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[ArtHands]

http://www.gizmag.com/oculus-rift-launch-games-review-hands-on/42303/

Hands on impression on some Oculus Rift launch titles

Lucky's Tale

Adding VR to the mix drops you into Lucky's lush and colorful cartoon worlds: imagine being inside a Mario game, looking down on a 10-inch version of him from above. It also solves the camera issues that often plague platformers, as here the camera is your head. You can gaze at Lucky as he walks along, lean your head in for a closer look to help time a jump over a spiky log, or pause the game to look behind you and soak up the beautiful environments.

Dead & Buried

n Dead & Buried, the Oculus Touch controllers become a pair of six-shooters, as you blast away at enemies in wild west ghost towns (literally, as your tutorial guide is a ghost). We played our match in a dimly-lit saloon, with two players hiding behind the railing of the upper balcony, and two hiding behind tables on the floor below. Similar to HTC Vive launch title Hover Junkers, I had loads of fun ducking behind cover, crouching down to steer clear of the hot lead zipping past my ears and, when the timing was right, emerging from the shadows to let my revolver have its say.

Edge of Nowhere

Edge of Nowhere showed us all the things that define a high-quality action/adventure game: fun and varied gameplay, stunning visuals, believable voice acting and an intriguing storyline. Are you really seeing these monsters as you descend further and further into the snowy and icy mountains, or are you perhaps just descending further and further into the depths of your own madness? Here's to hoping the game leaves that answer open for interpretation.

Eve: Valkyrie

Controls took a little getting used to, but we'd expect this to be the Rift launch game that tallies up the most hours of gameplay. Online matches mean there's no limit to the time you can sink into it, and it's loads of fun zipping around space, locking your targeting onto an enemy ship using head movement, and blasting a missile in its direction as you spin off to find another bad guy.

The Climb

A first-person mountain-climbing sim in virtual reality is just as thrilling as you'd expect it to be. The Climb is ultimately a strategy game, as you choose your route along the mountainside (there's always more than one way to go) and, even more importantly, figure out exactly how to position each hand as you search for the next climbable ledge.

The views are stunning, but be sure you have two hands firmly holding onto rock or your sightseeing may be the end of you.

I Expect You To Die

Schell Games' I Expect You to Die is a first-person simulation/sandbox/puzzler, using the Oculus Touch controllers. Each environment you find yourself in, whether it's the driver's seat of a Sean Connery Bond-era car or an office inside the lair of an evil mastermind, tasks you with figuring out how to do use the objects in your environment to escape without setting off an alarm, or steal an important item without triggering the release of poisonous gas.

Oh, and because this isn't room-scale, you use telekinesis to grab far-away objects. After using room-scale VR on the Vive, levitating objects from a static position feels like a trick to mask the Rift's more stationary marketing focus (at least at launch), but it doesn't detract much from the gameplay.


Similar to Job Simulator, there's great fun in trying to solve the puzzles straightforwardly, and maybe even more fun in screwing around inside the VR sandbox. If you haven't tried the Rift or Vive, manipulating ordinary objects with your hands in VR (via Touch or Vive controllers) is more fun than you'd expect.

VR Sports Challenge

This former gamepad title now uses Oculus Touch, as you use your virtual hands to throw and catch football passes, drain threes like Steph Curry (though half of my shots sailed pathetically into the stands) or try to throw down a vicious 360-degree, through the legs two times, around the back three times, reverse two-handed jam (I got a little carried away with this very dunk and knocked the Rift completely off my head).

There's a touch of NBA Jam-like arcade goofiness to the whole thing – like icicles appearing on the rim if you miss a few three-pointers or exploding in fire when you finally make one. VR Sports Challenge looks like a fun party game; we can see friends trading turns with the headset, trying to beat one another's scores. Consider it the burgeoning Wii Sports of VR.

Defense Grid 2

Though Defense Grid 2 is a seated, gamepad-based experience, positional tracking is a big part of its appeal. Sit up straight or lean back to get a long view of the entire table-sized tower, or lean closer to get a better look at a particularly troublesome group of invaders. You can also take it a step further and toggle a battlefield-level view.

There's a lot of depth here, with a variety of towers, enemies and upgrades, and the expected steady rise in difficulty as you progress.

