So it's been a full week since I started playing my PSVR, huh? Wow... It seems like I JUST got it! I have to say, so far with all the games and films I've experienced with it, I don't regret buying one. It has been so much fun!
With that said, I returned to Playstation VR Worlds today and finished The London Heist. I had no idea I was right near the end. I literally was on the last chapter, and it was only about three minutes long. The game gave me the choice to either kill the gangster that wanted you to steal the diamond for you, or kill the guy you were working with, so I chose one option after the other, and accidentally fired and missed and got a third ending. The game was fun, but I wish it was beefier, which is the problem with VR Worlds. There's no substantial gameplay offering, until Scavenger's Odyssey but I'll get to that later.
The next game in VR Worlds that I played was VR Luge, a street luging game that has you barreling down four stretches of mountain road, but they're all very similar to each other, just different settings and obstacles. I found this one to be very hard, because its times requirements are very strict. After each round, you only get 25 seconds added to whatever time left you have, and if you hit an obstacle or wall, you lose considerable speed. You pretty much have to do each leg perfectly in order to win a tour. I tried a few times, but didn't have the patience. It's a thrilling experience to go downhill at such speeds, though.
The final game of VR Worlds turned out to be my favorite because it was the one that felt more like a game than any other. It was called Scavenger's Odyssey. You play as an alien in a bug shaped quadrupedal mech who drops into a scavenging site and begins looking for an artifact. I was able to look all around my cockpit, and it was a freaky sensation to see my body as not my body but something truly alien. You have an energy grapple that pulls and flings objects, your standard machine guns and an ability to hope great distances and even double jump. Any game that lets you double jump gets a +1 from me.
You aim by moving your head, and you can rotate the cockpit as you move. Needless to say, it made for smooth gameplay. With the help of an auto aiming system, I was able to mow down hordes of alien bugs with ease. At times, there were energy modules that I could tap with my energy grapple and my weapons benefited with a sudden burst of power. The presentation of the game was solid with your AI guiding you where to go and what to do. I loved jumping from platform to platform and and letting zero gravity have its way with me. Unfortunately, the game ended very abruptly, just when I thought it was going to take me to one final chapter. I would really love to see Scavenger's Odyssey turned into a full fledged game.
I got Until Dawn: Rush of Blood in the mail today and I have to say, don't write this game off. You may watch footage on Youtube and dismiss it as a cheap scare rollercoaster ride, but you have to be in the game to really experience it. Watch Jim Sterling's review on the game. It was his review that ultimately sold me on the game, which helped sell me on a PSVR.
Rush of Blood is a carnival horror on-rails roller coaster arcade shooter? If there was such a thing as a sub sub genre of a sub genre of a genre. You can play with either the dual shock or the Move controllers and I opted immediately for the two Move controllers. That's just the way VR is meant to be played if you ask me. When I started the game, I was met with a carnival guy who rode in a car in front of me and off I went, shooting my guns at targets that popped out of booths and looking for little freaky doll baby statue things to shoot. Occasionally, people dressed up in costumes would rush my cart and try to inflict damage upon me where I had to fend them off with my guns. The first stage was pretty solid, but the second stage was just phenomenal.
The second stage had me literally saying, "This game ain't right!" Lots of haunting stuff going on with ghosts, reanimated pigs and pig parts, giant clown faces and whatnot. Also, I had shotguns, which made shooting a lot more fun, but made reloading all the time not as fun. Still, the second stage was such a blast. The game also has a lot of Until Dawn references, as it should, since it's based off the game, and I love being able to recognize them. Oh, I also forgot to mention there are boards and obstacles that come your way, and you need to move your head out of its path, or you'll take damage. The game has a deceptive sense of horror to it for the kind of game that it is. I can already say after just playing two stages of this game, it's left more of an impact on me than Here They Lie ever did.
Ladies and gentlemen, I think it's time to end this series. I believe I've talked about enough about the PSVR at this point that I can't really talk about anything more. I've talked about many, many demos and PlayStation VR Worlds and Here They Lie, and now Until Dawn: Rush of Blood. I've also mentioned how I've felt after using it. Oh, and I almost forgot, I used it to watch Deadpool tonight. I really wanted to watch a movie in VR and see what it was like, and since I love Deadpool so much, I decided upon that. Aside from the crappy resolution, it felt exactly how it would feel watching a movie in a theater!
Overall, I've had a great time with this device. I would love to pick up a whole bunch more games for it. I want Thumper and Wayward Sky. I would like to get more puzzles games too, such as Tumble VR and GNOG. I'm hoping that the Within app keeps updating and I can experience new films in VR. There's only a couple of times where I really didn't feel that well after playing the VR, but I've been seeming to build up a tolerance for it. It's really so light an comfortable that it becomes part of you after a while. I know PSVR seems expensive at this point, but keep in mind that considering other options, it's about the cheapest for what it can do and how user friendly it is. Give a try. I think you'll like it.
As always, thanks for reading!
Wednesday, October 26, 2016
Monday, October 24, 2016
PSVR: Day Six
Today started off really late. I misplaced my disc, and after finally finding it, I jumped into PlayStation VR Worlds. I tried out Ocean Descent, which isn't a game at all, but more of a passive viewing experience. You're in a cage, and it slowly descends to the depths of the ocean. The first dive, the longest of the three, has a bit of narrative to it. You're exploring the oceans looking for some kind of cargo. As you descend, you view all kinds of sea life. Eventually, you reach the bottom, suspended over a ripped open nuclear submarine, and a shark attacks you. After it rips off a wall, you begin ascending, and the experience comes to a close. There are two other dives, but one is just the upper half of the main dive, and the other is just viewing the coral reef. Beautiful, but pretty boring stuff.
The second game I tried was Danger Ball. It's practically pong in virtual reality. You have a paddle that you control with your head movement. You can flick your head forward for a power smash or side to side for a curve shot. There's a tournament of six opponents, which with their own unique shots and abilities, and I made it to Round 4 before I gave up and called it quits. I wouldn't mind going back to it, though,, to try to win it It was pretty fun, but had my neck aching after a bit.
