Oculus Rift Touch

Last Friday, I visited a friend. My friend who owns an Oculus Rift to be precise.

I've talked before about my very first VR experience, and how amazing it was, but what I didn't know was that my friend has now gotten his hands on the Oculus Rift Touch, the virtual room experience.

For those who are not in the know, this means that you stand in the middle of the room, the VR headset on, and motion controllers in each hand. You become completely immersed in the world of your choosing, able to look around, including behind you and it's all there.

The first game I got to try out was Robo Recall, a sci-fi game where hordes of robots attack you and you get to shoot them. Or grab them and toss them around at will. This was incredibly cool as you actually have to physically aim your guns in order to hit anything. A far cry from using a mouse or normal controller. The robots run at you from all sides, they jump down from ledges allowing you to shoot them out of the air if you can.

Sure, at first the whole thing felt a bit alien, but soon enough I got the hang of it. You don't walk in the game, since that would either give you motion sickness (or you would fall over) or you'd crash into something. Instead you teleport around at will, destroying robots like the action hero we've all dreamed about being at some point in our lives.

Without a doubt one of the coolest action sci-fi experiences I have ever played.

The other game I tried is Wilson's Heart. A horror/thriller game set in the 1940's. It's interestingly done in black and white, with a Noir art style that invokes the films of the era.

Here, you are an inmate or patient in a very messed up sanitarium where evil occult stuff has gone down. Again, as with Robo Recall you can't walk around, but there are spots you can warp to in order to gather clues and items. This was actually even cooler. To be able to stand in a huge reception area and look around at the vaulted ceiling and all the little details made it feel as if I was actually there. You could also pick up things, twist them around, throw them away, or toss them up and catch them with your other hand. Likewise, you actually had to grab door handles and turn them to open doors.

This may sound simple, but these tiny details truly sell the experience. And it makes it a thousand times worse when a nurse suddenly appear behind you...

Also, at one point I came to a room where the outer wall had a huge gaping hole in it. I stood at the edge of the aperture and looked down. I'm not sure I could have stepped off even if the game had let me, it felt that real.

This meas that a game like Assassin's Creed would be on every level absolutely terrifying to play in VR, but museum tours would totally work. Someone needs to do a virtual tour of the great castles of the world, starting with Neuschwanstein Castle.

I could go on, gushing about how amazing this was, bu I think you get the point. If you get a chance to try out VR or room VR, try it. Maybe something easy first, it's new way of doing things after all.

Until next time, have a great week!