Virtual Reality: Nope, I’m Still Not Jaded

Posted by Rampant Coyote on June 9, 2017

I’ve picked up a few VR games via bundles lately, which means that now half the games in my VR library I haven’t played yet.  If it’s anything like the rest of my Steam library, I expect that trend to continue. That means there’s always something new for me to play. It might not be something GOOD, but at least it’s new, right? I may not have time for a full-on Star Trek: Bridge Crew mission or an in-depth adventure game in virtual reality, or a cargo run in Elite: Dangerous, but I can hop into a quick little action game.

And so I played a new game (Cargo Cult: Shoot ‘n Loot VR), and really… it’s about the equivalent of a mobile game. It’s spectacular only by the gaming standards of the previous century. But it’s in VR. And apparently, I am not yet jaded, because I still had lots of fun and went “woah!” a couple of times, all Neo-like.

As a non-VR game, it would be pretty pedestrian. And… yeah, to some degree, these mechanics are about like the Space Invaders / Galaxian games of the early 1980s. Different theme, different mechanics, a different “secret sauce,” but there are many games doing something similar… some better, some worse. But I still say “woah!” because I’m that kid in the arcade again encountering a new machine full of promises of a cool new experience.

And that’s why I think VR is a game-changer (oh, man, I feel slimy using that term). There have been several of those… the rise of internet gaming, mobile gaming, digital distribution becoming mainstream, etc. They don’t typically replace what’s come before, though. They may compete with what came before, but rarely replace it.

With VR–at least for me–everything old is new again, and it’s pretty dang cool. It can and will compete for the same gaming dollar. But the VR experience is far more fundamentally different from that of other games. Even playing the same game with VR enabled or disabled is a night-and-day difference. I don’t really see it replacing other game types.

But I’m digging the difference.

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