The Lab (2016)

This is a fun little demo to introduce people to VR. It's well done and entertaining. Interacting with all the little elements is fun and I spent an hour or so playing around. It shows what VR can be when it's done well, I think. No nausea and lots of player reactivity. The shoot 'em up was pretty neat, in particular.

It also serves a demonstration of why at the end of the day VR will probably not be a big revolution in gaming. All minigames are basically stationary and take place in small spaces and at the end of the day there's nothing new in them. Like the one you shoot arrows at the invading forces. Take away the gimmick of the motion controls and is the most boring game imaginable.

It's settled! I've got myself my first VR headset to move onto the next level of gaming. What product to try out from SteamVR if not Valve's own freebie that was designed to demonstrate its own technological investment? The fun thing with The Lab is that it has a variety of modes to choose from. My favorites are both calibration slingshot and longbow defense games keeping me engaged; even the robot repair lets you revisit the good old Aperture Science facility in VR approach.

While most others may be more for visual demonstrations, my only beef is that the controls in the Secret Shop is not correctly functional on my Oculus Quest - which limits my movement around. All in all, if there is product that helps make an introduction to VR functions, The Lab does it strongly and for free! You get to play fetch with the robot dog, among other things!

I was able to try out VR for the first time at a college visit today (the college I was at had a VR room). It was pretty cool. No headaches, no motion sickness, just fun. I really liked how the models looked more like papercrafts than completely virtual.

As for the gameplay itself, it honestly feels like 360 degree Wii. As soon as I started playing I was reminded of the Wii's motion controls.

I honestly can't see VR being used for hardcore, singleplayer gaming. It feels like it has the same appeal that the Wii had: casual gaming with friends.