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REVIEW: OCULUS QUEST

22/5/2019

16 Comments

 
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I've not been shy of expressing that I think virtual reality is flawed at its very core.

It doesn't matter how good it gets, the fundamental idea prevents it from ever becoming the society-consuming technology we've seen in so many sci-fi dystopias. 

It's like... I dunno... inventing a dog dirt flavour ice cream; You can keep improving the flavour to make it more authentically dog dirt-tasting, but if people don't want to eat dog dirt-flavoured things then it's unlikely there's much you can do to change their minds.

Not even if, on some level, they're impressed that somebody has a) Had the audacity to make and sell a dog dirt-flavoured treat, and b) Managed to so accurately simulate the taste and texture.

That, for me, is why I've sort of been a VR-sceptic; even if they can solve my motion sickness, that doesn't change needing a space in my house where I'm not going to knock things over, or be filmed secretly by my amused family, who can then show me the video so that I can go into a 24-hour depression and start looking up liposuction clinics.

A product that makes me vomit AND a figure of fun AND insecure about my body? Sign me up!!!!?!!!

But anyway...
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OPEN MIND
And yet, for all of that... I do want to like VR. I'm open-minded, if not an outright believer. It's like how I think it'd be pretty cool if ghosts and God existed... but think it's fairly unlikely that they do.

The part of VR which appeals to me is the part that wants to travel to fantasy lands, and really feel like I'm there. I want to have a fight with Darth Vader. I want to point at a shark's face. I want to be a super-cool slow-motion ninja man. 

And VR - especially with my knees - is the closest I'm ever going to get to some of those things. At its very best, VR is a theme park in your own home. 

So I keep trying, most recently with the Oculus Go - a wires-free headset that came out last year, which was pretty good in a one-step-up-from-Google-Cardboard sort of a way, but was some considerable leagues short of the power needed for really convincing VR.


And now Oculus has released the Quest - another wireless headset, which in terms of power lands somewhere in the middle of the Oculus equation, twixt the Go and the Rift.

Is it any good? Well, that's the whole point of a review, stupid.
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TOUCH ME
The Quest is beautifully designed, as you'd want for a product that's a quid shy of £400.

Right out of the box you feel like you're getting something that's quality; from the mostly comfortable, fabric-clad headset, to the two Oculus Touch controllers.

You'll need a smartphone, as set-up is done entirely through the Oculus app, but beyond that there's no other hardware needed (unless you want to wear headphones; as its default sound option, the Quest has a couple of decent surround sound speakers that sort of "pipe" the sound through the head straps).


Nicely, the Quest also comes with a spacer, which allows it to be worn and used by those with glasses, but it's all relatively easy to adjust either way, with a slider for the lenses, and velcro head straps.

Many of the Quest's experiences require you to be standing, which means you need a fair bit of space around you. Upon first firing it up, you'll be presented with a virtual representation of your physical surroundings, and need to draw a space on the floor using the controllers. Moving outside of this area will flash up a warning. 

All of this, plus the head and controller tracking, was pretty much flawless; you've got complete freedom of movement within your defined space. There are sensors on the headset, which read your position, and even on a fast-paced game such as Beat Saber it seems to keep up.

I won't bore you with specs, but it's a noticeable step up in terms of visual quality from the Go. Obviously, graphics aren't going to have the bells and whistles you'd get on a Rift - the Quest is about as powerful as a top-end phone - but it's more than good enough. 

More importantly, the Touch controllers really help to connect you to what you're seeing; being able to make a fist, point, pick things up etc. is addictive. There's a great little tutorial which lets you shoot guns, play with balls and rockets, and just generally fanny around getting used to interacting with your pretend environment. 

Between the resolution of the lenses, the lack of wires, the surround sound, and the way the hardware interfaces with the virtual worlds, it's the most immersed I've felt in VR to date. Incredibly, I even seemed to suffer little in the way of motion sickness, and with the battery charge only lasting a couple of hours, it's unlikely I ever will.
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FAFFLESS
I'll review some of the launch titles separately, but none of the half a dozen or so I played had any real issues. I've heard that the tracking can suffer in rooms where there's less light, but it wasn't something I experienced. in Beat Saber, Superhot, Vader Immortal, and a bunch of free playroom-type games all ran smoothly.

