EVE Valkyrie developer CCP Games has become one of the top players in the VR game at this point. At this year’s Game Developers Conference, they had quite the lineup of VR games. While it’s always cool to try out EVE Valkyrie, and seeing Gunjack on a PC was pretty neat, the game of the show was Project Arena.
Project Arena is currently an HTC Vive game but CCP mentioned that it’s not exclusive, and Oculus could be getting a release as well. Strapping on your headset, you get thrown into a world that could have been lifted from TRON with players looking like a rotund Iron Man. Myself and two developers were playing simultaneously, so there were two other Iron Men in the virtual room with me.
The demo of Project Arena featured two games. One was sort of like tennis, and the other almost like dodgeball. The developers started a game between themselves to show how to play. When this happened, they shrunk down until the entire arena was easy for me to see. I could walk around it, lean in close to see the action better or step back and view it from a distance.
Once it was my turn to hop into the game, I was the one who became tiny. Looking up, the developer who wasn’t playing appeared as a massive figure, who’s robot face was staring down at the game field. It was both creepy and awe-inspiringly cool.
Playing the tennis-like game went as you would expect. You swing your arm, which is holding one of the Vive controllers, and your in-game glowing paddle will whack the ball at your opponent. Pressing the trigger on the other controller will bring the paddle up on your opposite side. It all works very intuitively, and playing a game against a live opponent in VR was awesome.
After getting wowed by the tennis game, the dodgeball game bowled me over. The arena transforms into a narrow hallway with you and your opponent standing on opposite sides. Each arm now has a small shield, with one big shield able to be switched between them. To attack your opponent, you must charge up your shield into a ball of energy and fling it down the hallway.
Seeing as how you just threw your shield away, you are now more vulnerable to getting attacked yourself. You can use the small shields you always have or use the amazing powers of Vive’s tracking system to duck out of the way. Oh yeah, while doing all this, you also need to catch your shield again as it’s coming back to you. If you miss your rebounding shield, you’ll get it back, but after going defenseless for a few extra moments.
This game was the most immersive VR world I have ever felt. I found myself actually working up a sweat because I was getting into it so much. And that’s the cool thing about Project Arena - the more you get into it, the better you end up doing. Allowing yourself to get sucked in makes your body feel more comfortable translated into the virtual world.
Project Arena is still in the demo phase of its life. CCP will likely continue to tinker around for a while, perfecting mechanics and adding more features before giving it a full release. Plans will include allowing for online play against opponents all over the world.
So what do you think? Are you excited to hear about awesome VR games coming out? Will you be getting a VR headset any time soon? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.
