Was 2016 VR’s Glowing Debut or Disappointing Start?

How did VR do in 2016?

Games

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The three VR headsets have had one major issue to overcome when promoting these headsets and that’s ensuring that they offer a game or an experience that gives players a reason to buy one. While the likes of DriveClub VR, Thumper, and more all offer neat experiences, it’s not something completely different from just playing them on your television. And anything that does manage to do that has certainly felt a little more experimental and rough around the edges.

Games for the Rift, Vive, and PSVR have certainly had their high points with the likes of Rez Infinite, Batman: Arkham VR, and EVE: Valkyrie standing out as particularly immersive ways to try out virtual reality. But the main problem with VR is even highlighted in one of its best experiences – length and replayability.

Batman: Arkham VR can be completed in about an hour. Maybe a little more if you want to collect all of the Riddler trophies. Yet, after that, you don’t really have all that much of a reason to return. Because we’re in the early stages of VR, developers are still getting used to the best methods and means of translating their content onto working well with these headsets. As such, short-form and experimental experiences were always likely to make up a large part of the virtual reality library.

This doesn’t mean that there are no great games out for these VR headsets. In fact, Rez Infinite is currently sitting with an 89 on Metacritic on PS4 and is the 14th highest-rated title of the year. Mind you, the next closest VR title to it is Thumper with an 85 in 82nd place. As we draw ever closer to the one-year anniversaries of both the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive, we’ll hopefully see more full-fledged titles getting announced. But for now, if you’re willing to take the good with the bad, and in small doses, there are titles out there that warrant picking one up. It’s just not enough for the core gamer as of yet.


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Author
Chris Jecks
Chris Jecks has been covering the games industry for over eight years. He typically covers new releases, FIFA, Fortnite, any good shooters, and loves nothing more than a good Pro Clubs session with the lads. Chris has a History degree from the University of Central Lancashire. He spends his days eagerly awaiting the release of BioShock 4.