06-23-2016 05:42 PM
Thought I would try to simplify this a bit and just go with what I like and don't like with the Oculus Rift. I've spent a week with the headset with very little previous VR Experience. Similar to most reviews out there but hopefully adds some more insight for those considering a purchase and not being able to test it out first.
BAD - The unexpectedly high cost.
Won’t go into this too much, it’s been done to death but the
Rift coming in at $600, much high than expected is a bad start for the
device. After using it for a while I can
see most of the price being justified but overall I would say it’s a good $100
or so overpriced
BAD - The shipping delay.
I had a day one
pre-order, it arrived in June. Not good.
BAD - No touch controllers.
I know they weren’t
promised at launch but the fact that their competition had them at launch and
it’s July and not only do we not have a release date but not even able to
pre-order them is a notable check in the bad column for me. They are not off to a good start.
GOOD - The packaging.
Hey a good
thing! The very slick packaging complete
with retractable carrying handle (!!) is a nice way to try to sell this as an
elite product.
GOOD - Easy setup.
A very nice setup App that worked quite well. All good except for that damn plastic pull
tab…damn you plastic pull tab!!!!!! *Note* I won’t mark this as a bad thing but I
originally installed this on my C drive and after downloading a few games and
apps quickly realized it was taking up about 100gb I tried to move this to my D
drive which has much more space. I
fudged something up and it wasn’t that easy to do and ending up having to a
complete re-install and re-download 100GB of stuff. Luckily I have unlimited internet usage at my
place, cause that’s like 200GB in 2 days right there.
GOOD - The quality of the headset
(not the screen in the headset, we’ll get to that
next). Yes the device is very well
made. Adjustable and pretty
comfortable. Great job putting together
a high quality device. The ability to
adjust the horizontal lens distance is great but surprised to see the lack of
ability to change the lens distance from your face. It’s a very tight squeeze with glasses but
luckily not much of an issue for me I can use the device fine without glasses.
BAD - The screen
To way of sugar-coating this, you can see the pixels…all the
pixels on the screen. From what most
people are saying, it’s better than the Dev Kit version but it was a noticeable
shock to me using this for the first time.
Living in a retina display world this was a trip back in time to the
iphone1 days of terrible pixel density, but back then it wasn’t that big of an
issue as everything was like that, but living in today’s world it is an embarrassing
pixelated screen. I was able to use a
google cardboard with a iphone 6s and I will say that seemed to be slightly
better pixel wise. Barely better, I’d
say but not worse…I was expecting worse.
BAD - God-rays
Looking onlinie I’m not the only one here, this is a bigger
issue than the pixel one. That picture
of the Oculus logo shirt that looks like a glowy, smeary mess….yep that’s what
the screen looks like when you have bright colours on a black background. It’s infuriating to read that the Dev kit
version didn’t have this problem (or it wasn’t nearly as bad). Also using google cardboard with an iphone
doesn’t have this problem. Yikes. Surprised they let this issue make it to the
final release problem.
BAD - Red Tint
Probably the least offensive issue of the screen. It’s only noticeable in black screens with
little or nothing else on it, say loading screens. And it’s limited to the bottom / top 20% or
so of the screen. I contacted support
about this and they sent me the SPUD which seems to fix this issue. I expect this to be rectified with a patch
soon.
GOOD - Immersion
None of this really matters that much when gaming. Being immersed in a game all this becomes
less and less noticeable. The God rays
are still an issue in any space based games or apps (which is a lot). Bright stars on the blackness of space just
smear across your display. But for the
most part the screen issues aren’t that bad when gaming, however seeing pixels
or god rays can sometimes “take you out” of a game and you lose that immersion
a bit.
GOOD - The included games
Both Eve Valkyrie and Lucky’s Tale are great games to
include. Lucky’s Tale is a mediocre game
at best, one you wouldn’t play on a PC screen but a really cool experience in
VR. Something you wouldn’t think would
even be a great experience in VR but really is.
Eve Valkyrie is a game you know will be great in VR and is. But Lucky’s Tale is a better example of VR
cause it shows you that things you wouldn’t think would be great can be which
is much more promising as far as games go.
BAD - Oculus Home
It’s basic, and not customizable. Adding a few different “Homes” is a simple
easy way to improve this. Having game
based themes like a “Adrift” home of “Lucky’s Tale” based home would be
great. Something they will add
eventually but pretty weak so far. The
info provided is also annoyingly lacking.
Clicking on a game gives you a description and a couple screen
shots. No video, no user ratings, no
user reviews. Very basic, very tough to
figure out which games are worth buying.
This will improve but right now it’s pretty bad.
GOOD - Overall experience
The experience of being “IN” an animated movie or “IN” a
game isn’t hyperbole you actually are in the middle of it. It’s not like 3D movies where people say it
makes you feel like you’re there, this is immeasurably better. There are a TON of limitations, some which
will be mitigated when the touch controllers arrive but there is no mistaking
how much of a “WOW factor” some of the better games/apps can bring.
BAD - No collision detection or see-through camera
You can and will walk into walls, desks, chairs with this
device on. Although most apps don’t
involve walking around much, some do and there is no way to tell how close you
are to actually hitting something. I
think this can be fixed and it’s not a huge issue as you learn to properly
clear your room for certain games but it is something the competition has and
would be a welcome addition to the Rift.
GOOD - Head tracking & Frame rate
Going with 90 FPS was a good choice, this is where the
device really shines. Everything is
smooth like butter and tracking your head movement is nearly flawless. This really sets it apart as a high-end elite
device.
BAD - Most other games that I played
I haven’t played too many games and probably won’t because
well they are pretty expensive, paying $600 for a device and then paying
$40-$60 for most games is going to limit how many games people get. It’s not a complaint really I know it’s the
same for consoles but the inability to try any games can be frustrating. I’ve purchased a couple games, one being
Adrift and well it’s a cool experience but ultimately got bored with it within
an hour. It’s also the only experience
that has made me sick so far. So the
words bored and sick in my review of a game turns me off from paying money for “launch”
games that most likely won’t be that great.
Not a big complaint but the ability to “try before you buy” would be
amazing. Or being able to rent games or
Home having some big sales would go a long way for more people to enjoy more
games. Using an old console pricing
model just seems so last century.
GOOD & BAD - Overall
That about sums it up…good and bad. It’s not perfect, it was a rough launch but
the product that (eventually) got into people’s homes is an amazing product
that is, as they say, a game changer.
However most of the software and the screen itself screams of “1st
gen” and I know it is new technology but that doesn’t change the fact that it’s
a limiting experience. So far the
experience reminds me too much of say Kinect or 3D movies, a lot of “wow”
factor but once that wears off a bit it’s a lot of “ok, what’s next”. Most reviewers make sure to emphasis this is
not a gimmick or fad, but I am not so certain.
It has as many limits and it does features and it only a truly amazing,
unique experience for a while. Once this
becomes more commonplace the wow factor will wear off and we will move on. So I say to the Oculus developers, you
stumbled out of the gate, you seem to want to ensure that the touch controllers
are perfect before releasing them…good but learn from your mistakes, don’t
price them out of reach and make sure production can handle demand.