When developer Crytek announced last year that Robinson: The Journey would be a PlayStation VR exclusive, anyone who dreamed of a virtual Jurassic Park squealed with excitement.

Robinson: The Journey is the tale of a 12-year-old boy called Robin, who's the sole survivor of the spaceship Esmerelda. The ship crash landed on a mysterious planet and it's up to you as Robin to explore the planet with your robot pal and guide.

Related: How to prepare for PlayStation VR

The problem is that the world is filled with hungry dinosaurs wanting to chow down on a little-boy sandwich, so the place is fraught with peril.

It's exactly what the inner child in you was hoping for when virtual reality became, well, a reality. After all everyone really wants to walk in their very own Jurassic Park, exploring the world and discovering the prehistoric creatures in their natural habitat, right?

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Well, Robinson: The Journey allows you to do just that via the PlayStation VR on the PS4.

We got to try the Crytek VR title at Gamescom for the first time and were initially blown away by the quality of the graphics. In our demo, we emerged from a leafy enclosed area into a jungle filled with life and noise. As we crept to the edge of the ledge, the snapping mouths of velociraptors make us jump, taking one step back to view the beasts from a safer spot.

But once we'd appreciated the graphical goodness, it was time to follow our robot pal in search of some tech that had strangely gone missing from our ship. This, though, was when we encountered our first issue with Robinson: The Journey – the movement.

The actual movement for Robinson: The Journey is done using the left analogue stick, whilst the right is used to change direction. But each time you move the right analogue stick your view flicks round at a 45-degree angle rather than the smooth movement you'd expect. You can use your head to look around in the 360-degree space, but you're going to need to touch the right analogue stick in order to successfully navigate the environment. And it's a rather odd sensation, despite the fact we've spent several hours testing VR intensively without feeling the motion sickness-related nausea.

It's not just the odd sensation you feel when you move that's an issue, there's also the fact it makes it very tricky to line yourself up to cross narrow bridges or to make your entire virtual body face towards a specific point.

A little way into the demo, we were required to climb a series of orange plants up the side of a tree. The game prompted us to face the plants in question and use R2 and L2 to climb – similar to the control system for Crytek's other VR title, The Climb. But because there's no easy way to finesse your body's angle, or a way to move your virtual hands, it took us a considerable amount of time to even get one hand on the plants, which caused much frustration and grumpy grumblings.

It got worse when the puzzle solving element of Robinson: The Journey came into play. The climbable plants were back, but this time half of them were closed. According to my little robot buddy, water seemed to open them up again. Drips falling near our feet suggested that we would need to move the piece of metal above our heads to release the water building up behind it. And it seemed obvious that we would have to interact with something nearby in order to do so.

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Earlier in the demo, we'd been shown that focusing our gaze on certain objects could allow us to move them using the gizmo in our right hand with R2. But thanks to a lack of any kind of reticule you have no idea where exactly your gaze is meant to be.

Thankfully we eventually freed the water, climbed the plants (more easily this time) and emerged at a high point to see pterodactyls flying overhead. One was carrying a teddy bear – Robin's teddy – in its mouth, suggesting that our missing ship part may well be wherever these winged creatures were headed.

Aside from the navigational issues and quirks, what we played of Robinson: The Journey had potential. Not only are the dinosaurs amazing to look at and their scale seriously impressive, but the story is intriguing.

There are some clever puzzle elements, particularly one involving feeding a lovely large herbivore dino some fruit, but no-one is going to want to play a VR game that is so difficult to control.

First impressions

It's rare that we come away from a VR title feeling nauseous and frustrated but that's exactly what playing Robinson: The Journey invoked in the Digital Spy Gaming team.

Great visuals, impressive dinosaurs and the potential for some solid gameplay are all there, but are seriously marred by a clunky control and selection system. It seems the game isn't even supporting the Move Controllers to begin with, which would at least solve the climbing and pointing issues.

If Crytek finesses these issues then this could be a serious PlayStation VR exclusive to entice those still sitting on the virtual reality fence.

Robinson: The Journey release date: TBC

Available on: PlayStation VR

Developer: Crytek

Publisher: Crytek

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