Guns are the solution to everything! At least in this VR game…
The American Dream is a parody of old-fashioned American times as you go on an on-rails experience through a timeline of the typical American from birth through their life at different ages and how guns are essential for everything from tidying your room to cooking burgers and everything in-between.
You’ll use the Move controllers to aim and shoot, while to each side of you will be buttons that will throw your next ammo clip in the air in slow-motion, which you then need to slide into your guns to keep shooting. It’s not difficult and I haven’t come across any sections that you can actually fail, it’s more of an interactive experience that mocks gun-toting Americans by making them use them for everything in everyday life. It reminds me of the Simpsons episode where Homer gets a gun and uses it to open his beer, turn on the TV and turn off the lights.
Considering the way things have been in the US of A lately, I can see this game being quite controversial with particular people, even if it just a mockery of just how silly the need for guns actually is. Personally, I found it hilarious and even quite relative. You’ll go to places like the prom and have a dance by pointing your guns in the air and at your dance partner, or to the carnival and scoop up candy floss with the tip of your sniper rifle and eat it off it. Madness, but good fun nonetheless.
Visually, the game is pretty good, although all characters are cardboard cut-outs with purposefully bad voice-acting. The script is priceless and the game handles impressively well in VR, think of it like Until Dawn: Rush of Blood but with humour instead of horror and you’ll have a good idea of what to expect here.
The Verdict
The American Dream is a rollercoaster of comedy that doesn’t let up until it stops. It pokes fun at the gun culture of America, which feels quite appropriate even if it may get hate from the gun-toting Yanks, at least us Brits can have a good laugh at their expense.