PSVR & VR Worlds

[DisturbedSwan]

PSVR Setup and Impressions

 

Picked my PSVR up from my local Smyths on Tuesday, had downloaded quite a few games and various demo's the night before so I was all ready to go as soon as I set it up.

 

The setup process was pretty simple thanks to the instructions, the processing box complicates things a little, but you have a huge A4-sized instruction book that gives you where to plug 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 cables and when so it's all pretty easy, took me longer than I thought to get everything plugged in though, maybe 30-45 minutes. I underestimated the cable clutter too, there is a ridiculous amount of cables behind my TV cabinet now, it's an absolute mess, but yeah, until VR goes wireless I think this is what we've got to expect.

 

Got to setup the PS Camera so it can recognise the headset at all times, at first I put it below my TV but it wasn't ideal and lost focus a few times whilst on a game, but I used the included clip to put it above my TV earlier today and it was way better, never lost focus at all and saw me at all times. It even measures your eye width as well for the best possible 3D effect.

 

The headset itself is a great bit of kit, feels incredibly well made and very sturdy, you feel like even if you dropped it it would be ok. It is super comfortable as well, I'd heard a lot above Vive/Rift about pressure on your specs -if you're 4-sighted like myself- and the Vive in particular feeling like it was putting pressure on certain parts of your head, but this has none of that, I've used it for 1-2 hour sessions so far without many breaks and not once has my head hurt or anything, Sony have definitely nailed the design.

 

PS Worlds

 

So I've spent most of my time with VR Worlds, it is a 5-game collection of small games. I initially thought this would be just a tech demo collection, and I'd be done with it in an hour, but boy was I wrong, I can't believe how much depth some of these games have. 

 

First I tried Ocean Descent. This is the one you'd show friends and family members to show off the technology, you're in a Diver's cage and sent to the depth's of the Ocean in 3 different scenarios. The first (Shark Encounter) is easily the most impressive, it feels like a theme park ride, but I couldn't get out of my mind how it was a bit gimmicky really, I thought it went on a bit long too but experiences all the gleaming Jelly fish and seeing a Shark in that much detail up close and personal is rather great in its own way. The other two are forgettable really, the second is a retread of the first without the background chatter and exposition, the third just puts you down in a Coral Reef for about 3-4 minutes and that's it. But yeah, the first is impressive, and I was blown away the first time a Jelly Fish brushes past your face or you feel a chill of fear from the nearby Shark, but it is a very shallow experience.

 

Next on to VR Luge. I was worried this was going to be the one that made me motion sick, but luckily I didn't experience any issues. This is again quite basic, but at least it's an actual game rather than experience, you race down 4 different Hills against a timer and it's surprisingly difficult to get to the end of the 'tour', rather addictive trying again and again trying to get to the end, I managed it to the final race but failed about 30-40 seconds into it. A nice addictive little game, quick play and time attack modes are available too if you just want to jump in to a race.

 

Danger Ball was up next. It's basically Pong in VR, that's the easiest way to describe it, it also reminded me of that Kinect game where you fling the balls back with your hands, but that's probably an unfair comparison to make as this is far superior. You face 6 different foes in a tournament all with different abilities and skillsets, some are far more basic and much easier than others, I've made it all the way to the final opponent before losing spectacularly, going to try to go back and defeat the 6th opponent sometime. Again, a nice addictive, simple little game that is much better than it had any right to be.

 

Then on to Scavenger's Odyssey. I'd enjoyed the previous games I'd tried but they were all short, somewhat shallow experiences, but this, this was the first game that truly sold me on VR. This is the first one where you control yourself with the DS4 (others used the headset itself) and being able to pilot a mech-ship thing, move in full 360 degrees whilst aiming, shooting enemies and jumping from asteroid to asteroid was exhilarating. I was completely immersed, completely entranced within this world, me and the ship were at one. 

 

This is the first game that felt like a fully-fledged game, it had a cinematic feel about it, you were sent on a mission and it is all very well fleshed out with data capsules you can find and things like that, it is pretty long too, it took me 45 minutes and I only got up to Chapter 3 of the first Act. 

