To be honest, the main thing I want from VR in 2019 is mostly just to play the VR a hell of a lot more! As much as I enjoy the virtual reality headset, I definitely don’t put it on enough… But it has got me thinking, is there a reason it’s not my go to?
More often than not when I get home, or when I have free time later in the evening, I put on my current RPG (Dark Souls or NieR recently), and if I’ve got a spare quick half an hour, it’ll be Rogue Legacy or Spyro. Not very often, or not often enough, am I going to my PSVR headset for a bit of gaming. Now the thing is when I get them on, I enjoy them so much, there isn’t anything that compares to VR gaming, and it’s definitely what I wanted when I dreamed of home VR as a child… In fact it’s better; but for some reason it just isn’t my go to. I’m unsure if the game library is the issue, or if it’s just down to me just not really considering it, I read so much online where people see it as their go to, but it just doesn’t stick with me. A big part of is definitely down to me knowing I won’t get that pure gaming experience like I do from the vast range of AAA games out there, and more often than not these aren’t VR compatible. Perhaps if I hadn’t spent 100’s of hours on Skyrim previously, this would be more gripping and engrossing. Something like the Persistence is a really fun game, but nothing still compares to Resident Evil 7; it’s still the one game that I couldn’t put down, and it had that perfect blend of being a fully fledged game, but being VR.
Other titles such as Moss, Astro Bot or Arizona Sunshine are also really good, but don’t make me feel addicted (If I’m honest, the main issue with Astro Bot is that I’m playing with my girlfriend, so we have to play it together)… So maybe the offering has to be different; it would be great to have more games like Resident Evil 7 where it’s a solid seven or eight hour game which keeps you coming back for more, but has enough to keep you going for a few weeks at least. The main issue is that a lot of these games are only a couple of hours long, which can make me fearful of rinsing it too quickly. Another thing I would like from PSVR this year is more of the games you see on PC, which just seemed to be a big mix of stupid fun games such as VR Chat for example. I often feel you’ve only got a choice of a 2 hour game (Or tech demo) OR a rehashed game you’ve played already, and the problem is that you don’t necessarily always want to play those sorts of games. I think the advantage of VR (And the best thing that suits it) is something that’s silly, fun or rhythm based; as you probably know, those definitely won’t be run dry in a short time.
The other issue is the fear after looking so much into it, of wasting your money. More often than not a VR game will get a bad score, or at least average, and they can definitely be overpriced when you have a rough idea of the running time – So then you’ve got to think “Am I going to spend £30 on a 6 hour VR game, or a 60 hour action RPG epic”, I know where my money tends to go… However the PS Store sales can be amazing for VR games – I’ve just spent 20 quid on four games that are in the sale because I feel like it’d be worth it… Even if I only play them once.
…However it’s just not all about finding the right games, I’ve really enjoyed a lot of the games such as Moss, Arizona Sunshine, Resi 7 etc, and Skyrim is truly impressive when I play it; it’s a bit crazy, because as I said, every time I put the headset on I love the VR system and it’s impressive and exactly what I wanted – I don’t get nauseous, I’ve gotten used to it and I could play for hours without feeling sick (Although having a couple beers definitely changes this!). Even though I’ve spoken a lot about what I think is still a sub-par game offering, what I’d really like for PSVR 2019 is just more excuses to play it more… But then that needs to be more of an offering filled with new games, not just redeveloped games that everyone’s played before, or the wrong types of games like the short ‘tech demos’. It’s very frustrating when you enjoy a game like Moss and it’s only three hours long for example, that’s happened quite a lot to me.
I understand there must be challenges due to the technology behind it, but there’s a definite feeling that there’s not enough budget being put into it still; I can’t help but feel like if developers and Sony spend time just making a few decent 10 hour action games to attract a bigger market, alongside the increase official AAA games that are original VR releases, then these VR systems would fly off the shelves – It needs to stop being an add on. I know more immersion is being added in the way of gun props and paddles to help you feel like you’re walking and aiming, but perhaps before they worry about adding these, they need to make sure that the games they’re offering is correct. Sony boasts that there’s over 200 game experiences in the store now, but I can imagine that out of at least 150 of them, you probably won’t want to bother with; for example the Spider-Man VR experience is shit; the music-based ones are shit; the Justice League one is shit. You know they’re all just crap gimmicks that movies are trying to use to sell, which is fine, but it’s not something you want when you’re trying to enjoy a very expensive console / add on.
I also want more of my friends to get PSVR so I can play more co-op games, an experience like the rec room has shown me that it can be an amazing co-op device, and I’ve heard so much good rep for Firewall… Then again it’s all down to me, making sure that I’m talking to people who have these games, putting money towards the games like Firewall which I’d more likely play, and to ensure I’m getting on at the same times.
…So I come back to my original point; what I really want from PSVR in 2019 is just to put the thing on my fucking head more… This should be my New Year’s resolution..!