[Hawns Tech] Check Out The Latest Play Station VR

A reader’s shares his experiences of Sony’s VR headset, and explains why he didn’t end up hiding it from his girlfriend.
Well, Amazon tried to disappoint me by telling me my PlayStation VR headset wasn’t going to arrive until Saturday, which was a bit of a disappointment as I knew I was going to have early finishes from work on Thursday and Friday. So I knew I was going to have several possible hours each day between work and my girlfriend coming over.
I was actually beginning to get a bit of buyer’s remorse and doubt about spending this much money on a toy. Earlier in the year I bought a cheap plastic headset that I could drop my phone in just to get a taster of VR. That was fun for five minutes, then went in the drawer. Then several months later unceremoniously into the bin. I had a worry that the same would happen with PlayStation VR and that overall the experience wouldn’t be much better. Regardless of that I’d still taken time to pre-download Batman: Arkham VR and was happy to see Driveclub VR on the store at a reduced price for season pass holders, so I snatched that straight up.
I was planning to hide the PlayStation VR when my girlfriend came over, lest she think worse of me. I’ve still got that nagging vestige of gaming being a shameful nerdy thing from growing up in the early nineties, and sometimes it’s difficult to have the courage of my own convictions. So I was actually relieved that the thing might not turn up until Saturday, when I’d have the whole day free to myself to experiment.
Thursday rolls around and Amazon tells me it’s being delivered that day. I couldn’t wait to get home and when I did I was greeted by a lovingly packaged PlayStation VR that felt great to open up. The headset really is a nice looking piece of kit and actually ties in nicely sitting on top of my new Xbox One S, they looked like they could have been designed for each other.
20 minutes later it was all hooked up and I slipped it on. It really is very comfortable. Sony have done an excellent job with the ergonomics. The cheap VR headset I bought had similar straps to the PC headsets and was in no way comfortable. The PlayStation VR is easily comfortable enough for long sessions.
So what to try first? Driveclub VR is the thing I’ve been dreaming of, but mixed reviews left me feeling dejected. I saw with happiness that many more demos had been made available on the PS store, making the demo disc a bit redundant. So I went download happy. I thought I had better ease myself in and went with firing up The Playroom VR. God knows why, because the previous Playroom was garbage and was switched off after a few minutes.
Immediately I’m impressed by the visuals. The screen seems to be better resolution than I was expecting and the screen door effect is massively less than when I was using my phone. It’s automatic fun to just start looking around and trying to get a better look at the things in front of me. I start the first demo without knowing what it is.
The demo I picked has you controlling a little robot as it walks forward through a platforming stage collecting coins and saving other little robots from angry little purple GameCubes. Within seconds I was laughing and giggling like a kid, talking to myself and announcing to the empty room how awesome it was. I probably couldn’t have picked anything better, it was delightful!
It’s the first time in ages I’ve just wanted to play, to try different things just to see what would happen rather than just progressing. Even the little toy enemies jumping out the ground made me jump and panic. The developer has put in some really quirky ideas, such as changing the design and functions of the DualShock in the game. It’s a physical object in your hands but is transformed into something else entirely in the game. Fantastically clever.
To put this in perspective, earlier in the day I’d been at a job interview for a high responsibility senior civil service management position. And two hours later I was sat on my settee in pyjamas laughing at trying to make a little robot punch me in my own face, talking away to him the whole time. I was sold immediately and if that’s not a lesson in taking a gamble on new tech I don’t know what is. My mind was immediately soaring into what Nintendo could do with this. I’m very sorry kids younger than 12 can’t use it.
Next up was the PlayStation VR Worlds demo and Ocean Descent. Again this was wonderful, the low resolution of the screen really doesn’t matter when you’re cooing away at the manta rays swimming around you. I am seriously impressed by the lighting in that game, with the torchlight from your helmet lighting everything up perfectly. The game genuinely made me feel cold as I descended further into the ocean. Very impressive.
EVR: Valkyrie next. Unfortunately, the only tutorial was a screen with the controls and although it looked great I didn’t know how the hell I was supposed to use my boosters to get in and amongst the battle. Goodbye. Try again later.
Battlezone next. This felt fantastic and very immersive. I felt like a badass destroying a few tanks, but the demo gets hectic extremely quickly and I just had the one go.
I muscle up the courage to try Driveclub VR, even though my wheel isn’t set up and some reviewers have refused to review it due to the nausea it causes. I fear my hopes are going to be dashed. I have a quick three laps of the demo track. My impressions are that the graphics are about what I was initially hoping for from VR, sitting in the car feels great, that playing with DualShock is far from ideal and that I definitely had fun for three laps, giving me hope for the full game.