 

Unfortunately, this game came with a pretty bad caveat, motion sickness. It didn't help that I played it 45 minutes after eating a spicy lunch, but still it was pretty bad and I had to stop playing and put the headset away for the day after that, I think it's the 360 degree movement that does it, something about the motion of that combined with hopping about on Asteroids and stuff is just going to make you prone to barf-city. 

 

But yeah, early days, I've only experienced it in that one game and I understand very few titles play around with full 360 degree motion, so I'm not expecting to experience it again, I need to build up a tolerance to it anyway, it is only the 2nd proper day I've used the headset.

 

Already very impressed with VR, and the VR Worlds package as a whole, I was expecting nothing more than a load of very short boring tech demo's but what I got was a couple of addictive fun little games, and a fully fledged one that sold me on VR completely. Still not done with it either, not touched London Heist yet, looking forward to that tomorrow.

[DisturbedSwan]

Haven't updated this for awhile now, but yeah played quite a bit since my last post.

 

Finished off Scavengers Odyssey, fortunately I didn't have long left so I made my way through and defeated a boss and that was that, really enjoyed it overall but it has made me worry about those 360 degree 'locomotion' type experiences in the future, thankfully it's the only VR game so far that has made me feel a bit ill.

 

After this I tried out The London Heist, this was the one I was most looking forward to so I left it until the very end. This was the first game I'd played with the Move controllers too. 

 

Just the tutorial had me absolutely mesmerised, they sit you down on a desk and get you to pick up a gun with your left hand, then load it with some ammunition from your right hand - clicking it into place - you then fire the gun at a target, I just couldn't get over how great this felt and how surreal it was to be holding these guns.

 

The rest of the game plays out a variety of London gangster-esque scenarios really. The first has you sitting down for a chat with a gruff looking dude, you can properly roleplay this by picking up a cigar and lighting it, seeing the cigar move around in real time and then eventually lighting his cigarette later on, just how tactile and real it felt was pretty scary. 

 

Then you go into the actual heist itself, you're looking for a diamond in this bank vault using the move controllers to pull out draws and other objects to try to unearth said diamond. Of course things don't go to plan, you set off the alarm and a load of gangsters turn up looking for your blood. You've then got to shoot your way out of the place, the shooting feels nice to do and when you land a headshot it's very satisfying, the way they handle the damage to you is a bit weird though as I was never sure when I was ducking or not really, some of the hit detection was a bit iffy of course as well, it was definitely a learning curve to pull off a string of decent shots but I got there eventually.

 

The highlight of the entire game though was easily the car chase. You're in a van with an associate from the bank vault, he's driving and you're in the passenger seat, you're left to your own devices to explore the cabin, opening the glove box etc. and finding out what's about the place. Of course you get chased down by some gangsters and a full on cinematic car chase commences with you firing an Uzi out the window at oncoming vans and motorbikes with them careening all over the road in dramatic explosions when you take them down. It's just such a spectacle and I never wanted it to end, it was phenomenal.

 

After this I decided to try out the demo disc that came with my bundle and the newly released Demo disc 2 to get a flavour of some different games available:

 

Demo Disc 1 Impressions

 

Headmaster, Eve Valkyrie:

 

Didn't enjoy either of these, Headmaster felt like a really gimmicky Kinect/EyeToy game from years ago really, just having you head balls into the net with the headset, couldn't wait for the demo to end.

 

With Eve, I think I might've enjoyed it more if I'd been allowed to invert the controls, as I couldn't I didn't have a very good time and this demo was perhaps the shortest of them all so it never really gave me a decent flavour for the game at all.

 

Tumble VR:

 

I really underestimated how great puzzle games would be in VR, I never played the original Tumble (for PS Move I believe?) back in the day but had seen videos of it and it always seemed like a simple, relatively shallow puzzle game that you'd get bored of quickly. 

 

But in VR at least, it was a fantastic experience. That tactile feel again of just picking up the blocks and placing them down on one another was crazy, it just felt so good in ways I can't really describe, being able to see the height of the tower as you stack it up and looking up at it in the air is such a great feeling. 

