The Videogames Tab

** VIRTUAL REALITY REVIEW - 3 MONTHS IN **
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Two sentence review:
The upsides are totally triumphing over the downsides . But the downsides are still significant...

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BREATHLESS POSITIVES:

• Immersion: Is just fricking hard to overstate. Games that invite you to get lost in their environments benefit the most, for sure. But everything from racing sims to twitchy arcaders can have their atmospheres improved, and then their game aspects amped up too, thanks to the instinctive reactions and depth perceptions that the tech brings into play. When done right this 'presence' business is the secret sauce. It can convince your body it's inside a different functioning reality, and it's no exaggeration to say that **** can be a game changer... (apologies )
  
  
• Hand control is great: Having them right in the game for fine control, for exploring physics, for shooting guns etc makes for a novel and badass new interface. Both reliable and intuitive, it feels like there are solid new gaming norms already established here, and flexible possibilities waiting to be explored too. The Rift controllers are neatly ergonomic and generally grand to use, to the point that you often forget they're there. (Having your hands 'in the game' also draws your body in that much more, doubling down on the immersion aspect. Add in responsive environments that reward naturalistic tinkering and there are a lot of positive feedback loops going on here...)

PROS & CONS:

• Indie Experimentation: Can be a lot of fun . It's the Wild West right now as everyone figures out what works and where the edges are. This means dross abounds, but it also means little leaps of genius get more attention in the sparser market, and passionate devs can then breath life into their little worlds sustained by the increased airtime as they go. It's not ideal, it's often Early Access, but it's delivering some rough diamonds along the way...

VERY PRESENT NEGATIVES:

• The gaming ecosystem & bang for buck still aren't in the best place, compared to what we're used to. A fair amount of shopping around is required (unless you're loaded), there are far fewer AAAs launched that you can delve into for ages, and a lot more reliance on indie & AA output to fill the gaps (with all the quality issues that implies).
  
  
• Graphics are a downgrade from what we're used to on a flat screen, as the 90fps-per-eye requirement is pretty high. (It may help that I've been brought up on far worse, or that I'm used to juggling graphics about to get the best out of them on PC, but this is still rarely bothering me much. The 'being there' boon takes the edge off massively. It is definitely more enjoyable when you get the classics in place like decent aliasing, textures and lighting though, which isn't always the case.)
  
  
• The stupid cable & accidentally hitting things both occasionally cause bother, although are mainly manageable and don't impinge. Before the year is out I will have punched my glass light fittings though... :/
  
  
• Doing standard non-gaming things, like switching to surfing the net, or doing it in parallel, are much harder in the Rift at the moment. (Although Minority-Report style in-game app windows etc are due in December). Writing anything of substance is currently slowwww. Chatting with people in the room is totally possible (the in-built headphones are very good for this), but not entirely ideal.

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GRATUITOUS SUMMARY:

It says something that I'm still hyped about VR despite those downsides. It is properly cool . It's just also a bit less accessible than the current gaming world, requiring you to put a bit more energy in to get your bonus fun out right now. Will be interesting to see if the AAA revamps launching this December help it get close to a place where you can just buy a game, plug and play, and go revel in it for a prolonged period. As it is currently I'm pretty cool with jumping between genres, and riding on indie output to get my daily gaming fixes. But I am definitely desirous of classic AAA having its day too

REVIEWS:

--SHOOTERS & BRAWLERS--



SUPERHOT VR - Superhuman slow-mo super-antics. Short but pretty perfectly formed.

Robo Recall - Gaudy teleportation shooter, short-ish but slickly executed. It's future-90s cities felt like a place you were scudding through, but the focus was on the high octane gamery. [Rift Freebie]

GORN - Ludicrous arena melee-fest that deploys its cartoon hammers and bendy swords to great effect. [Early Access]

Onward - Arma-style 'realistic' mili shooter that really places you in the moment! [Early Access]

Hotdogs, Horseshoes and Hand Grenades -- - Ridiculously replete gun simulator sandbox with bonus zombie sausage scenarios. Even though it's more a suite of mechanics than a game it's surprisingly good. [Early Access]

Run of Mydan (+) - A short but pretty & trippy flying platform shooter which ends up like a duel inside a 1990s microchip [Early Access]


--SIMULATORS--



Elite Dangerous VR (+/-) - Flying a spaceship never felt so real! (Some queueing for parking required...)

Dirt Rally + - 'Dark Soulsian' offroader that shows no mercy in its starter disciplines, but rewards with deep challenges.