I also tried London Heist, and this will probably be VR World's gem. It's a story about a jewel heist gone wrong. The first couple of chapters were just cutscenes, being interrogated by a thick piece of muscle, and meeting a gangster. There's some pretty nifty item manipulation going on during these cutscenes, but where the game really gets exciting is during its shooting segments. They get you physically involved in the game, but as a result, I grew tired quickly. I had to keep retrying the highway shoot out, because I really sucked at it. When I finished, I was done. I really hope I don't have to started it all over from the beginning.
All the games are connected a hub that looks like a museum with a statue to represent each game. There's a hovering ball in front of you that changes every time you change the game selection, and you can interact with. There was a ball of water for Ocean Descent, a sports ball with lights for Danger Ball and a giant gem for London Heist. I don't know what the others are yet, because I haven't tried them. That will have to wait for tomorrow.
I'm glad this was a pack in game, because I could have been done with it in one night had I started earlier and had no reason to return to it. Sorry I didn't have much to write about it. Once the next two games are done on VR Worlds, that will be it until I get a new game. Until Dawn: Rush of Blood is supposed to be arriving tomorrow, so if I start that, I'll play it and talk about it tomorrow.
As always, thanks for reading.
The second game I tried was Danger Ball. It's practically pong in virtual reality. You have a paddle that you control with your head movement. You can flick your head forward for a power smash or side to side for a curve shot. There's a tournament of six opponents, which with their own unique shots and abilities, and I made it to Round 4 before I gave up and called it quits. I wouldn't mind going back to it, though,, to try to win it It was pretty fun, but had my neck aching after a bit.
I also tried London Heist, and this will probably be VR World's gem. It's a story about a jewel heist gone wrong. The first couple of chapters were just cutscenes, being interrogated by a thick piece of muscle, and meeting a gangster. There's some pretty nifty item manipulation going on during these cutscenes, but where the game really gets exciting is during its shooting segments. They get you physically involved in the game, but as a result, I grew tired quickly. I had to keep retrying the highway shoot out, because I really sucked at it. When I finished, I was done. I really hope I don't have to started it all over from the beginning.
All the games are connected a hub that looks like a museum with a statue to represent each game. There's a hovering ball in front of you that changes every time you change the game selection, and you can interact with. There was a ball of water for Ocean Descent, a sports ball with lights for Danger Ball and a giant gem for London Heist. I don't know what the others are yet, because I haven't tried them. That will have to wait for tomorrow.
I'm glad this was a pack in game, because I could have been done with it in one night had I started earlier and had no reason to return to it. Sorry I didn't have much to write about it. Once the next two games are done on VR Worlds, that will be it until I get a new game. Until Dawn: Rush of Blood is supposed to be arriving tomorrow, so if I start that, I'll play it and talk about it tomorrow.
As always, thanks for reading.
PSVR: Day Five
I was hoping to spend all day with the VR today, as it was my day off, but I didn't start playing again until after 8:30. I was really hoping to get some endurance time in because I was interested in seeing how I'd feel after long play sessions. Maybe I can do that tomorrow.
Anyway, the evening started with my daily play of Here They Lie, and I was right near the end! After about a five minute walk, I come to a lake and realize that I can walk on it, so I do. I'm nearing a building on an island and as I walk towards it, Mr. Flaming Man rises out of the water and towers over me. It was quite the imposing sensation. Then, a blinding light occurs and when it goes away, the lake is littered with charred bodies, glowing embers dotting their surfaces.
Dana, the woman in yellow that I've been chasing the entire time, appears and begins to tell me a bit of what's been going on. She said she lost me and when she found me, all there was left of me was ash. She somehow constructed a world to keep me in, which sort of suggests that it's this world, and as I reach the building and enter, I'm taken on another ride. As I become airborne, she continues to move away from me, growing in size until she's several stories high. She tells me that I have a choice to make, that my decision will determine if he lives or dies.
When I land, I approach a mirror, and I'm met with my reflection. Last night, I discovered this guy is a separate entity, a literal mirror version of myself and now I'm met with my decision. My reflection says that I can save him, save everyone on his side if I just reach out for his hand and pull him through, or I can end it all by taking a sledgehammer to the mirror. Usually, I'm for the destructive side when it comes to games presenting me with ending choices, but I decide to reach for his hand and pull him through. His world bleeds through the mirror and envelops mine and we're on an asteroid looking down on Earth. He thanks me for helping him, then walks off through space towards Earth saying, "I can't wait to get started."
Well.. I couldn't wait to get finished with this game. My thoughts about the game was that it was more of an experience, an experiment of what it would be like to be in a hellish and twisted world, then it was an actual game. It didn't just lack gameplay, it also lacked cohesive story telling. I have somewhat of a better understanding what was going on in this world, but for the most part, I'm still quite clueless. I don't regret playing it, though, just paying for it. It also helped me appreciate the other VR demos I've been playing, the ones that actually use graphics well. My god, after seeing what other VR games look like, especially REVII, this is just unforgivably ugly.
With Here They Lie out of the way, I decided I was going to watch the short film that I downloaded last night, Alumette. It was my first experience of a VR film, so I put my controller down and just watched. There was no way I could fast forward, though, so I had to watch the demo part again. I didn't really mind. The rest of the film was just as touching, and even depressing at one point, and when it concluded, I found myself wanting more films in VR. It was really cool to be able to get up and watch the characters from different angles and inspect the scenery free from director-assigned point of views.
Ready for more demo games, I decided to let the demo disc choose for me at random, which it does every time it boots. It landed on Hustle Kings VR, and although I'm not much of a pool guy, I decided what the hell? WHAT THE HELL?! There is no option to play this demo, only to buy the game! What's the point of putting a demo on a demo disc if the only option is to buy the game! Screw that!
Next, I selected RIGS: Mechanized Combat League. For starters, the graphics are pretty impressive, one of the best looking games on the demo disc. I love how there's a virtual HUD in the cockpit of my mech. The game's an arena combat game where the object is to score goals by going into overdrive and you go into overdrive by destroying three opponent mechs. The game runs very smooth, and it was a lot of fun jumping all over the place running around shooting and punching mechs. I'm not a competitive gamer, though, so I know I would grow bored of it pretty quickly, but I can easily see how competitive gamers would love to play this one in VR.
