Want to be Black Panther from Wakanda? Or maybe Captain America, Black Widow or Spider-Man? Now virtual reality is finally coming to domestic gaming PCs, you have the chance. Oculus Rift has teamed with Marvel to produce Marvel Powers United VR.
Our reporters popped on headsets, slugged it out, and chewed it over afterwards. How does total immersion feel? And how might this change gaming?
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Niall Firth: I tried a prototype of Oculus in 2013, when it was still big and clunky and didn’t have controllers. I was amazed then – but it’s so much better now.
Hannah Joshua: I was Black Widow. The basic controls were simple enough. But it is easy to lose track of which button does what and you risk hitting the wrong one in the heat of the moment. But this can work to your advantage. I made myself invisible by accident through button-mashing and sneaked up on some enemies.
Sam Wong: As Captain America, the key skill I had to learn was grabbing the shield from behind my back, launching it like a discus, then catching it as it flew back to me. It was difficult to aim at first, but after a while I honed my throwing action to make sure it went off in roughly the right direction. I’m sure I looked like a prat though – I don’t know how long you have to spend in VR before you forget that your real body is in a room with a contraption strapped to your face, waving your arms like a loon.
NF: I felt deeply immersed – I was quickly unaware of what the real me was doing on the outside – my sense of balance was thrown and it made me feel a little dizzy – especially when I glanced down and whoa! I could see Captain America’s massive thighs pounding the streets beneath me.
HJ: I managed to shake hands with one of my team – I think it was Storm – before we started our match, which made me feel surprisingly connected to the random strangers I was playing with. It was weirdly intimate.
SW: I’m not sure how long we played for – I lost track of time until I heard a voice near me suggesting it was time to return to reality. It was a bit of a workout to play so when I took off the headset I was sweaty and dizzy, but I would have happily stayed in the Marvel world for much longer. Did you want to keep going?
NF: No! I was first to remove my headset when I suddenly realised I felt very queasy, like being car sick. As I took it off I could hear one of my team mates inside the game calling for help. Sorry, I thought, I’m through.
HJ: When it was time to leave, I almost found myself glancing at the door and flexing my thumb to jump over there, like I did in the game. I’d be a terrible superhero – I kept dropping my energy-shooting batons! Somehow it is more embarrassing to physically get on knees and grope about on the floor for your weapon than to make a mistake in an ordinary video game. Playing in VR highlighted the skill involved in wielding a weapon, and the stakes felt higher when you could literally turn your head and be face to face with an enemy.
NF: The game seemed pretty linear. You’d follow blue arrows to move to the next part of the street and await your foes. Yet the deep immersion – and the graphics that completely eclipsed anything I’d seen in VR before – made it engaging enough. I just wonder if, beyond that first level, the novelty would begin to wear off having the path so explicitly signposted for you.
To be honest, I found myself spending a bit too much time gazing around at my surroundings, or experimenting with my Spider-Man leaps, rather than helping my fellow superheroes.
SW: I had children’s voices in my ear telling me what to do, which was a bit unsettling! I was Spider-Man for this part too, so I did my best to shoot strands of web at the enemies, but I was struggling a bit with the controls and I was a bit worried I was letting the side down. Still, we succeeded in fighting off the attack.
HJ: You succeeded? I think we did too. Sometimes the info display was a bit overwhelming to read, but if this catches on a lot of gamers are going to get a lot more exercise. I was pleased I didn’t come last in my team.
