cavalcade
I might not be alone here as a PSVR user who has been looking at Half-Life Alyx and thinking - I want to get me some of that.
My relationship with VR has been somewhat patchy. I like it, but as I've said a few times the sense of presence I had at the start with it seems to have diminished. It often feels offputtingly artificial. Twin that with the horror show that is the Move controllers and I can't say I've had a decent VR experience for quite a while.
But, I thought the concept of Occulus Quest seemed interesting. The standalone and link modes open up PC titles and a more pick up and play aspect. Plus, of course, it would let me play Alyx.
So I picked one up. And honestly, while I was expecting a nuanced set of feelings towards it I can't help but think it really does prove what a startlingly good platform PSVR is (considering the age and price).
Hardware-wise it's certainly a bit more pro-feeling than the PSVR. However, the straps are terrible and uncomfortable and the light bleed around the nose is pretty excessive. The sound is OK, but I've been getting a lot of random crackling from the built in speakers. The controllers, however, are MILES ahead of Moves - this makes a huge difference to more complex games. One issue I do have with the headset is the narrow FOV and it's undeniably a slower refresh than the PSVR (even if the general quality is improved). Indeed, on balance it's hard to give the visual crown to the Quest, which is pretty damning as the PSVR is so old now. One interesting thing is also the slider to adjust the eye spacing (something you have to do manually in PSVR). I remain unconvinced by this. Strong white backgrounds (like in Super Hot) seem to expose the lens positioning, regardless of the setting here. I've never had to "tweak" this in PSVR, but I've found myself fiddling with it in Occulus to try to find a sweet spot from game to game.
In terms of experience, the screen door effect is diminished, but still there. This I was perhaps most disappointed in. The gauzy haze on PSVR is probably the biggest impediment to immersion. It's possible to defocus past it, but I did think the Occulus would be significantly better. It is certainly better (due to the OLED screens and higher rez) and works a lot better on black screens, but it's not a generational leap or anything. Again, massive points to the PSVR for how well it does here.
The room scale inside out tracking works well - with no faffing with a fucking camera, and the ability to sketch a play area out is great. Indeed, this along with the controllers does see Occulus pull well ahead of the living fucking nightmare the PSVR sometimes is to get working correctly in games where you need to move about. Obviously Occulus also tracks the controllers whichever way you face, and it can be quite disconcerting. The safety gates were vital, as I completely lost track of the direction I was facing, something that's quite hard to do with the cables trailing down your back like Predator on the PSVR.
The Occulus software itself is passable. Playing native games on the device is good - the ability to pick it up and drop immediately into Beat Saber or Super Hot I can see pushing VR a little closer to a viable mass-market proposition (with better, less painful hardware).
But overall, do I think I'll keep it after Alyx? I really don't know. Do I think you should all buy one? I really don't know. Perhaps as a first headset, but if you have a PSVR and you're happy with it - know that the new hotness doesn't do a lot to dispel my thoughts that the PSVR is still probably the king on an experience/games/price basis (with obviously the Index being the choice if money is no object).