--TEAM SPORTS--



Echo Arena - Challenging and super-slick Zero-G team frisbee, Ender's Game style... [Rift Freebie]


--ADVENTURE / PUZZLE / WALKING SIMS--



The Gallery - Episode 1: Call of the Starseed +++ - '80s adventure' with some neat tricks and touches, just ultimately light on puzzles and length.

Pollen +++ - Explore an abandoned space outpost in search of missing astronauts - Tactile, 70s-style, and not a little bit trippy by the end.


--ACTION ADVENTURES & RPGs--



Vertigo ++ - Eccentric but pretty damn excellent 'escape the lab' adventure, with some stand out giant boss scenarios.

Vanishing Realms (+) - Satisfying melee and cartoony consistency make this dungeon crawler overcome it's short-ish length. [Early Access]


--PUZZLE GAMES--



XING: The Land Beyond -- - Super zen puzzler which sees you flipping environmental effects and pacing around various natural zones.

Form - - Evocative puzzler that is unfortunately all form and very little substance.


--SURVIVAL GAMES--



Vivecraft -
Excellent mutation of the survival classic, featuring a huge suite of options, leading to some surreally immersive results. A ton better than the official version. [Free Mod]

Star Shelter ++ - Neat 'rogue lite' space scrounging simulator. Punishingly cruel at times, but has a certain something in its loops. [Early Access]


--PLATFORMERS--



Herobound +++ - A pretty tight little combat/puzzle platformer, with some minor non-linear aspects. Gains almost nothing from being in VR, but hey it's 8hrs long and it's free. [Rift Freebie]


--EXPERIENCES--



First Contact - Just an exceptional and super-slickly designed intro to the tech. Highlights what's special but makes everything feel natural. [Rift Freebie]

Batman: Arkham VR - Super immersive, if super short, chance to don the bat cape and tangle with some dark Gotham dilemmas. On the light puzzle end, and more experience than game, but immersively good for all that.

Waltz of the Wizard + - Lovely free physics plaything, with the odd mini-narrative hidden in its playful folds... [Rift Freebie]

Interkosmos - Great little 'land the lander module' mini-adventure, featuring tongue-in-cheek Cold War stylings & audio story.

Blade Runner 2049: Memory Lab +(+) - Too short, and slight on a gaming front, to even rate if it wasn't free. But as a demonstration of what full actor capture could do, and for slipping into the Blade Runner reboot neatly enough, it's definitely worth a reco. [Rift Freebie]

Aircar ++ - Another free super short experience, which is never-the-less properly epic. It's just a wonderfully rendered cityscape experience, which is immediately evocative of the original Blade Runner. [Free]

Mission:ISS - Another high class freebie, featuring solid zero G locomotion, the sci-steeped setting of the station, but what's genuinely glorious is the ability to space walk outside it all... [Rift Freebie]

Farlands + - Delightful alien locations mixed with deeply tedious gameplay. Worth a download for the initial transporting sections though. (Warning, includes chirpy robot guide...) [Rift Freebie]

Mythos of the World Axis - Super-short early proof of concept that makes your feel like you're controlling a tiny hero in a cavernous room of adventure...[Free]

Cycling Pathways to Mars + = ? - Buzz Aldrin in hologram form. Need I say more...? [Free]

The Body VR -- - A hint of what education VR could become, but not there yet. Some of the scale as you passed over and into the mechanisms and environments of the inner cells was pretty cool though. [Free]

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No bites from me, although I have a slightly perverse interest in seeing how Skyrim runs on the Switch. Doom seems functional, but low res and lower framerate - Skyrim's open world, however, with all the horsepower that needs.

They've not done anything to LA Noir which would make me want to pay Ł30 for it. If they'd spent a bit more money and given the player a use for the open world and made the questioning system less bizarre, I'd probably have caved in. Re-naming the interview questions from 'truth', 'doubt' and 'lie' to 'good cop', 'bad cop' and 'accuse' doesn't really address the glaring fault with the gameplay - Frequently you'd select 'doubt' and have Cole go ballistic and basically start accusing the hapless interviewee of literal war crimes!

I really like Lanoyer, but am not blind to the fact that it's got as many problems as it has stand-out moments.

I have the Switch. Repeat, I have the Switch.

I'm trying to collect a list of games that I'd be disappointed if I never fully completed, and I think next up is LttP, DOOM, and Papers Please.

Stardew valley on the switch may end up being my most played switch game as well. I've been playing it before I go to bed and I don't stop playing until I'm literally falling asleep. It's gotten a tiny bit problematic.

(Note: I actually got to meet Pope at PAX this year and demo his new game. He's got a fan for life.)

Playing a quick day before you go to sleep is just too perfect on the Switch.