Greenlit Content

Viveport Review: Seeking Dawn A beautiful world is marred by complex systems and overly dull fetch quests. By Joshua Hawkins, Greenlit Content Developed by Multiverse, Seeking Dawn is by far one of the most ambitious virtual reality titles that I have ever seen. The game has some of the best visuals that virtual reality has produced since even before the release of the HTC Vive. Compared to other titles, Seeking Dawn is easily the most visually appealing virtual reality game that has been made to date. However, this beauty is scarred. While it may look like a perfect picture on the surface, the game takes on an entirely different look and feel when you begin to dig deeper. Don’t get me wrong, I very much enjoyed the core mechanics of Seeking Dawn. For a first-person shooter, it offers some very good gunplay and a lot of potential in the way that you interact with and explore the world. Unlike a lot of shooters in VR, Seeking Dawn is committed to exploration. In fact, the game has a complex crafting system that involves grinding up plants, rocks and other things to break them down into materials that can be used to craft new weapons and gadgets. At first, it’s a fun system, but as the journey wears on, the process becomes more tedious. It almost gets to the point of completely blocking the progression of the entire story. The narrative isn’t a very strong aspect of Seeking Dawn, either. While it’s good enough—you play a soldier sent to an alien planet to locate other missing soldiers—there isn’t a whole lot more than the basic plotline to keep you pushing forward. Nevertheless, this isn’t really a bad thing. Seeking Dawn is one of those games that’s more about enjoying what it is as opposed to what it could be. Sure, the story isn’t that great and could use a little more development, but the visuals and the overall appearance of the game really make up for this in the long run, so long as you can get past the obnoxious crafting system. Overall, I really wanted to love Seeking Dawn, and it’s still a game that I’ll readily recommend to those looking for a decent virtual reality experience. If you want to see the extent of what virtual reality titles can achieve in terms of visuals, then Seeking Dawn is a good place to start. But at the end of the day, the game is far from perfect. If you’re looking for a VR game that’s going to offer substantial gameplay or story, then you may want to look beyond Seeking Dawn. Seeking Dawn is available on Viveport or as part of Viveport Subscription.

If you’re an Oculus Rift user discovering Viveport for the first time, welcome! It’s easy to set up Viveport and start playing titles on your Rift – but if you need a quick start guide, follow the steps below. Step One: Set up your Oculus Rift Without your Rift ready to go, we can’t start playing titles from Viveport, so make sure to: Have your Oculus Rift HMD connected to your PC, with any other setup completed Create your account at Oculus.com, and install the Oculus Rift desktop software In the Oculus Rift software, under Settings – General, turn on the option for Unknown Sources (click ‘Allow’ when prompted) Step Two: Get Viveport You’ll need to download the Viveport desktop app to access your Viveport library, download titles and play them. You can download the Viveport desktop app at vive.com/setup. If you already have a Vive or Vive Pro, you may already have Viveport installed (in which case, skip on down to Step Three). After downloading Viveport, locate the file and launch it. During installation, you will need to: Sign in with your HTC | VIVE Account (or create a new one). Install SteamVR. This will happen automatically, but you may be asked to sign in to Steam during the installation. After installation, you’ll be able to launch Viveport from the desktop shortcut. Step Three: Browse for Oculus Rift compatible titles You can browse Viveport either from within the desktop app or via Viveport.com. Here’s what to look out for: Titles that are Oculus Rift compatible will have the icon displayed throughout the site You can also filter for Oculus Rift compatible titles After purchasing a title, it will be added to your Viveport Library, accessible from your desktop app or from Viveport.com while logged in To play your purchased titles, download and install them via the Viveport desktop app Launch your Viveport titles from within the Viveport Library Step Four: Get a Viveport Subscription for the best value in VR! As well as buying individual titles from Viveport, you can sign up for Viveport Subscription for FREE, letting you experience five titles per month for one low price. You can cancel any time, and to really save money, you’re able to pre-pay for your Viveport Subscription with our 3, 6 and 12 month plans. Want a few suggestions for some fantastic Oculus Rift compatible titles available to you in Viveport Subscription? Check out our blog on just that.

Viveport Review: HELI Tour New York City from hundreds of feet in the air without spending a Big Apple price. By Desmond Madison, Greenlit Content After nearly 400 years of development, the New York City skyline is one of the most recognizable sights on Earth, hosting several of the tallest buildings in the world. With nearly 6,000 high rises and several of the largest and most iconic suspension bridges ever constructed, a birds-eye view of Gotham is something that tourists pay a heavy premium for, should they ever be lucky enough to see its unforgettable cityscape. Helicopter tours are often booked months in advance, and cost from the several hundreds of dollars and into the thousands for a premium experience. The developers at GAROU want to help change that forever, and their impressive VR debut, HELI, gives virtual tourists a ride they won’t soon forget. It’s important to remember that HELI is an app, and not a game experience. It’s meant to simulate in extreme detail an absolutely stunning recreation of a helicopter tour around New York City. The first portion of the app is the Guided 360 Tours of New York. These are based on high quality 360 video recordings that play around your helicopter for the duration of the flight, and take you to iconic locations like Central Park, the Manhattan Bridge, the Statue of Liberty, The Empire State Building, and the World Trade Center. You’ll circle each iconic location in 360 degrees and get an amazing birds-eye view of all of the cars, boats, people, and even animals going about their daily lives down below. It’s an incredible sight, and well worth the simulated feeling of seeing it from a virtual helicopter. The next portion of the app is the actual helicopter simulation that allows you to take the controls of the chopper in a 3D rendered city instead of 360 video. While your motion controls will adjust the altitude and direction, this isn’t a full on simulation ready to let you fly anywhere or crash into anything. It’s a relatively basic and relaxing on rails flight experience that allows you to tour something of a model version of NYC with only the iconic locations textured in, like the Empire State Building and Times Square. The rest of the city is a blank white slate of geometry, and it remains unclear if GAROU plans on finishing the impossibly daunting task of texturing the entire metropolis. Ultimately, HELI is a virtual tourism application that gives you a stunning look at one of the most famous places on Earth in a way that’s memorable, and makes for an impressive addition to the roster of First VR Experiences. It’s definitely worth checking out, whether you hope to visit NYC one day or even live in the Big Apple right now. HELI is available on Viveport.

