Why Gnomes and Goblins is TERRIBLE and GREAT - Review.

Have you ever seen one of those keebler cookie  commercials and felt envious of those cute little   elves in that awesome tree house they live in?  Neither have I. But while we're on the subject   of whimsical beings living in fully furnished tree  trunks let's talk about Gnomes and Goblins, the   newest VR experience from Wevr Studios.

I first  played the demo for this VR application in 2017   and as soon as i got into that HTC Vive my mind  was blown by the sheer beauty and immersive nature   of it. Needless to say, I came out of the headset  salivating for more Gnomes and Goblins.

Now   here we are nearly four years later with a full  release and I ask myself, was it worth the wait? Gnomes and Goblins is a VR experience created  by Jon Favreau, the storytelling genius behind   Iron Man, the live-action Lion King, and The  Mandalorian.

You start out in a moonlit forest   minding your own business when you come upon a  humble village of tree-dwelling goblins. Not these   kinds of goblins. I'm talking about these. Hit  that Like button if you think he's cute. He's like   a baby Yoda with a smoother complexion.

Whether  or not you're trespassing on goblin property   really isn't an issue here. All you know is that  there's a cute goblin scurrying around who's timid   and afraid of you and understandably so because  if you don't watch your step he's goblin goo.   After a very sketchy and awkward fruit exchange  the goblin loosens up and finally opens the gate   to the rest of his forest realm.

You soon learn  that these goblins have an enemy: the gnomes. And   in the game's main storyline the gnomes will try  to pull a fast one on you and your goblin friends   and it will be up to you to save the day.  Everything, and i mean everything in this   visual masterpiece looks good.

The blades of  grass actually sway in the breeze. The goblin   animations are done so well that they could have  been the work of Pixar animators, and the overall   look and appeal of the forest around you is vast  and breathtaking. Gnomes and Goblins is the best   looking vr application i've ever experienced aside  from Half-Life Alyx, but those two games are going   for such entirely different looks that i'd say  that's an apples to oranges kind of comparison.   Either way, the view in this game is absolutely  breathtaking and one of its greatest qualities.   Shortly after your goblin friend shrinks  you down to his size he takes you to be a   part of their goblin festivities.

A long banquet  table of feasting goblins, a live band on stage,   and plenty of mini-games all makes you feel like  you're now a part of their community. At one point   your goblin friend takes you up into your new  tree house which is higher than all the rest,   for no apparent reason, and the little goblin  sits by the edge, pulls out his pan flute,   and begins to play a song.

At this part I decided  to just sit down with him and listen to him play   and even though this is something i rarely  do--much less have a reason to do in most VR   applications --there were plenty of moments in  gnomes and goblins where i chose to stop, sit,   and just listen to my surroundings; and that's  what i think a VR experience should be like,   full of eye candy that someone would otherwise  never expect from--well--real life.

Or worse.   Right up until the very last moment when all  the goblins celebrate your heroism and valor   the adventure just feels rich and magical.  At the close of the final chapter i was not   surprised the creator of gnomes and  goblins was a class-A storyteller   because that's what the experience is.  The kind of thing that Disney or Studio   Ghibli might please one day give us.

But no it  was Jon Favreau and Wevr and unfortunately the   entire main story can be completed in less than  one hour, which brings me to its first weakness.   It's not uncommon for VR applications to seem  brief when compared to traditional video games,   which often requires hundreds of playtime hours  to complete.

. One of my   favorite VR short films 'The Great C' clocks in at  only seven, maybe ten minutes tops, but i bought   'The Great C' on sale for 4.99 and i do believe  that purchase was worth every penny. Gnomes   and Goblins is a brief experience as well.

I  completed the main story line in under 50 minutes.   After that, an entire forest of hidden  objects and activities still awaits.   You can plant seeds and grow crops, find hidden  objects, and craft furnishings for you and your   goblin friend's tree house.

But the reason why you  would want to go through the grind of doing all of   this is unclear since the storyline ends rather  abruptly without any clear direction after that.   I explored the forest for maybe 15 to 30  minutes after completing the main storyline   and soon lost interest in the goblins daily lives  since it seemed more like they were on autopilot   and my whereabouts had no impact on their daily  routines whatsoever.

Just an idea: Wevr could have   scrapped the whole crafting farming gathering  elements of the experience, which weren't even   necessary to complete the main storyline, and  instead they could have focused more on making   the main storyline closer to an hour and a half  like the length of a full length film.

The idea   of experiencing a film in VR sounds enticing to me  and gnomes and goblins would have been perfect for   it. One gripe i've heard going around is that  the game has no physics-based system. See that   delicious pot of stew on the fire? You can't take  the lid off.

It's stuck there. Gnomes and Goblins   gets a lot of flack for this and i suppose that  downside could be justified for a game like Job   Simulator, where the whole point of the game is to  play with objects. But i don't think it's fair to   say that gnomes and goblins needs a physics-based  system.

After all, my RTX 2080 can barely run the   game as it is on low and one of the most intensive  things for a VR application to render is objects   that can be moved and manipulated with physics.  Gnomes and Goblins spends all of its processing   power on looking amazing because it's a story--not  a gam--it's a movie and you're living in it.   I'd hate to see how many beautiful textures and  animations the designers would have had to strip   out of the game just so that i could pick up  a piece of food and eat it in VR regardless of   the fact that i can't actually taste it and i'm  still hungry even after i've eaten 20 pieces of   VR fruit.

I won't complain about this but people  have. One thing i will absolutely criticize is   how Wevr designed the user's interactions with  ladders. i mean, just look at this ridiculousness,   you have to basically walk out onto the air  and then burn 5000 calories in arm gestures   just to climb up or down.

You would think that  i'm climbing down several stories here but no,   that's just a short distance from one level to  the next. So with all that said; was gnomes and   goblins worth the wait? Yes. But can i justify its  30 dollar price tag? No. But when the price does   come down or it goes on sale i would definitely  buy it up for the price of say...

A film on   blu-ray. For that price gnomes and goblins is  definitely worth it and a must-have vr experience   for anyone who's got a pc that can meet the specs  coupled with a love for the fantasy genre. If this   review was helpful to you don't forget to hit that  like button and subscribe to my channel for more   vr reviews how to's and let's play videos.