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Virtual Reality was also at Play Expo in a number of gaming forms, the best new one being Push For Emor, and whether charging through caves to shoot some baddies, or zooming around space, with the Oculus Rift headset and some headphones, this is to gaming what porn is to an orgasm! Even just running around the streets, after I accidentally docked my spaceship, as I looked around it completely blew me away. And despite the fact I was just sat on an ordinary chair, I felt like I was floating in all directions in the X, Y and Z axes as if I was in a hydraulic chair!
The premise is as follows:
- When the Emorian Empire starts to expand it’s territories into Justicar federal space, Colonel Ferris Glutes sends you in under cover to join a resistance group allied with Justicar. Your mission, that you have no choice but to accept (because it’s your job and it would be a very short game if you didn’t) is to clear the way for Justicar forces.
Check out the Push For Emor website and watch the demo below. And bear in mind that while headsets can be bought now from the Oculus Rift website for around £230 including delivery and taxes, a consumer version is coming to the UK in Q1 2016 which is set to be even better so I’m holding out for that:
Tactics Forever was a bizarre but interesting use of Oculus Rift in a 2-player game where you’ll each separately have a few minutes to build your own spaceship – looking all around your headset. Then, once time is up, the CPU will pit both ships against each other on the central, large screen. I lost, but this is the kind of game where you really need to have a second crack at it soon after, were it not for the queues, since it took half of the build time to figure out what I had to do.
For more info, follow them on Twitter.
Jockey Rush is very similar to Starters Orders 6, which I played last year, where you can play as a champion jockey and ride around the world at over 50 racecourses. It’s a horse-racing management simulation which is a treat to play, but it’s the hydraulic ‘horse’ – aka the iJoy Ride excercise device – that makes it, and that’s something you can’t recreate at home without a lot of money.
Visit the Jockey Rush website.
Again at Play Expo, there was the Virtuality 1000CS Virtual Reality Pod, courtesy of Retro Computer Museum, playing the two-player version of it’s most popular game, Dactyl Nightmare. There’s a three-dimensional arena in front of you, allowing you to walk up and down stairs while the other player also walks about. They’re trying to kill you just as you need to kill them. This is achieved by launching grenades in their direction. Lift the sight up and ‘lob’ them towards him. After you’ve shot eight grenades, a pterodactyl will appear and lift you up, then drop you in another part of the map. The creature won’t kill you, he’s just annoying, meaning that once you land you’ll need to get your bearings again and find where your opponent is again. It is possible to avoid being picked up… except that you need to kill the pterodactyl before he gets to you. Which I found impossible. And while last time I won the game, this time it was a draw.
There’s a three-minute limit to the game and the 3D images appear inside your helmet, and the world turns as you turn. I was conscious of the fact that I was wearing a belt full of electronics that was linked to the circular platform and I didn’t want to twist the wires, but it’s fairly intuitive and whether or not you’ve played it before, it’s an unmissable experience.
You can see footage of the unit in action here, and check out Retro Computer Museum’s Facebook page and their website, as well as their Retro VR page.
Go to page 6 for the Pinball machines, including one of my all-time favourites!
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.