Reviewing a console objectively can be tough when you love the games you’re playing, and my first Virtual Reality console has been a fantastic experience over all.
The initial hurdles of getting into the system can be frustrating. Honestly something that I found a little frustrating was attempting to read my WIFI password and enter it into the VR headset although I can only see where I am typing when I have the headset on. Aside from that the main struggles were just related to learning how to properly function with a headset on. The controls are very comfortable and easy to use making the process easier. After getting past that I got sucked into using the headset way way too much.
I first went through the free games section to figure out how the controls felt without spending money. I figured that it might give me some insight as to what games were going to be better to spend money on. Rec Room and Bait (a fishing game) have been two of my favorite free games so far but there are a number of other ones that will likely be really nice once I take full advantage of them. Without going into the games I was able to figure out that the system was very responsive and a lot more accurate than I expected it to be. This gave me a lot of encouragement to spend the money on some of the popular games, ie: Beat Saber (highly recommended).
As soon as I downloaded Beat Saber and Wander I found myself using the headset so much that I have seriously considered dropping the money on extending the battery life. I have even had to start setting timers to make sure I don’t get too sucked into the virtual universe and forget to do my real world tasks.
So far I have put off connecting to my PC because there is enough on the system to eat up more than my free time. When I get connected the big wide world of virtual reality games will likely envelope my life entirely. Having things surround you makes even the simplest games extremely fun.
Generally the price point for a lot of the games is more than worth it. It seems like the average is around $30 which I can now say with confidence you will get enough use out of the system to make the cost worthwhile. That’s after you get past the initial cost of the system itself.
While the cost of the system isn’t horrendous, it is a good chunk of your bank account. Unless virtual reality is something that works well in your life you’ll find that your investment will mainly be collecting dust. There’s a couple of things things to consider before spending the money on a system:
- The amount of room you have to play. If you have a very small space that will work playing games you will find that games are really difficult to play. There are some things that you can do while sitting but it is extremely limited.
- Animals and children. If you have a household with little ones you might find that it is too difficult to put on the headset and remove yourself from the world. You are unable to see anything around you and it can be very difficult to hear the world around you either. My own dogs have accepted that when I have the headset on it’s just nap time for them. If they weren’t so smart there is a large likelihood that injuries would occur.
- Wifi/internet connection. Although not constantly drawing from WIFI it again extremely diminishes the ability to play games and enjoy the console fully. If your internet is not great I would probably say hold off on the headset.
- Motion sickness. If you suffer easily from motion sickness and/or have issues with Imax theaters you might find that virtual reality is just something that you can’t handle. I know some people who were able to get past it and others who weren’t. I even had to take a while to get used to it and there are still some games that make me feel really motion sick.
- The capabilities of your PC. While not vital in the overall experience of a virtual reality system, connecting it to a PC does drastically upgrade it’s potential. Unfortunately this is not something my computer is capable of at the moment. Once I can I will have significantly more games that I can get into. That being said there still are numerous games for me to play right now.
Rum’n Bass VR | Timewasters, youtube.com
If all of these things seem like they won’t be an issue then you’ll likely enjoy the system a lot. It’s a lot of fun and in my opinion really worth the money if everything else works out for you too. I would still highly suggest finding someone with a system and trying it out a few times before spending the money.
I am extremely excited to have the system myself and I hope that this helps you figure out if it’ll work for you too.