February 20, 2017

Virtual insanity!

Date played: February 19th
Platform: PSVR

Since getting the PS4 Pro, I hadn't hooked up my PSVR headset. My daughter has been asking to play the Playroom VR quite often, so this weekend, I took a few hours to install it and play a few games on it.

I started with the demo for SuperHyperCube, a fantastic little puzzle game. The demo is short, but it was still pretty cool. I love the whole concept for this game and it would have been one of my favorite VR games, but it's way fucking overpriced...

I then spent some time with Playstation VR Worlds. I played a bit of Danger Ball and it's still one of my favorite VR experiences. The simplicity of this game really makes it shine, and it's one of the few games that gives me zero motion sickness.

Next, I decided to check out the other two dives in Ocean Descent, which ended up being very disappointing. The shark encounter descent was amazing, but the second two are way simpler and way shorter. The second is the same as the shark encounter, minus the shark and submarine, so that sucked. The third was a bit better, but it was just a short scene where I got to see some sea turtles up close.

I finally tried a new VR game with the free Call of Duty Infinite Warfare Jackal Assault VR Experience. This thing looks fucking spectacular. The whole thing is spent inside the cockpit of a Jackal fighter, a space plane. It's interesting because the game offers full control over the ship, with pitch, yaw and roll being independent mechanics. It also allows for head tracking when aiming missiles. I shot a bunch of space planes, dog fighting my way to victory.

It was really easy, but also tons of fun thanks to the incredible immersion provided by VR. I was sure this would be a nausea inducing experience, but it turned out to be very comfortable. I think the reason I felt good is because I was surrounded by a static cockpit, giving me a good sense of place. It's also worth noting that this thing lasts about 5 minutes, so maybe longer sessions would have been more difficult.

I tried out Bound's VR mode and it's really not what I was expecting. In fact, it seems like VR is really wasted in a character action game like this. The game sets a static camera, where I can still look around the world, but doesn't follow the character. Camera movement is handled by "snapping" it back to the character. The image blinks out during camera transitions, eliminating motion sickness. While it works, it's also a pretty bad way to play a game like this because I had to change the camera every few steps. Seems like a waste to me.
We made "scared" faces for the ghost game
Finally, when my daughter came back home, we played the much beloved Playroom VR games. We played the cat and mouse, sheriff game, ghost game and a new one where we shoot toys with a cannon. The ghost game is a cool concept, where the TV players see ghosts in a room, while the VR player tries to shoot them down without seeing them, but the viewpoint on the TV was really hard to follow, so it didn't work that great. The new game with the cannon is awesome, but it's also a little bit too difficult for my daughter. Still, it's great to see her little face light up as she plays these games, I think she really loves VR.