 

As well as building towers I also played a couple of puzzles where you had to demolish a tower using tactically placed mines and another where you had to redirect beams of light to their light source at the other end. Both were, again, WAY better than they sound and that tactile feel of placing the blocks in 3D in front of you is crazy good.

 

Battlezone:

 

Felt similar to Scavengers Odyssey in lots of ways as you're in a tank-mech-like thing in both. This one just didn't really grab me though, you were put on these huge Tron-like battlezones and shot at coloured tanks/gun placements/drones etc. but I just got a bit bored of it really, didn't seem that interesting and playing it didn't feel particularly exciting or new.

 

Driveclub VR:

 

I already got this in the Black Friday sales, but thought I'd try the demo out to see if I'd get on with it regardless. I was really impressed with it I have to say, having not played much of the original game at all I think I didn't noticed the graphical downgrades as much as someone who was a DC vet, but still it was pretty cool.

 

The sense of speed was fantastic and the detail you can view the apexes when going into corners and see the lines you need to take coming out of them was really nice. Didn't really blow me away or anything, but the VR definitely added a sense of depth that isn't there otherwise.

 

Rez Infinite:

 

This was one of the ones people always rave about so I was very excited to give it a go. Unfortunately, I didn't really find it incredible or anything, it was pretty good and definitely a lot of fun - the soundtrack is great too - but I just didn't really feel that immersed in the world and way the targeting works with your head just didn't really resonate at all. 

I still want to get the full game, but at £25, I'm going to wait for a sale.

 

Job Simulator:

 

I think it's really easy to dismiss this game when seeing it a regular video of it, it looks quite gimmicky and shallow. But I was actually really impressed by it, it was the first game I tried standing up with the move controllers and it definitely made an impression. 

 

Just how jolly everything was and how much of a pisstake of working life made it rather charming really. I loved how you could just pick up random things on your desk and chuck them about the place too and little things like opening the doughnut box, putting one to your mouth and hearing the 'om, nom nom' as it crunches away is just a great little touch. 

 

Doesn't take itself seriously at all, and I've no idea how much fun it would be for hours on end, but I was really impressed with what I played.

 

Wayward Sky:

 

This is like a Point-N-Click game. You play as a god-like figure in the sky guiding the small protagonist below through a maze of obstacles, turning off vents so she can get through, pointing her to cranes so she can move a crate to a certain position, that kind of stuff, really enjoyed it and it was rather charming. 

 

Seeing a VR game setup in this way - mostly - not in 1st person was a refreshing change of pace.

 

Demo Disc 2 Impressions

 

Rez Infinite:

 

This was one of the ones people always rave about so I was very excited to give it a go. Unfortunately, I didn't really find it incredible or anything, it was pretty good and definitely a lot of fun - the soundtrack is great too - but I just didn't really feel that immersed in the world and way the targeting works with your head just didn't really resonate at all. 

I still want to get the full game, but at £25, I'm going to wait for a sale.

 

Thumper:

 

This was by far and away the star of the show. I've heard a lot of good things about the regular version of this game, but never played it myself. Boy was I in for a treat!

 

This was honestly like a transcendent experience, my mouth was open with awe and amazement the entire time I was playing it. Hitting the boxes and corners in time with the beat, whilst hurtling down this roller-coaster like track at breakneck speed in such a foreboding setting, it was just phenomenal. I cannot describe just how incredible it was, my eyes and ears just couldn't believe what they were experiencing.

 

I went on the Rock n' Roller Coaster at Disney World donkeys years ago. And honestly, this was on-par with that experience, hurtling down this dark track in this foreboding place with these monstrous creatures all wrapping themselves around the car you play as, it feels like you're actually on a bobsleigh in the winter Olympics or something at times, like you're actually there, the sense of speed and the immersion as you hurtle down this track is magnificent.

 

Dino Frontier:

Another game I'd never heard of. Turns out it's this really cool RTS/Base-building game where you play as a God-like character above the skies.

 

You can zoom in and out, make the world as big or small as you like, and it feels so immersive and (here's that word again) tactile to be about to pick up all your settlers, when you level them up you turn them round in your hand and they do a little cheer, it's just such jolly good vibes. 

