I recently attended PlayStation’s Future of Play tour to try my hand at some more PSVR. It was to be my first experience of VR but due to fellow Tanked Up host Aadil purchasing a unit it became my second.
I took the morning off from Dad duties and sped down to Bristol city centre full of excitement. Even though it was my second experience in VR I was excited for the event itself and to see what Sony had in store.
When I arrived into Bristol I was confused. ‘Events’ are normally held at the confluence of ‘streets’ in Cabot Circus. This small plaza holds a lot of people and my first thought was it must be there. When I realised it wasn’t I must have spent a few minutes just stood not knowing what to do. ‘Look at the email’ I thought and boom there it was, directions. My slightly deflated spirit lifted. This soared when I found the shop the event was housed in.
On entering I was greeted, flashed the email code and was asked what I wanted to play. Fuck what did I want to play? I’d already tried the London Heist with Aadil so thought it should be something big. Resident Evil 7 popped into my mind and with the words forming on my lips I said Eve Valkyrie. OK my mind got scared and subconsciously I obviously didn’t want to play it. Essentially I fucked it. Ohh well Eve Valkyrie was a good shout. Either that or Driveclub were the other games I’d thought of playing.
So, game chosen, I was directed to wait for a station to become available. Whilst waiting I watched a few people getting assistance putting on the units, good time saving from the staff there, and said people playing the variety of games available. Battlezone and Rigs looked great but I definitely made the right choice with Eve.
Suddenly it was time to play. The very nice and polite ‘assistant’ chucked on the headset when I said I’d used one before and ran me swiftly through the controls. Once I was sorted she put some chunky headphones over my ears and I instantly became fully immersed.
I was one with the space ship. I fired on all enemies and killed without regret. Mechanically I think the demo version of the game is tight. The controls felt good. The movement of the ship and tracking just in front of enemies to fire on gave me a sense that this is what piloting a ship should be.
Suddenly it was all over. A big bad warped into view and either blew up or shot me. I don’t know which I was chasing the other enemies around. On my ship exploding and the cockpit around me cracking and breaking up those big headphones were pulled off me and I was asked ‘how was it?’. My instant response of amazing produced a smile on the assistant’s face and we proceeded to chat about a few of the other games available.
On her recommendation of enjoying Resi 7 I stormed toward the booking desk to try and get myself another slot. However even at midday most of the day was booked and I didn’t have the time to wait for a free space. I had Dad duties to return to.
So although Dad duties make it a little difficult to afford a PSVR at the moment I’m sold on it. My short time in Eve Valkyrie and the London Heist are something I haven’t ever experienced but create a feeling of immersion I am starting to crave.
Perhaps, at the age of 4 months, E would like a PSVR for Christmas. It’ll be a nice surprise for her and mum.
