Swarm 2 review: A fast and frantic Meta Quest guns and grappling hooks game

Swarm 2 is a mix of Spider-Man style web-slinging and shooter action.

This is a sequel to the ever popular virtual reality original rogue-like gun game from 2021.

And developer Greensky Games is hoping to deliver a fun and frantic VR follow-up that’s made for the Meta Quest.

As hero Marv, the last surviving grapple commando, you’ll use your trusty pistol and grappling hook to battle back swarms of robot machines to save Earth.

That means swinging around carefully crafted, tight, vertical environments on grapple ropes while simultaneously firing off as many bullets you can into bee-like swarms of baddie bots.

The result is a head-smashing, visceral and fast-paced battle in the skies.

You’ll find yourself expertly swinging, boosting and blasting your way through the neon-lit ruins of Earth on a constantly changing battlefield within minutes of donning your headset.

The game does well to teach you the basics of grappling, dashing and gunplay in quick time so you don’t feel bogged down in too much tech.

And then it’s straight into the action, pumping bullets out like there’s no tomorrow while you deftly dodge and sway between enemy torrents to deliver those fatal blows.

It’s very fast, but the makers have done well to avoid causing headaches in the VR space, allowing you to twist and turn your movements in the air to both dodge attacks and deliver them without feeling sick.

When enemies die, they drop “Shards” which act as score multipliers and you have to swing close to collect them.

And you also have to outrun the regular homing missiles that enemies shoot at you to create enough space so you can shoot them down.

It all feels frantic but accurate in the Meta controllers and your in-game persona does as asked when zipping about like a souped-up Spidey.

Even when you are defeated, and death comes quite regularly here, the game offers a unique journey each replay, making it feel constantly different and fresh.

New abilities unlock as you progress, like Slow-Mo and weapons boosts.

And after each run you see how you fare on global leaderboards, which addictively cajole you to come back to try to up your game against the world’s best.

Swarm 2 looks great with a Borderlands style of cartoon inspired visuals.

And it plays great.

Overall, a fun, fast and busy VR game that combines two differing play elements to deliver an addictive shooter/swinger action title.

VERDICT 4/5