really have enough meat on its bones to justify the price point. The whole campaign of the game PLUS the extra miku DLC can be finished in less than an hour, which for the 30 dollar total price point, ehhhhhh its not really the best dollar-to-content ratio, that's for sure.

The game is pretty much exactly what to expect from a space channel 5 game in VR. The button and D-pad controls are entirely replaced with gestures, and there's a decent enough sense of immersion inside of the space channel 5 world. The gesture controls are a bit understandably loose since if they were too strict the game could be really frustrating, but also the looseness makes it feel like I could just wave my arms around and hit the correct poses/gestures. Didn't help that there's no way to recenter your person, so I was slowly getting shorter as the game was progressing. There are only 4 levels in here (five if you count the miku DLC), and the new songs are great! Though the lyrics in some songs are localized a bit roughly, with verses that feel like they are said by the micro machines man with how many syllables crammed into em. The plot is a giant pile of nothing, given the short runtime. None of the new or returning characters really get any time to be in the limelight, not really even Ulala. Visually the game still has the space channel 5 dreamcasty vibes to it, though being in VR makes things like lower-poly environments and sparsely expressive characters stick out all the more. When there are big crowds of people all dancing around it felt less like I was in a big lively party and more that I was in a room with a bunch of dancing mannequins, shit was a bit uncanny. Also due to being in VR, the fancy camerawork and setpieces are gone as the game is entirely in first person and you are standing behind ulala most of the game, and there can't be a lot of movement so as not to give players motion sickness. I didn't feel bad playing it and I am particularly sensitive to VR stuff, so hey, mission accomplished on that front.

There's definite care put into this game, as I was following its development it really seemed like the dev team put their all into making a new Space Channel 5. I just think this is the weakest out of the 3 by a pretty large margin, and for the price they ask for (which VERY rarely gets discounted) it's just not really worth it imo. I feel like if you are a space channel 5 fan it'd be a bit underwhelming to play this after the first 2 games, and if you aren't a space channel 5 fan, you'd think it's just a boneless VR rhythm game. If it were like 5-10 bucks then I'd say go for it. At least my money goes towards telling sega I want to see more space channel 5, right? That's how it works, right??? Right??????

I will admit, it was amusing to see ulala and the gang crucified to fidget spinners though, so it's got that going for it. Sad to see a lack of space Michael anywhere, but I understand why he's not here.

Nice revival of Space Channel 5 clearly made with love. The gameplay and style works well with VR (though I do wish I played it with controllers that had better tracking). Everything from the music to the voice acting to the cutscenes and new characters has the soul of the original game. There's even an official collaboration where you get to dance with hatsune miku which is cute even though I don't really like vocaloid. Also getting to high-five the characters in the credits was fun. I also really liked how each character and background NPC has a unique bio with quirky details. The only problem with the game is that it's way too short. Much like Yuru Camp VR, though at least this has the 100 round dance battle mode after you finish the sub-1-hour story. Still disappointing though because I would've liked to see more of the new characters and cutscenes.