Apparently, Hustle Kings VR wasn't the only not a demo on the demo disc. Superhypercube, a game I really wanted to try out, had no demo option either. Just a buy option. And with that... moving on.
The next demo, Within, is not a game demo at all. Within appears to be a VR app that hosts a bunch of VR short films. All but three on the menu were locked, and the first one I saw was called Verse. It started off in the middle of a lake, surrounded by the mountains. Beautiful scenery, a sun rising, mosquitos flying, and then a steam locomotive barrels out of nowhere, skis the surface of the water and as it plows into me, it breaks up into a flock of birds that twist and turn and regroup into clouds all around me. Ribbons begin materializing, falling down and suspending themselves on the surface of the water, then begin to twist together into a tunnel sucking me into it where I emerge in a womb with a fetus watching me. It was as impressive as it was freaky, seeing this huge fetus hand reach out to me and enclose on me.
The next movie was a computer animated short called Invasion about two aliens that came to earth. It was unclear what character I was, but whatever I was attracted the attention of a cut little bunny. We watched with great interest and caution as an alien space ship landed on the frozen lake we were standing on. Two aliens emerged via tractor beam, which abruptly cut out on them, having them land on their faces. I laughed. When they got up, they began to speak a language that was eerily similar to Minionese. Each alien was adorned with an antennae, and they wielded them at me, charging up, suddenly distracted by an eagle of which they obliterated leaving nothing but floating feathers. They turned back to me, charged again and sensing my peril, the bunny hopped in between us, drawing their fire and circling around them. The ice they stood upon tipped over depositing both aliens into the freezing water below. One reemerged in the background while the bunny gave me a sly look. Shocked to be taken by surprise by such an innocent looking creature, the alien retrieved his partner, now frozen in a block of ice, and promptly boarded their ship and left earth. I really enjoyed this film, and it sounds like another one is coming. The aliens' names are Mac and Cheze, and I'll be looking forward to their next film.
The third film was a documentary called Venim's Reef about an ocean conservationist in the islands of Indonesia. Although there was a lot of pretty footage, there just wasn't anything that illustrated depth. I then went to see how much the price was for the app, and it turned out that it was free, so I downloaded it. The app has a variety of things on it, such as music videos, a couple of SNL specials, a scene from Mr. Robot. and a lot more. I checked out several things, and although it was cool to feel like you were there at the taping of a show, because these videos are streamed, they're very poor quality. I can't see this app being used that much because of it.
Back to games, I found that there was another demo you couldn't play called Bound. I wish there was a demo, because the game looked really intriguing. I moved on to Eve Valkyrie, a space shooter. I have to say, it was pretty damn impressive. It felt like you were right in the cockpit of a space fighter. Excellent graphics lent to a great feeling of immersion and it was fun flying around trying to shoot down targets. But it was another damn demo that was over before I could really get settled in.
Although I wouldn't really call it a game, I tried out Harmonix Music VR. This seems more like an app. There are four different environments and Harmonix says Music VR will work on any song. One world is a beach, and you can change the visual stimulation by looking at different objects. There's the Easel, which is pretty cool. You can paint with all sorts of different lines and colors and even put shapes into space and fling them up in the air. Then there's Dance Party, which has these animal pinata looking things that you can make dance by manipulating their body parts. It was pretty easy and intuitive to get them to dance. Then there was the non-interactive trip where you watched the game generate graphics to the sound of the music. It's a cool "game", but I'd never think of paying for it.
Next I played an unusual puzzle game by Tim Schaeffer's studio Double Fine called GNOG. It seems to be a game about opening lunch box shaped puzzles. Weird, yes, I know, but this IS Tim Schaeffer we're talking about. The demo gave me two puzzles to open, and I got the first one right away, but the second one took a bit more time. It involves a lot of observation and experimentation. I can see future puzzles being real brain benders. Would be a nice 10 dollar game.
Battle Zone was up next. Wow, it was fun! Bright, futuristic, smooth. It's a modern update to the old tank game of the same name, but it puts you right into the cockpit of a tank where you scuttle around the battlefield blowing up enemies. It's pretty cool looking over your shoulder and seeing the tank changing weapons, looking side to side for the next target, and even feeling the ooomph when you hit the turbos. This would be another nice 10 dollar game.
The final and last demo I played (there were also demos for Here They Lie and Playstation VR Worlds, but I own those) was a kooky game called Headmaster. You're a soccer player and for some reason, you're inside a prison yard. A voice comes over the loudspeaker and begins giving you instructions on how to hit a ball with your head. You then hit targets for points, and the scenarios change up regularly. It has some pretty funny dialogue as well, and I was smirking a good deal near the end. The problem with the game, though, is that it requires a high level of precision and lots of head jerking motions so ultimately, I didn't find it much fun.
That's it for the demo disc. It's getting rather late because I ended up making up for lost time today, and I just bucked down and decided to play all the remaining demos tonight. I actually feel pretty good right now, but I was feeling a bit of eye strain towards the end of the demo run. Tomorrow, I'll start playing Playstation VR Worlds. Oh, and I'll say that I love the 3D sound. You can actually here things from the left and right and even behind you. Great stuff.
As always, thanks for reading.
Anyway, the evening started with my daily play of Here They Lie, and I was right near the end! After about a five minute walk, I come to a lake and realize that I can walk on it, so I do. I'm nearing a building on an island and as I walk towards it, Mr. Flaming Man rises out of the water and towers over me. It was quite the imposing sensation. Then, a blinding light occurs and when it goes away, the lake is littered with charred bodies, glowing embers dotting their surfaces.
Dana, the woman in yellow that I've been chasing the entire time, appears and begins to tell me a bit of what's been going on. She said she lost me and when she found me, all there was left of me was ash. She somehow constructed a world to keep me in, which sort of suggests that it's this world, and as I reach the building and enter, I'm taken on another ride. As I become airborne, she continues to move away from me, growing in size until she's several stories high. She tells me that I have a choice to make, that my decision will determine if he lives or dies.
