Hey gamer fans! Welcome back to another fantastic Saturday morning with yours truly! This week I had the opportunity to get ahold of and sample the new Valve Index VR system. The most immersive VR system to date! Thank you brother in-law for letting me do a review!
So I have to say there’s a lot to be wanting for in this new gaming system. I say system because it’s a VR headset that connects to your computer. (For those who didn’t know, I sure didn’t) So what’s in the box that you can get? Aside from the headset, you get the anklets and even 2 joysticks (or gloves)to go with it. Or if you’re one to play while sitting down, VR has that option too!
The setup is pretty much what we see in the movies. Which is a line linked to the head to the computer. You can set up a play area or sit in the chair. I recommend that you set up a place devoid of furniture. There is a safeguard grid that shows up if you get too close.
But enough about that, let’s talk about full world immersion. Yes it’s practically like Ready Player One! You can fully get into the VR world. When I first put on the headset I was in a modern like cabin on top of the mountains. The view was amazing! You’ve got your joy sticks or gloves to guide you. Since I’m an artist, I go for the drawing first. What’s it like? It’s like drawing in 2D in space. You can even pick it up and move it. You can’t apply the physics to it, but you can change the color as you draw. Can y’all imagine being able to sculpt in this thing? The world of 3D art would be changed forever! Make no mistake, it’s coming as soon as the programmers figure out how. There’s also a few really cool games.
Beat Saber was the first game I tried. It teaches you how to sword fight kind of. The game is more about reflexes and how fast you can get. That’s right folks, you can gain back the kid like speed you used to have in the old days. Beat Saber has got some really great music as well. You can even slow down the speed if you need a little extra time in hitting those blocks in time with the music.
But hey that’s not what you guys are interested in right? There’s the game called Half-Life Alyx. Now I remember Half Life back in the early 2000s as a low polycount game, five gigs of space and a CRT monitor which was a pretty big deal. This game got a serious upgrade. Which shouldn’t surprise anyone considering how fast tech has evolved over the years.
I’m here to tell you that it’s every bit as pretty and immersive as it sounds. It’s really like being another world. You almost want to walk through the whole game physically. (You can if you have a big enough play space set up.) So I didn’t get a chance to play the game itself just look around in a hallway. But I was able to watch my brother in law play it on his TV. Oh, I forgot to mention that you can set it up to where you watch players in the game.
Anyway, you can pick stuff up, throw it. Break it, even target the birds. The surroundings and physics are perfect, everything reacts in real time. Oh and there’s a scene in the beginning where you’re in an apartment kind of, with windows. On those windows are drawings of the bridge, and some markers. So what does my bro in law do? Draw some nsfw images on the glass. Heh heh You know you’d do it too. Ok folks that’s all for now! Modern Gamer out!
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