Alright, I finally got to try a VR headset. It wasn’t Apple Vision Pro. It was the Meta Quest 2 that my 17 year old son recently bought. My first taste of VR was the game Beat Saber.
Background
Before I talk about that, let me get this outta the way — the first headset I ever tried was actually the Nintendo Virtual Boy around 1996. I quickly realized that thing was lame; I preferred a classic GameBoy.
Also, the first exposure I think I had to the concept of VR was watching Lawnmower Man in the early 90s. See Stephen King.
Beat Saber
First, the feeling of VR — WOW!
Truly, I had wondered what it would be like. I’ve seen modern 3D movies with glasses, like Avatar, in the theater. How would a 3D VR headset be different? How might it be better?
It was much better. And my sampling was very small.
I put the headset on and immediately was like, “Whoa!” I guess it’s called the menu area of the game, where you start Beat Saber in a dark gray “room.” There’s what looks like a concrete floor that stretches to the fading distance. You can truly turn around 360 degrees to see what’s “behind” you in VR space. In this case it was a pile of cubes.
When I saw the concrete “floor,” I wanted to walk on it and explore, see where I could go. So indeed, the VR 3D space is a convincing alternate realm — I liked it.
Most impressive was a giant neon sign that looked and felt centered high above me, “Beat Saber.” I just kept gazing at its light. It felt like it was really high up beyond the ceiling of my living room. I kind of marveled at all of it.
Next, the menu interaction.
The physical joysticks I had looked like glowing wands in the VR space. One had a laser pointer that looked and felt like it was really shooting out into the distance. I aimed it at the menus and every time it touched a menu item, the physical controller vibrated with haptic feedback — this is not the N64 Rumble Pak of old, kids. It’s better.
The aiming and haptic responding were precise. It felt good to move the laser pointer back and forth across menu selections, like I had full or direct control over the unreal digital elements in VR.
Now, the game itself.
I played the easiest setting. Gameplay is simple in that you just swing the VR light sabers at incoming cubes at the proper time and in the right direction. Cubes approach you in sync to the beat of a song. It’s kind of like Tap Tap Revenge meets Dance Dance Revolution (I think that’s what those games were called).
And yeah, it was fun. It felt good to hit the cubes just right. The directional aspect added more challenge and interesting variety than I expected. The hard part was dodging wireframe walls that also came at me. It was really hard to judge the VR space with my real-world space in my living room (I was in tight quarters and recommend at least an arm-length’s radius and then some).
Last, the sketchy part.
I was super impressed by the actual feeling of a VR space that somehow made my brain think it was in another realm. But, being my first time, I also felt some minor adverse effects.
Almost immediately, I felt physically off, like a mind warp. I could see how some people may be nauseated. My stomach was fine, but my balance felt a bit weird, maybe like after jumping into a pool of water and your body slows as it floats weightlessly. It was mild but noticeable for a moment or two.
Once I got oriented, I felt normal enough. But then at the end when I removed the headset and my eyes saw the real world again, I had a brief moment of feeling mind warped. It wasn’t vertigo — that’s much worse. It was like a mild whiplash. Just made my eyes and head feel funny for a sec.
I was in the headset for maybe 15 minutes. It never felt heavy or uncomfortable.
Final Thoughts
Overall, I am impressed. The Meta Quest 2’s VR experience exceeded my imagination. It simply felt better and more convincing that I expected. And I want more.
I want to experience certain kinds of 3D games in VR, like Minecraft. I want to feel the scale of a tall mountain in the surreal distance and the deep darkness of a cave around me.
To me, that’s VR. It’s more about experiencing a place or challenge, not merely playing a game.
No, I will not buy an Apple Vision Pro for the ultimate in VR. One, it’s far too expensive. Two, it lacks games. But a Meta Quest 3 for $500? Possibly. I’ll have to try my son’s headset more. The right game could convince me to buy a Meta Quest instead of the next Switch.
No comments:
Post a Comment