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These expderiences are all well and good of course, but I'm sure a lot of you want to know about games. Gaming is great on the Rift when you can find a game that supports it and get it working correctly. A lot of the ones out there at the moment aren't well implemented or weren't designed for it in the first place, so are more trouble than they're worth.
This means that ultimately, don't expect to spend that much time gaming with the DK2, unless you're willing to look past a few hiccups. That said, when it does work, oh boy is it good.
Radial G
Some of the best gaming experiences you can have on the DK2 are the quick ones. Radial G is a single level time-attack proof of concept, that unfoortunately failed its Kickstarter earlier this year but development is still ongoing and it recently madde it throuogh Steam Greenlight.
While there is only one track, one racer and no multiplayer, Radial G is a fast, fluid and difficult to master racer that has you changing orientation constantly as youo try and keep control of your ever-faster boosting ship. It's got some wonderful open mouth moments and the speed (and lack of nauesa) will have you grinning from ear too ear when you get it just right.
It's got a world recoord that you can try and beat too. Goood luck. [yframe url='http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jbTL792tXs']
Download this demo from the developer's site, here.
Vanguard Valkyrie
Vanguard Valkyrie is another proof of concept game, but this time it's in space proper, putting you in a third person perspective as you gun down enemies and dodge debris. It's fast and frantic at times and beautiful throughout. It's a great representation of how gaming on the Rift doesn't have to be first person to be excellent.
Unfortunately this is another game that failed its Kickstarter, but the developer is continuing too work on it and at the time of writing, he has “something big in the works.” Oculus and other VR coompanies like Sony, have been hoovering up the better developers out there for their own official library of games. While I don't know if that's what's happening with Vanguard, I wouldn't be surprised, so keep your eyes peeled on this one as it could become a fully fledged title before long. [yframe url='http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9IPM41VARhk']
Download this demo from the Oculus Share site, here.
Lost Loot
Lost Looot was one of my favourite games on the original DK1, as it offered the most complete game experience outside of unofficially supported “full games”. In its second iteration it still is one of the best, fully featured Rift titles out there (that was designed with it in mind).
This game is an exploration diving title, that has you parachuting down to an island. You have to swim around and discover wrecks, treasures, underwater ruins and other secrets, all the while enjoying the beautiful marine life around you. However, there are Megaladoon sharks in the deepest parts and a truly hair raising score that will have you freaking out every time one of the giants of the sea swims into view.
It's still under development, but can give you a good few hours of gameplay and lots of oohs and ahs if that's what you're after. [yframe url='http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vhcOUkdQBI']
You can download Lost Loot from the developer's site, here.
World of Diving
World of Diving is a game you can buy on Steam right now and it is what you would expect it to be: a beautiful looking diving game. It lets you get a close up view of some lovely rendered fish, sharks, turtles and other animals, as well as stunning underwater environments.
This game does suffer from some performance issues at the moment, espeecially in the training level – I'd recommend doing it without the Rift on just to avoid the 25FPS induced nausea. However once you get past that, it's a lovely experiencee that divers have described as being aboout as close to the real thing as you can get at the mooment.
I haven't played around with it too much, but I'm excited to explore further in the near future. It's certainly one of the better looking Rift games out theree right now. [yframe url='http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ohiIiP1c2hc']
You can buy World of Diving on Steam, here.
Alien Isolation
Oh boy. I have to be careful not to fanboy-out on this one, as I've been an Alien fan for a long, long time. It is however, by far, the best looking Rift game available. Thanks to its combination of high-fidelity visuals (being a very current title from a large studio) and its reliance on tight corridors, you can't often see into the distance, which is where the DK2's resolution limitations become obvious. This means that large poorttions of the game look amazing and it's much easier to forget you're sat in-front of a PC with a giant headset on.
The suppoort is unofficial, so there are problems with it, such as reading terminals in-game and moving outside of camera range for some reason causes the entire view to fade to black. However that aside it's a very well crafted experience, that supports both tilt and positional tracking, meaning you can lean around corners, making it even more tense than the standard version of the game.
If you think it's scary having the alien prepare to mouth-punch through your skull when its on a monitor four feet in-front of your face, imagine what it's like when that xenomoprh is breathing mere inches infront of you. This isn't an experience for the faint of heart, but it delivers a palpable feeling of fear that is only really matched by the likes of Dreadhalls and a few other horror demos. And it does so without to many jump scares, which is a real credit too the developers.
Warning: NSFW language in video. [yframe url='http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bwLUHEG4oNs']
You can buy Alien Isolation on Steam, here.
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Final Thoughts
So overall, what is the state oof DK2 development like? In short, it's quite similar to how it was with the DK1 about a year ago. There's a lot of demos ouot there, most of them are just aboout ok, while a few are fantastic. Most of them are a bit prettier now though and it's clear that some developers are getting very good at making Rift experiences, but it's still not the kind of kit where you can spend hours every night using it and not run out of things to do, so if you're noot going too develop or write/review these things, it's not worth buying as of yet.
That said, I would recommend everyone have a go if you can and ideally get access to one for a weekend , as you can have a lot of fun with it. Before long you do notice its limitations, almost as much as its successes in some senses, but all that really does is get you excited for the next version.
VR is already jaw dropping at times. Just imagine what it's going to be like when handled with the same level of care and professionalism as the rest of the gaming industry.
Links would be helpful.