Viveport Review: Stunt Kite Masters VR Take to the skies and prove yourself in this beautiful and relaxing kite simulator. By Joshua Hawkins, Greenlit Content Every developer has their strong suit, and HandyGames have proven time and time again that they can craft immersive and fun virtual reality experiences that make VR enjoyable and easy to get into. Stunt Kite Masters VR is another notch added to their belt, and the relaxing and challenging gameplay feels realistic and fun. Refinement is an important quality to have in VR experiences, and there is no lack of refinement in Stunt Kite Masters VR. The gameplay itself is simple. The player interacts with two handles on their kite, pulling and moving them around to move. It’s a smooth experience that feels very good to play, and even after a bit of messing around, I found myself discovering new ways to move my kite and create new challenges. The nice thing about Stunt Kite Masters VR is what HandyGames did to make the experience feel real. The gusts of wind that surround you feel realistic as your kite hums along through the air. Additionally, there are several different kite models to choose from, and each one has its own feel. Bigger kites create more tension along the kite strings, and you feel that through the Vive controllers, which helps make the experience feel even better. On top of that, the locations that you visit are all stunning and well crafted, and it’s easy to get lost in the vistas and sounds that surround you. You’re not left alone to fly your kite, though, as HandyGames also included a few different game modes to help test your mettle as a kite pilot. Try out your hand at Kite Snake, which challenges you to collect stars and chain together a line behind your kite. Just make sure you don’t hit that line, though, or your high score will come toppling down. You can also take to the skies in Outrun, which challenges you to avoid RC-powered airplanes that make a beeline for your kite. You need to come up from behind to take the planes out and try to stay in the air as long as possible. My favorite mode, though, is still the default mode. While you don’t have any big objectives, just the feeling of standing there, on a beach, on top of a skyscraper in the rain, or on the summit of a mountain felt amazing as the kite strings resonated the feeling of the wind down into my hands. It was a truly relaxing experience, and while I dabbled in the stunt portions of the experience a good bit, I kept finding myself just standing there, mouth agape as I stared up at the kite, watching the movements closely. HandyGames has outdone themselves once more, and Stunt Kite Masters VR is definitely one of those experiences I’d recommend picking up and trying out. Stunt Kite Masters is available on Viveport or as part of Viveport Subscription.

Viveport Review: Run of Mydan – Early Access This first-person shooter draws inspiration from Halo and Destiny! Definitely a wonderful thing. By Emily Medlock, Greenlit Content Skimming through screenshots for Run of Mydan in Viveport immediately made me want to play this game. One of my favorite things about this title, for example, is the setting. As a Bungie fan, it’s easy to see that inspiration was drawn from Halo and Destiny. With this in mind, I always wanted to dive into Master Chief’s world in VR, and in Run of Mydan, I get to experience what that might be like. Run of Mydan is similar to Bungie games in many ways. For example, the planet that the game takes place on immediately brings to mind scenes from the Halo franchise. All around, the graphics look great, with visual delights that include breathtaking landscapes, intimidating bosses, and effects that compete with the best of them. Additionally, the second boss you fight in Run of Mydan reminds me of one of the first bosses from Destiny. In fact, many of the bosses in Run of Mydan seem to be inspired by Destiny’s villains, with nods to classic games like Final Fantasy and Zelda. There are strategies for defeating each one that you must figure out on your own. Will it be an arrow to the eye? Will you have to collapse an enemy’s own tower onto him? Or maybe you need to lob grenades at his tentacles? Your success is up to you and your problem-solving skills. The most obvious similarity between Bungie titles and Run of Mydan, though, is armor customization. Not only does it look like the designer was the exact same guy, but the whole purpose of armor in general is comparable and brought back happy memories of trying to acquire the Recon armor in Halo 3. Like any good FPS game, Run of Mydan offers two ways to play. You can battle other players in multiplayer or face foes alone in story mode campaign. When you jump into story mode, your playstyle and weapon choices are limited, but that doesn’t take away from the experience. When you make it to multiplayer, you’ll be able to unlock new items and create your own class. It doesn’t matter if you wish to become an archer, juggernaut, or sniper. There will be something for you. Boot up multiplayer, you’ll realize that the Run of Mydan is a whole lot bigger than you first thought. Like other FPS games, you will be able to customize your character. There will also be unlockable content, allowing you to become whatever you wish. Go melee and charge opponents, or sit back with a long-ranged gun in your hand. Either way, dexterity is required. Once you get used to the controls, however, it will feel like you are in this virtual world. When this happens, your movements will become second nature. Unfortunately, since the game is still in Early Access, there are rarely players available to be matched with, so if you’re lucky, you have friends ready to hang in-game. Despite the praise, and Run of Mydan’s anti-nausea claim, moving without your virtual feet on the ground may cause nausea. But of course, every person will be affected differently, so please keep this in mind and take a break if you get queasy. This aside, Run of Mydan never gets boring. There’s always something to do and there’s always room for improvement! It is hands down one of the best VR games I’ve played. Considering this is Virtew’s first game, that’s saying a lot. That said, I expect people to talk about Run of Mydan’s brilliance for years to come. Note: If you struggle with the controls, hold down the Menu button and return to the home screen (as long as you passed a checkpoint, so you won’t lose progress). Upon doing this, the controls will appear. Run of Mydan is available on Viveport or as part of Viveport Subscription.

Viveport Review: Starbear: Taxi Take remote control of Starbear’s taxi as you help him move passengers in a miniature world full of bandit raccoons and other wily obstacles. By Bill Loguidice, Greenlit Content Following in the tradition of classics like Muse's Space Taxi (1984) and Sega's Crazy Taxi (1999), Starbear: Taxi takes the mundane task of conveying passengers from one destination to another for a fee and makes it fun. Like its predecessors, Starbear: Taxi accomplishes this feat by setting its action in an outrageous world with quirky passengers and crazy obstacles to overcome. The time is 3064 A.D. and Starbear is fresh out of "hibearnation," which is a nice way of saying unemployment. Starbear needs to deliver as many busy bears to their desired destinations as possible, all while avoiding whatever the pesky raccoon bandits–and rush hour traffic–throw at him. As you might expect from its title and this description, Starbear: Taxi doesn't take itself too seriously. The bright visuals, funky animations, silly sound effects, bouncy music, and miniature environment all exude cuteness. Fortunately, there's nothing cloying about this aesthetic. It's just good, clean cartoon fun, reminiscent of a more juvenile take on the world of The Jetsons. Interestingly, you don't control Starbear directly. Instead, when seated or standing, you use one Vive controller like a remote control. Think of Starbear's taxi like a little RC flying saucer. The main challenge here is using this control scheme to carefully move Starbear between each pickup and drop off point. Each passenger, who is tethered below the taxi and further affects its balance in the physics-based flight model, has their own requirement, be it something simple like going from point A to point B, or picking up a series of honeypots. As with a real world flying RC vehicle or low-end drone, staying in control is easier said than done. In the first several play sessions, you'll likely have difficulty just moving Starbear's taxi to the Start portal to begin the game, let alone consistently pick up and move passengers. Fortunately, while practice can probably never make perfect here, you can definitely improve your score between each play session. And, as an extra scoring incentive, as you reach higher and higher point thresholds, you'll be able to unlock more content. Of course, the wily raccoon bandits who want to knock you out of the sky and take your earnings, as well as the natural environmental obstacles, also significantly add to the challenge even if you do get a good handle on the controls. Perhaps the most insidious challenge of them all, however, is the aggressive time limit. As you try and rise up the ranks of the leaderboards, running out of time will likely remain your most consistent adversary. Starbear: Taxi is the kind of gaming experience that really shows off how fun a VR-first design can be, helping transform what could be a pedestrian concept into something magical. It really does feel like you're remote-controlling a little bear's taxi in a miniature world that you're looking over. With its one-more-try gameplay combined with the added incentive of seeing more of the crazy characters, quirky animations, and new ways to find your progress impeded, Starbear: Taxi makes for a must-try experience. Starbear: Taxi is available on Viveport or as part of Viveport Subscription.

