Category Archives: VR - Page 6

Herobound: First steps for Gear VR

Herobound: First steps by Gunfire Games is a free game for the Gear VR. This is an introductory adventure to the bigger Herobound games (at least one of which is also on the Oculus Rift).

If you like Link games and are looking for something similar in VR, Herobound is probably your best choice. I’ve only played The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess on the Wii so I’m not the biggest expert on the subject, but this is certainly a fun adventure and it won’t scare the kids, either!

Best played with a Bluetooth controller, you start off in your little hut and head out into the big world.  Soon you’ll find yourself fighting off zombies and skeletons, goblins and the like. You get a great selection of weapons. Starting with a sword, you soon end up with a bow to shoot enemies far away.

It’s not too hard to play. You soon acclimatize to the controls and are fighting your way through the dungeons.

You’ve got nothing to lose, so why not give it a go? 🙂

Blaze Rush for Gear VR and Oculus Rift

If you like racing micro-machines around tracks at blazingly-fast speeds, try out Blaze Rush for Gear VR and Oculus Rift!

You will definitely want to use a Bluetooth controller with this. I tried with the Gear VR controller and it wasn’t fun, but with a BT controller, there’s TONS of fun to be had!

Pick your car and race around tracks. It’s on Windows and Mac OS as well on Steam, but to get the best experience out of it you’ll want to try in VR!

Once you’ve played a couple of tracks, you get upgrades for your vehicle. Randomly, turbo boost packs will drop onto the track. Pick one up and hit the BOOOOOST to zoom ahead.. just watch those sharp corners! There’s also rail-guns which drop from the sky. Pick one up and blast the leader off the track and take his place!

It has multiplayer so you can play with up to 8 opponents on the internet or play on your LAN. Get awarded medals for tricks and antics. Get the highest score, but still come last to gain one medal. Take out the leader and have the most points when you cross the line first for another medal. It sure is fast-paced heart-racing fun!

Land’s End for Gear VR

Have you ever played the PC game MYST and are dying for something like this for your Gear VR? Well, try out Land’s End! It’s made by the same crew who made Monument Valley.

In this experience, you move around a strange land, solving puzzles and working out how to awaken a lost civilization. There’s no enemies. It’s all about using your noggin to figure out what the game needs.

I wouldn’t say it’s a complicated game, but it sure is a fun experience you need to try out for yourself.

Oculus Rift tip

I tried playing Vendetta Online with my Oculus Rift but when it launched I only got the error “Failed to create eye texture”.

I also tried playing A Township Tale and all I saw was a box with the game’s Title screen and “Loading…”.

I popped into the Township Discord channel and chatted to a couple guys there. They didn’t know what was up but suggested unplugging and replugging the Rift. That didn’t work, but it gave me an idea which DID.

My setup was as follows:

Oculus Rift –plugged into–> nVidia 1070ti card. Windows desktop LCD monitors –plugged into–> Builtin Intel graphics card.

I changed it to:

Oculus Rift AND Windows Monitor #1 –plugged into–> nVidia card. Other LCD monitor –plugged into–> Builtin Intel graphics card.

Now when I launch these games, they successfully launch in the Rift headset.

All of the Oculus Store games worked fine in the original setup. It was only when I played these other VR games which were built for Windows and when they launch they connect to the Oculus Rift.

Vendetta Online looks mad cool on the Rift, but the tutorial doesn’t know the difference so it says “Press X to..” and “Press … to …”. Of course none of the controls are mapped to the Rift Touch controllers which you can use, but you point to a ship/asteroid to interact with it. Sadly, it does not have speech-to-text like the Gear VR so I have to use the virtual keyboard to type — which is a pain. Windows can do some speech-to-text so it’d be handy if they’d incorporate that. I can also always use my Steelseries Stratus XL gamepad to play VO as I’ve now paired it with my Windows 10 desktop using the motherboard’s builtin Bluetooth chip.

Poker VR for Oculus Rift

Now, I haven’t played Poker VR on the Rift yet as I’ve only just ordered mine, but I have been playing it on the Gear VR and it’s a lot of fun. You create your own avatar and play online.

It’s great to take on other players around the world. It activates your microphone when you log on so you can talk to the other players at the table. Have no fear, though! You can MUTE anyone you don’t want to hear from and it puts duct tape across their mouth in-game! 😀 They don’t know it but it shows on your screen so you know who is muted.

I haven’t had any problems with players. They all seem quite friendly to play against (with?) and you get people from all walks of life. Some try to be funny and others just sit quietly, while others might talk about what’s going on in their country at the time.

You can add players as friends so you’ll know when they’re on and jump on the same table to play along.

The controls work very well with the default Gear VR controller. Just point to your stack of chips and pull the trigger when it’s at the amount you want to raise or just click the CALL or FOLD buttons on the screen.

You can buy gifts for other players. These are often little animated characters in-game such as a spaceship which flies around the table or an animal or a fish swimming around the table, etc.

If you like Texas Hold’em Poker and want some friends to play with in VR, this is the way to go! You might even get to play against Phil Hellmuth!

Poker VR is free to play, although you can play cash games if you want.

(Update 20/10/2018) I’ve now played Poker VR a few times on the Oculus Rift and it’s way cooler than on the Gear VR! You clench into a fist and double-knock on the table to check, you pick up the cards and toss them into the center of the table to fold, etc. It’s a much better experience! 🙂