Plunging into Virtual Reality with Oculus Quest
Turns out I bought the Oculus Quest a month before it got discontinued.
A stand-alone VR system, it sure has been a lot of fun to play with in the last couple of weeks. No wires at all. Yes, the headset is a bit on the heavy side, but you get used to it. The hand controllers are surprisingly well-designed and feel natural, whether handling a gun or a ping pong bat. Headset battery life is about 2 hours. Each hand controller takes a single AA battery. Changed it for the first time yesterday after well over 10 days of play, each day an hour plus.
It’s designed to be all managed by a single person. You don’t need someone to watch over you to avoid bumping into things. The Guardian system uses the front-facing cameras to establish a virtual perimeter. Though, for some reason, the perimeter has a tendency to change locations. So, it’s a good idea to verify it every single time you enter VR. I learnt this the hard way: after a week of no accidents, I managed to slam a hand controller against the wall when playing ping pong. No damage thankfully.
Pausing and exiting is straightforward with a long press of the right Oculus button. Voice commands can be given with a double press. A controller-less mode is supported where you use your bare hands to navigate the menu. Button presses are done with a meeting of the thumb and index finger. While cool, I haven’t found any apps that support this yet. The headset view can be live cast to your phone.
The immersive experience of VR is super smooth and amazing. It changes your perspective totally. But one things to be aware of is that the Oculus Quest focuses on a smooth VR experience and the graphics are definitely on the cartoonish side. Expect this to improve every year. That said, many games turn this into a feature almost with their creativity and suck you into their world.
If you’ve been on the fence on VR, go for it! You will not be disappointed.
There are a few free apps that come with the Quest. But I was getting dizzy in the travel experiences and in Echo VR and soon gave up. Games cost anywhere from $10 to $40. Refreshingly, the Oculus returns policy lets you try out a paid app and return it no questions asked within 2 weeks if you spend fewer than 2 hours on it. If only every app store were this forgiving. On top of this, there are free demos for a few of the popular games pre-loaded: SuperHot VR, Creed, Sports Scramble, Dance Central, Space Pirate Trainer etc. The only I that caught my fancy was Beat Saber.
Beat Saber ($30)
Beat Saber with Dance Monkey was my original motivation (ahem “excuse”) to buy Oculus Quest, but turns out that requires side-loading, not something I’ve experimented with yet. If you buy only one game, this is the one to get. Pure joy and adrenaline. Yes, the official song library is very limited. But they grow on you, and there’s enough variety to stay occupied for weeks. There’s standard play with 2 sabers, there’s 90 degree play with some leg turns, and then there’s 360 degrees where you will turn every which way. Can do Hard on most songs, including 360. Am working my way towards Expert mode. Practice mode is great for focusing on the weak areas. There is a campaign mode as well. Interestingly, Facebook acquired Beat Games, the makers of Beat Saber in Nov 2019.
Eleven Table Tennis ($20)
Eleven Table Tennis was my second buy. It’s almost like playing real ping pong, uncanny. Needs a 7’ by 7’ area. I’m a below average player and cannot spin to save my life, besides some basic forehand top spin. My real world skills are just as bad in VR, sad to say. Been working on my backhand top spin. Apparently, virtual ping pong skills translate to real life as well. The AI is a lot of fun to play with. After 10 days, I’m still working on beating Hard consistently. Most interestingly, there is real live 1-on-1 human play. There are usually a handful of people available to match. It could be just my experience, but many games I have played suffer from a jarring lag that impacts the game negatively. They seem to miss at first, but then the ball suddenly comes back, giving me little time to respond.
This game could benefit from a more rigorous training regimen. Self-training is not fun.
Pistol Whip ($25)
I greatly prefer Pistol Whip to SuperHot VR. It’s a lot of fun. It’s a lot harder than I’d expected. Took me several tries to do Easy comfortably. Can do Normal on a few now. Hard is too challenging still. There are a ton of options to modify game play, like 2 guns, unlimited ammo and so on. Lots of replay value. Good music. Provides a more full-body workout with the Matrix-like bullet avoidance than Beat Saber.
Thrill of the Fight ($10)
In the lookout for an intense workout game, I read a lot of reviews before settling on The Thrill of the Fight. I haven’t looked back since. This is spot on. Bouts are three 2-minute rounds that have me sweating by the end. Needs a 7’ by 7’ area.