Hands-on, Head-in with VR at GDC

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Over the last couple of years we've sampled various prototypes and devkits of upcoming VR headsets at events such as GDC, Gamescom and E3. The experiences have varied, and up until now what we have tried has mainly fallen into the category: tech demo or experience. Only natural, but without any substantial gaming experiences to sample it has been difficult to really get on board with VR. That changed at this year's GDC, as the headsets were shown in final (or near final) state and many of the games on hand offered more fleshed out gaming experiences.

HTC Vive and SteamVR

Sampled games: Time Machine VR, The Lab, Trials of Tatooine, Everest VR, John Wick: The Impossible Task

Other games (where we talked to the developers): Paranormal Activity VR, Thunderbird, Giant Cop: Justice Above All.

HTC Vive and SteamVR (Lighthouse, SteamVR controllers) is set to launch in April and there was a wealth of games playable both in Valve's booth at the show and in the GDC VR Lounge (games and experiences powered by Unreal Engine 4). It is the most expensive VR solution that will hit the market in 2016 for now (the AMD headset - the Sulon Q - will most likely change that once its price has been announced) and the controllers and motion tracking worked brilliantly without any of the mishaps we've experienced at previous demos.

Time Machine VR was one of the games we sampled at Valve's rather generously sized VR lounge. The Minority Media (Papo & Yo) developed game is set in a future where an ancient virus threatens to wipe out mankind (having been released as the polar ice melted). In order to save humanity you have to travel back in time to collect samples from animals who managed to survive the virus when it was originally active. Your excursions are underwater and you travel inside a vessel - and these factors certainly help to remove any motion sickness. It is truly breathtaking to take in these massive creatures and it does feel like you're inside of "Walking with Dinosaurs", only here you're swimming with them inside of your little submarine. It may sound as if Time Machine VR is an experience first and gameplay second. While the experience is certainly the first thing that struck us (the movement of these pre-historic ocean dwellers is magnificent), there is definitely some mechanics that you'll need to master in order to progress the story. Time Machine is coming to both Oculus Rift and Vive in April, and is aiming to be a PSVR launch title.

While it is slightly disappointing that Valve doesn't have a full-on VR adventure of some sort prepared for launch, they have put together an Aperture themed series of experiments called The Lab. This sample platter of smaller VR games and experiences will be free on Steam so if you're getting Vive you're getting this. Out of the handful of demos we played the arcadey bullet hell shooter Xortex and an archery demo stood out. Defending your castle from attackers with a bow and arrow was a lot of fun, and Xortex made us sweat as we tried to dodge laser shots while picking off the enemies one by one. The Lab is a neatly packaged experience, but rather than providing you with the ultimate VR experience come launch this feels more like a demo disc and something to give you an idea of the more fleshed out experiences that might arrive from Valve later on.

Following The Lab we also got a brief session with ILM's Roadside demo, more specifically something called Trials on Tatooine. And it must be said that interacting with R2D2 and Han Solo (albeit via intercom) certainly had us excited. There wasn't a great deal of interaction though, and the iconic text that introduced us to the demo did highlight one of the main issues that the first wave of headsets all share - the resolution isn't quite so high that the pixels aren't noticeable.

Some games are more experiences than anything else. And while Solfár Studios' Everest VR does feature mechanics as you make your way towards the peak - this is mainly an experience that allows you to see and experience what only a very chosen few actually get to witness. The awesome views of the Himalayas. Walking along narrow edges, rappelling up ice walls - it may all be make believe, but we still struggled to find our footing. We still felt genuine hesitation as we walked along the ledges. The full game will also attempt to simulate want your brain is capable of as you reach the limits of what man is capable of. Hearing things like an increased heart-rate racing in your ears,or the sound of panting, are signals that your body naturally alines with so your heart will and you may even start panting. Your vision will also be affected in some of the later sections.

