well this evening I set up my Oculus Rift dev kit and decided to try out the Alpha. It was a bit of a faff at first, I had the same problem where you have to extend the right desktop as the rift (otherwise you end up not being able to launch the darn thing).
and wow!..yeah this is the best game I've tried since getting the dev kit back in March last year. No exaggeration.. I've tried out a few games such as Half Life, TF2, War Thunder, Euro Truck Simulator and various demos. Elite Dangerous is the only game so far I've been able to play properly and actually, in many ways, play better using the head-set.
Firstly its the only game that doesn't make me feel sick, partly because the pilots head is in the right place, but also due to the great frame rate. I played it for a good 50 minutes non-stop and went through all the missions. Then I just hung around in the factions mission pretending I was escorting the Anacondas. I got up as close as I could and it was simply jaw dropping. I was basically in space, in the Elite universe, and I didn't feel queasy.
The classic Elite scanner makes perfect sense in 3D, I'd go as far as saying it actually works better than 2D. Hard to explain, but when contacts overlap each other in 2D your eye might not be able to determine quickly where they are in relation to you. In 3D this is no problem, its a 3D scanner...in 3D and it works great!
Watching targets fly past and being able to naturally look around and turn the ship towards them works beautifully. Especially since there is no dumbed down target head lock system when using a monitor, so this is the only game I've played so far (on the rift) where it actually gives you some advantages other than immersion.
With the alpha at least, it never seems to drop a frame. Even on my GTX 560Ti with everything on high. This is essential when using the rift.
Oh and the lighting. Its hard to describe but the sun (star) feels like its dazzling when using the rift. It actually makes me want to squint if I'm flying towards it.
Its only going to get better with the consumer versions of the rift. But if the game continues to work as well as the alpha, it could well be a killer app for VR.
The only downsides so far are:
- The side panels (fire groups, sub systems, targets etc.) don't seem to appear in rift mode.
- Projectile weapons are more difficult to aim with, not impossible though. This is probably due to the low resolution of the dev kit version.
- The help screen and the video of the spinning side-winder don't appear in 3D so you can't read them. The video bit was the only time I felt a bit sick.
so well done Frontier!
