I've never been a fan of virtual reality, and still, I am pretty skeptical about its possibility of success in the mid-long term. However, PlayStation VR is a great and relatively accessible product that allows you to get the core of the virtual reality experience without wasting thousands of dollars in high-end computers and higher-res headsets. What surprises you most with the PlayStation VR headset is, first of all how quick you're ready to start playing the virtual reality games you're being offered at launch, and how simple its configuration is. Once you have understood, thanks to the lengthy user manuals in the package, how you have to set it up, you won't need anything else. Just turn on your PS4 and you're ready to go.
As I saw PSVR would need a PlayStation Camera, coming from bad experiences with EyeToys and Xbox Live Cameras and Kinects, I instantly thought calibration would be a disaster. It's, instead, quick and not at all painful, and each movement is read very precisely throughout the games (Until Dawn: Rush of Blood is one of the most impressive, from this point of view, in the initial lineup).
The headset itself is pretty comfortable. It has a button on its back that allows you to put your head in the way you prefer (maybe you'll want it to be tighter) and another one adjusts how close the lenses need to be to your eyes. This is very important in particular if you wear glasses: I do and I've often been asked whether people with glasses would have issues with PlayStation VR – not at all.
It's also pretty cool in terms of design. It's basically plastic but its white and the way it is offered, with this futuristic fashion coming out from its lines… well, it looks very coherent with PlayStation 4 style, and it weighs less than you would initially think when you look at it.
One of the issues it has now are, the headset has too many wires to be connected to your monitor, to your PlayStation 4 and to the external power unit, so you might be willing to have it far away from your living room if you're the kind of gamer who's keen to such details.
The biggest issue though is, low resolution, as it has an impact on many of the launch titles. PlayStation VR comes with a sub-full HD resolution, and this is something pretty noticeable especially if you consider that it comes together with technical sacrifices due to, have the games running at solid and higher frame rates in comparison with standard ones.
Titles like DriveClub VR, although offering a good insight of what virtual reality should be all about, have a PS2 look which was hard to digest in 2016. Moreover, higher frame rates don't necessarily mean motion sickness is not a problem anymore. It's a problem rapidly changing in intensity from gamer to gamer, also due to people's experience with VR, but I would make a disservice by not clearly saying that it's still here and improvements need to be made quickly on future virtual reality production.
Interestingly, what I thought could be an issue, is a good selling point for PlayStation VR – games are short experiences rather than full AAA titles you could play on regular PS4. My sessions have never been longer than two hours because the experience of playing PS VR is pretty intense and often mined by motion sickness, but it felt ok. You never want to play more than you actually do, although, after few hours, you feel the need to come back.
The coolest thing is that virtual reality adds a totally new dimension to your game. For example, it makes rail shooters meaningful again, or gives more deepness to static and older racing games, by using a few tricks. In Until Dawn: Rush of Blood, for example, when you are on the roller coaster you feel like you have your head pushed back.
In DriveClub VR, you have your fully explorable cockpit and you can look at the track in real time as it opens up in front of you and behind you – no need to push buttons or whatever, it's all about what you see and how quick yocau do it. And all the games offered so far have something similar, that normal games couldn't get in right now and kind of tricks your mind into making you believe you're someone else/somewhere else, and something that ultimately makes PlayStation VR feels new. Like a new generation of gaming hardware.
Definitely, if you felt and still feel like PS4 and Xbox One haven't introduced any elements of novelty in your gaming, you should try PlayStation VR. Once you accept the compromises devs had to make in order to make the platform accessible and console user-friendly, you'll have some of the best moments as a gamer had in the last twenty years.
Rating: 8.5/10
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