Dragon Front

During my half-hour tutorial of the turn-based fantasy strategy game, I sat atop a tower, placing armies, casting spells and trying to outwit my opponent. Based on the level of detail on offer, we'd be surprised if fans weren't pleased with this animated virtual version of the genre, but in this case we'll have to let those who know CCGs try it and speak for themselves.

Eagle Flight

Ubisoft's Eagle Flight is a multiplayer flying game that didn't make me feel sick at all. That's surprising, considering how quickly I was swooshing through the air and dive-bombing through narrow passageways in buildings. Part of that may be because, while it's almost a first person perspective, you get a slight glimpse of the eagle you're controlling, right around where your eyes would normally see your own nose – this serves as a stabilizer.

The multiplayer match we played in was an avian version of capture the flag ("capture the prey"). A dead rabbit (or another critter that bit the dust) will pop up at a random point throughout the human-less Paris you're inhabiting; two teams (3 vs. 3, at least in our case) then race to bring the prey back to their own nest. A battle screech is your defense, as you emit a sonic wave that can take out the opposing team's birds from distance. It was pretty realistic up to that point, but it's understandable Ubisoft needed to include a long-range attack.

Smashing The Battle

Gameplay is fast, with a variety of special abilities to spend skill points on (including landmines, a magnet that sucks all your enemies into one area and an explosive lightning strike). And as you ascend to the next level, you can look down over your shoulder and see all the levels you've beaten hanging down below you. Easier appreciated first-hand than described, but it's a nice use of VR.

 

[SomTervo]

Shit. This makes me tempted to go OR instead of Vive.

But the Vive looks so powerful...

 

[The Elite]

Shit. This makes me tempted to go OR instead of Vive.

But the Vive looks so powerful...

I don't know if powerful is the right word for it.

You will have more options in terms of VR immersion at launch with the Vive. OR will probably not be able to handle proper room scale content even when the Touch controls are released.

I am sticking with OR since room scale isn't a thing I can achieve with my current setup. I don't mind the seated experience.

 

[LaneDS]

Kind of disappointing to see "launch impressions" that are being played with the Touch controllers we won't have access to for many months from now.

 

[SomTervo]

I don't know if powerful is the right word for it.

You will have more options in terms of VR immersion at launch with the Vive. OR will probably not be able to handle proper room scale content even when the Touch controls are released.

I am sticking with OR since room scale isn't a thing I can achieve with my current setup. I don't mind the seated experience.

Perhaps the wrong word - but yes, I just meant slightly wider applications and slightly more features. 'More powerful' in terms of the VR experience it'll offer.

I empathise re the room-scale being very decisive on this. I wasn't considering a Vive until I realised we have a huge living room that's ripe for it. However the more I learn about the actual gaming options that are coming with PSVR and OR, the more they're swaying me.

Also, my current graphics card isn't quite good enough for Vive, so I'd have to shell out for a new one in coming months anyway, adding £200-300 onto the price.

Decision getting tougher!

Kind of disappointing to see "launch impressions" that are being played with the Touch controllers we won't have access to for many months from now.

True. It's pretty much a redundancy in the article.

 

[Graphics Horse]

Kind of disappointing to see "launch impressions" that are being played with the Touch controllers we won't have access to for many months from now.

yeah i'd like some clarification on this, are these games out this month or launxh with touch?
From the look of d&b, I probably don't need to ask, lol.

 

[The Elite]

Kind of disappointing to see "launch impressions" that are being played with the Touch controllers we won't have access to for many months from now.

Yeah, I think that was definitely by design.

 

[artsi]

From the Fantastic Contraption bit:

Similar to Dead & Buried, we spent half an hour walking around a (roughly) 8 x 5 ft. (small room scale) space without any tracking problems.

While it's still small compared to 15x15, it's good to hear they didn't have tracking problems after the negative Ars Technica article (I feel it was either biased or the writer was very unlucky, as I haven't seen anyone else report those problems yet).

 

[Man]

The Climb is a Touch only game I believe? (would feel very diminished otherwise I think) At least it's launching alongside Touch this fall/winter to help promote it.

 

[nero2082]

my dick hard! all of them sound interesting, especially The Climb, Eagle Flight and Edge of Nowhere, seem well thought out with controls and stuff which is most important...promising opinions

 

[artsi]

The Climb is a Touch only game I believe? (would feel very diminished otherwise I think) At least it's launching alongside Touch this fall/winter to help promote it.

It works also with the gamepad, but I'd imagine Touch will make the experience a lot better.

