Living up to expectations (pic: Sony)
A reader details his first several days with the PSVR2 and its top games, as he rates Horizon Call Of The Mountain and Gran Turismo 7 VR.
I’ve been looking forward to PlayStation VR2 since it was announced and the wait has been long.
I really enjoyed my PlayStation VR1 but can’t say I got a lot of use out of it. The setup was too much of a pain to use regularly and some connectivity headaches caused by changes of other equipment meant it mostly gathered dust in a drawer. I really enjoyed Astro Bot: Rescue Mission, Driveclub, Resident Evil 7, Blood & Truth, Wipeout Omega Collection, Moss, and Vader immortal.
But it was a frequently frustrating experience. Many of the games I abandoned before seeing the end due to the game requiring me to reach or pick up something just outside the tracking window and not being able to. So I sold it to make way for PlayStation VR2, in spite of having bought many games for it I’d never got round to playing. Hopefully more upgrades will be announced as time goes on. I will cry human tears if WipEout is announced.
Yes, it’s pricy but the way I figure it’s probably going to last the next seven years and if I get a couple of hours entertainment out of it every week then those hours will work out at a total cost of less than £2 each.
The line-up announced seemed great to me. I was most excited for Gran Turismo 7, as I bought the game on reward but then shelved it in the hope for a VR version. So when the full game was announced as playable in PlayStation VR2 I was ecstatic! But I don’t understand the cynicism. If somebody told my younger self that a good VR headset would come out and at launch you’d be able to play Gran Turismo, Resident Evil and No Man’s Sky on it I would have thought you were some kind of wizard from the distant future.
The line-up is great, I played a little The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners on PlayStation VR1 and it was great but I stopped hoping there’d be a PlayStation VR2 port and there is! And it’s free! I’m looking forward to Moss, as that was one of the games I quit because of poor tracking issues.
Wednesday comes and I’m nervous as Sony have sent no updates and my money appears to have been refunded to my account. I fear payment hasn’t worked and the order has been cancelled. But a hack posted on Facebook allows me to find the tracking ID and the thing is to be delivered within an hour!
I get home from work and unbox it and it’s a nice feeling bit of kit. Once my girlfriend has gone to bed I fire it up. Horizon Call Of The Mountain is going to take a while to download, so I’m not playing that tonight. But I have the day off work Thursday, so I have plenty of time.
Setting up the headset feels very sci-fi. Eye tracking is really instantaneous and impressive. Scanning your room to set up your play area works brilliantly.
What to play first? Resident Evil Village is installed and ready to go. Would be rude not to. I wasn’t really interested in the flat version of the game. But was overjoyed to hear it would be in VR. I figured it would make an average Resi more enjoyable.
First impressions. The tutorial stage isn’t the massive jump in graphics I was hoping for. It looks great but I’m questioning how much better than Resi 7 it is. Conversely the controllers feel fantastic. However, a bit further in and I’m exploring the house and it looks fantastic. The screen door effect is still there but much lessened. I also feel a lot less restricted than I did in PlayStation VR1. I can move around, turn around freely without losing tracking. I spend a lot of time just looking at the furnishings and upholstery! A walk through a dark snowy forest is suitably menacing.
But it’s getting late. I haven’t got my wheel set up, but I decide on a quick spin of Gran Turismo just to see how it looks. It’s great. The sense of being in the car is wonderful. But it’s not as clear as I was hoping for. It’s much better than PlayStation VR1 but not the crystal clear upgrade I had built myself up for. Road signs are still indistinct and there’s a lot of ghosting. Especially in replays. Which I assume is down to the reprojection from 60fps.
There is a small sweet spot in the centre of the image, but the image degrades further from the centre, not because of the foveated rendering but because of the lenses themselves. To get the best image quality you still have to turn your head. Not just glance at something. But viewing cars in the VR showroom is great. They look very real. Still a bit soft but I spend a good deal of time just walking around a virtual car.
The next day I agree to help a colleague for an hour, in spite of having taken the day off. Frustratingly, one hour turns into a 6.30pm finish and I’m not home until 7pm. There goes my day of VR fun. Having thought about last night’s experience I realise both of the games I’ve played are fundamentally still PlayStation 4 games and aren’t going to show off the new headset at its best. So I’m excited to give Horizon Call Of The Mountain a go.
When my girlfriend goes to bed, I fire it up again. Horizon looks great and here’s where the PlayStation VR2 really begins to shine. Looking at the arrows I can see fine details in the quivers. Plants and moss on the rocks react when you touch them. The vistas are still soft but they’re impressive. But there’s one moment that sells the experience to me. I kneel down physically to get an apple from under a table. That’s it. But that would have broken PlayStation VR1. Here I do it flawlessly without a thought and without any complicated room set-up. Wonderful.
Wielding a bow and arrow feels fantastic. Also, I make it to the first encounter with a walker and am impressed by the combat. The lock on and jump strafe mechanic immediately gives me Metroid Prime vibes. Add that to the feeling of firing your own bow and arrow and it felt great. Pulling out the eyeball as a trophy felt triumphant. I had a quick go on Tetris Effect and Thumper, which both felt more immersive than before. Bedtime.
Friday went untouched but Saturday my girlfriend was out for a birthday brunch, leaving me with a whole afternoon and evening to play. I went straight back to Gran Turismo with my wheel set-up and began working my way through the cafe menu books. This was a great experience. On many occasions I was dumbstruck by the lighting transitions, the verticality of the courses feeling like a rollercoaster, feeling completely immersed in the racing and ogling the cars in the cafe.
I had frequent outbursts of ‘This is awesome!’ Quickly stopped bothering with the VR replays as they’re worthless and need more options. Passenger seat would be nice as well as helicopter cam, or just the regular replays in VR.
Sunday was again limited to two hours before bed and I went straight back to Gran Turismo. It really is the killer app.
Overall, I’m very happy with my purchase and suspect I’ll get my money’s worth out of it from Gran Turismo 7 alone. Everything else is a superb bonus. PlayStation VR is finally realising its potential and I can’t wait for more games specifically made for it and the power of the PlayStation 5, that aren’t held back by the PlayStation 4.
By reader thewearehere (PSN ID)
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MORE : No Man’s Sky PSVR2 review – another VR game better than Horizon Call Of The Mountain
MORE : Resident Evil Village may be the best VR game ever made – PSVR2 review in progress
MORE : Gran Turismo 7 PSVR2 review in progress – the real killer app simulator
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A reader details his first several days with the PSVR2 and its top games, as he rates Horizon Call Of The Mountain and Gran Turismo 7 VR.