A game we actually sampled prior to GDC (but that was under embargo) was Starbreeze Studios' John Wick: The Impossible Task. An action game meant to bridge the two movies starring Keanu Reeves. There is an arcadey feel to it, and while we haven't sampled the shooting sections yet it does remind us a little of one of the London Heist demos we tried on PSVR.

There was a great deal of excitement among the developers we talked to who were developing for the Vive, but it is also clear that many of these studios are very small and they're not really risking much. Selling a few tens of thousands of copies may be enough to sustain them, and for others the investment they've made is something they hope will bear fruit down the line.

Vive is the natural choice for developers who want to explore motion controllers and body tracking, and clearly this is something that more developers than expected want to dip a toe in. It's a slick piece of kit, but we still find it a little troublesome to move around in an open space unaware of our real-world surroundings while strapped to a cable. Without assistance we could certainly see ourselves having accidents and with the kit as expensive as it is that is something you'll want to avoid at all costs. There are of course plenty of seated Vive experiences and games to enjoy and if you take care setting your VR room up it may not be an issue, but still it's far from an ideal situation. The SteamVR controllers are very versatile and we did not experience any issues with this time around (as stated above).

Oculus Rift

Sampled games: Eagle Flight, Smashing the Battle, Damaged Core, Chronos, The Climb

The Oculus Rift is the VR headset closest to launch and many of the games on show at GDC were launch titles in their final (or very close to final) state. We have tried the consumer model of the headset previously and it remains a great piece of kit. Perhaps not quite as easy to put on as the PSVR, but it does feature built-in headphones, something that makes it a bit easier to get going.

We hadn't sampled Ubisoft's Eagle Flight prior to the show and it was a very pleasant surprise. Not only was the flight mechanic very intuitive and smooth, the few little missions we sampled (a checkpoint race and a brief hunting mission) were also a lot of fun. A great marriage of a VR experience and actual engaging gameplay.

Smashing the Battle is an arcade experience where you smash your way through waves of enemies on top of platforms. In terms of utilising VR it is one of the games that doesn't really make much use of it. There is no real benefit of VR here that we experienced, and while there's nothing wrong with the mechanics we didn't really feel that necessary addictive urge that this sort of arcade title relies on.

Unlike many of the other games we sat down with in the Oculus booth, Damaged Core is not set to launch alongside the hardware. This title is being developed by High Voltage Software (best known for The Conduit), and offers an interesting take on first person shooters in virtual reality. The basic idea is that you're able to transfer your consciousness between various robots and flying drones. Some have weapons and these you can use to shoot enemies (evil robots), while you can transfer your consciousness to flying drone cameras for a breather (as these won't be attacked by the enemy). As you don't actually move the robots (this is explained in the fiction by a gradual corruption that first shuts down movement) you're instead treated to a series of shooting galleries with some tactical choices where you aim by moving your head. An interesting concept, even if it also felt a bit limited.

Chronos from Gunfire Games (made up of ex-Vigil Games employees) is a launch title for Oculus Rift and it's one of the more substantial games at launch. It's an action-RPG with fixed camera positions (you can move you're head to look around and sometimes gain tactical information in combat) that features light puzzles and plenty of hack n' slash combat. The fiction features a mix of fantasy and post-apocalyptic themes offers both an interesting visual style and what is hopefully a story that draws you in.

Finally, Crytek's The Climb won't be available at launch, but fairly soon thereafter (Crytek have yet to communicate a firm date). Surprisingly deep in its mechanics, The Climb is exclusive to Oculus and if you've ever wanted to climb and witness beautiful views without actually climbing this could be something to look closer at. As the Oculus Touch won't be out any time soon (we might get a date for it during E3) for now you climb using your controller and Crytek has devised a fairly intuitive system where you place your hands where you look using the triggers to either hold on or let go of your grip.

The Oculus Rift has a fairly diverse and rich launch line-up, and while it is a shame that the Oculus Touch won't be there at launch, we are very impressed with the hardware.

PlayStation VR

Sampled games: RIGS, Rez Infinite, Battlezone, Super Hyper Cube.