When I land, I approach a mirror, and I'm met with my reflection. Last night, I discovered this guy is a separate entity, a literal mirror version of myself and now I'm met with my decision. My reflection says that I can save him, save everyone on his side if I just reach out for his hand and pull him through, or I can end it all by taking a sledgehammer to the mirror. Usually, I'm for the destructive side when it comes to games presenting me with ending choices, but I decide to reach for his hand and pull him through. His world bleeds through the mirror and envelops mine and we're on an asteroid looking down on Earth. He thanks me for helping him, then walks off through space towards Earth saying, "I can't wait to get started."
Well.. I couldn't wait to get finished with this game. My thoughts about the game was that it was more of an experience, an experiment of what it would be like to be in a hellish and twisted world, then it was an actual game. It didn't just lack gameplay, it also lacked cohesive story telling. I have somewhat of a better understanding what was going on in this world, but for the most part, I'm still quite clueless. I don't regret playing it, though, just paying for it. It also helped me appreciate the other VR demos I've been playing, the ones that actually use graphics well. My god, after seeing what other VR games look like, especially REVII, this is just unforgivably ugly.
With Here They Lie out of the way, I decided I was going to watch the short film that I downloaded last night, Alumette. It was my first experience of a VR film, so I put my controller down and just watched. There was no way I could fast forward, though, so I had to watch the demo part again. I didn't really mind. The rest of the film was just as touching, and even depressing at one point, and when it concluded, I found myself wanting more films in VR. It was really cool to be able to get up and watch the characters from different angles and inspect the scenery free from director-assigned point of views.
Ready for more demo games, I decided to let the demo disc choose for me at random, which it does every time it boots. It landed on Hustle Kings VR, and although I'm not much of a pool guy, I decided what the hell? WHAT THE HELL?! There is no option to play this demo, only to buy the game! What's the point of putting a demo on a demo disc if the only option is to buy the game! Screw that!
Next, I selected RIGS: Mechanized Combat League. For starters, the graphics are pretty impressive, one of the best looking games on the demo disc. I love how there's a virtual HUD in the cockpit of my mech. The game's an arena combat game where the object is to score goals by going into overdrive and you go into overdrive by destroying three opponent mechs. The game runs very smooth, and it was a lot of fun jumping all over the place running around shooting and punching mechs. I'm not a competitive gamer, though, so I know I would grow bored of it pretty quickly, but I can easily see how competitive gamers would love to play this one in VR.
Apparently, Hustle Kings VR wasn't the only not a demo on the demo disc. Superhypercube, a game I really wanted to try out, had no demo option either. Just a buy option. And with that... moving on.
The next demo, Within, is not a game demo at all. Within appears to be a VR app that hosts a bunch of VR short films. All but three on the menu were locked, and the first one I saw was called Verse. It started off in the middle of a lake, surrounded by the mountains. Beautiful scenery, a sun rising, mosquitos flying, and then a steam locomotive barrels out of nowhere, skis the surface of the water and as it plows into me, it breaks up into a flock of birds that twist and turn and regroup into clouds all around me. Ribbons begin materializing, falling down and suspending themselves on the surface of the water, then begin to twist together into a tunnel sucking me into it where I emerge in a womb with a fetus watching me. It was as impressive as it was freaky, seeing this huge fetus hand reach out to me and enclose on me.
The next movie was a computer animated short called Invasion about two aliens that came to earth. It was unclear what character I was, but whatever I was attracted the attention of a cut little bunny. We watched with great interest and caution as an alien space ship landed on the frozen lake we were standing on. Two aliens emerged via tractor beam, which abruptly cut out on them, having them land on their faces. I laughed. When they got up, they began to speak a language that was eerily similar to Minionese. Each alien was adorned with an antennae, and they wielded them at me, charging up, suddenly distracted by an eagle of which they obliterated leaving nothing but floating feathers. They turned back to me, charged again and sensing my peril, the bunny hopped in between us, drawing their fire and circling around them. The ice they stood upon tipped over depositing both aliens into the freezing water below. One reemerged in the background while the bunny gave me a sly look. Shocked to be taken by surprise by such an innocent looking creature, the alien retrieved his partner, now frozen in a block of ice, and promptly boarded their ship and left earth. I really enjoyed this film, and it sounds like another one is coming. The aliens' names are Mac and Cheze, and I'll be looking forward to their next film.
The third film was a documentary called Venim's Reef about an ocean conservationist in the islands of Indonesia. Although there was a lot of pretty footage, there just wasn't anything that illustrated depth. I then went to see how much the price was for the app, and it turned out that it was free, so I downloaded it. The app has a variety of things on it, such as music videos, a couple of SNL specials, a scene from Mr. Robot. and a lot more. I checked out several things, and although it was cool to feel like you were there at the taping of a show, because these videos are streamed, they're very poor quality. I can't see this app being used that much because of it.
Back to games, I found that there was another demo you couldn't play called Bound. I wish there was a demo, because the game looked really intriguing. I moved on to Eve Valkyrie, a space shooter. I have to say, it was pretty damn impressive. It felt like you were right in the cockpit of a space fighter. Excellent graphics lent to a great feeling of immersion and it was fun flying around trying to shoot down targets. But it was another damn demo that was over before I could really get settled in.
Although I wouldn't really call it a game, I tried out Harmonix Music VR. This seems more like an app. There are four different environments and Harmonix says Music VR will work on any song. One world is a beach, and you can change the visual stimulation by looking at different objects. There's the Easel, which is pretty cool. You can paint with all sorts of different lines and colors and even put shapes into space and fling them up in the air. Then there's Dance Party, which has these animal pinata looking things that you can make dance by manipulating their body parts. It was pretty easy and intuitive to get them to dance. Then there was the non-interactive trip where you watched the game generate graphics to the sound of the music. It's a cool "game", but I'd never think of paying for it.
Next I played an unusual puzzle game by Tim Schaeffer's studio Double Fine called GNOG. It seems to be a game about opening lunch box shaped puzzles. Weird, yes, I know, but this IS Tim Schaeffer we're talking about. The demo gave me two puzzles to open, and I got the first one right away, but the second one took a bit more time. It involves a lot of observation and experimentation. I can see future puzzles being real brain benders. Would be a nice 10 dollar game.
