Continued from the last post that discusses a first series of VR content and apps that I picked up for the Oculus Quest!
Vader Immortal. There aren’t a lot of VR games set in the Star Wars universe at the moment, though a lot of fans of the old X-Wing action-sim games from the early 1990s are really looking forward to Star Wars: Squadrons, which looks set to be the spiritual successor to that almost 28 year old game. Squadrons in particular will also offer VR support. Till then though, there’s Vader Immortal, a three part series that’s exclusive to Oculus. Each installment isn’t particularly expensive – around USD9.99 – and the visuals and audio absolutely oozes atmosphere from the film series. I’ve only finished the first installment – I’m waiting for the next two episodes to be on discount – and despite the short play-length of about an hour in each episode, have come away nonetheless very impressed. The best bits have been the light saber fights, and there’s also a Darth Vader dojo sandbox level where you can fight against drones to hone your skills. The game was also didn’t cause nausea for the most part with support for locomotion. Very highly recommended.
Space Pirate Trainer. This game has also gotten great reviews consistently. It’s a straight-forward action shooter without any pretense of a story. The campaign comprises increasingly harder levels set in a linear path. And you can play it seated, though you might also find harder to dodge incoming fire. The game didn’t cause nausea at all. You’ll also need to spend quite a bit of time practicing to get through the harder levels, though the enemy waves themselves in each level don’t seem randomized.
Bait. This one’s a free game app in the Oculus store, and is basically a fishing game. Visuals are colorful, and the core fishing experience quite simplified. It’s a nice – and totally free – way of getting introduced to VR fishing games, and you can consider picking up the more realistic and extensive fishing games for VR gear if you like this sort of thing. You’re basically stationery in the game throughout, so this is an easy game to get into even for those who’re particularly susceptible to motion sickness.
Beat Saber. Few owners of VR gear would not have this one in the library. The free demo does a good job of introducing core game mechanics, and the demo also features one of the best music tracks in the game to boot too. Do make sure you give that a whirl before you decide whether to step-up for the paid version. There’s a good number of levels in the paid version, and user communities are also abound with mods to side-loadable additional music tracks into the game if you’re up to it. The game doesn’t have a difficulty slider though, and I got through about 15 levels of the campaign before essentially getting stuck given that I’m not particularly good at this sort of action-type games! The more difficult levels – e.g. generate faster incoming objects for you to smash, higher points for you to reach, or allow fewer misses – are quite unforgiving, and you can routinely only make a very small number of mistakes before you’ll come to a point where it’s pointless to continue in the level. These harder levels also provide a decent workout as you flail your arms about. And finally, zero motion sickness too.
Superhot VR. This one also garnered a lot of rave reviews on account of its novel action gameplay; basically, if you ever wanted to be a John Wick or Jackie Chan type hero, this is the game for you. Each level is in bite size, and wide-ranging enough for you to try different approaches to defeat each enemy wave. The game can also be played standing still, though you’d need to move your upper body quite a bit to dodge incoming objects or blows. For those who’re challenged in action-type games, the game can also be a little tough as there’s no difficulty slider. And you can’t progress onto the next level until you’ve cleared the current one. That said, like the other games in this post so far, the game won’t cause motion sickness, and there’s also a limited demo for you to try out to see if this is your cup of tea.
Vox Machinae. I was a little disappointed that the recent much awaited iteration in the MechWarrior game series – MechWarrior 5: Mercenaries – didn’t offer any sort of VR support. Vox Machinae is a nice alternative though: you’re put in the cockpit of a hulking Pacific Rim-sized robot armed to the teeth with weaponary, and you face off against other enemies in multiplayer mode (there’s support thankfully also for single-player mode). The game’s visuals are great, and you get an immersive experience of being in control of a huge metal fighting machine. I couldn’t get far in this game though, as it quickly caused motion sickness within minutes and ended up getting a refund for it.
Discovering Space 2. This one isn’t a game but a semi-realistic app that puts you in a small ship as you fly around the solar system. The visuals are breathtaking and you get a good sense of how small humans and their ships are in the vastness of space. The planets look fine from afar, but up close, do not resolve well – textures on planet surfaces are typically a blurry mess. There are plenty of info elements throughout explaining what you’re observing as you do planet flybys or of other phenomenon. Pretty cool and a nice showcase for your new VR gear.
That’s it for the first bunch of apps and games I picked up for the Oculus Quest. I might do a next post in this series in the later months as I try out more content in the future!
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