 

[The Elite]

From the Fantastic Contraption bit:



While it's still small compared to 15x15, it's good to hear they didn't have tracking problems after the negative Ars Technica article (I feel it was either biased or the writer was very unlucky, as I haven't seen anyone else report those problems yet).

I don't think that Ars article was bias at all. It definitely stood out to me as an experience based situation and the writer would be obliged to report it, especially since the Lucky's Tale devs confirmed the bug despite not being able to reproduce it. The more I read the more I think it was isolated though.

 

[PFD]

In terms of graphics fidelity, what would you say is the most impressive VR game so far?

 

[Tadie]

Played Edge of Nowhere @ Gamescom last year.

It was an amazing experience!

I had never thought, that a 3rd person view game in VR creates so much tense and immersion.

 

[Man]

Shit. This makes me tempted to go OR instead of Vive.

But the Vive looks so powerful...

There's actually plenty of 'exclusive' Vive games out during the launch period (as a result of being the one VR platform with 3D controllers) that looks appealing. Vanishing Realms is basically a 1st person Zelda adventure made by a Valve veteran. Just revealed.

 

[artsi]

I don't think that Ars article was bias at all. It definitely stood out to me as an experience based situation and the writer would be obliged to report it, especially since the Lucky's Tale devs confirmed the bug despite not being able to reproduce it. The more I read the more I think it was isolated though.

Yeah and after all Touch is still in development, so I guess bugs on that front are to be expected. We saw people reporting some random Vive tracking problems too a while ago, but seems like they've been ironed out.

Strange that it happened with Lucky's Tale (the HMD itself) though.

 

[Chairmanchuck]

In terms of graphics fidelity, what would you say is the most impressive VR game so far?

Adr1ft maybe?

 

[SomTervo]

There's actually plenty of 'exclusive' Vive games out during the launch period (as a result of being the one VR platform with 3D controllers) that looks appealing. Vanishing Realms is basically a 1st person Zelda adventure made by a Valve veteran. Just revealed.

I saw that. I am hype about it. Probs won't get a Vive until the new GPUs later in the year, anyway, so there will probably be plenty of games then

 

[mrklaw]

Perhaps the wrong word - but yes, I just meant slightly wider applications and slightly more features. 'More powerful' in terms of the VR experience it'll offer.

I empathise re the room-scale being very decisive on this. I wasn't considering a Vive until I realised we have a huge living room that's ripe for it. However the more I learn about the actual gaming options that are coming with PSVR and OR, the more they're swaying me.

Also, my current graphics card isn't quite good enough for Vive, so I'd have to shell out for a new one in coming months anyway, adding £200-300 onto the price.

Decision getting tougher!



True. It's pretty much a redundancy in the article.

OR and vive have the same GPU requirement though?

 

[SomTervo]

OR and vive have the same GPU requirement though?

Doesn't Vive require 980ti recommended whereas OR is 970?

 

[Wallach]

The Climb is a Touch only game I believe? (would feel very diminished otherwise I think) At least it's launching alongside Touch this fall/winter to help promote it.

The Climb was actually developed for gamepad controls first. It will almost assuredly support Touch once that comes out, but it isn't a game that was designed for it. While I do think the split controller setup would be ideal, I don't think the motion aspect would actually be as desirable as it sounds, as either your hand motion & feedback wouldn't feel all that natural.

 

[Majukun]

Doesn't Vive require 980ti recommended whereas OR is 970?

i don't think so.

 

[Wallach]

Doesn't Vive require 980ti recommended whereas OR is 970?

Nah. I have a 980ti and that results in the maximum score on their current performance test client, well over recommended. I'm pretty sure their recommended is also a 970.

 

[shiftplusone]

Check out our coverage of these launch titles!

"Playing this with the touch"

fuck

"This works great with the touch"

fuck

I want those controllers



God damn Chronos is 50 bucks? I hope it's good, it's the launch title I'm wanting to buy.


Lucky's Tale looks more and more like a legit cool game instead of throwaway launch platformer. Was afraid it was going to be OR's Knack (which is a bad game, let's not start)

 

[mrklaw]

Doesn't Vive require 980ti recommended whereas OR is 970?

no. i have a lowly 3570k and a 970 and got a decent passing score on their test software

 

[KingSnake]

Kind of disappointing to see "launch impressions" that are being played with the Touch controllers we won't have access to for many months from now.

Yeah, launch games impressions should be done with the launch equipment.