Battle Zone was up next. Wow, it was fun! Bright, futuristic, smooth. It's a modern update to the old tank game of the same name, but it puts you right into the cockpit of a tank where you scuttle around the battlefield blowing up enemies. It's pretty cool looking over your shoulder and seeing the tank changing weapons, looking side to side for the next target, and even feeling the ooomph when you hit the turbos. This would be another nice 10 dollar game.
The final and last demo I played (there were also demos for Here They Lie and Playstation VR Worlds, but I own those) was a kooky game called Headmaster. You're a soccer player and for some reason, you're inside a prison yard. A voice comes over the loudspeaker and begins giving you instructions on how to hit a ball with your head. You then hit targets for points, and the scenarios change up regularly. It has some pretty funny dialogue as well, and I was smirking a good deal near the end. The problem with the game, though, is that it requires a high level of precision and lots of head jerking motions so ultimately, I didn't find it much fun.
That's it for the demo disc. It's getting rather late because I ended up making up for lost time today, and I just bucked down and decided to play all the remaining demos tonight. I actually feel pretty good right now, but I was feeling a bit of eye strain towards the end of the demo run. Tomorrow, I'll start playing Playstation VR Worlds. Oh, and I'll say that I love the 3D sound. You can actually here things from the left and right and even behind you. Great stuff.
As always, thanks for reading.
Saturday, October 22, 2016
PSVR: Day Four
Spent a good amount of time with it today, so I have lots to talk about tonight. As usual, I returned to Here They Lie and put almost an hour and a half in, taking a break just once, and I felt like I could have kept playing, but I decided to break for a shower. I don't seem to be prone to whatever it was that was making me sick anymore, so that's a good sign.
The game has gotten a lot more interesting, but at the same time still very mysterious. I've returned to the subway, and occasionally I would be stalked by a man made out of flames who pounds the ground with a giant hammer. These were some of the best moments of the game, but like every interesting bit before it, it's over so quickly. The coolest part I've experienced so far was when the train left from underground and was somehow in the air, passing by buildings with a Godzilla sized flame guy walking down the apocalyptic city.
The game played other tricks on my mind as well, having me waste flashlight batteries trying to navigate a looping maze, putting up walls behind me where none were before and pooling the floor with blood, and having me board a boat as it took me along some kind of hallucinogenic trip where the game finally introduced a color palette that was higher than six.
The last section of the game I played had me skulking through the remnants of a mountain town all the while avoiding those creepy skull wearing guys. That's when the "game" started feeling more like an actual game. I had to do a lot of observing and sneaking past and was rewarded with a check point. I wanted to keep playing, but I also wanted to return to the demo disc and play some more demo for some much needed variety.
The first demo I played tonight was called Kitchen, and I had absolutely no idea this was the Resident Evil 7 VR tech demo I heard about. It takes place during the opening sequence of the Beginning Hour demo where you're Clancy, the camera man, tied up in the kitchen, and the guy you were working with was trying to free you. This tech demo just blew my mind.
For starters, the graphics are the most realistic I've experienced in VR thus far. Honestly, this is what Here They Lie should look like. Kitchen actually has colors and textures going for it, and that allows for the atmosphere to be un-freaking-believable. I got serious goosebumps when the killer charged into the room and stabbed me in the leg, then killed the guy and started making noises behind me. I twisted and turned trying to find her and nearly jumped back out of my bed when she put her hands over my eyes and swung around on me. Intense. I'm definitely getting RE:VR.
I played the demo for Drive Club VR and was pretty impressed with that as well. Yet another game that really makes me appreciate VR. You get to choose from three cars; a Ferrari, a Pagani and I forgot the other one. I chose the Pagani and I spent a few minutes just admiring being able to see all inside the car. When I actually sat in the car and started driving, it literally felt like I was driving the car. Being able to look around wherever I wanted gave me a sense of realism and spatial awareness you just don't get from normal cockpit views in racing games.
Then I played Tumble VR. Remember Tumble? Chances are if you never took a chance on the Move when it first came out, you probably don't. Tumble was a block stacking game where you stacks blocks of all various sizes and shapes. It also had different modes such as Demolition where you strategically place mines on a tower and try to blow as many blocks away as far as you can. The demo for Tumbler VR put me right in front of the action, and had a futuristic presentation to it as well. I enjoyed what I played, and I may consider it for a puzzler if I ever want to get one for the VR.
I believe the next demo I played was Wayward Sky, and this game could be quite a gem. It's a point and clicker and having a game such as that in VR is absolutely brilliant. You point to different places you want this girl to go to, and if there's a puzzle to be solved, the game shifts to her first-person view, and you solve a puzzle using the Move controllers. It's got a great charm to it, but the thing that upset me was just how short of a demo it was. I mean, real short, probably not even five minutes.
Speaking of another short demo, that would be Rez Infinite. I don't think the game even let me finish off the first boss. I don't think I ever played a Rez game before, but it was a pretty trippy experience. It's an on rails shooter that has music and sound effects that play along with the gameplay. Everything has a digital aesthetic to it, as if representing what things would be like in a VR hacking world. To be honest, I wasn't really impressed with it, and all this demo did was make me wish I was playing Thumper instead. Still cool, though.
The last demo I played wasn't a game at all. It's a movie called Alumette. Yes, a movie, and it's a really charming once. It's based on The Little Matchstick Girl by Hans Christian Anderson and it's stile is that of a felt and and cardboard stop animation. I found myself enamored by this movie, feeling for the girl and just taken aback that I was watching a VR movie. I also found that the rest of the movie is free to download, which I'm doing. I can't wait to watch the rest of it.
So far, this was my best night with the PSVR. I'm glad that I'm not getting sick from it. I'm guessing I just had to get used to it after a while. Every each day continues to get better, than I don't regret buying this at all. I JUST wish it had better resolution!
The game has gotten a lot more interesting, but at the same time still very mysterious. I've returned to the subway, and occasionally I would be stalked by a man made out of flames who pounds the ground with a giant hammer. These were some of the best moments of the game, but like every interesting bit before it, it's over so quickly. The coolest part I've experienced so far was when the train left from underground and was somehow in the air, passing by buildings with a Godzilla sized flame guy walking down the apocalyptic city.
