Viveport Review: Operation Apex

Explore the ocean depths and track down a massive great white shark in this immersive and engaging experience.

By Joshua Hawkins, Greenlit Content

The basic idea behind Operation Apex is to explore three different regions of the sea teeming with ocean life. The scenery looks beautiful, interaction with the world feels real, and as you explore, the sensation of being deep beneath the ocean is both immersive and engaging. That said, there’s no risk of death because the player controls a drone that is mostly ignored by the wildlife. This doesn’t take away from the experience, though, since interacting with the world around you and even swatting at debris feels so good.

In Operation Apex, you play as the aforementioned drone, tasked with checking on the status of sea-life. To complete this goal you’ll need to explore, lure fish close to you, and scan them into the system. This will allow you to check how well they are faring, and then you’ll have to get to the root cause of the issue. It’s a simple goal that leaves the world open for the player to explore at his or her leisure.

All I had to do to move around was hold my arms out in front of me and press the triggers to propel myself forward. I never had any issues with frame drops, and the locomotion felt solid all around—without the usual VR sickness that sometimes comes from a game with this type of locomotion.

The best thing about Operation Apex, however, is the awe-inspiring environment. The depths of the ocean feel real as you explore, with the plant life and rocks acting like physical objects when interacted with. Also, being able to lure the bigger fish and see them up close is fantastic, as they look and move lifelike through the water. The experience isn’t long, though—especially if you breeze through the objectives. This shouldn’t be an issue for those who really enjoy immersive VR games, since the game pushes you to explore and look around by giving you plenty of space to maneuver.

At the end of the game, when you finally locate the massive creature that you’ve been searching for the entire time, well, I won’t spoil anything. All told, when I removed the HTC Vive from my head, I couldn’t help but let out a sigh of astonishment at what I witnessed. With that in mind, Operation Apex is among the best that your Vive has to offer. Download the game and take the plunge!

Operation Apex is available on Viveport.