It finally feels like the 21st century we dreamed of now that VR games are here. Sure, we’re a few decades away from the legendary holodeck, but these six titles lay a solid foundation for the VR games revolution to build upon. We already finished our review of the HTC Vive, but these are the games that allowed to see what the $800 peripheral had to offer. Turns out, it offers a lot.
Space Pirate Trainer VR
There isn’t a nerdy millennial who hasn’t at some point fantasized about being in The Matrix. And not in the Joe-Pantoliano-Eating-A-Meta-Steak way, in the l et’s-dodge-all-the-bullets-like-a-boss way. And Space Pirate Trainer delivers that sensation by way of the purest adrenaline rush we experienced so far in VR.
The concept is simple. Players stand on a platform and dual-wield crazy laser pistols to try and shoot down wave after wave of flying robots. The robots shoot back, too, but when they do the magic happens. Time slows a half-beat and players are able to dodge the incoming laser fire. And when we say dodge, we don’t mean tap a button and strafe. We mean fucking DODGE. You duck and roll and twist and turn and bend and lean and contort yourself into a half dozen pretzel shapes while a pounding synth soundtrack fuels your fervor. It’s a perfect arcade experience, and a standout VR game. A must-own for any early adopter.
Job Simulator
For a game that was heavily demoed on the convention circuit, Job Simulator still managed to deliver plenty of surprises and a boatload of charm during our playtests. Players get to explore a world where robots run everything, including a museum dedicated to showing what life was like when humans were in charge. Part of that museum is the job simulator experience, where curious robots can enter virtual workspaces and live the life of an ordinary human on the job.
If this sounds boring, it isn’t. The humor and tone are consistent across everyone of the 50+ scenarios available. Players can be an auto mechanic, store clerk, chef or office worker and each profession has 15 different scenes to unlock and playthrough. You might get robbed as a store clerk or work for a corrupt mechanic, but in each scene the takeaway is that the world is immersive and tactile. Players have a playspace to move around in, and nearly every object can be picked up and interacted with in some way. It was the easiest world to get lost in of any game we played, and the hardest to walk away from, too.
Audioshield
Rhythm games are nothing new, and have a longer history than most genres of being part of the AR/VR space. The success of Just Dance singlehandedly kept the Kinect alive (for awhile) and anyone who’s ever been to a popular gaming con has seen the crowds of devotees cheering each other on in public playspaces devoted to showing would-be rock stars dancing along with their favorite tunes.
Audioshield takes this concept into the VR space with an equally simple construct: punching stuff. Players start each song wearing one red and one blue glove and must pop colored orbs that come flying along to the beat of the music. It gets much, much harder than it sounds particularly on the advanced difficulties. It also gets pretty fun.
The real selling point of Audioshield is that it’s a great VR warm up. It was the go-to game we had curious office mates play when stepping into VR for the first time. It’s simple, feels familiar, and gives you a half-decent workout if you do a few songs in a row. More than anything it illustrates the potential VR has to make gaming an active, healthy experience.
Fantastic Contraption
No title was more divisive during our VR games reviews than this one. Fantastic Contraption puts players in a virtual world where the goal is to deliver a small pink balloon into a goal area by attaching it to a crazy machine that pilots it's way across obstacles.
The big sticking point for many was the time commitment involved. More than any other game, Fantastic Contraption is asking you to spend a lot of time playing it. Building machines and sending them on their merry way is harder than you think, especially since things like properly aligned wheels don’t just occur automatically. There’s lots of tinkering and trial and error, both of which are really fun in the VR space. But if you’re not a patient gamer, and prone to VR fatigue, then Fantastic Contraption will wear you out before you really get anywhere with it. But if you’re the obsessive type then you will find yourself spending hour after hour creating things, with a few minutes of genuine pride sprinkled in.
#SelfieTennis
Easily the most unintentionally creepy VR game you’ll ever play. The game itself is pretty normal. You serve a tennis ball, the game swaps you to the other side of the court so you can hit it back, then swaps you again for a volley and so on. You play tennis with yourself, and it’s pretty simple and pretty fun. And, like Audioshield, it can give you a decent workout too.
So why is it creepy? Because of the pastel-colored tennis ball head creatures that stand eerily silent and watch you play. If you hit one with a ball it “dies” and just slumps over. And stays there. After a few errant shots you have corpses littering the tennis court, their vacant X-ed out eyes haunting the waking nightmare that is now your life. 10/10 would play again.
The Lab
Valve’s suite of VR games is being touted as the “Wii Sports” of VR, but it’s not quite as robust as Nintendo’s legendary bundle game. Still, The Lab does offer a few genuine VR thrills. The hands-down favorite was the game Longbow, a tower defense situation where players shoot a bow and arrow at hordes of enemies storming a castle gate. Xortex came in close second, it’s a game where players grab a spaceship and fly it around the room while blasting enemies and dodging big yellow orbs of laser fire. It’s intuitive, fast and fun.
Are you ready for the VR revolution? Will you be buying a Vive? Are you still waiting for your Oculus? Not sold on VR yet and holding out for a second generation price drop? Is there really no spoon ? Let us know in the comments!
