PlayStation VR 2 review: a small step that might become a huge leap

The PlayStation VR 2 quality crept up on me.was about to end Tetris Effect: Connected‘s “Downtown Jazz” stage, I decided to slowly drift the final tetromino to the bottom of the grid. Rooftops, streetlights, and fire escapes that surround the floating avatar would be a good idea. Blocks landed, my last line evaporated, and New York’s digital his facsimile vanished in a shower of white debris. I get up from my chair, tap the button to open the VR quick settings, set a larger play area, then Horizon Call of the MountainOut of curiosity, I took off my headset and glanced at my watch. Three hours have passed since we sat down and played.

I’ve spent the better part of two weeks on my PlayStation VR 2, and the following cases are prevalent. Oh my God Not moments, everything is just a cumulative instance the work, seamless and comfortable, time melts away. At the moment, the headset’s library of new games is sorely lacking, and its $549.99 price tag is exorbitant. But mechanically speaking, it’s a solid foundation. Also, if Sony can maintain a steady stream of substantial games to its library of peripherals, I might be inclined to recommend it somewhere else.

PSVR 2’s elevator pitch is simple. Virtual reality that unleashes the power of PlayStation 5. Get a 4K HDR display, eye tracking, haptic feedback, 3D audio, a wide field of view, and more.For a complete overview of all bells and whistles, you can read Complete PlayStation FAQI’m not going to spoil this review with information already gathered elsewhere.

Instead, let us turn our attention to mountain horizon call, An estimated showpiece of all the bells and whistles above.

The linear spin-off of Guerrilla Games’ open-world series begins in a canoe, traversing an azure river under a vibrant jungle canopy. I am immediately blown away not only by the range of colors, but also by the detail and lighting. Shadows play across the water as the boat passes under particularly large palm leaves, and the clothes of the two fellow travelers change between rough leather.Scratched metal and textured cloth. . The wind stirs the jungle in all directions.far from good looking Horizon Forbidden WestOf course, it’s the most compelling game I’ve seen in VR.

It takes a few minutes before you notice the “foveal rendering”. Essentially, the headset’s eye tracker drops the resolution of your peripheral vision in order to improve the resolution of the area you’re focusing on.Despite the quality of the aforementioned environment details, the solution is a bit In some cases, it takes too long to sharpen, especially while encountering combat later on. The result is a beautiful game that looks a little blurry when you’re not standing still. Anyway, eye tracking is a godsend when aiming at a specific part of an enemy machine. increase. I felt like Legolas when I sniped a frozen canister in the chest of a flying enemy in a fight against a group of Grinhawks.

Image: Guerrilla Game, Firesprite/Sony Interactive Entertainment

In between battles and light puzzle solving, call of the mountain Climbing features — a lot of itYou’d be better off showing off your VR 2 Sense controller. Much like the PlayStation 5’s DualSense and DualSense Edge, the VR 2 Sense’s triggers change resistance based on your in-game actions. When climbing, this manifests itself by requiring a firmer finger grip towards the bottom of the trigger range.call of the mountain (featuring the side quest-like “Legendary Climbing”) my fingers actually hurt. (It’s worth noting that my colleague Russ Frushtick experienced significant motion sickness problems while playing.) call of the mountain, even at maximum comfort settings. If you’re a casual VR user who needs teleportation, call of the mountain I don’t have one, so if you don’t want to get sick, you might find this game too much to handle.)

Both VR 2 Sense controllers were comfortable, though.The weight is about the same as the Meta Quest 2’s controller, but the motion sensor ring is larger and wraps wider around your wrist.after playing a little Resident Evil 4 VR This week’s Quest 2 as a point of comparison has to give a nod to VR 2 Senses.

Image: Sony Interactive Entertainment

In fact, Sony seems to have gone to great lengths to reduce the distractions that can occur while playing. The accordion keeps room light from penetrating.

If, like me, you’re obsessed with the Quest 2’s ability to boot in any room of your home without being tethered to the console, the PSVR 2’s USB-C cord definitely stands out. We found that your torso was the least intrusive place to rest without tugging on the rear band of the headset. It feels like a small price to pay for the benefits you can get.

Tethers aside, all of these touches give way to what’s happening right in front of me. You can see a rainbow of growing moss. The headphones sit securely in your ears and are perfect for enjoying 3D audio. 3D audio signals a raging river below, a blazing fire to the left, and the Watcher’s mechanical growl in the weeds to the right.if you have some trouble do Plunge me out of the experience – I found the headset’s haptic feedback to be a little more annoying than addictive, so I turned it off – a sleek UI pops up at the click of a button.

Image: Sony Interactive Entertainment

Like hopping between Lesbian Infinite, moss, thumperand Song in the Smoke: Rekindlingone of the PSVR 2’s strengths comes through in long sessions with me. call of the mountain: A very comfortable headset. The weight is evenly distributed between the thick front padding and the soft rear band to prevent pain in the forehead and bridge of the nose. Additionally, the headset is easy to adjust as it features one button on him to extend the visor in front and another to release the grip of the band in the back.Aside from messy hair and the general anxiety that comes with walking back into the real world at will, it doesn’t look too bad after a long play session. , I don’t think it’s an uncomfortable headset 3rd party add-onsBut once many of the other major hurdles to form have been put in place, comfort is paramount to VR.

As a proof of concept and a microcosm of what gaming on headsets might look like in the future, call of the mountain works. But like most proofs of concept, it never pulls me back. My favorite moment on PSVR 2 was Tetris Effect: Connected or staggering Before Your Eyes — titles that are by no means new and are carryovers from other platforms, different headsets, or previous generations. PSVR2Lack of system sales titles. But still — we’re craving something that feels genuinely new to better justify the PSVR 2’s existence and its extremely steep price point.

Because it’s not the motion controls, eye tracking, or haptic feedback that excites me the most when I launch PSVR 2. PS5. There’s a good chance he’ll get a VR update in a week from now. Gran Turismo 7, No Man’s Skyand Resident Evil Village (The latter, in my opinion, could be a system seller in its own right), and that promise might come true. Yes, PSVR 2 has a lot of potential, but that’s all for now. .

PlayStation VR2 Peripherals and accompanying software were reviewed using pre-release units provided by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Vox Media has affiliate partnerships. These do not affect editorial content, but Vox Media may earn commissions on products purchased via affiliate links.discoverable Additional information on Polygon’s Ethics Policy can be found here.