Enigmatic_Oddity wrote:
I would not recommend driver software like VorpX, having purchased it sometime myself. Simply put, these experiences don't translate well to VR at all, which really shouldn't come as a surprise given they were never designed with VR in mind.
I have spent over 600 hours in VR, having used it since the Oculus Rift developer kit days. Most of that time (530+ hours) has been in Elite: Dangerous, which I can recommend with some caveats. The actual flying around gameplay is really fun, as well as the moment to moment gameplay in combat. The game is weaker in its overall game design, with archaic old school MMO elements such as massive penalties for death where you can lose weeks of progress, or the optimal way to playing being through massive amounts of grinding rather than through in game missions. The game is most fun if you can avoid playing the optimal way and min/maxing, opting to instead play for fun.
Arizona Sunshine is a great campaign FPS that can be played single player or cooperatively, with additional multiplayer horde modes. It's a decent length, lasting for about six hours, with a lot of polish that isn't typically seen in VR games.
Audioshield is my second most played VR game, having played it for 22 hours. It's a simple but addictive music rhythm game that uses your music collection to generate levels where you use shields to block incoming projectiles that come in time with the music. It also uses Youtube music videos as levels, and any song ever played has online leaderboards to compare score. It has multiple difficulty levels, with the hardest one being really difficult. If you have ever played either of the Audiosurf games, it is similar to that and is made by the same developer. The amount of enjoyment you get from this game will probably depend on your music tastes and how well they line up with the algorithm the game uses for generating levels.
The Gallery - Episode 1: Call of the Starseed is a great start to an episodic adventure series. It has the best VR interaction in any game I've played, and is heavily reminiscent of games like the Myst series, with an island to explore, a mystery plot, various weird characters and the occasional puzzle. It is short however, lasting only two hours with little replayability. It is however, the most polished VR game I've played by far - even if the rest of the episodes don't turn out well I expect that it'll be influential in how other developers use controls in the future.
House of the Dying Sun is really fun, a great fast paced spaceship combat game with RTS elements, heavily reminiscent of Homeworld or the reboot of Battlestar Galactica in aesthetic. You mostly play as a combat pilot in a small fighter, but can also control a small fleet simultaneously on short objective based missions. Each mission lasts a few minutes, but is packed with action and decisions on how to manage your fleet, similar to Freespace or the Star Wars: Rogue Squadron series. It lasted me about five hours, but there was no filler and I felt like I got my money's worth.
The Lab is a collection of minigames and experiences made by Valve. It's very polished, and it's completely free. There's pretty much zero reason for anyone with a VR headset to not have played it. I know people really like the archery minigame, but personally I'm a fan of Xortex, the bullet hell shooter.
Rec Room is another free game, with a lot of content. It's a minigame collection with a focus on social interaction, with a shared hub world leading to each minigame. There is paintball, an RPG style dungeon game, charades, and various other games. Like The Lab, there really isn't any reason not to have tried this game. It's free and it's great.
Sportsbar VR is great if the idea of playing pool with AI or online appeals to you. It also contains a number of other minigames such as bowling, darts, or air hockey. The pool is the main attraction though, and it works really well in VR.
Vanishing Realms is a great action RPG made by an ex Valve employee. It was one of the first games made for VR available on consumer release, and it has yet to be surpassed in terms of its controls and content. It's in early access, but it's content complete with future patches to address bugs and optimisation, neither of which I found to be a problem.
Vertigo is another great campaign FPS with good, varied gameplay. It is reminiscent of Portal, with a futuristic aesthetic set in a research lab, with various puzzles as well as action. It also has some stellar boss fights. It does suffer from a number of major bugs, however. I would recommend this after Arizona Sunshine.
Raw Data is in early access, but it has a good amount of content already. It's a wave based shooter that can be played in single player or coop, with various characters with different kits such as a telekinetic ninja cyborg with a laser sword and shurikens, or dual pistol wielding bishop with time altering powers. It's on the pricey side, and I think it's definitely worth watching to see how it develops if you are wary of early access titles. I wouldn't recommend it over Arizona Sunshine or Vertigo, though.
Which games did you try with the vorpx driver? I finished building my gaming pc this weekend and was planning on buying the software. People say that it works great with GTA V and Skyrim, but other games apparently the 3d isn't effective and there are lots of glitches.
Seems like people either love or hate the program. The fact that you can't demo it or get a refund makes me weary.
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27 Mar 2017, 3:01 pm