The game played other tricks on my mind as well, having me waste flashlight batteries trying to navigate a looping maze, putting up walls behind me where none were before and pooling the floor with blood, and having me board a boat as it took me along some kind of hallucinogenic trip where the game finally introduced a color palette that was higher than six.
The last section of the game I played had me skulking through the remnants of a mountain town all the while avoiding those creepy skull wearing guys. That's when the "game" started feeling more like an actual game. I had to do a lot of observing and sneaking past and was rewarded with a check point. I wanted to keep playing, but I also wanted to return to the demo disc and play some more demo for some much needed variety.
The first demo I played tonight was called Kitchen, and I had absolutely no idea this was the Resident Evil 7 VR tech demo I heard about. It takes place during the opening sequence of the Beginning Hour demo where you're Clancy, the camera man, tied up in the kitchen, and the guy you were working with was trying to free you. This tech demo just blew my mind.
For starters, the graphics are the most realistic I've experienced in VR thus far. Honestly, this is what Here They Lie should look like. Kitchen actually has colors and textures going for it, and that allows for the atmosphere to be un-freaking-believable. I got serious goosebumps when the killer charged into the room and stabbed me in the leg, then killed the guy and started making noises behind me. I twisted and turned trying to find her and nearly jumped back out of my bed when she put her hands over my eyes and swung around on me. Intense. I'm definitely getting RE:VR.
I played the demo for Drive Club VR and was pretty impressed with that as well. Yet another game that really makes me appreciate VR. You get to choose from three cars; a Ferrari, a Pagani and I forgot the other one. I chose the Pagani and I spent a few minutes just admiring being able to see all inside the car. When I actually sat in the car and started driving, it literally felt like I was driving the car. Being able to look around wherever I wanted gave me a sense of realism and spatial awareness you just don't get from normal cockpit views in racing games.
Then I played Tumble VR. Remember Tumble? Chances are if you never took a chance on the Move when it first came out, you probably don't. Tumble was a block stacking game where you stacks blocks of all various sizes and shapes. It also had different modes such as Demolition where you strategically place mines on a tower and try to blow as many blocks away as far as you can. The demo for Tumbler VR put me right in front of the action, and had a futuristic presentation to it as well. I enjoyed what I played, and I may consider it for a puzzler if I ever want to get one for the VR.
I believe the next demo I played was Wayward Sky, and this game could be quite a gem. It's a point and clicker and having a game such as that in VR is absolutely brilliant. You point to different places you want this girl to go to, and if there's a puzzle to be solved, the game shifts to her first-person view, and you solve a puzzle using the Move controllers. It's got a great charm to it, but the thing that upset me was just how short of a demo it was. I mean, real short, probably not even five minutes.
Speaking of another short demo, that would be Rez Infinite. I don't think the game even let me finish off the first boss. I don't think I ever played a Rez game before, but it was a pretty trippy experience. It's an on rails shooter that has music and sound effects that play along with the gameplay. Everything has a digital aesthetic to it, as if representing what things would be like in a VR hacking world. To be honest, I wasn't really impressed with it, and all this demo did was make me wish I was playing Thumper instead. Still cool, though.
The last demo I played wasn't a game at all. It's a movie called Alumette. Yes, a movie, and it's a really charming once. It's based on The Little Matchstick Girl by Hans Christian Anderson and it's stile is that of a felt and and cardboard stop animation. I found myself enamored by this movie, feeling for the girl and just taken aback that I was watching a VR movie. I also found that the rest of the movie is free to download, which I'm doing. I can't wait to watch the rest of it.
So far, this was my best night with the PSVR. I'm glad that I'm not getting sick from it. I'm guessing I just had to get used to it after a while. Every each day continues to get better, than I don't regret buying this at all. I JUST wish it had better resolution!
Friday, October 21, 2016
PSVR: Day Three
Another day thatI didn't get to spend as much time with the VR as I wanted. I'll just say right now that before I started to type this blog, I took my glasses off to wipe them and I've noticed some scuffing on my glasses from being in direct contact with the VR lenses. I'm hoping that I can buff them out with some silicon. This could be very irritating.
Anyway, around 8 o'clock, I decided to go straight back into Here They Lie and the game started becoming very, very weird. I was met by one of those monster things with the animal skull mask, but it turns out that it's a man. They've somehow degenerated into animal like behavior. This particular guy turned out to be friendly and was leading me down a path. He also made some pretty disgusting gestures including masturbating in front of me and rubbing his ass on my crotch. Just disgusting....
Later on, we get to an area where I'm accosted by a guy in an animal mask, and there is a crowd of spectators. My impomptu guide was thrown on the floor and beaten and then a guy with a lead pipe was going to finish him off. Instead, he passed the pipe to me, and the game gave me the option to kill the poor guy or the would-be executor. Of course, I decided to kill the executor. I was expecting some kind of fight afterwards, but they just let me past.
As I kept moving forward, the game continued to get stranger and weirder, but it wasn't doing anything to let me in on what was going on. All I know is there's some kind of cult worship going on, and it's creating an extreme amount of depravity and debauchery among the game's residents. When I started strolling through occupied areas, I came across people that exhibited behaviors from tripping on drugs, to dry humping, to suicide and even homicide. Some had weapons and patrolled the alleyways and would kill me if they spotted me. There was one guard who was looking over a balcony, and then I had a guy creep up behind me, shush me, and then proceeded to throw him over the edge. He then encouraged me to throw himself over the edge. What the fuck? I have no idea what's going on in this game! There was even a moment where I traveled outside of my body after I was forced into a chair and had a ritual performed on me. I really hope this game starts explaining shit soon, because I need it.
The game is supposed to give you a rest reminder every 15 minutes or so, but I didn't get a check point until almost an hour later. I wasn't feeling queasy like I did that first night, but I definitely was ready to take a break. After being in the headset for almost an hour, taking it off and getting reacquainted with the real world felt great. I'm pretty sure I won't be playing anything in VR for more than 30 minutes to an hour at a time. I don't suggest anyone else spend more time than that.
I played another demo on the demo disc as well. This time, the game was Job Simulator, a kooky little cartoonish office job simulator that has you performing menial jobs in hilarious ways. But wow, was it ever aggravating! The game required you to stand up, and you also needed a good bit of space. When I tried to cheat it, I found out quite quickly that when I tried to reach my hand into the snack cart, I was thwarted by my bed; I had to get up.