Finally, I give the cinematic mode a try. This I had low expectations for as my experience with the same in phone VR was very poor. However, I fire up Doom and I’m immediately impressed by how immersive it is. While playing you ignore the edges of the screen and it does seem like the image is room scale. I was having a great time and feeling no sickness until I increased the screen size from the medium to large setting, which made me feel ill.
Back to medium and I’m already thinking of what other fps games I could play in it, and hunting for my abandoned copy of Alien Isolation. Star Wars: Battlefront was less impressive, maybe because of the more open environments or because I don’t like the game anyway. Watching a Blu-ray is meh as expected, although it could have its uses if you wanted big screen thrills in a small room and don’t care about resolution.
All this was suitably impressive enough for me to be confident enough not to hide the headset from my girlfriend when she came round. She did have a look of disappointment when I pointed it out, but I suggested that she should try Ocean Descent and that was the end of that.
Friday and I’m home by two, with five hours until my girlfriend is due.
I begin with Headmaster. Again, loads of fun, excellent physics, a game that’s really making the most of its limited premise, but not one I’d buy.
Next is RIGS, the opening feels great, sitting in the rig with your team-mates in front of you. Looking at the guns you’re packing while the holographic displays come to life around you is excellent. The game itself makes me feel a little queasy and disoriented. I can see it’s the sort of repetitive eSports multiplayer game that leaves me cold. Although I can see myself practising with it some more.
Next I realise there’s a demo for The London Heist, which is just a shooting gallery, but I’m dumbfounded at how great it feels to shoot using the Move controllers.
At this stage I’m so sold on the PlayStation VR that I go on a spending spree and buy the full PlayStation VR Worlds, Rez Infinite, and EVE: Gunjack.
While I’m waiting for those to download I have what is without a doubt my favourite VR experience. I fire up Allumette, which is an animation about a young girl and her mother set in a floating town in the clouds. This absolutely blew me away and was magical. Followed by a Pixar style animation called invasion I was convinced at that moment my girlfriend had to try it.
Next, a quick play of Rez proves a lot of fun, I never played it first time round but did like Child Of Eden so I’m hoping for a port of that too. The Kitchen demo makes me feel very uncomfortable, purely from the proximity of having a game character get so far into your personal space.
By now I can play the full PlayStation VR Worlds content, so I have a go at the full version of Ocean Descent. There’s not much more there, but the full version gives you a much better idea of how they’d incorporate a narrative and possibly a game.
Next, The London Heist. I only make it to the first part, set in the back room of a London pub. But this is absolutely excellent. Picking up a cigar after lighting it, trying to use it to set fire to things, being handed items by the other character who recoil when you reach for them. This was totally convincing and massive fun. Again, I was chatting away to myself and the other character whilst doing as much inappropriate stuff with my on-screen hands as possible. Very funny.
I learn that I can use all my other consoles in cinematic mode just by switching the HDMI cable, which is a nice surprise. I was hoping this might be a back door to watching 3D Blu-ray on the headset via PlayStation 3, but although the movie would play it was only 2D.
After my girlfriend arrived she had a try of Allumette and Ocean Descent. I’m impressed because she decided to brave the shark attack, although it made her jump three feet in the air. She came away raving about it and saying how cool it was.
Finally, Saturday on my own. I finally have the time and the bottle to set up my wheel and fire up Driveclub VR. At first I’m going mental because the game won’t recognise the wheel, then remember you have to switch it to PlayStation 4 mode and I’m away. First impressions? Sitting in the car feels amazing, I’m starting to choose cars based not on their performance but on how nice their upholstery is!
Then the cars start moving and its less impressive, the graphics are muddy and it isn’t the clear winner over racing on a TV I was hoping it would be. I don’t think we’ll get that until we have a racer that’s built from the ground up for VR. I do think I’ll be doing most of my racing in PlayStation VR now though. It’s not the clear winner but I do think it’s probably the better sacrifice than not being able to judge distance in 2D.
It feels great to pass another car look over and shout, ‘See ya later mate!’ I’ve had a faint tug of nausea on specific corners but nothing serious. So far my problem has been not being a good enough driver, rather than problems with the game itself. I’m hankering after a Gran Turismo that will ease you into VR with tests rather than Driveclub throwing you in at the deep end.
Overall, I’m seriously impressed and think it’s £350 well spent. I can see me having a lot of fun with it and can’t wait to see how the tech progresses and improves. Now someone needs to make an episodic Quantum Leap game for me please!