Viveport Review: Guided Meditation VR Escape the real world for some much-needed VR therapy. By Desmond Madison, Greenlit Content A calm wind brushes across your ears from East to West as you lay still on the floor, listening to the sounds of the ocean waves crashing against the rocky cliffs below. You feel yourself alive in this moment, aware of your body from head to toe, free of all intrusive thought as you center yourself in the here and now. You listen to your guide. He tells you to breathe deeply in… four seconds… ... and pause... …and out… five seconds. Again you inhale and exhale as you feel the rhythm of your breath start to slow you down into the moment. You close your eyes and you continue, feeling yourself calming back into the present, free of the past which you cannot change, and at peace with the future which you cannot control. You hear the birds chirping silently in the distant treetops, you feel your body alive and you become mindful of your own self as the world slows down around you and your thoughts become just that -- thoughts that you learn to observe, rather than allowing them to consume you. You are relaxed. You are calm. You are present. You are experiencing the wonders of Guided Meditation VR. The developers at Cubicle Ninja have made meditation simple by allowing you to visit over 17 different exotic, natural, and surreal locations to allow you to escape the chaos of your daily life, teaching you guided meditative practices that have been scientifically proven to help you regain control of the moment. Peace, joy, and serenity are achieved through virtual relaxation and over 50 sessions of guidance in Zen, Heartfulness, Loving Compassion, or even a series designed specifically to help overcome Depression. Customizable sessions in length are also available, allowing you to choose between two minute, five minute, and ten minute meditations with or without music and varying degrees of sound effects to meet your comfort level. You can even set the experience to motion you slowly through any one of the exotic environments to help calm your mind. Upon its original release, there weren’t many other programs that fit the mold for guided virtual relaxation and meditative software, but the market has since become filled with more than a few other projects that seek to capture the same audience. Even in the face of this, Guided Mediation VR remains at the top of its class and has continually added new environments and mediations since its debut. It’s easy to see why this software has stood the tests of time, and why it seems like the strongest of its kind in the mental health and wellness genre of experiences that can actually help improve ones own well-being. This is a true testament to the power of virtual reality when experiences like these that focus our eyes and ears so acutely while transporting our minds to serene locations can have such a profound and lasting effect on our daily lives. Even if you’ve never tried meditation before, or if you don’t think it’s for you, give this a try. It’s the least thrilling and non-explosive experience available in virtual reality, and once you learn what that means, your mind and body will thank you and you just may come to understand that’s one of the best compliments the developers could have asked for. Enjoy! Guided Meditation VR is available on Viveport.

Viveport Review: Prison Boss VR This fun and addicting game offers tense moments but ultimately feels dull. By Joshua Hawkins, Greenlit Content Prison Boss VR thrusts the player into the life of a prisoner, locked in their cell as they try to craft various items to earn money and reputation with other inmates. The overall goal is to eventually become the boss, or the guy that everyone comes to for the things they need, and while the game is fun for a bit, it ultimately grows dull and repetitive. During the first hour or so, Prison Boss VR offers an amazing feeling of presence and intensity that makes it worth checking out, even if you end up putting it down after a few runs. The overall idea is to purchase items from a traveling merchant during the day, then after the sun sets, you craft items in your cell while avoiding the guards who patrol the area. There’s no real challenge, though, at least not until you craft larger items like rope and letters. When a guard comes around you’ll need to hide your illegal goods in drawers and nightstands. These items can be purchased from the traveling merchant and will be delivered to your cell for you to make use of. You’ll quickly become trained at throwing things in the nightstand, because there’s precious little time to worry about organization when a guard is bearing down on your cell. I wish there was more challenge in this part of the game. All of the recipes are hand-fed to you through interactive tutorials, and while this isn’t a bad thing, the guards all move pretty slow and are extremely predictable. This means that you’ll only feel that intensity I spoke of for so long before hiding things becomes too easy to bother with. You aren’t just crafting items for the sake of doing so, though. In fact, you’ll have an assortment of lists that can be completed each day to unlock rewards like more items, as well as to gain reputation with the inmates in your cellblock. This is the overall goal—to gain as much reputation as possible—and you’ll need to be careful which quests you choose to undertake, as this will often require you to hide multiple items for multiple nights. Prison Boss VR has an excellent sense of presence, and the game’s cartoony graphics fit perfectly with the fun-focused game. I just wish that it had more challenge and some variation in the way the guards react and move around. There’s no real sense of failure, as guards simply take the items that they see when they spot illegal goods hidden in your cell; I personally would have loved to see the entire cell tossed when this happens. Ultimately, Prison Boss VR offers some fun and tense gameplay moments, but at the end of the day the repetitive gameplay may grow dull and boring for players. Prison Boss VR is available on Viveport, and as part of Viveport Subscription.

Viveport Review: Pixel Ripped 1989 Step into a wacky world where reality and video games clash in an epic mash-up that will leave you wanting to play for hours. By Joshua Hawkins, Greenlit Content When you first start Pixel Ripped 1989, the world feels nostalgic, with cardboard cutouts lining the wall bringing everything to life. You sit in a chair before a massive, clunky old TV, with a controller in your hand. Pressing buttons on your Vive controller causes your hand to move in-game, pressing the corresponding buttons on your in-universe game device. It’s a unique experience that quickly evolves and becomes even more interesting when the game world you’re inhabiting is suddenly breached and the very fabric of reality changes. Part of what makes Pixel Ripped 1989 so special is the game’s wonderful use of old-school graphics to create a charming experience that throws you back into the ‘80s and early ‘90s, when pixelated games were all the rage. You’re thrust into a completely new experience in a world that is delightfully retro. Besides the feeling of nostalgia, players must overcome a powerful antagonist in Pixel Ripped 1989. After the mysterious Cyblin Lord rips the main character’s world to pieces, Dot—the little pixelated hero of the game—is transported to the real world, where she must team up with a second-grade student named Nicola. Trusted with saving the world, Dot and Nicola must work together on Nicola’s portable 8-bit console to stop the Cyblin Lord, all while avoiding being caught playing video games in class. It’s the nice mixture of mini games and retro gameplay in Pixel Ripped 1989 that creates an engaging, endearing experience that I could get lost in for hours. I loved the feeling of the old-school graphics, and the idea behind it all meshes really well within virtual reality. You can actually see Nicola’s fingers interacting with the console, as if you were holding it out in front of you. It’s a surreal experience—something that would only ever really work in virtual reality—and the developers at ARVORE have used everything VR has to offer to immerse players in the experience. If you want to experience one of the best games available on Viveport right now, then Pixel Ripped 1989 is a must-play. It’s well worth the time and money that you’ll invest, and I can’t wait to get lost in this nostalgic adventure once again. Pixel Ripped 1989 is available on Viveport and as part of Viveport Subscription.

