As Gamescom opens up its doors for the public, people are already lining up to test out different yet-to-release games or try out different demos of games that already have been released. I couldn’t help but notice that a lot of people are trying to get their hands on the different virtual reality headsets. Even though different Virtual Reality headsets have been introduced to the public (such as Google Cardboard, the Oculus Rift and the HTC VIVE), a lot of people still haven’t gotten the opportunity to try it out for themselves. “I had a VR dream…” is what the present Martin Luther King would say but will the HTC VIVE soar through the centuries as a mere dream or will it actually become reality?
One of those people who had the same dream as Martin Luther King, was me… I have always been excited for this “Virtual Reality”. So you can believe that I was pretty excited to get my hands on this new device. I became more excited as different tech demos rose to the public surface. The demos of the different developers looked new and exciting, I just had to experience it… And today I finally got my actual hands on the device. Once I entered this virtual dimension, I was hooked and couldn’t let go. HTC really nailed it when it comes to developing their VR headset. Everything I saw, felt fluent and I quickly fell to the hype of VR headsets. This is a dream that a lot of people are seeing coming to life. Even though the playable demos were all tech demos and were a blast to test out, I wasn’t blown away by this “Virtual Playroom”. The demos I’ve played didn’t really show the real potential of the device and that’s why I didn’t find the gameplay experience overwhelming. Let’s talk about some of the tech demos I’ve played with the HTC VIVE.
The first demo I played was the popular mobile game “Fruit Ninja”, which is an amusing and addicting game to play on a mobile. My first experience with the HTC VIVE couldn’t have gone better. I got two Katanas and was able to test those blades out on different pieces of fruit, just cutting them in million of pieces but is it an over-the-top game? No, but it doesn’t have to be. All of these demos were helping me to familiarise myself with the controls of this new load-out. The reaction speed of the HTC VIVE’s controller is very good, it was fluent and I didn’t have any hiccups whatsoever, not even in the other demos. One thing I immediately noticed was the cable that connected the headset to the computer. One way or the other, it always messed up my game… and maybe sometimes because of my own gaming skills.
The next demo was actually a futuristic squash kind of game called “Holo Ball”. It reminded me of squash in a Tron like setting. I was hitting the ball to the “square-shaped opponent and my goal was to get my get ball pass it. It was a fun game but nothing too fancy. The futuristic look did give me an awesome perspective on the environment. Lots of neon colors which brought the room to live. I really did have the feeling, I was in this futuristic squash room. One of the most awesome things I’ve seen during this game was the fact that a scoring board was projected in the sky and each time I scored a point, there were fireworks all over the place. Again not an amazing demo but it was simple and yet enjoyable. It took me back to the days when the Wii- controller was released, the feature of combining motion sensors to your controller was pretty awesome back in the day. It was innovative and it already completed a piece of this “Virtual Reality” dream that people had.
The third demo “Selfie Tennis” was also a hit and receive kind of game, it was a lot like tennis but you played tennis against yourself, confusing right? I too was confused in the beginning but it all made sense pretty quick. This demo lets you hit the ball to the opposite side of the field and you’re immediately teleported to the place where the ball will drop. This feature allows you to actually play tennis on your own. It felt intuitive but I did miss my service a couple of times. My real life hand eye coordination is a lot better than my virtual hand eye coordination and I think it’s because of the width of the actual VR headset. Your eyes are trapped in this box and they can’t see everything that goes around you. The eyes and the brain are such a good team in the real life but in-game your eyes are being fooled in this simulation and you have to trust your instincts within this environment. Your brain will use your former “realistic” knowledge to guess and guide your hands where they should be…and it’s not always right but I do believe that this experience will improve the longer you play in this Virtual environment.
The last game I’ve played was “Space Pirate Training” and it does sound more awesome than it actually is. This was the first demo that introduced me to the shooting and “real-time movement in the Virtual world” mechanics of the VR headset. The demo was all about surviving different waves of drones that had to be completed within a certain time limit and you couldn’t allow yourself to die since it will end the game immediately. The aiming is something you’ll have to get used to but it is truly a fun and interesting concept. I hope these actions come along more often than they do now. The only thing that bothered me “again” was the cable of the VR headset. Some drones fired back at you, so you did have to avoid getting hit but I would often stumble as I tripped over the cable. I was afraid of breaking this precious headset with a price of 800 Euro. It was an okay demo but I did fell that the aiming mechanics are something this game could work on, it often felt like I was missing my target by a single hair.
My first VR experience was pretty cool and I’m excited about the future as VR will be an “actual” thing in the real world. The concept is here, all it needs now is some improvement and minimization. I do have to say the following, I was expecting a bit more action based games or even a horror experience but it was only a 10 minute session. I really wanted to experience some highly developed VR experiences but I guess my hunger for the Virtual Reality has yet to be stilled and I hope it’ll be pretty soon! Not saying the device was bad, it definitely isn’t. I mean for one of the first VR headsets, it’s an awesome device and very well-developed but it does need some improvements to really satisfy the customer. One of the biggest problems that has to be solved immediately, is the cable. It really ruins the immersion of any type of VR game but as you probably saw in my interview with Jon Goddard, the marketing chef of the HTC Vive, they’re definitely working on different ways to get rid of the cable and he also said they had bright plans for their beloved system! Let’s hope they deliver what they’ve promised because I wouldn’t want this kind of technology to go to waste.
If you want to know more about the future plans of HTC VIVE, check out our interview with Jon Goddard, the head of marketing:
