Oculus Rift Impressions

There are moments in all entertainment mediums that stop you dead in your tracks, mouth hanging open in pure, awe struck amazement. I usually think my standards are slightly higher than most as while I considered Quake, Zelda: Ocarina of Time and Assassin’s Creed very impressive to downright amazing, I didn’t sit, stare and go ‘wow’.

The first time I saw something in a video game and said ‘wow’ was watching footage of Super Mario 64. It was certainly impressive, running around a fully realized environment so fluidly, but the moment I went ‘wow’ was when Mario jumped into a painting and seeing it ripple like water from the point he jumped in.

Physics and details tend to be the things that really get me going wow. The next time I felt such a ‘wow’ moment was playing Unreal Tournament 2003 in Bombing Run Mode. I scored and immediately fell down a pit directly underneath the goal and watched in awe as my dead character bounced off all the poles spread across said pit as he fell, bouncing off each and every one. Next came Half-Life 2, which wowed me twice with fully expressive and realistic characters and fantastic water effects. 

Now, I’m adding a moment in iRacing.com while using the Oculus Rift.

For those unfamiliar with Oculus Rift, it’s a Virtual Reality headset partially funded through Kickstarter. Unlike the room sized VR suites of the past where you had to be wired into everything to see a few coloured blocks to represent obstacles, the Oculus Rift is just a headset that can be plugged into a computer with a single USB. I never did get a chance to try VR back then, but after a massive lull it seems it’s making a return now the technology’s up for the job.

Anyway, while attending Play Expo in Manchester I got a chance to have a go at the Oculus Rift, taking an opportunity to try it twice. The prototype headset (pictured at the top) is reasonably comfortable and the 3D effects are quite impressive but while the resolution is noticeably low with the screens not quite large enough to give you peripheral vision, the effect is immediate.

The first game I tried was War Thunder, flying a World War II fighter plane in a massive dogfight. I couldn’t aim accurately and the controls weren’t great, but being able to physically look at your instruments, then around for either someone to chase or a rock to play chicken with (which is what I ended up doing) was amazing, especially with how seamless and natural it felt, though the Xbox 360 controller broke the illusion.

Seeing as the queue for it was now stretching all the way around the booth and off into the distance, I left it for the rest of the day and went back in the next morning, getting a chance to play racing simulator iRacing.com, which had a steering wheel setup. The Oculus Rift may have been slightly out of focus, the peddles had a tendency to slid across the floor and the total lack of force feedback made it difficult to catch the endurance car before it slid out of control. I drove slightly awkwardly around the Autódromo José Carlos Pace track in Interlagos, Brazil (the F1 track if you’re not sure) I decided I’d get the last sector right and looked across the circuit.

I never feel racing simulators are accurate, Gran Turismo and Forza especially. You don’t get the subtleties of racing while sat in your house, even using the best racing wheels, but as I looked across the track with wheel in hand, for a moment, I really did feel like I was actually there.

Then I pressed the accelerator, the pedals slid away across the floor and the illusion was shattered. But still, that was very definitely a ‘wow’ moment.

I was only able to play each game for around three minutes, but they were a pretty incredible six combined minutes. I was fortunate enough to talk with one of the Oculus Rift’s developers (who I’ve unfortunately forgotten the name of because I have a terrible memory for names, so for now I’ll call him Dave) who told me a little bit about the prototype unit on display. What amazed me more is that everything is contained within the head set, meaning no external power supply (unless the USB on your computer can’t provide enough juice) and no external receiver to determine where ‘forwards’ is.

There’s plenty of games also that naturally support the Rift, iRacing.com, War Thunder and mech combat game Hawken (basically walking tanks) being on display while games such as Doom 4, Kickstarter darling Star Citizen and the ever popular Team Fortress 2 also work with it while full graphics engines such as the Unreal Engine and Unity Engines will natively support the Rift as well. Other games, such as Skyrim, Portal 1 and 2, Bioshock Infinite and Flight Simulator X also work with the Rift using additional drivers.

As I said, it was a prototype device and Dave assured me there are more advanced prototypes back at the office (the finished version should look more like the picture to the left). To my knowledge, the eventual release version will include higher resolution screens and will look slightly more appealing, but from what little I’ve seen so far, I can say I’ve been coloured more than impressed and would love one right now.