As I found out with the Go, VR without a tether is - as I always suspected it would be - the future of the medium. I stopped playing on my PSVR, because it was such a monumental faff to set up every time. Being wired into another lump of hardware breaks the immersion in a pretty fundamental way, and so Quest does feel like a game-changer in that respect. 

That's not to say that it solves all of VR's issues. The lack of space in my house to draw a decent sized playing area is a problem, and the way the wireframe "cage" keeps popping up whenever my arms hit the boundary is irritating. Likewise, there's no getting away from feeling self-conscious when there are other people in the house. 

These are the sorts of things I'm talking about when I say that VR is flawed at its core.

That said, Quest does manage to solve many of my other issues with the technology. It isn't cheap, but then you don't need a PC or PlayStation 4 in order to use it. 

Will this be the point at which VR reaches its long-delayed tipping point? Put it this way... when I try to think about my friends and family using VR on a regular basis... it's not something I can ever imagine happening. Will I be using it on a regular basis?

​The chance of that happening just took a massive leap forwards.  
16 Comments
Bob Trousers
22/5/2019 09:49:56 am

I'm so glad you like it, and even gladder that you're not getting the motion sickness with it. 👍

Reply
Grembot
22/5/2019 09:51:45 am

I like VR and I hope it sticks around long enough for it to get better. One thing I can’t understand is why so many VR games have to be played standing up when playing games is more of a sitting down thing...I guess I just want games in VR rather than being in VR.

Reply
Joe Higgens
22/5/2019 10:06:31 am

I have just ordered mine. I loved the Go and this seems like logical step to take. Just got to clean out my dining room now (not a euphemism)

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Steve
22/5/2019 11:01:59 am

Why do people continue to comment that PSVR is a faff to set up? It is no more complicated to set up than a wired controller. You just plug it in. Leave the breakout box in place when you are not using it and when you are, plug the headset into it. It is straightforward and simple and every review claims it is tricky. And Astrobot is the best game on the PS4 by a mile and people are missing out thinking VR is complicated to set up (its not), expensive (not any more), and so on.

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Jam
22/5/2019 01:11:14 pm

Yes, the cabling thing is a myth. The problem I have is installing myself in the thing. I generally put the headset on first, then remember that I need to adjust the camera, plug the headphones in, clean the lenses and find/strap-myself-into the controllers, all with restricted visibility. It's a faff, but mostly self-inflicted.

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Geebs
22/5/2019 02:48:56 pm

Depends whether you have the original PSVR or the revised edition. The original version has far more cables, doesn’t have built-in headphones and doesn’t pass HDMI through to your TV as gracefully, so it’s much more of a faff.

Guru Larry link
30/5/2019 11:32:00 am

I own both the original and the V2 PSVR headset, they both have the exact same amount of cables. You always had earphones with the PSVR, only in the V2 unit the plug is at the back, rather than on the dongle.

the only real advantage the V2 has over the original is it can pass through HDR.

Mr.S
22/5/2019 03:20:14 pm

Not sure if they fixed this, but with a 4K HDR tv, keeping the PSVR breakout box hooked up isn't an option unless you want to be limited to the 1080 signal it seems to output

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EggyRoo
23/5/2019 10:06:10 am

YES! I posted Bout Astrobot under the Vader review.

Kills me that only a tiny proportion of gamers will ever get to play such a phenomenal platformer.

If Wipeout Omega in VR is the pinnacle of racing games- the exact game we dreamed of 20 years ago, Astrobot is the platforming equivalent.

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Adam
22/5/2019 01:50:52 pm

I like your lettuce t-shirt.

Reply
Guru Larry
22/5/2019 02:12:00 pm

Wow, I literally ordered one last night As I forgot this was coming out :D

Reply
Rich
22/5/2019 04:41:10 pm

Yes, yes. But why is dog dirt so called? This has baffled me for years. We don't say cat dirt or horse dirt. What is it about dog poo that is so dirty? The stench of cat poo would lead me to believe that it is dirtier than dog poo. I need answers people.

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Birch Vand
22/5/2019 05:20:59 pm

Alliteration. That is all.

Reply
Alliteration Attaboy
31/5/2019 08:55:48 am

"Alliteration. 'at's all." <-- FTFY

Fat Dave
22/5/2019 08:42:33 pm

Beat saber is awesome, and the motion tracking sounds better than the rift as its far from perfect without an extra camera

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James Walker
22/5/2019 11:55:39 pm

VR will take off eventually like most other technologies; because of the porn!

Reply



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