I have had my PSVR for a couple of weeks now and have come to grips with the most of it. Here are my thoughts on Sony’s entrance into the virtual reality market!
Prior to this, I had an Oculus Rift DK 2 and was long overdue to upgrade to a newer headset. After weighing my options, I decided on Sony’s PSVR over the Vive and Oculus as it was the best choice for me and fitted in with what I wanted, not to mention it is half the price of the other headsets. I will be streaming reviews of all of my PSVR games every Sunday HERE, so feel free to stop by and see what next weeks review will be.
Set up
I found the set up very straight forward and hassle free, I ran into no problems with it. It is as simple as plug lead 1 into slot 1 and so forth, then you just power it up and it runs the configuration for you. I have found you do need quite a large space around you to fully utilize the PSVR although you can still make use of it with a smaller space just not to its full potential.
Using The Device
Using it is extremely straight forward, just plug it in, turn it on, and go, It does everything for you, the head tracking is very responsive. When wearing it, everything else is completely blocked out completely immersing you in what ever world you are in at the time. Combined with headphones, it’s as if nothing else even exists.
Wearing the device is as simple as pressing a couple of buttons and adjusting the tightness with a twist of a dial. The device works fine if you wear glasses, although I have found the experience to be slightly better if I have my contact lenses in. Depending on what you are using the device for, you will notice the limitations of the PlayStation with the sacrifices that have been made graphically to support the PSVR and this doesn’t often detract from the overall experience.
Peripherals
Considering I am mainly an Xbox gamer, I have had no issues with being unable to see the controller whilst in-game for button prompts. Although, I will say be careful putting the controller down, as it can be hard to find again without removing the headset. Twin PlayStation move controllers however are where the PSVR shines as it can track hand movements very well providing the camera is set up optimally.
Games
PSVR has an every growing library of games made specifically for it and a few titles that support its use. Most games you find will be indie titles with only a few triple A titles joining the PSVR at this early stage. This is actually a blessing in disguise, as you will find a lot more experimental games that way exploring what PSVR is capable of. A few games I have found to be amazing so far with PSVR are: Resident Evil 7, Lethal VR, Surgeon Simulator and EVE Valkyrie. Reviews of which and many more will be upcoming. Non PSVR games are still playable with the headset, in those cases the PSVR will show a virtual screen that you will be playing the game on.
Multimedia
PSVR also supports 360 degree videos on Youtube, or media you have saved your self onto a memory device. You can also use it without PSVR mode, projecting any videos you watch onto a virtual screen. Depending on the size of screen you have chosen from the settings, it could appear as large as a cinema screen.
