Week 2: VR Experience/Review

The 3 games I experienced over the weekend include: Resident Evil 7, Beat Saber and Super-hot. These are very different selections from the ones I had chosen in previous documentation posts, but nonetheless, still caught my eye in terms of VR experiences.

Beat Saber is probably one of the most popular and well-known games to the VR universe. It is one of the earliest projects I associated with Virtual Reality gaming. The rhythm-based game consists of using your motion controllers to cut and slash through floating targets that advance towards your person. The targets, which require you to cut through in very specific directions, move in sync to the music the player has selected. The color-coded targets also differ in speed and intensity depending on the difficulty level chosen, which ranges between Easy and Extreme.

Throughout the whole experience, I only needed to stand in place and swing my arms around according to the beats, only occasionally having to bend down or pivot from side to side in order to evade point-reducing and streak-halting blocks. It was overall, a very enjoyable experience as I continued to move from each difficulty to the next, I remained stuck on HARD for various songs as the ones after were just too crazy in speed for my abilities. I do wish though, that they could add a larger expansion to their soundtrack collection. At the moment, they only carry an assortment of Electronic Dance Music (EDM), along with the occasional pop tracks. I am aware though, or at-least I believe that the application does update every now or then to add in more songs for their users and players. Another feature I wish they could have, and would in my perspective, benefit the game as a whole, would be the option of adding in personal soundtracks. This would require the application to be able to create challenges and targets for never before seen music, but I am aware of other applications similar in function that have been capable of doing just such thing.

SUPERHOT was a very frustrating game, yet a very interesting take on combat games. The game which comes in a crisp outline of white, black and red is beautiful to the eye of a minimalist, to which I am. The game consists of the player needing to fight against red enemies made purely out of glass, through any means possible. You are taught how to use a large assortment of guns like handguns, machine guns and so on, along with the use of your own fists and tangible items like bottles and shuriken (ninja stars) that can be thrown at the enemies. Moreover, since the enemies can materialize from anywhere, the individual must keep an eye on every nook and cranny in the location by covering a whole 180 degrees. Although the game does have a 360-degree coverage of graphics, the enemies never seem to materialize behind the player, which I think is a pity in terms of wasted space and resources.

Perhaps, I just haven’t reached a specific level yet to see such action. In each section, the difficulties vary, the locations change and the challenges increase. What sets Superhot away from other combat games similar in format is its use of time and movement. Comparable to that legendary scene from the Matrix, time does not move unless you do, prompting the individual to move throughout the entire challenge. You can dodge bullets like in The Matrix, or you can work speedily by moving frantically, it all depends on the user’s preference of gameplay. I for one, like to put a mix between slow motion and normal speed. It was frustrating in how, when the enemies manage to shoot you or hit you first with their own antics, you lose and must start the challenge all over again, in which each challenge can consist of 4 or 5 settings and locations. 

Resident Evil 7 is the only VR game I had chosen in my previous posts to make it into my final review. I have seen countless other people enjoy this masterpiece when it first came out, and I pretty much had the entire storyline memorized like the back of my hand. Still, I was terrified. Just beginning the game, I needed moral support in order to finally reach the horrifying house that laid in front of me in the VR World, even though I was well aware of the jump scares that would happen. I could only play the game for a half-hour before giving up due to fear, but that was well enough for me to see just how amazing the Resident Evil world looked through a 360 degree surround environment.

Though it may seem cliche to say such things, it truly felt as if I was right there in the game, in the house trying to fight my way out against demons and monsters. However, sometimes I did feel dizzy from the illusion of walking in-game while staying put in the outside/real word. I have heard that other players have also undergone similar nausea while playing such games, in which a disparity between movement in the VR world and the outer world is present. Nonetheless, I enjoyed the experience wholeheartedly, as it was the first time I entered a video game that utilized my entire surroundings while using the VR equipment. I hope to have more of these experiences, and hopefully push myself to continue this Resident Evil 7 adventure sometime soon.

 

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