I’ve played a lot of games on the switch and PC (steam), not a lot of vr games. I’ve only played less than 5 games since vr gaming technology came out, so I don’t really have much experience with them. I will however describe a few of the vr games that have impressed me the most and my most recent experience with vr games based on what I will write in the next few posts.
The first vr game that impressed me the most was ‘Beat Saber’. This was the first vr game I played and is by far my favourite vr game. It’s a musical beat game. It contains various genres of music such as hip hop and rock, and uses lightsaber swings to hit the rhythm cubes. Combined with the exquisite scene modelling and rhythm pattern changes within the game and scene changes such as bombs gave me an immediate immersive environment gaming experience. I received feedback for every move I made and the fixed point gameplay prevented me from getting motion sickness from the game. I was also pleased with the tactile aspect. When the lightsaber simulated with the joystick hit the blocks, the joystick emitted a subtle vibrating sensation and I got feedback on every move I made. I’ve actually played this game on steam (PC) without the vr version, so I was very excited when I found out it was coming to vr. As it turned out, Beat Saber’s vr game did not disappoint me, both in terms of feel and graphics and music. And because it’s a Chinese/Chinese collaboration game, ‘Beat Saber’ also has a lot of Chinese songs.
The second game I would like to talk about is ‘The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners’. It’s a bit more technically challenging than ‘Beat Saber’. I played this game because I saw a lot of people recommending it and I was interested in the zombie genre so I bought it. Personally, I think there are a lot of things that make this game shine. For example, the killing of zombies, although I personally found it a bit disgusting when I played it, I have to admit that the brains and guts of the zombies are well rendered in detail. And most importantly, the tactile feel, with each weapon having just the right amount of weight and texture. Heavy weapons such as axes and rifles require two handed grips for added stability, while smaller weapons such as hunting knives can be operated with one hand, making it easier to make precise attacks. I’ve only played the game a few times though, firstly because it’s open-ended but still revolves around a closed loop of exploration, scavenging, killing and crafting, and the main quest to find the stockpile can seem thin. The second is because the immersion that vr games bring to me, the feeling of being surrounded by loss is scary and I’m afraid to play alone.
The third is the game I recently played, ‘HITMAN 3’. I didn’t bring my vr device with me but my friend brought it and bought the game so I borrowed my friend’s stuff to play it. I played ‘HITMAN 2’ on the computer and it was really fun and it was very playable. I had high hopes for the ‘HITMAN 3’ vr game. But when I finished it I was actually a bit disappointed. It was very difficult to manoeuvre and it felt like the characters couldn’t follow my perspective. My friend told me that when she watched me play it, I felt like I was in a weird position, like I had new limbs that hadn’t been trained yet. On top of that I’ve seen a lot of negative comments about the graphics quality. I didn’t really notice this when I was playing because I’m a bit nearsighted with astigmatism so I always thought it was my eyes that were the problem. I think the biggest problem with ‘HITMAN 3’ is that it doesn’t integrate into the vr game and the overall feeling while playing is fragmented. It was very strange to have my eyes and ears in the vr game but my hands still on the keyboard.
Finally, I think the most important thing about vr games is the sense of immersion. The synchronization of picture and sound, the synchronization of picture and touch. You have to imagine all the parts as a whole to have a better gaming experience.