Viveport Review: Magic Lantern VR Relax in this smartly-designed virtual playroom, with fun for the whole family. By Desmond Madison, Greenlit Content In the age of the VR content boom of the last three years, it’s safe to say that there’s been an underserved amount of experiences intended for younger audiences. Some hardware manufacturers tend to limit use to ages 12 or 13 and up, but Vive has recommended a sweet spot of about seven years old with limited use. What that means is that content built for children and families is still hard to come by, but thankfully the talented team at Parovoz Animation Studio delivered an enchanting and delightful living playroom experience with Magic Lantern VR that feels suitable for a younger audience. It’s pure, fun, and imaginative without being overly intense. Players will find themselves alongside the young and intrepid Kate, with her Magic Lantern film projector seated in the middle of the playroom floor. Choosing from stories like Alice in Wonderland, The War of the Worlds, and Little Mowgli allows you to sit and watch a universally simplified children’s story book film reel of classic tales that teach important life lessons about being nice to one another, the importance of empathy, and always doing what’s right. Beyond sitting on the floor with Kate and being whisked away into story land, Magic Lantern VR allows you to explore the entire playroom as your virtual sandbox to move toys, dolls, and playful objects around the room in any way you choose. There are also games to play like darts, balls, and even stuffed animals and race cars that can all be enjoyed to the fullest extent of one’s imagination, much like an actual childhood playroom would be in real life. There’s a drawing stand that lets children get creative on paper, and a motorized toy cat that can’t resist following your laser pointer anywhere in the room. There’s even a physics modification option that lets you turn off gravity and experience what it would be like if your playroom were launched into orbit! While it’s not a robust online interactive playroom full of tons of activities like Rec Room, this is more of a single player safe space for younger players to enjoy some of the basics in a calm, warm, and friendly environment. The art direction is soft and playful, almost like spending time in a Pixar movie with a virtual companion there to keep you company. This arguably offers a better alternative than putting younger players in an online experience where living communities of older players can sometimes be unpredictable. If there ever were a case for top quality children’s entertainment truly shining in virtual reality that inspires fun and imagination for younger audiences to learn what the medium can offer them, Magic Lantern VR takes the lead. It’s an innocent and universally appealing entry into a growing genre of content built to entrain and enlighten players on the powers of immersive entertainment from an early age. If you have children ages seven and up, Magic Lantern VR is a solid recommendation for a first VR experience that will inspire smiles on kids and parents alike. Magic Lantern VR is available on Viveport and as part of Viveport Subscription.

Viveport Review: Mars 2030 Beautiful imagery and stunning vistas feel flat against the lack of challenge in Mars 2030. By Joshua Hawkins, Greenlit Content When I think of Mars, I imagine the terror that comes from exploring a place completely unknown to man. So, when I dove into Mars 2030 for the first time, I was intrigued to see how the experience handled the thrill of the unknown. Unfortunately, pretty visuals, stunning vistas, and an excellent experience are all brought to their knees by a lack of challenge. The idea behind Mars 2030 is to explore the possibility of life on Mars. 2030 is the year that NASA expects to get to Mars, and it’s an intriguing thing to think about. What should have been an adrenaline-inducing experience, though, is instead a walking simulator with pretty visuals. This might be enough for many people, but I was genuinely intrigued to see the challenges that mankind would face on Mars, and how NASA thought we would handle them. In Mars 2030, however, the community is already built, and the challenge isn’t there. There’s no way to ‘die’ that I saw, and while you can explore around 15 square miles of Martian landscape, there’s not much to keep you enthralled. That isn’t to say that they didn’t try, though. Driving the rover is especially immersive, and even exploring the landscape feels real. But without any of the challenges and struggles that would come with being on an alien planet, thousands of miles from home, Mars 2030 finds itself lacking. There’s no sense of dread, which would surely be on the minds of individuals in this environment. It feels more like we’re looking at a utopia, instead of something that mankind must overcome. As far as immersion and sense of presence goes, though, Mars 2030 is on a whole different level. The world feels alive—albeit lacking any real sense of being on an alien world. There’s wonder and awe, but no sense of accomplishment throughout the experience. Maybe this isn’t an issue for many, but as someone who enjoys space related experiences as much as I do, that small sense of accomplishment that comes with beating the overwhelming odds is something that would have fit well within Mars 2030. The game looks beautiful and the controls feel smooth. I just wish that there was more challenge to bring the idea of being on an alien world to life. Still, though, I applaud the developers for doing such a wonderful job creating a good looking and immersive experience that showcases a bright future for space lovers. Mars 2030 is available on Viveport or as part of Viveport Subscription.

Viveport Review: C O S M Worlds Within Worlds Go deeper than ever before as COSM takes you on a journey that you’ll never forget. You won’t miss a single cell! By Emily Medlock, Greenlit Content Science geeks, beware! You may spend hours living out your dreams in COSM Worlds Within Worlds. Remember the hype about the game Everything where you could play as anything in the universe, from a bumble bee to the blade of grass it’s crawling on? Well, COSM is reminiscent of that general idea. Only this time, you’re not playing as these objects, but exploring the deepest levels of them, peeling away at their components as if they were onions ready for you to find their center. In COSM Worlds Within Worlds, you get to choose an object or substance such as solar energy or a human hand. Then you are taken to that object. From the outside, you cannot move, but can only view the object and its simple purpose. From there, you go on a Magic School Bus-style field trip to the object’s innermost layers. You get to see human skin, skin cells, and everything beneath (just remember not to sneeze, Ralphie!). You can hover over something and zoom in for even more definitions and explanations. The truth is, everyone has wanted to take part in one of Miss Frizzle’s field trips, so that’s definitely the best part of this game. However, if you’re not really into science or informative experiences, then you’ll likely get bored with this one, no matter how much you loved after-school specials. The entire point of COSM is to teach you things that you didn’t know. You may know everything there is to know about human skin, but that doesn’t mean you are well versed when it comes to the anatomy and functions of sea bottom plants. That’s something that SpongeBob just can’t teach you, even with a million memes. Do you truly know what a plankton is? Maybe the next COSM DLC will help you with that. The truth is, kids these days do want to learn new things, but it takes a VR experience like COSM to teach them in a way they can easily understand or want to understand. It doesn’t take a long attention span to enjoy this one. COSM Worlds Within Worlds is an all-around great experience that has much to share with anyone who opens it up. It may not be that top-rated RPG you are looking for, but if you want a hands-on science adventure, then this is right up your alley. Besides, it’s better than reading a 30-pound biology book. Like I said, not a bad way to research for your report on solar energy! C O S M Worlds Within Worlds is available on Viveport and as part of Viveport Subscription.

Viveport Review: Moss This harrowing tale of an unlikely hero is touching and shows just how fluid virtual reality platformers can be. By Joshua Hawkins, Greenlit Content I’ll come right out and say it. I’m not a big fan of platforming or side scrolling games in virtual reality. I’ve always felt like they fit better on a computer screen than they do in virtual reality. However, Moss might be the game that makes me really change my mind. Told through the eyes of a small mouse named Quill, Moss follows an unlikely hero as she must face great odds and overcome many challenges to save her people from destruction. Sure, it might sound like a story that has been told a thousand times—because it has—but the developers, Polyarc, have created something special. Instead of having you merely act as a camera in the sky, the game involves you, almost breaking the fourth wall to include you in the story. You suddenly becomes the main characters’ closest companion. This plays really well, as you’ll need to use the Vive controllers to reach into the game world and interact with things to help our little hero along her journey. It’s a great mechanic that works very well in virtual reality, which makes the platformer stand out above any of the other VR platformers that I’ve had the chance to try out to date. Combat is also an important part of the formula in Moss. You’ll need to revive Quill by picking her up and recharging the crystal on her back. It’s a basic mechanic that really makes you feel like you are part of the story without ever acting like much of a hindrance in the process. As far as controls go, moving around can be a little janky at times, due to the movement system relying on simply touching the touchpad on the left-handed controller. But overall, the controls are smooth and very responsive, making it easy to jump, fight, and even slash your way through the beautifully detailed world that the developers have created. Originally released for PSVR, Moss is now available for the HTC Vive and though the game remains largely unchanged, it hasn’t suffered at all during the transition to PC. It runs smooth and the visuals are excellent and crisp. It’s one of the few games in virtual reality that could really stand against any other game outside of VR—which is a very large task to take on, let alone actually succeed at. If you want a fantastic narrative as well as a good idea of what can be done when you utilize the strengths of virtual reality, then Moss is an amazing example of everything good that can come from virtual reality platformer. It's completely changed the way I look at the VR platformer genre. I hope more developers follow suit in the future and create experiences that continue to resonate long after the end credits roll. Moss is available on Viveport.