 

Whenever you build some kind of building you have to pick up the hammer and erect it yourself, again, a simple thing but it feels so great and satisfying to do. 

 

There's a 15 minute timer on the demo which I absolutely flew by, towards the end all my settlers were getting into trouble with Dinosaurs and I had to take them back to the clinic to fix them up regularly, I would guess this incursion of the Dino's on your town is going to be an ongoing theme.

 

But yeah, a genuine surprise. Something I didn't think would work so well in VR, but it works magnificently and provides such depth and clarity that I've never seen before, the personal touch the move controls give and the emotional connection between you and your settlers is fantastic too.

 

Tiny Trax:

 

Another 3rd person perspective, but this time you're overlooking a scalextric-like track with little cars going round. You play as one of the cars and have to use the boost and right amount of turn angle on the DS4 analog stick to pull off some decent turns, there's also a boost mechanic in there where you get more boost for doing drifts.

Really addictive little game, think I tried that race about 4/5 times, didn't win any of them but again, it's crazy how much VR adds to something like this, something as simple as being able to see this 3D track all around you and look up and down to see where the cars are going adds an extra dimension to even something as simple as this.

 

Raw Data:

 

This was another dual-wielding gun game. But this time with robots in a futuristic setting.

 

I really enjoyed it, it felt great shooting the robots in the face and being able to roleplay like that with the two guns was cool, I wasn't so sure about the movement as it you have to use the left move button and one of the face buttons to orient yourself around, I got used to it after awhile but it felt a bit janky to start with.

 

Had a basic horde-mode scenario where I had to protect a power node or something, thought the whole game would be similar to this but it showed tons of cinematics and different locales in the trailer that played upon completion which makes me think it's a full-fledged FPS story-based campaign, which is really cool. 

Probably would've put it on my wishlist if it weren't so expensive.

 

Moss:

 

This was the one everyone was making a fuss of from PSG. 

 

Again, in 3rd person, but this time you're controlling a cute little mouse through a diorama-type environment, with the page 'ending' as you reach the other side. 

 

I think the biggest barrier to my enjoyment here was the DS4, with the Move controllers it would've felt so much nicer but having to position the DS4 in certain places to move obstacles just felt very janky at times and pulled me out of the game. 

 

It was a lovely atmosphere though and the combat it surprisingly deep for something that looks as cute as this.

 

Star Child:

 

There's a pattern here! Another 3rd person game.

 

This is another platformer. This time you've crash landed on an alien planet and have to guide the protagonist through quite a few platforming puzzles using drones and other things on hand to assist you. 

 

I absolutely loved this demo, it had such a distinctive look about it and the whole vibe of the game just made me want to play more. it's just a shame it was so short.

 

The Persistence:

 

A 1st-person procedural Sci-Fi/Horror game.

Had never even heard of this before starting it, but it absolutely blew me away.

 

You wake up on this mysterious ship (think System Shock) and have to make your way to your objective, sneaking past/killing the zombie-like enemies in your way and collecting precious salvage as you go.

 

The procedural nature reminded me of ZombiU, every time you die you reawaken as another robot and the ship layout changes every time. So it keeps you on your toes and you feel a sense of bewilderment every time you wake up, the fact that you die so easily really gets the ol' heart pumping too. 

 

The way the game had you looting every nook and cranny reminded me of Fallout or something, this could bite you in the throat if you accidently discovered an IED or something though, love the developers messing with the player like that. 

 

The atmosphere and how different this was to anything else made it a definite Day 1 buy, incredibly impressed.

 

Fantastic Contraption:

 

A really nice little puzzle game where you have to build things to get a glowing orb from one side of a map to another. It sounds really simple but getting all the components of your Kart into the right place so it doesn't topple over and making sure you've attached poles to all the axels of it is quite challenging, it gets very intricate and I was incredibly impressed by how satisfying everything feels when it slots together.

 

Wasn't expecting much of this at all, but came away, again, incredibly impressed.

 

I love how VR can make these widely different experiences feel more meaningful, more personal, tactile and satisfying than ever.