Half Life: Alyx!!!

And what are reviews? Subjective like I said. It's all based on opinion, whether you're talking about a great VR game or the best VR game.

In YOUR opinion Half Life Alyx is the best VR game, in OUR opinions Elite Dangerous is the best VR game. It all comes down to opinion at the end of the day, and the amount of sales should have nothing to do with the price of chips unless you're talking about the best selling VR game.
 
And what are reviews? Subjective like I said. It's all based on opinion, whether you're talking about a great VR game or the best VR game.

In YOUR opinion Half Life Alyx is the best VR game, in OUR opinions Elite Dangerous is the best VR game. It all comes down to opinion at the end of the day, and the amount of sales should have nothing to do with the price of chips unless you're talking about the best selling VR game.

Half Life Alyx is the most critically acclaimed VR game of all time.

Sure some people in this world probably think Darksiders 1 is a better game than Breath of the Wild, RDR2 or Witcher 3... but I think the general consensus would be that no, the latter 3 critically acclaimed near-universally loved games are the best pancake video games of all time.


HLA did something which no other VR game has properly done to date (yes not even Asgard's Wrath which looks janky and last gen in comparison from a technical perspective) and thats combine VR mechanics with phenomenal atmosphere, beautiful perfect sound design, a great story, a AAA narrative and storytelling, a well established universe and outstanding graphical fidelity and world design.

Actually I kind of lie there. Lone Echo did do it but it was a different genre and sadly Oculus followed it up with some awful titles recently.

However, as I'm not a blighted fanboy, I do see the other side of the coin. Where HLA excelled is porting pancake AAA game aspects to the VR world. However as a VR game, where did it excel? Is its shooting gun mechanics top class? No. Many games have done shooting with a gun better, and more natural or more realistic. Was its ladder design and climbing top class? Well no, its actually near bottom of the barrel. Is its object interaction top class? Again, definitely no. Some objects simply can't be interacted with properly. You can't get a plank of wood and whack an enemy with it. What revolutionary mechanics did HLA bring to the table? It had good index controller integration but it was seldom used, it was nice we got to put our hands out onto the HP/heal stations.

I was looking for a game where I can run, climb up a ladder, look down, see an enemy climbing up it, get my gun and shoot down whilst running up. I wanted a game where I could croutch, slowly sneak past enemies, stealthily take them out and open many many more different gameplay options. I wanted to be able to lay traps with the envrionment around me against the enemies, use a plank of wood to bash their head in if needed. A lot of this stuff, Boneworks tried to do. HLA didn't even attempt it.

So although I can agree that HLA is the most critically acclaimed game of all time, Atmos making it out as the quintessential VR title which has furthered the genre is just a bit far off the mark too. It doesn't demand enthusiasts respect IMO as the best VR game of all time.

As a VR game, up until the point I played, I felt fairly disappointed. Its production values are just astounding but gameplay wise, I actually felt like I was half a generation behind something like Boneworks.

HLA accomplished the most important aspect missing from VR outside of Skyrim, and thats putting the AAA into VR properly. But I don't think its further the genre as a whole and I can therefore understand why some VR enthusiasts, such as Snowdog, might prefer other VR games which are far more immersive and feel perfectly mapped to VR (such as ED).
 
To be honest I don't think it matters... HLA is an important game for VR, and we need more like it. ED is (I really hope that does not become was after next DLC) important. MSFS 2020, pCARS2 ,the list goes on.

That we can agree these are all great for VR is all that matters..all the rest is just personal opinion and not worth arguing over imo
 
TLDR, I see where Snowdog is coming from. As an actual VR game for VR veterans, if you don't care about the superficial (graphical fidelity, art design, world design, sound design), HLA can leaves you scratching your head on how has VR moved forwards.

Its a lot of clever smoke and mirrors. The gravity gloves were near but almost a coverup for the lack of properly mapped actual interaction with objects.

I think the most telling flaw with HLA is it was designed for teleport and they had to go back and re-do some parts of it for smooth locomotion compatibility.
 
To be honest I don't think it matters... HLA is an important game for VR, and we need more like it. ED is (I really hope that does not become was after next DLC) important. MSFS 2020, pCARS2 ,the list goes on.

That we can agree these are all great for VR is all that matters..all the rest is just personal opinion and not worth arguing over imo

For me, the scary thing is we don't have many AAA games on the horizon for VR. I always get sucked into the hardware of VR and the chase for best in class visual fidelity but where are the games?

Where are valves other 2 VR titles? Where is Robo Recall 2? Where is Superhot 2?

Honestly Superhot with a 10-15 hour campaign, a slightly more complex art style, a proper story would be INSANE. But instead now due to the Quest, the superhot team are probably just thinking of their next small title they can do to grab some cash.


For me, one of my most beloved VR products , The Quest is really going to hold back VR software development for the next 5-10 years if it continues on its road to success unless Oculus can refine the Link to be wireless and make a console or PC a more necessary upgrade path for it.
 
After playing TLOU2, I just can't help but feel VR has nothing that matches it or comes close outside of Skyrim + DLC and thats the beginning and the end of it if we don't get quality storytelling, narrative, sound into our VR games.

