PlayStation VR Review

PlayStation VR Review

PlayStation VR is out now and it finds itself in a very interesting position. Not only it is in a good position from  a strategic financial stand point but also, PSVR is at the point where all the eyes are on it. To enjoy the PSVR experience you need PlayStation 4. And according to Sony, there are 40 Million PlayStation 4 owners.

Each one of those PlayStation 4 units is capable of VR, so Sony finds itself the smallest hill to climb in terms of getting VR in People’s living rooms. So How this PSVR stack up against all the competition. Today, in PlayStation VR Review we will discuss about the PSVR experiences, its build quality and how it can change your gaming life.

PlayStation VR Review:

Today, we will talk about what’s good and bad in PlayStation VR. So, first we’ll explain what’s good about the PlayStation VR;

PlayStation VR Review – Build Quality:

PlayStation VR is a pretty nice headset. It’s a good well build VR headset. It’s basically made out of plastic, it’s light and it is really comfortable. Personally, I think, this is the most comfortable of the VR headsets that are available in the market.

It goes on your head sort of like a stretchy head band and then the actual display part inches in and out almost likely that you are at the eye doctor. It feels like an eye testing exam. It’s light and balanced, there are sensors in the front and back so the tracking is pretty decent.

In terms of actual setup, general accessibility and ease of use, PlayStation VR does have a something good going on. Well technically, it does have as many cables and complications as the Vive and the Rift. The setup process and experience is really nice because you’re not fiddling with PC issues. You are just setting up your PlayStation 4 like normal. That is the first thing in many steps that isn’t gonna scare people away from VR. That is an accomplishment but it does other things very well too.

PlayStation VR Review – Display:

The actual display is pretty decent, well, there is a screen door effect slightly more noticeable, may be, than the Vive and Rift. And the actual field of view within the display is a noticeable amount of degrees shorter but it still works and effective experience.

You are not completely 100% immersed into the world, I’m not gonna lie to you, but it is effective. And honestly, that’s what I was hoping because I went into that PlayStation VR without any high expectations. I expected this to be just ok. But thankfully, it does the job when it comes to just raw straight up VR stuff.

I’ll get more onto the games in a little bit, I do want to talk about what I think probably the biggest drawbacks of the PlayStation VR. And that is some of the control aspects of the PSVR.

PlayStation VR Review – Controls:

You can use a dualshock 4 controller for many experiences and that’s all fine well and good. But for actual real VR experiences, the closest thing will come to actual hands in a virtual reality game. And for this you will use PlayStation move controller, which is a technology that is very old now. And I think that it’s pretty clear, that is the biggest drawback of PlayStation VR, because tracking on these things isn’t always great.

Of course, the amount distance between you and the PlayStation camera and the lighting in the room all varies but overall, I just could never get the hand tracking to be absolutely perfect. In the game in virtual reality a lot of times your hands are constantly shacking and jittering because  the tracking is not that accurate and that takes me out of it.

Sometimes, it works better than other but it’s just hit and miss. So, I have to acknowledge that and they have to correct PlayStation VR if they really want to make this product successful in the long run. And this just comes down to the fact that they used PS Move trackers and camera, which is a good technology but not suited specifically for VR.

PlayStation VR Review – PSVR Bundle:

I do know that PSVR has one leg up on one thing that you will really going to enjoy is general out of the box experience. If you get the actual PlayStation VR Bundle, you will get a VR Demo disc that comes with the VR experiences of almost all the launch games that PSVR has as well as VR Worlds which is a $40 game but it’s free in the bundle.

This bundle gives you different varied VR experiences such as London Heist which you’ve probably seen in E3. There is an underwater experience and you will also get another free download of The PlayRoom VR which is a mini game experiences using the camera.

You can actually interact with the people sitting with you and that’s a lot of fun. The whole social experience with this headset great because it automatically out puts the video to the screen with sound so that everyone else can watch what you are doing.

So just by you picking it up right form the box, there are surprising amount of things to play and introduce you to VR. Which is something I do think that an advantage of PSVR over Vive and Rift. But I did manage to get my hands on other games as well. And some of these games are pretty promising.

PlayStation VR Review – Games:

Batman Arkham VR:

Batman Arkham VR is an awesome virtual reality experience. It just $20 and pretty short but it gives you a lot of thing to pretend to be a Batman. Overall the visual fidelity and the graphical quality is damn good. I genuinely surprised  that this game has full production values. I’m completely biased because I’m die hard Batman fan, I do have to acknowledge that but it is really awesome experience.

Here They Lie:

Here They Lie is also an interesting horror/surrealistic experience that isn’t a tangible full video game that you can play through. And in the first few hours, there’s a lot of great visuals, graphics and good jump scares that actually really work.

RIGS Mechanized Combat League:

You will also experience RIGS, which is a mix between Rocket League and Titanfall. And this game is a lot of fun but it worth mentioning that this is the first VR game that I ever played that made me feel sick.

DriveClub VR:

DRIVECLUB VR, I think is a major let down, because it’s not just the DriveClub the game ported into the VR headset. They built the whole new little game that works for VR. And it feels like crap, it;s just feel like an old racing game and it is not good. I played better racing games in VR like Dirt Rally and DriveClub VR is unfortunately, does not stack up at all.

The launch experience and launch lineup is pretty good. There’re plenty of good games here that will keep you busy for awhile and you are going to have fun.

PlayStation VR Review – Will Sony Continue Supporting it?

But as the PSVR is in a better position, it still hits the same wall as the Vive and Rift hits. Is PlayStation VR going to last? Are developers going to keep making good games for this? Plus we have the added caveat with the Sony, are they going to continue supporting it because my Vita is sitting over there on the table eating dust.

PlayStation VR Review – Should You Buy?

PSVR is really an expensive experience because you buy PSVR, games and then you need PS4 and camera. And all this will add up. I will say that the PlayStation VR Bundle is a good value compared to the regular just buying the headset. There is a lot in that bundle and you will get the most for your value.

But at the end of the day, I still struggle recommending PSVR to anyone because is it really gonna last? Or is it gonna take off? And are you gonna like it? It is something that you have to try before buying. And most of you will probably going to say that VR sucks. But you never actually tried it and you think it is just an over hyped thing.

I understand all this, so know on thing that I tried the Vive and Rift. And I just can’t tell you guys to run out and buy it immediately. Because number one, you may not like it and it might not be for you and number two it is really expensive and the question is that is this thing just going to sit on your shelf after two months after you played all the launch games. Is anything comes after this that is truly worth experiencing?

 Even though at the end of the day, I do really love VR. I want VR to be great and I have ton of fun with it. I spent a lot of time with it but for somebody out there who really have to pick and choose what they really want to buy, there are a lot of questions out there with PSVR and VR in general.

Is PSVR ton of a fun? Yes! Do I really like it? Yes! Am i surprised that the PSVR is not a piece of crap and actually holds candle to Rift and Vive? Yes! But if you’re into this, think hard about it. I hope what I just said will help you make a firm decision.

So let me know in the comments, what you people think about the PSVR and VR in general.