This created another problem. Once I stood up, my VR was out of range of the PS camera, so I angled it to face upward, but that still didn't solve the problem of me needing more space. When you start the game, it sets up to make sure you have enough space away from the TV. I then raised the camera and set it back on a shelf behind the TV, and this gave me BARELY enough room that it was satisfied to let me play. Also, I kept fumbling for my Dual Shock to actually start the damn game, because apparently you can't use the Move controllers to select what game you want to play from the hub.
Job Simulator was a lot of fun. It started out with me drinking coffee and eating donuts, and then I discovered I could throw the donuts and giggled like Homer Simpson, although we all know Homer Simpson would never, ever throw a donut. Airborne pastries found targets behind cubicles and I'd be met with stern looks from my coworkers, who were anthropomorphized computers. After I stopped goofing around, I had to plug my computers in, turn them on, log on, check emails, delete them all and then just when I started having fun "jobbing", the boss came in to declare 5 o'clock and we were dismissed. The demo promptly ended. I'd have to say it was about five minutes long, FAR too short for me.
Now it's late, and I decided that was it. I'm feeling little weird residual effects, like things are moving around just like if I was still in the VR. I'm just going to chalk that up to being tired. I was tired, too, before I put the VR back on to play Job Simulator, so I'm going to say that's the reason why.
Anyway, as always, thanks for reading.
PSVR: Day Two
So when I got off work, I had dinner and played some Here They Lie again, and this time, I didn't feel as sick as last night. Even though I didn't feel any nausea, I was ready to take a break from it when the second "take a break" prompt came up. The game's getting better, and I actually had a couple of freaky moments. There were some sections where I had to skirt around some monsters, and it got a bit intense. I even found myself trying to poke around a corner to see if the monster went the opposite direction.
I also have to say Here They Lie has one of the coolest respawning sequences in any game. When you die, you come back in a sea of black washed with blood and a giant red sun halfway out of the horizon. Some figures come out of the blood, and then there's multiple spinning rings of debris that alternate to create a cool tunnel effect, something you would experience at a funhouse. Then it all materializes and forms a door and back out you go.
I'm really hoping this game continues to get better, and I also hope I start building a tolerance for whatever caused me not to feel that well last night.
My intent tonight was to play several demo games from the demo disc, but I didn't have much time after playing some Watch Dogs and watching a movie. I did, however, want to get at least one demo in. When I popped the disc in, I was met with a 30 minute update so that took a sizable chunk out of what little time I had left.
There were actually many more demos on the disc other than the nine that was shown on the back of the box. When you start the demo disc, you're whisked into this giant open space with the PS home menu music playing. It's kind of surreal. Then you just scroll through groups of three demos. I knew right away that when I landed on Thumper, I wanted to try that, and wow, did I pick a winner!
Thumper is amazing! You're this metallic beetle on an energized track and you have to hit the X button just as patches of light slip underneath you. There's a constant pulsating soundtrack that plays, and the gameplay is part of it; so it's a rhythm game. It's not just a rhythm game, though; it's an experience.
The game starts you off with a boss. The track you're riding on is being spun out of the boss's mouth, who is just a triangle but the track is also decorated with tendrils that fold out, suddenly making everything appear to be more alien than before. You have to hit the bits of light just perfect and if you hit the final one of the segment, there's a charge up and a powerful pulse ripples down the track to the boss and damages it. Enough times, the boss is destroyed and you move on.
There are curves that get introduced and you have to hold X and turn the opposite way in order to not take damage from the blinding light of the curved walls. They later come so quick that you have to start paying attention way down the line before they come. Obstacles come and you have to hold X to go into an armor mode and smash through them. By the time you get to the last boss, which is like a calavera, you have to use everything you learned to survive the onslaught.
What really impressed me about this game was its visual style and sense of depth. You see the track coming from a mile away as it bends and twists. Deep into the background, it's an abyss, which causes the light from tunnels and walls to stand out so much more. It feels like one of those arcade rides that you go to the mall and pay 8 bucks for to have an attendant strap you in with 20 other people.
I loved the demo so much that I ended up playing it again immediately. This is the kind of game VR was made for, and after playing the almost colorless Here They Lie, this game was a giant breath of fresh air. I have decided to make Thumper my next PSVR game purchase. It really is something else. If you have a PSVR yourself, you need to try this one out!
As always, thanks for reading!
I also have to say Here They Lie has one of the coolest respawning sequences in any game. When you die, you come back in a sea of black washed with blood and a giant red sun halfway out of the horizon. Some figures come out of the blood, and then there's multiple spinning rings of debris that alternate to create a cool tunnel effect, something you would experience at a funhouse. Then it all materializes and forms a door and back out you go.
I'm really hoping this game continues to get better, and I also hope I start building a tolerance for whatever caused me not to feel that well last night.
My intent tonight was to play several demo games from the demo disc, but I didn't have much time after playing some Watch Dogs and watching a movie. I did, however, want to get at least one demo in. When I popped the disc in, I was met with a 30 minute update so that took a sizable chunk out of what little time I had left.
There were actually many more demos on the disc other than the nine that was shown on the back of the box. When you start the demo disc, you're whisked into this giant open space with the PS home menu music playing. It's kind of surreal. Then you just scroll through groups of three demos. I knew right away that when I landed on Thumper, I wanted to try that, and wow, did I pick a winner!
Thumper is amazing! You're this metallic beetle on an energized track and you have to hit the X button just as patches of light slip underneath you. There's a constant pulsating soundtrack that plays, and the gameplay is part of it; so it's a rhythm game. It's not just a rhythm game, though; it's an experience.
The game starts you off with a boss. The track you're riding on is being spun out of the boss's mouth, who is just a triangle but the track is also decorated with tendrils that fold out, suddenly making everything appear to be more alien than before. You have to hit the bits of light just perfect and if you hit the final one of the segment, there's a charge up and a powerful pulse ripples down the track to the boss and damages it. Enough times, the boss is destroyed and you move on.
