Peter James Mann
I never thought in a million years that VR would be this accessible to me. I also didn’t think I’d be kind of over the novelty of it by now. That’s been my experience so far as I have dug into the Oculus (Meta?) Quest (2?). And no, that’s not a typo, since this has gone through a name and logo change since I bought it during Black Friday sales. It’s a system with a bit of an identity crisis in everything it does. But wherever it’s going, I want to see the end of the road. I’m happy I have the system, but it could still be better.
One of the biggest pros of the Meta Quest is how easy it is to set up everything. Just sign into your facebook account and you’re essentially ready to go. It was one of the quicker system set ups I’ve experienced in years.
The controllers run on AA’s though, so you might want to buy a decent pack or two before you invest in some rechargeable ones made by a third party company. Actually, there’s a ton of accessories available for this system by a plethora of companies. And if you have a way to customize the front plate, you can make the system all your own.
It feels like you’re in some new kind of gaming future when you first start the system. Just turning and looking around your home area, and being able to walk a few steps in each direction and see the actual in-game movement, made my mouth drop to my floor in the real world.
This was The Matrix. This was Hackers. This was Demolition Man. And I wanted to just keep playing. I spent 5 minutes just going through the home screen digital environments. I obviously am a fan of Cyber City, but they’re all great. Except Bubbles, that’s actually unnerving…
The first game we tried was Beat Saber, which is arguably still my favorite game on the system. The song packs are a little lacking in variety, and some of the more viral songs I’ve seen on YouTube performed by streamers are only available on PC through Mods. But it really feels amazing to have those swords in your hands just slicing through stuff like a drill at a Jedi Training Academy.
But that, along with other games that allow you to move but via the Transport mechanic, don’t make you as nauseous as the Sliding, or traditional movement games, at least the ones without motion blinders. Journey of The Gods, I could slide just fine because you get a faded, feathered tunnel vision in the comfort mode. But other games, like Gun Raiders, defaulted without that. And that made me have to stop more than once.
See, what I found out during this review, and one of the reasons why it took so long, was because I could only play for less than 20 minutes at a time. Being in VR really screwed with my senses a lot more than I anticipated. While some stuff was cool, and others had mechanics to assist with me being able to play longer, there’s a literal, physical barrier to entry with this system. And that’s a massive, massive con for me.
It’s not the system’s fault, at least I don’t think, and it’s more me. I’m also used to regular controller or keyboard based games and having some distance between me and a screen. The set can be front heavy and, if you don’t fit it right, it can get annoying or sometimes even painful after longer sessions. There is a little extender to help with glasses, but my frames are too big to fit inside the headset, which I didn’t anticipate when I got either of them, so I can’t play with what I need to see the game correctly anyway.
But it’s a testament to the concept and ease of use and games available that I kept trying to play it and see (sometimes literally) what the rest of my family seemed to enjoy so much. If you don’t have these issues, then you’re going to have a way easier time playing than me.
Which does kind of, sort of, lead into my next issue. Because of Airlink, you do have access to more games on your PC that are VR ready. But a lot of the cooler games you might want to play aren’t ACTUALLY available on the Meta Quest because (and this isn’t a knock to the system) it’s the Nintendo Switch of VR Headsets. It’s about getting accessible VR in the hands of everyone. And in terms of that goal, it’s doing fairly well.
Now, you’ve got Walking Dead and RE4 on here, both incredible games, but also very visceral. You physically need to lift the guns and look down the sights like you’re actually shooting the guns. You have to physically reload weapons in almost every shooter. Do you REALLY want to know how good you are at physically stabbing someone in the head? Yes? Okay, then you might like these.
And there are a ton of horror offerings, but also kids games as well, and action games, and climbing games, and fitness games, and boardroom apps and there’s email but its in VR. There’s also theaters where you physically sit in a virtual theater. It’s both very meta, but also extremely odd to do. Then there’s Facebook Horizons, which is facebook if it was Minecraft and had Fortnite concert events? Or is this just Second Life? See what I mean by an identity crisis?
It’s like a gaming VR headset that’s trying to be your new PC, your new smartphone, your one stop tech device. But all I feel like when I use it in that way is how much better it would be if I had a keyboard I could type on using my fingers and feel it vs pointing with my controller/laser pointer at every letter and pulling a trigger.
But I think a majority of my gaming will still involve a nice comfortable place to sit and a nice controller. Except when I play ringfit. Which I have more of a chance to get into because my whole family is playing Beat Saber’s BTS song pack.
See you soon.
