Ubisoft debuted two VR games during their conference at E3. One of the games was a great example of what VR can for players who want that experience in flight; the other was a dream come true for fans who want to recreate the fanboy/fangirl situation of their dreams. Both had tons of benefits, but one glaring flaw.
The first of the VR games, Eagle Flight, is a game that shows the potential of VR in gaming experiences by giving players the perspective of an eagle in flight. Ubisoft set up a 6-player PvP match, split into two 3-player groups, during their E3 conference for this game. The task for the combatants was to win a best-of 3 capture-the-flag battle as eagles. The ensuing gameplay showed the best of what VR gameplay is supposed to provide.
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Watching the view of individual sessions gave glimpses of what it’s like to experience the flight of an eagle in VR. The “flag” in this game was a rabbit, and the teams were tasked with grabbing the rabbit and returning it to their base. In their quest to find the rabbit, the players soared high in the sky, looking down at the target area, swooping in through trees and other obstacles to locate their prey, and attempting to escape their pursuers as they take their prize home. The sheer velocity of flight and the panic that must accompany the act of darting through a large clump of trees to get to ground level was evident in the gameplay. The feeling while wearing the VR goggles must be overwhelming. Many players were wagging their heads back and forth as if they were doing a horrible impression of Stevie Wonder, trying to spot their prey as they looked out for enemies.
VR is perfect in gameplay situations such as these. The immersion one feels at he or she flies through the sky must be incredible.
The second VR demo Ubisoft showed offered an entirely different experience. It was just as physical in its immersion, but in a much different way. The title was Star Trek: Bridge Crew, and it was as different from eagles flying as one could get.
The gameplay demo featured Star Trek alumni LeVar Burton, Karl Urban, and Jeri Ryan donning Oculus Rifts and living out life on the bridge of a Constitution-class starship, the U.S.S. Aegis. The VR experience here is less about empowerment and more about reality. Each player in the game takes on a role just like one would in a starship. You can be a helmsman, an engineer, a communications officer, or a captain, among others. The goal is to navigate your starship to points unknown and deal with anything that happens along the way.
The gameplay in Star Trek: Bridge Crew is less like Wing Commander and much more like Artemis Spaceship Bridge Simulator. In the latter game, multiple players man different stations within a spaceship and constantly communicate with the players manning different stations in order to maintain 100% control of as ship. During a hostile encounter, all the stations must update every one of their states at all times. Only with full information can the captain of the vessel make the strategic decisions necessary for survival. When the orders are given, the affected stations must report acknowledgement as well as report the results of their specific actions. This is combat at its most tactical.
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Star Trek: Bridge Crew takes the concepts in Artemis and immerses the players fully into their roles. They can’t simply enter simple commands on a keyboard; they must virtually manipulate the complex starship consoles as actual crew members in order to carry out their actions. And the actions make you really feel like you are an officer on a Federation starship. As LeVar Burton said while talking to Aisha Tyler onstage when expressing his immersion into the game, “it was weird how I was able to slip into Geordi [La Forge, his character on Star Trek: The Next Generation], it was like that skin, I just put it right back on again. The lingo, the rhythm, the technobabble, it all started clicking.” This is a man who played the role on a television series based on the lore, and he felt so immersed that he reverted to that role on instinct.
In the case of both games, the experiences they offer in VR are beyond compare. The case for both games should be overwhelming. Unfortunately, there is one large flaw that ruins the experience: you need others to share the experience with.
VR is not for everyone. Ubisoft had the prescience to make their VR games available for all major VR platforms: The Oculus Rift, the HTC Vive, and the PlayStation VR. But there must be players with the technology to join in. On the PlayStation VR, the technical hurdles are less severe: simply own a PS4 and the PS VR headset, and you’re promised you’re good to go. But the experience on the Rift or the Vive will be limited by the number of people who can afford the VR experience of PC. The cost of entry is very high in that space and that will limit the player base that can enjoy these titles.
Further, the demos showed multiple people using VR headsets in the same physical space. While that would be a great way to experience these games, it is physically impossible to support more than one player on VR unless there is a high-powered rig for everyone individually. The benefit of this is that the LAN parties of old may rise up again when multiple players want to navigate the U.S.S. Aegis Artemis-style. However, less hardcore gamers will be limited to the help they can find via matchmaking.
Overall, Ubisoft’s VR entries are great examples of what VR can offer the gamer. From soaring high in the skies as an apex predator to contributing to the longevity of a starship, both experiences are wonderful ways to experience VR – provided you have enough capable friends to enjoy properly.