There are curves that get introduced and you have to hold X and turn the opposite way in order to not take damage from the blinding light of the curved walls. They later come so quick that you have to start paying attention way down the line before they come. Obstacles come and you have to hold X to go into an armor mode and smash through them. By the time you get to the last boss, which is like a calavera, you have to use everything you learned to survive the onslaught.
What really impressed me about this game was its visual style and sense of depth. You see the track coming from a mile away as it bends and twists. Deep into the background, it's an abyss, which causes the light from tunnels and walls to stand out so much more. It feels like one of those arcade rides that you go to the mall and pay 8 bucks for to have an attendant strap you in with 20 other people.
I loved the demo so much that I ended up playing it again immediately. This is the kind of game VR was made for, and after playing the almost colorless Here They Lie, this game was a giant breath of fresh air. I have decided to make Thumper my next PSVR game purchase. It really is something else. If you have a PSVR yourself, you need to try this one out!
As always, thanks for reading!
Thursday, October 20, 2016
PSVR: Day One
Hello and welcome to what I hope to be a series of daily blog entries that chronicles my experience with Sony's new PSVR. I was debating for sometime whether or not I wanted to get one, and I watched people's experiences and listened to some reviews and I decided to take the plunge. I ordered one last week, and this week it has arrived, no thanks in part to Amazon not bothering to package it at all. They literally put shipping tape and the shipping label directly on the box. Which reminds me, I need to file a complaint....
Yesterday, the 19th is actually the first day I had with the PSVR, and I didn't get much time with it. I arrived from work late night, and by the time I had dinner and then unboxed it, set it all up and had a shower, it was already 10 o'clock. I also planned to do an unboxing video and to my dismay, I realized after I finished recording, my phone wasn't recording at all. I wanted to show off how well the packaging was inside the box. It even had a diagram of what order to plug in everything, and the cords had numbers attached to them. Very user friendly.
After having it all set up, I realized that I need to do a cord management project sometime soon. Just stemming from the PS4 and VR adapter, I have two HDMI cables, two power cables, three USB cables and of course, the VR cable itself. My PS3 is now unplugged to accommodate the VR.
The headset, as many have reported, is quite light, and fits over my glasses, although after adjusting the scope, my lenses are right on the PSVR's lenses. You're also instructed to tighten the back of the headband after you put it on to prevent the headset from slipping off your head. I think I might have had mine too tight last night. It also pinches my nose just a bit, and I realized after playing for a while, I wasn't breathing through my nose very well. I'll have to see if there's a way for me to readjust that. Overall, I really like how the headset was designed.
The only game I played last night was Here They Lie, a horror game that played an instrumental part into finally pushing me into the decision to buy a PSVR. I saw lots of videos of people playing, and it looked really scary. So, it was obvious that this would be the game I started first. I will admit, the first time I experienced it, it was pretty impressive. It felt like I was right there on the train, and when I stepped out into the massive train station, I could literally feel the empty space. The virtual reality effect is quite impressive.
The game itself, however, is very underwhelming, at least at first. To be honest, I didn't get very far, and only experienced one minor jump. The reason for this is that I started getting uncomfortable and nauseous, so I had to stop playing. I was really hoping I wouldn't be affected by it, but that's what happened. I'm only hoping that maybe it was because I had a large dinner, and it wasn't sitting well. It also didn't help that I got lost in the game and grew bored of it. Maybe I'll have a better experience with it tonight.
I know there wasn't much for me to talk about with this entry, but hopefully that will change. I want to play more Here They Lie, and I also want to try out PlayStation Worlds, along with the demo disc. Also, I paid 500 dollars for the launch bundle, and although it might sound expensive, it's actually a great deal. The VR unit costs 400 dollars alone. With the bundle, you get a pair of Move controllers, which is 100 dollars right there, a PS4 camera and a game as well.
Thanks for reading. I hope to have more impressions with the next entry.
Yesterday, the 19th is actually the first day I had with the PSVR, and I didn't get much time with it. I arrived from work late night, and by the time I had dinner and then unboxed it, set it all up and had a shower, it was already 10 o'clock. I also planned to do an unboxing video and to my dismay, I realized after I finished recording, my phone wasn't recording at all. I wanted to show off how well the packaging was inside the box. It even had a diagram of what order to plug in everything, and the cords had numbers attached to them. Very user friendly.
After having it all set up, I realized that I need to do a cord management project sometime soon. Just stemming from the PS4 and VR adapter, I have two HDMI cables, two power cables, three USB cables and of course, the VR cable itself. My PS3 is now unplugged to accommodate the VR.
The headset, as many have reported, is quite light, and fits over my glasses, although after adjusting the scope, my lenses are right on the PSVR's lenses. You're also instructed to tighten the back of the headband after you put it on to prevent the headset from slipping off your head. I think I might have had mine too tight last night. It also pinches my nose just a bit, and I realized after playing for a while, I wasn't breathing through my nose very well. I'll have to see if there's a way for me to readjust that. Overall, I really like how the headset was designed.
The only game I played last night was Here They Lie, a horror game that played an instrumental part into finally pushing me into the decision to buy a PSVR. I saw lots of videos of people playing, and it looked really scary. So, it was obvious that this would be the game I started first. I will admit, the first time I experienced it, it was pretty impressive. It felt like I was right there on the train, and when I stepped out into the massive train station, I could literally feel the empty space. The virtual reality effect is quite impressive.
The game itself, however, is very underwhelming, at least at first. To be honest, I didn't get very far, and only experienced one minor jump. The reason for this is that I started getting uncomfortable and nauseous, so I had to stop playing. I was really hoping I wouldn't be affected by it, but that's what happened. I'm only hoping that maybe it was because I had a large dinner, and it wasn't sitting well. It also didn't help that I got lost in the game and grew bored of it. Maybe I'll have a better experience with it tonight.
I know there wasn't much for me to talk about with this entry, but hopefully that will change. I want to play more Here They Lie, and I also want to try out PlayStation Worlds, along with the demo disc. Also, I paid 500 dollars for the launch bundle, and although it might sound expensive, it's actually a great deal. The VR unit costs 400 dollars alone. With the bundle, you get a pair of Move controllers, which is 100 dollars right there, a PS4 camera and a game as well.
Thanks for reading. I hope to have more impressions with the next entry.
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