First, thanks to everyone who read my first post. VR has been a ton of fun to experience for the first time and I'm happy there's a lot of people here who are just as excited as I am.
I've managed to play a few more and I thought it was about time for round two. If you'd like to read my first 17 Oculus Games/Experiences Reviewed post you can click that link.
Hope you enjoy!
Apps
Another in the growing selection of 360 video apps. Even though I'm not a fan of 360 video, this might be the best of the bunch. The videos I've viewed have all be decent quality and it provides the option to download the videos instead of streaming them. It offers videos in resolutions up to 4K, but they certainly don't look it 🙂
VR +
A step up from the stuff you'll find in the other apps so far. Lots of high-quality 3D 360 videos including diving with sharks, flying in squirrel suits, being in a scene from Paranormal Activity and...watching a woman doing various mundane activities around her home.
VR -
Of course, they still range in quality greatly and there's no way this is going to replace how I watch movies anytime soon, but it's a fun distraction.
Experiences
Experiences
It might only last less than a minute, but it gave me hope that there might be someone working on a quality shooter. The atmosphere gave me a bit of a Crysis vibe and every time a shard of glass or bullet trail crossed my eyeline I flinched. A cool little experience that's free and worth the time.
VR +
Glass shards, particle effects, bullet trails all convince you that there's a miniature war occuring around you. Also, I love that there's a guy in the back of the car that explodes and flies over your head 🙂
VR -
Visuals are a little muddy.
In my last reviews, I mentioned how I don't like 360 video at all. Generally, it's a pretty poor experience. That being said, this is the best 360 video I've seen yet. It still varies in quality, but there are several examples that I really enjoyed. The absolute freakshow that is the Cirque du Soleil vignette hints at something that could be very cool in the future. That being said, the Oculus Dreamdeck is still the best way to show off the Rift to a newbie.
VR +
Cirque du Soleil! Don't get mesmerized by the fire in front of you. There are plenty more weirdos all around you. I'll admit I ducked when the plague doctor swung his lantern toward me.
VR -
While it proves 360 video can be done right, it's still inconsistent. Very every Cirque du Soleil, there are three grainy Mongolian (I think?) hut interiors.
A very short tale of a boy living on a small rock floating in space. Launching at $5, it's now free because of the backlash it received.
VR +
There's a neat moment when a planet flies overhead.
VR -
Of all the Rift experiences, this one is easily the most disappointing. It's not bad VR, just poor storytelling in VR and lacks the ambition of other stories in Rift. I always suggest giving the free content a shot regardless of quality, but I could comfortable say you could skip this and not miss anything. It starts and ends with almost nothing of note occuring and because it doesn't employ many of the lessons learned in VR storytelling that Oculus Story Studio uses, the entire thing can happen while you're not even looking.
Games
Esper 2 is a POV puzzler in which the player uses their gaze to telekinetically manipulate objects in the world to solve various puzzles. I love puzzle games. I sunk hours into The Witness and I'm currently hooked on Stephen's Sausage Roll. So I was excited to get into Esper 2 and see what VR might add to the experience.
VR +
Despite being POV, I never felt sick because there is no movement in the game. It uses the familiar teleporting system to move from room to room. Using your gaze as a telekinetic link is surprisingly cool. Even though it's just a mechanism for control, it performs double duty as a device for immersion into the story. And speaking of story, there's quite a bit of personality and it even, at times, gave me a bit of a Portal vibe. The game also plays tricks with your mind in ways only capable in VR, which I thought was very, very cool. I won't spoil it though.
Many of the puzzles would work just fine outside of VR, but the ones that fully utilize the platform are my favorite. There were no brain busters, but there's a nice scaling challenge throughout.
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For whatever reason, it took me a while to get through some of the training courses. I'm not sure if I was just fatigued, if I was adjusting to solving puzzles in a 3D space, or they weren't presented well, but hopefully others don't give up early because the rest of the game is a lot of fun.
What can I say about Elite: Dangerous that you don't already know? Nothing, really. If you want to live the life of a space-faring trader, pirate, or explorer, and don't mind investing some serious effort and time into learning how to pilot a spacecraft, play this game.
VR +
I always loved the moment when you come out of warp and a massive burning star filled your view. Now, I love it even more. Surprisingly, I can play this for much longer than I can play Eve: Valkyrie. It might be that Eve requires a lot more quick turns and stops and starts. Either way, the game is gorgeous and the sense of scale and isolation comes into VR intact and increased. And it might be a minor thing, but seeing your ship's systems open up just by looking at them might never get old.
VR -
The main menu seems a little wonky at the moment and there is text in some areas that's a little difficult to read. Minor complaints though.
It seems like Oculus did a great job filling in genres for launch and having a racing game to play from the get go is always welcome. This is one of the few games that feels like a full-featured experience as opposed to the smaller experiences a lot of the other titles provide. Suffice to say, if you like racing games you're going to get this. If not, you might want to get it anyway because you've never played a racing game until you've done it in VR.
VR +
This is the first time my preferred driving cam is inside the car. It's a rush seeing another car in your mirror and cutting them off before they overtake you.
VR -
Putzing around in those little go karts at the start of a career is an excellent way to make yourself sick. I realized later that because they lack an interior to frame your view, you feel the motion sickness a lot more. So get in a proper car as soon as possible or you won't be playing for long.
I also wasn't particularly impressed with the visuals. Having put a ton of time into the Forza series and, to a lesser extent, Driveclub, it was difficult to go into Project CARS and not be a little disappointed by the downgrade here.
When I finally reached the top of the first mountain I knew I had just experienced something unique. It was the first time in 20 minutes I had relaxed my body and realized I had been squeezing my controller so hard my fingers ached and my body was sweating. It's a simple premise, but it's unlike anything else on the Rift. The Climb contains only three mountains and an infinite (and changing) practice wall, but there's challenges to fill and a lot of items to unlock to give the game some extended life.
VR +
I haven't found any other VR experience as thrilling as free jumping from one cliff, across a gaping chasm high above the treetops, to another cliff and missing one of your hand holds and having to scramble to set yourself right. It's not a very deep experience overall, but the gameplay loop is a lot of fun. I also appreciate that there's a tourist mode to let other players who don't want to mess with the technical elements of climbing jump in and enjoy the view.
VR -
The control system works well 99% of the time. You release either the left or right trigger to let your hand go and look to the next handhold before depressing the trigger again. It's a remarkably easy and intuitive system that still feels fun after many climbs. But that 1% of the time that your hand grips a bad hold or can't find the grip at all creates some moments of tension (or death) that can be frustrating.
It may not be the popular opinion, but I don't mind the story over gameplay approach that VR is facing at the moment. FATED is no exception and the developers repeatedly state it in the game's description as if to preemptively combat negative reactions. And make no mistake, there is very little gameplay here. Each story segment generally has you doing at least one task, be it hunting deer, steering a wagon, solving a puzzle, but they're all very simply tasks and act more as interactive segments that bridge the story beats. It's also unclear whether this $20 covers the cost of just this episode or the entire season. I'm hoping it covers the season because this is only a couple hours worth of content.
VR +
Viking mythology is something we don't get enough of, so the world was fun to explore and felt fresh because of it. There are plenty of moments when characters ask you yes/no questions and I didn't even realize at first that they were actually wanting me to nod my head. It's a small trick but it adds to the immersion.
VR -
This game plays a lot like Technolust. It also makes me queasy like Technolust. FATED includes stick movement, degree-based movement, and several viewing overlays that help keep your brain and stomach at ease but they won't fend off an upset stomach forever.