Viveport Review: ARK Park The idea of a living, breathing dinosaur-based theme park in virtual reality is brought to its knees by over saturation and a lack of any real identity. By Joshua Hawkins, Greenlit Content More is not always better. When ARK Park was first announced, I was excited, even enamored at the idea. However, now that I’ve had a chance to actually dive into the game and try it out for myself, I really can’t help but feel like the developers have over-extended themselves by trying to fit everything that you do in the original ARK: Survival Evolved into the virtual reality edition. It’s really easy to overdo things in virtual reality. When I first stepped into ARK Park, I was expecting a relaxing experience that would let me walk around and enjoy the sights and sounds of the island. Instead, I found myself thrust into this crafting, survival, wave-based shooter that just barely lets you grow your own dinosaurs, feed them, and ride them down a linear path. It’s an insane amount of content thrust upon you at once, and for the first hour or so it feels really good. However, it’s when you continue putting time into it that things start to take a turn for the worse. It’s literally just the same thing over and over again. You unlock new regions. You travel to them. You walk around, put on your leather gloves, swipe at some plants for crafting materials, then return home to craft stuff and grow your dinosaurs. Once a dinosaur reaches full growth, you can then ride it through a linear path, but that’s really about all you can do with them. If you want, you can also feed your dinosaurs, though the animations are a bit clunky. All around, when it comes to visuals, ARK Park looks the part. The forests and dinosaurs all look really good, though you aren’t going to be blown away if you’ve played other games like Apex Construct or the Ready Player One OASIS beta. They’re passable though, and it helps to bring the world to life pretty well. The biggest plus I found with ARK Park is the game’s audio. The audio design here is magnificent. It helps to bring the world to life through the sounds of the forest, the dinosaurs, and more. The noises that dinosaurs make are all immensely well-crafted and really help the creatures feel alive as you interact with them. There’s no bad bits here, and that really helps to create a believable atmosphere despite the other issues that the game has. I really want to love ARK Park. It’s a great idea and it has some really good things about it—like the visuals and the audio design. Unfortunately, the developers have just tried to do too much with it, and the game itself doesn’t even have its own identity, which makes it hard for me to recommend it to people, as I’m not even completely sure how to classify it among the ranks of other virtual reality titles out there. ARK Park is available on Viveport.

Viveport Review: ROM: Extraction Armed with powerful orbs, you’ll duck, dodge, and return fire against swarms of alien bots in one of the Vive’s best action games. By Desmond Madison, Greenlit Content Oozing with style and looking gorgeous while running buttery smooth on the Unreal Engine, First Contact Entertainment’s ROM: Extraction takes the action-packed wave shooter genre and cranks it up to new heights in this hyper-kinetic firefight with a twist. In the not too distant future of 2076, the ability to bend time with “Reflex” power is bestowed upon the Orb Extraction Unit sent to gather these resources from the deepest chambers of the moon. Upon extraction, an army of alien-robots decides they’d rather see you dead than have their precious orbs leave the station, and thus begins the fight for your life as you ride the elevator chambers back to the surface, mowing down as many bots as you can before they take you down with them. Luckily, you’re armed with these precious orbs as weapons, and they’re the key to taking on the hordes as you throw each orb across the chamber and shoot them for full effect, including slowing down time to allow for some Matrix-style ducking and dodging. You’ll also want to slow time to line up the perfect shot before blasting the entire room and clearing out the uglies with an incredibly loud and satisfying explosion. Just using your gun, though, won’t be enough. Learning to throw and utilize your orbs as they whip violently around the room will be essential in taking down the droves of alien robots. The firepower on your guns is just too weak, and the trick shooting aspect of the gunplay is really one of the big things that sets ROM apart from so many other wave shooters. The atmosphere doesn’t let up, either. Not only are the visuals stunning, but the Twin Moon soundtrack bathes the entire experience in an electronic rhythm that seems to only intensify with the chaos on screen. Being surrounded by four elevator walls and constantly turning and ducking behind cover and popping back up to line up the perfect shot, ROM: Extraction has a rather blood-pumping cardio effect to it as well, and players should consider going a few extra rounds for a truly rewarding workout that rivals some of the most intense VR experiences out there. It may not have a very wide variety of environments or modes, but comparing it to classics like Space Pirate Trainer, it’s safe to say that ROM: Extraction holds its own in the upper tier of great arcade shooters worth playing to work up a sweat and challenging other players for the tops on the leaderboards. It’s a polished, audio/visual sensory overload of a shooter with terrifying creature designs and a constant sense of tension that will keep your guns blazing in all directions. The orb mechanics change things up from the typical shooter, and the urge to go in again and again will grow on you like the very best arcade challenges in gaming. It’s unabashedly over-the-top with aliens, robots, and explosions, and by the time you think you’ve had enough, load up the updated ‘Overrun’ mode for a whole new twist on your deadly escape to the surface before it’s too late. ROM: Extraction is available on Viveport or as part of Viveport Subscription.

Viveport Review: AI Rebellion Immergity’s starfighter sim delivers beautiful visuals but lackluster gameplay. By Joshua Hawkins, Greenlit Content AI Rebellion has a lot to offer when it comes to visuals. The game looks beautiful, and the sensation of flying through space is wonderful. The bad thing, though, is that these beautiful visuals are all torn to pieces by lackluster audio and a limited gameplay loop. The first time I loaded into AI Rebellion, I was excited. The cockpit looked great, and I really felt like I was seated inside of a small craft barreling through space. Sadly, the interface is pretty rough around the edges. The location of the controls is awkward, and most of the time I felt like my arms were digging into my sides because of how I had to hold them in order to actively reach the controls. As far as combat goes, it’s not anything to write home about. Aiming is easy enough, and firing the two different types of weapons is simple. There’s no real oomph like in other star fighter games, though, and the battles leave a lot to be desired. Another big problem is the way that the game handles different ships. As you progress through the game, you gain access to a few larger ships. The biggest issue here, though, is that the ships all fly and act the same; the only difference is the number of weapons that they have, and the visuals of the bridge. On top of the rough gameplay loop, AI Rebellion also struggles with immersive audio. During the first mission, you crash into a planet and meet an odd robot that helps you out along the way. It’s a great looking robot as far as visuals and animations go, but the audio tracks that it plays feel so out of place and really break the immersion of the entire experience—which seems a bit strange considering how much work was put into the visuals. The unexciting gameplay, bad controls, and terrible audio quality of the NPCs were more than enough to break the immersion and feeling that the visuals brought to life. While you control the ship directly, those controls are wonky and often end with you jabbing your elbow into your side as you try to follow a ship around trying to shoot it. The final nail in the coffin, though, came when I finally reached the AI planet. Thanks to the awkward control positioning, I found it extremely frustrating as I tried to control the ship, the throttle, and take out enemies in the enclosed space that they put me into. All told, while AI Rebellion looks stunning, I can’t recommend giving it a chance unless the developers tinker behind the scenes with the game. Unfortunately, there’s no guarantee this will happen, so for the time being, give this one a pass. AI Rebellion is available on Viveport and as part of Viveport Subscription.