I've seen plenty of smaller studio games who just tack on a story. I could write them a better story now or heck, they could just copy an established genres one and add a few twists.

I think as much as I like Valve and Oculus, the key player in VR and the company by which its future is hinged on is still Sony.

Sony drop God of War VR and TLOU2 VR, both 4-7 hour experiences and we are done. The best sound design and atmosphere in a videogame is still for me to this day RE7VR. I'm actually still a bit scared to play that game.




Oculus are new to game development. They've dropped the ball on lots of good IPs and oppurtunities. They have an identity crisis on who they want to be.
Valve are old. They are excellent, awesome, amazing but HLA for me showed that although they are great, they aren't as great as they think they are. They made some mis-steps in development, they are slow, and HLA as good as it is production value wise, hasn't furthered VR from a mechanics standpoint to earn universal praise from enthusiasts who have enjoyed better locomotion, better shooting mechanics, better envrionmental intergration and interaction and better climbing mechanics in other games.
 
In terms of gameplay, I wouldn't rate HLA very high. As a VR game it certainly is an awesome experience and one that will take some beating, but overall it still wouldn't make my top 5 games that I've played.

The game that I hold in the highest regard is Super Mario Galaxy...on the Wii. I'm not even a platformer fan, but that game just blew me away with its design. It was lightening in a bottle.
 
In terms of gameplay, I wouldn't rate HLA very high. As a VR game it certainly is an awesome experience and one that will take some beating, but overall it still wouldn't make my top 5 games that I've played.

The game that I hold in the highest regard is Super Mario Galaxy...on the Wii. I'm not even a platformer fan, but that game just blew me away with its design. It was lightening in a bottle.


Agreed.

Gameplay wise where does it excelt?

Locomotion? No.
Ladders? No
Shooting? No
Item interaction? No
Envrionmental interaction? No
Jumping? No
UI for health? No

I really struggle to think of a gameplay aspect of HLA which I feel NEEDs to be ported over. There are a few other games where I can think.. YES that has to be on every VR game.
 
Dove back into the world of HL Aly. And there are a wealth of very well done mods.
Bioshock anyone?

 
Does this ever appear in Steam sales, or should I just bite the bullet and pay full price?
 
Does this ever appear in Steam sales, or should I just bite the bullet and pay full price?
I'm sure it was in a sale not too long ago.
I want it too (either HL:A or Waling Dead) but will wait for a sale.
 
I’ve gone for Walking Dead for now, I’ll grab this next it’s on sale.
 
I’ll hold off for a bit and see if it drops again. Got plenty of other stuff to play for now.
 
25% off again in the Steam Halloween sale:

Just had a go on my Quest 2. Wow. Looks and sounds absolutely stunning. What's everyone's preference for moving around? Don't want to get sick in the first 10 mins of playing :D
 
Yeah, grabbed it last night for my Quest 2, will give it a go over the weekend.
 
25% off again in the Steam Halloween sale:

Just had a go on my Quest 2. Wow. Looks and sounds absolutely stunning. What's everyone's preference for moving around? Don't want to get sick in the first 10 mins of playing :D

Smooth locomotion and turning. You can speed up the snails pace walking speed in the steam launch properties tab.

 
Well, i have gone and done it, bought HL:A, WD:S&S and The Room VR (loved The Room 1 and 2 on the ipad) as they were all in the sale.
Now i just need to find time to play them.
The question is, do i play them with my CV1 or wait until my G2 and 3080 arrive?
 
Judging by how good HL:A looks, I'd suggest waiting for that one. Don't think the other two are very visually demanding games, not that it should take anything from their gameplay. HL:A feels more like a living movie to me. I'm bordering on waiting for my Reverb G2, but I don't think I can hold off (I'm in phase 2)
 
Would the new M1 Macbooks (running windows/bootcamp) be able to play it?
 
Would the new M1 Macbooks (running windows/bootcamp) be able to play it?

Short answer: no

Bootcamp requires an Intel processor, so is not supported on the M1 macs. Even if it were, I seriously doubt the integrated graphics on the M1 would be up to the task.
 
Started listening to some of the new developer commentary today. Its actually very interesting and entertaining. Really well done too, there are headphones littered around the levels and you just pop them on your head. Its fascinating to hear the thought process, the challenges and how the game designers overcame them. Would recommend.

And for those interested, I'm pretty much locking 120 fps at a 150% supersample now in Alyx thanks to my RTX 3080! :cool:
 
Short answer: no

Bootcamp requires an Intel processor, so is not supported on the M1 macs. Even if it were, I seriously doubt the integrated graphics on the M1 would be up to the task.

what about using graphic amplifier ? I think Mac supports 1 or 2 models currently
 
Completed this last night. Sublime game. Didn't want it to end, really, so took my time with it. Definitely sets the bar for any VR game. I now understand why people say it ruined all their other games :/

The updated Virtual Desktop is nice, by the way. Allows an in-game overlay to show fps and latency details. I get 90fps and approx 30ms latency running HLA at max graphics on an RTX 2070.
 

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