Photo by Dan Griliopoulos
The Playstation VR drops worldwide this October, and it’s already the most hyped gaming event of the year. It has the potential to revolutionise gaming in a way not seen since a fat Italian plumber tried to rescue his girlfriend from a giant ape. But on the other hand, it could just go the way of Guitar Hero, the EyeToy, Kinect, dance mats and even the Wiimote as a fun but ultimately short-lived gimmick. And since it’s so radical, the big question is, what is it actually like to play? We finally got a chance to try it out ourselves at the EGX Rezzed games festival in London, and this is what we discovered…
It’s genuinely immersive.
There’s a chance you may have tried some wack-ass VR as far back as the 90s, but don’t let colour your opinion on what’s possible. The goggles completely cover your vision, and with a big pair of headphones you genuinely forget that you’re not in a real world. It’s a weird thing to say, but the most disconcerting thing is the virtual floor beneath you — it really feels like a real world you can run around in.
Remember not to swear out loud.
Part of virtually any videogame is screwing up, and screaming obscenities about your mistakes. Thing is, with the goggles and big headphones on, you completely forget where you are. And therefore you don’t realise that you’re actually just sitting in a chair, screaming out “FUCK! SHIT!” like a crazy person.
Simple games are good start.
We played Super HyperCube, a simple puzzle game that’s kind of a cross between Tetris and the BBC gameshow Hole In The Wall. Essentially, you manipulate a wireframe cube in 3D to fit through gaps of varying shapes and sizes. It doesn’t sound that exciting, but it works really well to just do a simple game when first trying the VR gimmick. It’s a bit like Wii Sports in that regard, easing you into the new technology. Sure, you’ll be playing VR Call of Duty soon enough, but it’ll be things like this that open it up to the masses.
The buttons on the controller virtually light up
This is just one of those little things, but it’s a nice touch (and also impossible to photograph). Obviously, when you have the goggles on, you can’t physically see the controller you’re holding. But at least on the game we played, when you look down, a virtual image of the controller appears — which is useful when you’re trying to remember which button does what. It’s just one those cool, useful things you don’t expect.
Realism is not necessarily the aim.
The concept of ‘virtual reality’ suggests that the aim is to be realistic as possible. But what strikes you about Super HyperCube is how abstract and trippy it is. It’s like Tron or the end of 2001A Space Odyssey. Why try and recreate the real world when you can make something like this that you can’t experience any other way (unless by maybe taking a shit-ton of drugs)? It’s things like that where the true artistry of VR may actually come from.
Is it worth the money?
The Playstation VR will cost £349 at launch — that’s more than the console itself. Is it worth splashing out on? It’s hard to say at this point. It’s definitely a hell of a lot of fun. But as the Wii quickly found out, gimmicks don’t hold your attention for very long. There’s a reason why the general set up of gaming has changed relatively little since the 80s — it’s not broken, so it doesn’t need fixing. Unlike the Wii though, it’s easy to see how this can be an enhancement to traditional gaming, especially first person shooters. The potential is there, it just needs the right games.