Viveport Review: Asteroid Blaster VR Prepare for classic arcade blasting madness with this homage to the smash hit coin-op game, Asteroids. By Desmond Madison, Greenlit Content Strap yourself in for a hyperkinetic space ride in Asteroid Blaster VR, as you don your jetpack in a 3D throwback to the classic rock-blasting 70’s arcade shooter, Asteroids. The development team at Senomix Research makes no mistake in acknowledging their inspiration from the original Asteroids gameplay, and that’s really the best place to start in imagining what this VR homage has to offer. With the power to thrust yourself towards large asteroids and UFOs, you grip a gun in each fist, blasting away at each and every rock. Much like the original though, you’ll have limited control over your trajectory once momentum is established, flying forwards around the curve of gravity. Using the thrust as your main means of locomotion will take some getting used to, but with enough practice, it’s rewarding to master your skills flying around each rock. You should make sure to try the tutorial and practice, practice, practice! Your fingertip and thumbs on the grip buttons will apply a limited amount of thrust, with the left grip for forward and the right grip for backwards, but the buttons are completely mappable in the options menu. Thrust will always be applied in the direction that you look, and to save energy, you’ll want to be sure you’re thrusting in short bursts. While you’re gliding, your path will not change, so make sure you’re headed in the right direction. You can also always view your status and game score on the screen beside your right-hand gun. Everything recharges after you deplete it, but if you exhaust all 100 percent of your thrust, your recharge will be delayed, leaving you vulnerable to incoming objects. You can also turn on your radar and get a long view of all of your surroundings. Your radar will track all dangerous asteroids within at least 250 meters, but you can always shoot enemies lying outside that range. Bonus items can boost weapons, energy, or score depending on the item. You also need to be on the lookout for UFOs, as they’ll shoot at anything that moves! Make sure to shoot them down before they escape to maximize your score. Asteroids are your main targets, and you’ll want to break up the largest of them and keep firing as they break off into smaller pieces. Once you’ve cleared all of the asteroids, you’ve finished off a wave and you’re ready to do it again, although at least here you don't have to insert more coins to continue. There isn’t much more depth to Asteroids Blaster VR, but that is sort of the point. It harkens back to the days of pure arcade simplicity and challenges the you to complete wave after wave of asteroid destruction. It’s great for blowing off steam for a few minutes, or for hopping into marathon sessions trying to topple your high score over and over again. The dev team at Senomix says it best: “Fly around, shoot stuff, and have fun!” It’s really that simple. Asteroid Blaster VR is available on Viveport and as part of Viveport Subscription.

Viveport Review: Acute Art VR Museum Developed specifically for virtual reality, Acute Art VR Museum introduces users to stunning and beautiful artwork told in the most immersive way possible. By Joshua Hawkins, Greenlit Content The idea behind Acute Art VR Museum is an intriguing one, and the overall goal the developers have set out to complete is admirable. Virtual reality offers an immersive way to bring art to life, and Acute Art VR Museum looks to make that experience even more unique by offering artwork that was crafted specifically for virtual reality. By focusing directly on new artwork made to be enjoyed in virtual reality, developer Acute Art has put itself in a unique position to offer some of the most immersive and tangible experiences available in the art and creativity section. Based on the offerings they have available right now, many are very strong, and offer a fantastic—and rather abstract—tone of narratives which make them easy to dive into. The application works by providing a series of different experiences that users can download and explore. There’s a goal in place to offer a ton of subscription-based content for the application that will be perfect for those who enjoy diving deep into their artistic side. There are also plans in place to offer the artwork of up and coming artists to help get their names out there. As far as the individual experiences go, each one differs in quality. Some are more appealing than others, and out of the several that I tried, only around two of them really blew me away. That isn’t to say that the others aren’t good, but you should expect differing levels of quality. Naturally, as any art is subjective, your experience may vary. The one thing that I wasn’t a huge fan of in Acute Art VR is that none of the content is downloaded when you first launch the app. This means that you’ll need to choose the ones you want to download—which is nice if you don’t plan on trying them all out—but it is also a bit annoying when you’re expecting to be able to dive right in, only to find yourself blocked by slow downloads. Aside from this, though, navigating around the various experiences is as easy as point and click. It’s also easy to see how big an experience is, which can help you gauge which ones you want to try out first. This is one of those applications that’s really hard to review because it merely acts as a hub to several other experiences. If you look at it for what it is, then it works well. If you choose to look at it for what it is capable of, then it has room to grow. Altogether, Acute Art VR Museum offers a unique way to experience new, fresh artwork built specific for virtual reality. Grab your VR headset, strap in, and dive into several different abstract narratives that have been hand-crafted to make you feel like you’re really a part of the world that they created. Acute Art VR Museum is available on Viveport.

Viveport Review: Skill Master VR - Learn Meditation Build focus by visualizing your breath in a virtual reality experience created specifically to help you meditate. By Desmond Madison, Greenlit Content Meditation is utilized in schools and hospitals across the world. Certain types of meditation are used to treat mental health conditions including severe anxiety, clinical depression, and more. Seeing projects like Skill Master VR teach valuable mindfulness and self-care techniques is an encouraging sign that virtual reality can go beyond games and bring people back to their emotional center through focused meditation. In a world overwhelmed by sensory overload and social media 24/7, it says a lot that developers are thinking about how they can create content that helps people stay calm and relaxed for their own mental health. As the practice of meditation almost entirely focuses on breathing, Skill Master VR - Learn Meditation helps you visualize your breathing before your eyes, as you sit and watcha visualization of your breath expand and contract, while the app keeps you tuned in and on-pace with your meditation. You can choose from 12 different calm and peaceful environments to meditate in, letting you stare at the heavens during different times of day. From a grey morning sky, to candy colored afternoons, golden sunsets, and the dead of midnight, there is a mood and atmosphere option for most any flavor of Zen you’re looking for. There are also ten different meditation visualization objects to represent your breath. You simply click the touchpad at any time to cycle through each of the shapes, from smooth and calm to outright abstract and psychedelic. Between the shapes and visualizations, you can focus and concentrate on watching thoughts pass by, allowing anxiety to slip away. While the visual aids are very helpful, so far most of what Skill Master VR has to offer is typical to any meditation practice. Where it gets high-tech is interesting. As you use the app, you'll keep one hand rested by your side, and hold a controller to your chest with the other. While your chest rises and falls with your breath, the trackers in the controller monitor that movement, and feed the data back to the app. This allows Skill Master VR to project the meditation visualization in front of you as an accurate recreation of your physical activity, expanding and contracting along with your breathing. In comparison to normal meditation practice where you have to rely on your own intuition - or perhaps an instructor - to monitor your breathing, Skill Master VR takes that burden away, allowing you to concentrate your focus on the act of breathing itself. This is the key to any successful meditation practice, and it helped me concentrate and focus much faster than 'normal' meditation. Meditation can be described quite simply as the process of paying attention to your breathing, and focusing on thoughts as discrete items. At a certain point in meditation, with enough focus, you can visualize each thought, watching it being presented before you, then floating away. Thoughts flow past you, allowing for a deep relaxation to renew the mind and spirit. You breathe in, you breathe out. It sounds simple, but if it was, we'd all be doing it. While the practice is yours to pursue, Skill Master VR is a great guide to beginning your meditation journey. Skill Master VR - Learn Meditation is available on Viveport.