Other games (where we talked to the developers): Thumper.

Easy to put on and well designed, it is clear that the PSVR headset is not quite as advanced as its competition when it comes to the hardware. Nevertheless it offers a brilliant experience and we sampled a number of games on the showfloor and in private session during the week.

Rez Infinite is one of those games that, while getting the VR treatment, hasn't been significantly redesigned since previous iterations. Basically you're playing the same game only on a screen inside the headset and you there's no a great deal of added bonus, but it certainly does help immerse you in the experience and this gave us an idea of how playing any PS4 game with the helmet (when simply used as a screen) could make for an experience that is enhanced. We are curious to see what Area X offers, but during GDC we only got to play Area 2.

Super Hyper Cube is a fun puzzler where you use VR to navigate the three dimensional puzzler. Again, perhaps not a game that makes massive use of VR, but it worked well and the game itself is good fun.

That takes us to RIGS. An arena-based mech combat sport where two teams shoot at each other and attempt to jump through the goal hoop. This truly feels like a fully fleshed out game experience that makes good use of the advantages of VR. However, we did feel slightly sick to our stomachs when we were on the end of a melee attack and brutally pushed sideways in an instant. It is definitely the experience where we felt the most unease while playing a VR game at the show, and we can only imagine that this could be amplified during online competition (we played a single-player demo).

A game that has felt solid in VR whenever we've tried it is Battlezone from Rebellion. The concept of driving a tank and shooting at enemies in VR works very well and hopefully there will be multiplayer added to the equation (at the moment Rebellion are non-committal but hopeful). The simplistic graphics work really well, and the throwback feel does make you feel like you've somehow been transported into a virtual world (á la Tron).

We also had a chat with the developers of Thumper, a "rhythm violence" game that scales off and streamlines some of the things we are used to in games like Amplitude, and focuses on transporting the player into that "zen zone of gaming". Interesting the game was not originally meant for VR, but it was a great fit quite early on. Most of the games mentioned here will be available at the launch of PSVR or at least within the launch period, and with many of the early Vive and Oculus titles also targeting PSVR one can only assume that come October PSVR will have a healthy supply of software on offer.

What's next?

As we've experienced the first steps of VR at GDC it is clear that this is not the end station. The experiences and games we can enjoy in 2016 are not going to radically change the gaming landscape. A few million early adopters will jump in this year, but notably there are already some signs of things to come. We sampled the Manus VR gloves at the show, a neat piece of kit that will allow for 1:1 tracking of hands and individual fingers in virtual reality. The demo we sampled saw us using our fingers on a small piano for instance and it worked reasonably well for what is still an early prototype.

Then there's the Starbreeze developed StarVR headset that allows for much greater peripheral vision (210 degrees) that is likely some way off (for retail at least, Starbreeze will open their first Starcade later this year). Finally there's the AMD headset that integrates the hardware (GPU, CPU, etc.) into the actual headset. Then there's the speculation that Nintendo will be dipping their toes into VR once more, something that would be interesting as they would surely do things differently than Sony, Oculus, and Valve.

However, perhaps it is augmented reality, things like Microsoft's HoloLens that is where all of this will end up. That's what Gaijin CEO Anton Shudintsev thought when we sat down for a talk on VR. He reckons that's when the true revolution will happen as it allows us to remain social, but he also feels that VR is a necessary step to eventually getting there (in about five years, he reckons).

The Virtual Reality you'll get to experience later on this year (even later this month with Oculus Rift) can perhaps be seen as a door opening up to a new era, but only a few will venture inside right now. The studios and manufacturers who invest in this space do so in the hopes of reaping rewards down the line, but it remains to be seen just what that future will look like.

Is there further reading on VR you ask... there sure is. Here's a guide to the games that are coming to PlayStation VR, and here's the launch titles for Oculus Rift. And if you want to know more about your upcoming options, there's this three-way comparison of the hardware, price and specs for PSVR, Oculus Rift and HTC Vive.