A solid foundation with a questionable future: NPR

On Friday afternoon, I decided to climb a mountain. Despite having no training and a questionable fitness level, I felt my chances were good. Searching for handholds, I hoist myself up the rocky cliff face, taking moments to appreciate the beautiful forested valley below me.

Finally, I pulled myself into a large clearing of dirt. It was so quiet that there was no sign of life.

Suddenly, a metallic roar broke the silence.

Lifting my head in its direction, I saw a 30-foot-tall robotic T-Rex stomp forward, huge hydraulic-powered legs twirling and hissing as it stared at me and sized me up. .

On instinct, I reached behind me to grab my compound bow and explosive-tipped arrows, raising them over my head in a practiced arc…

And I hit my fist on my TV.

Welcome to the promises and pitfalls of virtual reality.

Latest technology

Horizon Call of the Mountain is PlayStation’s flagship VR title, which launched on Wednesday alongside a new VR headset, the PS VR2. While players can easily spend hours harvesting engine parts throughout the open worlds horizoncore games, Call of the Mountain is an indoor, almost on-rails experience of maybe 6-7 hours meant to show off the new headset.

Purely from a resolution perspective, Call of the Mountain sets a new standard in PS VR2. With my eyes positioned just centimeters from the new OLED VR screens, I can see individual strands of moss between my virtual fingers as I climb the mountain. When fighting a Thunderjaw (the T-Rex robot), every part of the glittering armor, laser cannons and radar array is realized in sharp detail. The dark caves cast inky black shadows while the forest blooms in punchy greens, reds and yellows. These are the best screens I have ever seen in a VR headset.

The PS VR2 also features a number of tricks to make its VR experience even better. The internal IR camera tracks the user’s eyes, thus navigating Call of the MountainThe menus are as easy to see from one icon to the next. That eye tracking also means that the headset saves graphic power, which renders the screen area perfectly when viewed. Haptics are built into not only the two controllers but the headset itself, so when a Stormbird flies overhead, your face will vibrate.

Gameplay, Sameplay

Call of the MountainThe gameplay is not very attractive. While satisfying tactically, the climbing that makes up most of the game lacks the challenge of other simulators like Crytek’s The Ascent 2. Firing your bow feels great and the levels are filled with targets, but the combat is draining horizonof deep mechanics of:

• shoot an arrow, then strafe
• fire another arrow or two, then strafe

Marking may be unfair Call of the Mountain a “tech demo,” but I liken it to an amusement park attraction that I’m glad I only got to ride once.

A tethered ride

Like Sony’s first VR headset that debuted in 2016, the PS VR2 is a tethered experience, requiring a PlayStation 5 to use it. This is one of his greatest strengths and weaknesses.

There is no such thing as a game Call of the Mountain can run on Quest 2, Meta’s successful portable VR platform. With the power of the PS5, the PS VR2 can run games that were previously only available on more expensive PC-based setups.

On the other hand, the binding is not good.

I hit my TV at least three times while playing Call of the Mountain and I’m surprised it still works. I found myself constantly having to pause the game to pull the cable from my feet, worried that I would pull the PS5 out of the media center. And of course, my wife can’t use the TV or even really relax in a room because she might get sideswiped while I fight the dinobots.

High-tech is not enough

Here’s the thing: I love PS VR2. It’s a breeze to set up and is comfortable even after hours of gaming. Unlike PC VR, the games I can use just working – no tinkering or troubleshooting required. The headset delivers great images and best of all, it can easily accommodate people with eyesight like mine.

But none of that guarantees early adoption if there’s no guarantee that Sony can bring the games. On launch titles announced, only Horizon Call of the Mountain is a truly new, made-for-PS VR2 experience. PS5 titles Resident Evil Village and Grand Turismo 7 got VR updates, but every other game was ported from older platforms. While Sony says there are 100+ games in the works for the PS VR2, it’s safe to assume that most of those will be ports, too.

If you’re new to VR, your money might be better spent on a Meta Quest 2 or a Quest 3 due later this year. Not only is it less expensive and offers more games, the flexibility of wireless VR cannot be underestimated.

If you’re a VR veteran, you’ve probably played many of its launch titles (Beat Saber, Moss 1 & 2, Star Wars Tales from Galaxy’s Edge), and while very beautiful, Horizon Call of the Mountain does not differentiate itself from the games that inspired it.

Hopefully, the PS5’s more powerful hardware will entice developers to bring their PC-only titles to the PS VR2 (easy on Valve, release Half Life: Alex), but it’s hard to imagine the PS VR2 selling well enough to encourage third-party publishers to fund new, immersive VR games that cost tens of millions of dollars to make.

Unless Sony plans to throw a lot of money into VR in the coming years, I worry that their “Next Generation of Virtual Reality Gaming” might look like the one we’re stuck with right now. That is, a niche corner of the game that is mostly populated by amusement park-like experiences that don’t leave a lasting impression.

James Perkins Mastromarino contributed to this review.