Viveport Review: Go For Launch: Mercury Without becoming an astronaut, Go For Launch: Mercury is without question the best way to experience outer space with both feet firmly planted on Earth. By Desmond Madison, Greenlit Content The power of education in virtual reality is still something being explored by content creators and educators across the globe. From visiting the Titanic before its fateful iceberg crash, to exploring the Amazon rainforest to see a world that few will ever get to experience in their lifetime, virtual reality offers us the opportunity to recreate experiences of historical significance that few other mediums can truly offer the world at large. When it comes to space exploration, one must consider that there are nearly seven and a half billion people on earth. Of that number of people on the planet, only an estimated 536 extraordinarily brave, talented, and fortunate human beings have managed to reach the orbit of the Earth. This means that less than a fraction of a fraction of a percent of the population of Earth will ever get to experience the majesty and wonder of space flight. On top of that, the history of space travel is one that is fraught with trial, error, heroism, and incredible ingenuity that makes for a very difficult history lesson unless students are somehow able to experience what early space travel was like first hand. With today’s technology and the power of virtual reality, Go For Launch: Mercury accomplishes just that, and offers a profound recreation of the pioneering experience of the Mercury Seven spaceflight. Originally a modest Indiegogo project aiming to bring this experience to VR for educational purposes, the project has come a long way and now features seven complete playable missions from the Mercury program, including Freedom 7, which was originally cancelled. Experiences like this allow you to actually feel what it was like to squeeze into these iron titans of science and engineering responsible for launching the first Americans into space. The level of detail across all seven fully interactive spacecraft helps paint the picture of what it was truly like to boldy go where no American had ever gone before. Students can even see the gradual improvements in design, as each spacecraft was built in succession with more and more improvements. Following strict and historically accurate instructions, pilots can recreate launch at the controls with a level of unparalleled authenticity. Even the launch pads are recreated in extreme detail. You can move the camera outside during the ride skywards, to get a peek at the detailed Earth below as your ship begins to leave the atmosphere. It’s an incredible sight to see, and one that may be finding its home in museums across the nation one day as the virtual reality medium continues to recreate history with such impressive detail. For space enthusiasts, teachers, students and history aficionados, experiences like Go For Launch: Mercury are what sets VR apart from any other medium. Suit up, strap in, and set your sights to the skies. Don’t miss your chance to relive history in a way that only virtual reality can offer. Go For Launch: Mercury is available on Viveport and as part of Viveport Subscription.

Viveport Review: Noda Noda allows you to map your thoughts, plan your projects and brainstorm in the comfort of virtual reality. By Joshua Hawkins, Greenlit Content Mind mapping is a popular method for getting your thoughts out there and organizing them in an easy to see environment. Noda takes the idea behind mind mapping and transfers it into virtual reality, giving you a massive canvas to work with and connect the dots as you want to. It’s a nice idea, but overall it feels a bit clunky to work within, and like anything that involves typing in VR, things can get a bit wonky at times. Honestly, this is one of those applications that doesn’t really need virtual reality to exist, and I truthfully don’t see a point in it. Maybe it works for some, but this is something that can just as easily be achieved with desktop applications, or even sticky notes on a desk—all of which won’t involve setting up your HTC Vive and dealing with that kind of hassle—especially if you aren’t a daily user who keeps their equipment set up and ready to go. If you do choose to use it, then you’ll find yourself dealing with a fairly clunky UI system that is pretty hard to get around. It’s useable, but not nearly the best that I’ve seen, and typing things into the application is pretty tough to deal with. It’s easy to make mistakes, and while the video for the application makes it seem easy, I had a hard time not clicking the wrong letters and keys using the virtual keyboard. To me, being able to type easily seems like it would be a vital part of mapping out your thoughts. Because of this issue, I found Noda to be less useful than I thought it should be. Of course, there are other ways to make use of the program. You can upload images, CSV files, and easily connect everything together. It’s not a bad idea, and with a bit more polish, it might not have been a bad application. But, as it stands now, Noda is badly executed, lacking the ease of use that you really need with an application like this. That isn’t to say Noda couldn’t be good one day. But again, it really feels like an application that would make better sense outside of virtual reality. Having to put on your headset and organize everything together so you can make use of the application is a little cumbersome and feels a bit weird to work with. It is nice to be able to export your projects after you finish them, but I still think I’ll stick with the tried and true method of sticky notes and an empty countertop, at least until they manage to polish things up a little. Noda is available on Viveport or as part of Viveport Subscription.

Viveport Review: Ultimate Booster Experience Hold on for the ride of your life in the Ultimate Booster Experience and prepare to take yourself to new heights! By Desmond Madison, Greenlit Content The premise in Ultimate Booster Experience is simple. Headset on, you’ll emerge standing in front of five separate experience orbs. Each will thrust you into a variety of different death defying thrill rides in this unique and thrilling package of experiences for speed junkies and daredevils alike. There are two different bungie jumping scenarios to enjoy. One of them has you waiting patiently within the basket of a hot air balloon hundreds of feet above the city, waiting for you to pull the lever that drops the floor beneath you, initiating your decent to the concrete jungle below. Another scenario has you on a scaffolding and will task you with walking off the ledge taking your own leap of faith that you’ll come springing back from certain doom. Each are terrifying in their own ways, and you’ll swear you’re about to smash into the ground just before the cord snaps you back to safety. Another experience is the Giant Swing, one that you can test out in the desert across from an incredible waterfall canyon, or ride through a city park at your own peril. Hundreds of feet in the air and with enough force to swing you all the way around the center of gravity, you’ll be able to launch your body like a rag doll for hundreds of feet past the swing in a bit of a competition to see who can fly the furthest before splatting on the ground. It’s a bit of a crash test dummy simulation, and not for those easily nauseated by disorienting speed and heights. There’s also the eagle flight that lets you hold tightly behind the majestic bird as it takes you on a grand tour of the canyon environment at roller-coaster like speeds. It’s a passive experience, and while you won’t control the direction of the flight, it’s an impressive and refreshing way to just relax and soak in the scenery. If it’s control you’re looking for, don’t miss the final ride, and that involves grabbing onto a Shuttle-Rocket with your hands and free-flying like a speeding bullet across the skies in any direction you choose, high above a suspiciously New York City-like landscape. While Ultimate Rocket Booster may be touted as a solid VR party starter, be cautious of showing this one off the bat to first time VR users. The sense of speed and disorientation, while entirely intentional, is so well reproduced here for thrill-seekers that it’s been documented to have made some users feel sick to their stomachs… just as they would feel bungie-jumping in the face of death high above a city street. It’s just that intense of an experience, but it also might be just what you’re looking for. Proceed with caution but get ready to scream! Ultimate Booster Experience is available on Viveport or as part of Viveport Subscription.

