HTC Vive VR Review
A month ago I tried the Vive, a developer version of HTC involves virtual reality headset. I called it unfinished and incredibly fun and I’ve been looking forward to the consumer version ever since. Now I finally got it in my hands and it’s just as much fun but it still doesn’t feel diminished.
The HTC Vive is gotten more polished since it was first announced last year but it’s not a pretty piece of hardware the finished headsets almost identical to the Vive which is to say it’s big front heavy and sort of industrial looking pretty had a couple of issues that seem totally fixable like the fact that it’s Phone facemasks so it sucks but like a sponge. But don’t expect it to change on the Vive. Of course, all the good things about the player here to the Vive blocks out most light unless you’re looking straight down your nose and it’s not too uncomfortable once you get used to a size although it’s notably less comfortable than the Oculus Rift.
Unlike the rest, the vibe doesn’t come with built-in earphones doesn’t the clue and a pair of your body you can plug in. But you’ll probably want to use your own setting up the vive involves a lot more than just plugging it in the five uses your computer’s HDMI and USB ports. Just like the Oculus Rift. But in between your PC and your headset, there’s a link box that needs to be plugged into a power outlet and then there are the lighthouses two laser towers the vive uses to detect its position through in the hope this doesn’t overbalance.
I don’t know as a fig leaf of protection the lighthouses are set up diagonally across the space you want to use. Anywhere from a box that’s just big enough to stand up into a 15/15 foot room. They don’t need to be connected to your computer but they do need their own power supply. So hopefully you’ve either got lots of outlets or lots of extension cords.
Once you’ve got all this done. You’re ready to set up steam VR a tool and Vive STEAM gaming platform. Given how complicated the Vive’s steam VR is good at giving you feedback about what’s working. You can always see one. Connected right on the dashboard and there’s a simple calibration process that’s even sort of fun.
Actually, wait I forgot to set up for experiences you trace around the entire play space with a motion controller and Stevie are sets up chaperone lines to match it that went pretty smoothly.
It was very smooth for the Vive. This will take some time but it’s worth it. As long as you’re also fine paying Eight Hundred dollars plus the cost of a gaming PC when everything works the vive is the best experience you can have in view or right this minute the screen is a little grainy but that’s true of every headset the field of view feel shaped a little different from Oculus as the different doesn’t mean worse here. Laser towers are incredibly forgiving as long as they are above you and pointed towards you. The track almost perfectly a front facing camera can show you a rough outline of the outside world at the press of a button or whenever you move outside the Vive boundaries.
That’s all great but there’s one thing that really sets the HTC Vive apart right now it’s just about the only headset that lets you move around in VR. You can use normal gamepads or a mouse and keyboard with the Vive but most experiences are based around a pair of motion controllers that fit in your hands like remote controls. I’ve got a few issues with them like the fact that it’s way too easy to hit the home button under the trackpad. But these fade away after you’ve used the controllers for a while also incredibly solid which is good because even if you never accidentally throw them across the room in a game of tennis probably whack the wall or some furniture at least a couple of times inside the set up a lot of features. You’ve got a full version of steam. Also, able to see your computer desktop and set a custom environment all around you. The fact that I’ve already had a ready-made platform is a huge benefit here.
There are already tons of people modding, selling and playing a wide variety of games on Steam. The downside is that this can make everything sort of complicated your settings are spread out over lots of different menus and Stevie are itself still has plenty of problems. If you’re already used it before it’s not too hard to figure things out but it’s not a friendly system for newcomers which is too bad. Of all the usual stereotypes about PC gaming. If you just created non-gaming tools like Tilt brush and virtual desktop those nontraditional games like audio Shield where you defend yourself against the notes of your favourite songs motion controls can feel incredibly fresh and intuitive and they support a huge number of different experiences. You can shoot guns that zombies or you can solve plumbing puzzles to make tiny alien bearers happy. There’s something for almost everyone it can just be hard to find it can also be hard to find games and tools that are rough experimental or very short. This is OK at first especially because you’ll probably want to take breaks every hour or so standing up and walking around is more tiring than sitting in a chair. But after a while I wanted something more substantial and my favourite experiences were clearly unfinished ones the five is where you go for cutting edge virtual reality at least for the next few months but that also means that nobody has figured out exactly what to do with it whether you’re talking about specific games and apps or its whole user experience by the time it’s polished the five is going to be competing with Oculus which will support a lot of the same titles later this year. But for an early adopters headset the device does everything, it ought to its flexible functional available. Often incredible.
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