A green setting, a walk on the water, and suddenly a monster comes to open your way, looming over you with all its mechanical immensity. Welcome Horizon Call of the Mountainvirtual reality version of the world of video games horizon zero dawn Y Skyline Forbidden West.
But this time, it is not controller in hand that you travel mountains and plains to follow Aloy, but helmet. Playstation VR2 in the head. The hero is now us, the virtual bow in hand and the red vigilantes to eliminate, this ferocious mechanical animal that falls on us, fortunately still just as virtual. Ahead of its launch on February 22, Tech&Co was able to get a first impression of Sony’s virtual reality headset, which wants to bring the playstation5 in a new dimension.
Easy to put on and adjust.
You could almost talk about PS VR2 as a mixed reality headset. As the goal mission 2 or even HTC Vive XR Elite, is able to show the world around him without removing his helmet from his head thanks to its multiple external cameras. This serves in particular to locate you in your surroundings, but also, as soon as someone enters your play area, to bring you back to reality to avoid being unknowingly embarrassed. At the moment, PlayStation does not have any augmented reality interaction planned and the degraded quality of the black and white image does not make it essential.
The headset looks a lot like its predecessor, but it fixed a few flaws, like connecting with a single USB-C cable to connect to the PS5 instead of an extra box with multiple cables lying around. There is no longer a need to place external sensors in front of your TV, thanks to the same built-in sensors that will detect movement.
To install it on the head, everything is also simpler. A wheel in the back tightens and adjusts everything. Before that, a button on the front allows you to remove the visor to make it easier to put on or take off, but also to make sure you eliminate any light leakage by sticking the visor well to your face. This makes the dip even more effective.
The helmet is quite comfortable and well padded so as not to put too much pressure on the head. The white plastic base is a strong reinforcement. Let’s see if in the long run the front part that contains the screen does not weigh a bit on the head and if the weight is well distributed to withstand a long game time, for a short session like the one we had (about 30 minutes), it was in largely bearable.
Impressive eye and hand detection.
In this second generation, PlayStation has thought of integrating headphones into its helmet. It is possible to remove them to connect, through the integrated connector, your own headphones or earphones. The sound is quite good and adds to the virtual isolation. One might fear somewhat massive and heavy controllers, it is not so. The position of the buttons and levers falls perfectly under the fingers and everything is light in the hand. The new arches are not an obstacle and we quickly forget their presence.
Called Sense (like the DualSense controllers and DualSense Edge), the controllers have the particularity of detecting the movements of the fingers and being clearer in the detection of the movements of the hands. In the game Mountain Horizon Call, this has proven to be particularly effective for precision archery or simply taking an arrow behind your back. Pointing fingers or using only one at a time is therefore extremely accurate.
Accuracy is one of the PS VR2’s many strengths, particularly its eye tracking. To fine-tune the headset settings, the PS5 interface will tell us if the PS VR2 is positioned correctly and our eyes are perfectly aligned. Then we can calibrate the eye tracking (it is also possible to turn it off) and adjust the intra-pupillary distance to have a clear vision.
Eye
The PS VR2 knows how to adapt perfectly to newbies in virtual reality. The menu offers an option to darken the edges of the field of view to avoid dizziness, that feeling of dizziness in sequences where the image moves too much. If you are used to it, we advise you to put yourself in normal mode. If you are a beginner, this can help you orient yourself.
Mountain Horizon Call in VR it’s a visual first slap in the face, greatly helped in this by the OLED lenses with their 120Hz image refresh rate and wide 110° field of view. The post-apocalyptic universe where machines and nature have taken over can be admired in 360° with its magnificent 3D decorations. We progress with pleasure in this action and adventure game in which you will have to collect objects, face monsters and climb until you get dizzy.
For a first approach, either by the helmet or by the game that is very easy to handle, it is a successful appetizer. The PS VR2 still isn’t the wireless headset we’d dreamed it would be, but it harnesses the power of the PS5 to deliver a next-gen console VR experience.
The strength of Sony’s headphones is also offering, just like the Sense controllers, haptic feedback. The first approach in the game is interesting and reinforces the immersion, as well as the sensations.
Now it remains to appreciate the product for a longer period of time and with a greater variety of titles promised at launch, let’s see if PS VR2 makes it easy to forget about its sky-high price tag by offering a whole new gaming experience. Response in less than a month.
The PlayStation VR2 will be available on February 22, 2023 at 599.99 euros. A pack that includes the Horizon Call of the mountain game will be sold at 649.99 euros. Pre-orders are open on the PlayStation site.
Source: BFM TV