Viveport Review: Solitaire VR Looking for a game to play all by your lonesome with a little bit of a spooky twist? Think you have the guts to survive a night of card playing all alone in a haunted mansion? Look no further than Solitaire VR. By Desmond Madison, Greenlit Content Patience, better known as Solitaire in the US and Canada, is the collective name for a number of card games that can be played alone by a single player. Games of Patience generally involve removing cards from a number of different layouts, with the ultimate goal of removing all the cards in play. If this all sounds pretty familiar, it's likely that even if you've never played a game of Patience/Solitaire with cards, you played it on a PC - it has appeared on nearly every version of Windows since 1990. Naturally, Patience is ripe for an update, at least visually. While there are many solitaire variants available on a variety of platforms, Solitaire VR is one of the first attempts at bringing this venerable card game to VR. Any veteran of Patience games will be happy to see that three varieties are available to play in Solitaire VR: Klondike, Freecell, and Yukon. From a rules perspective all three are faithfully recreated, but that alone doesn't seem enough to justify a VR experience. With an accurate representation of the game rules as a base, what does a developer like Babaroga, LLC bring to the (card) table? The answer is, in a nutshell: atmosphere and story. In a radical departure from the 'green baize background' of classic solitaire games, Solitaire VR is set within the virtual halls of an ancient mountain keep, a gothic manor owned by a mysterious owner known only as the Baron. Whilst you play, you'll witness spectres of sorrow, love, and loss dance across the hallways to the player piano in the foyer. As you explore the grounds to look for more decks to play, you'll start to unravel a haunting tale of the previous occupants of the manor. With atmospheric visuals on par with Disney’s Haunted Mansion, and a gradually revealed mystery to explore, there are plenty of elements to enjoy here beyond simple solitaire. While solitaire can be engrossing - there's a reason it's endured, after all - Solitaire VR's visuals and art direction keeps you invested to where you’re playing this classic game almost as much for the unique experience as you are for the relaxation. After all, playing patience has never been about excitement and adrenaline; it's a game designed to help you pass the time with a simple set of playing cards. While the entry requirements for Solitaire VR are clearly considerably higher than a deck of cards, Solitaire VR does an excellent job invoking a mood, with a world that’s just intriguing enough to keep you wanting to come back to look for more secrets. Are you bold enough to unlock the stories of the past, or do you prefer to sit back, relax, and enjoy the sight of the gorgeous mansion? The choice is yours, so why not see what’s in the cards with this low-cost and impressive presentation of the simple classic. Solitaire VR is available on Viveport or as part of Viveport Subscription.

Viveport Review: Frontier VR Survive the old Frontier in the American West as you experience a wilderness teaming with tiny bunnies and ferocious grizzly bears. By Desmond Madison, Greenlit Content In Frontier VR, armed with a revolver, sawed off shotgun, or a sniper rifle, you’ll be thrust into three different locations and tasked with hunting the fauna throughout the uniquely stylized low polygonal scenery. Part of the charm of Frontier's art direction stems from watching hawks, snowy owls, and flocks of birds spread across the sky as they dash towards the sunset. The sign-board menus in the game also allow you to adjust the lighting and time of day as you stand in each room scale scene. The experience is presented without locomotion options, leaving you confined to your central camp in each scenario. It’s interesting that the core mechanic of interaction is shooting guns at animals, as it’s worth noting that it’s completely optional – and this experience largely allows you to just enjoy the scenery without any core objective whatsoever. If you DO decide to shoot some adorable furry critters, rest assured, this is a blood, guts, and gore-free presentation meant to help the player casually experience a virtual environment. There isn’t a whole lot more to do in Frontier VR, and that may be an issue with many players looking for more depth in a VR experience set on the wild frontier. It can feel as simple as a casual shooting gallery without a scoring system or waves of animals coming at you. Some may find this to be refreshing, and perhaps given that you aren’t forced to pick up a gun at all, some may enjoy visiting this environment for the virtual escapism and scenery, perhaps making for a great place to relax and mediate. There are plenty of virtual shooting gallery games on Vive, and more than a few VR relaxation environments, but Frontier VR doesn’t seem to really commit to being one or the other. As a result, it can feel more like the amount of content is lacking and come across as more of a technical demo than a fully-featured game to explore. Even still, the visual appeal packed into the experience by Gaugepunk Games really goes a long way, and for something without objectives, it surprisingly manages to maintain your curiosity as the animals continue to pour in from all directions. It’s entirely up to you if you’d like to slay them or not, but the physics on each of the objects around your camping grounds will keep you curious enough to play around in this sandbox until you’ve seen everything across the desert, woods, and great plains environments. Frontier VR may not be the most in-depth gaming experience on Vive, but as long as you’re curious enough to spend some time in a vibrant and lively frontier environment for some whimsical western escapism, this one is worth a look for those who are simply looking for… less. Frontier VR is available on Viveport or as part of Viveport Subscription.

Viveport Review: Final Soccer VR Deflecting soccer balls is one thing, but actually kicking balls with your feet towards the goal? Mind blowing! By Desmond Madison, Greenlit Content You might remember this title’s initial release on Vive way back in November of 2016 when it was called Final Goalie. The talented team at Ivanovich Games has a healthy catalog of great experiences under their belt, and Final Goalie was always a shining example of quality sports arcade simulation in virtual reality before it became Final Soccer VR in its current release. What’s the big difference now, you ask? Three words: Vive. Tracker. Implementation. That’s right! The initial release of Final Goalie put you on guard as a goalkeeper slapping, catching, and blocking soccer balls as they came hurling at your line of defense using only your hands. That experience is still an absolute blast - load up Arcade Mode and stop a barrage of soccer balls speeding at you out of cannons, while making use of awesome power ups like giant mitts and slow-motion time effects. It’s like a non-stop gym-class assault on the senses that’ll keep your heart rate up, but thankfully save you from the sting of actually being hit in the face… even if you still manage to get hit in the face. On top of local one-on-one penalty shootouts for two players, Final Soccer VR offers a supremely innovative mobile platform integrated form of multiplayer. If you’re a Vive user at home, chances are your friends will want to play along with you, and they can load up the Final Kick application to connect with your game in real time as you stand at your goal in virtual reality. Out-of-VR players can then hurl soccer balls at you with impressive accuracy from their phones, keeping you on your toes in VR from across the room. It’s a supremely interesting approach that we hope more developers will implement mobile integration like this for multiplayer in the future, but for now, Final Soccer is one of the best examples of this type of innovation on the platform. Speaking of innovation, the big transition from Final Goalie to Final Soccer really does lie in the integration of the Vive trackers that can now be attached to the user’s feet. This flips the script entirely, and now players can engage in Striker Mode, where you can take shots at the goal with your feet instead of just standing and blocking with your hands. The sensation is absolutely surreal, and it works with using just one Vive tracker or two... or even if you’re crafty enough to attach a single Vive controller to your sneaker. It may sound silly, but it’s worth it for the experience, and it gives you a sense of immersion that simply feels unlike anything else on Vive. Like many physically active experiences, you’ll want to be sure your room is clear and the pets are locked out of the room for this one, because you’ll be bending it (almost) like Beckham in your play space for days, and after it’s all over, you’re certain to have burned quite a few calories and worked up a sweat you can be proud of. Sports fans and lovers of arcade simulations will get more than a few kicks out of Final Soccer VR and it’s a solid addition to a growing library of top-tier content with innovative multiplayer compatibility. Final Soccer VR is available on Viveport and as part of Viveport Subscription.