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Opposable Thumbs / Gaming & Entertainment

Hands-on with Sodium One: not quite the evolution Home needs

Ars jumps into the latest PlayStation Home space, dubbed Sodium One, to see if …

After over a year of existence, PlayStation Home is still struggling to find its place. Despite a wealth of game-themed spaces and even an alternate reality game, there isn't much to do while in Home, something that's been a problem for the service from the very beginning. Enter Sodium One. The curiously named Home space is being billed by Sony as the "next evolutionary step" of the platform. Unfortunately, it's little more than a new area to walk around and a few new minigames to play.

The main draw of Sodium One is a mini-game called Salt Shooter. This has you taking control over some sort of hover tank and taking out waves of enemies in an arcade-style experience. It's fairly straightforward, as the battles take place in wide-open arenas and the ships you're up against feature little in the way of variety. Fallen enemies will drop both health and parts, which can be used to upgrade your craft in between stages. You will also unlock new upgrades—like missiles and other weapons—to use against increasingly powerful foes.

It sports futuristic, boxy, WipEout style visuals that move smoothly considering how quickly everything happens. The controls, meanwhile, use a dual-stick set-up that takes some time to get used to. You move left-to-right with the left stick, the right stick controls your direction of fire, and the right trigger fires. Overall it's a pretty solid experience, though not particularly evolutionary. It's also not completely free-to-play. The first five levels are free, but to play beyond that requires some real-world dollars. This takes the form of a pilot jacket that gives you access to the remainder of the experience.

Wrapped around the Salt Shooter minigame is a game world not unlike Home itself. In fact, aside from some aesthetic changes, it's identical. You'll be inundated with flashing lights, high-energy music, and lots of screens displaying everything from Twitter updates to what appear to be fictional commercials. There are a few distractions to keep you busy: you can stomp on robotic scorpions or go to a club and play a strange soda drinking minigame. There is also a series of goals to accomplish—things such as registering your e-mail or killing 50 scorpions—relayed to you by an android named Vickie. There's not much incentive to actually complete these goals, though.

And, of course, you can shop. Littered throughout Sodium One are what's called "commerce points," which essentially serve as virtual vending machines where you can purchase clothing for your Home avatar.

It's incredibly disappointing just how predictable Sodium One is, though not entirely unexpected. What was pitched as an MMO-like experience really boils down to a few more mini-games and a new skin for the Home universe. And while the core experience of Salt Shooter is enjoyable, it's not really enough to make venturing into Home worthwhile, especially considering the fact you have to pay to get the whole experience.

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