The idea is so simple that a child of eight could evoke. In fact, it is probably the one that most of eight years since 1977 have, at one time or another fantasized about. Oculus Rift pop one on your head, start Monova EVE Valkyrie and suddenly you are inside the cockpit of a fairing, laser-loaded firing missile, dip and dodge diving, dog-related space fighter.

It is a good thing gasp-out-loud, seeing the enemy ships zooming past and be able to follow with the head of the true life turns as they go. The most immediately stop, and perhaps surprising thing about all this, especially given its foundation in the online world famous Eve complex, is simply intuitive way all this is. Holding a gamepad in your hand and using sticks to control the pitch and yaw of your boat is a breeze, while weapons systems are linked to two triggers. single fire lasers, requiring active tailing enemies and knowledge of the appropriate position to take just in front of them in the time-honored combat flight mode. Missiles meanwhile is where all the VR innovation suddenly becomes a much more active ingredient.

By pressing the left trigger and then eyeballing enemies of their high trajectory, down, and all around allows time for your missiles to reach lock-on. The more you are able to keep bad no ‘to more than your missiles you can unload them at once. Get yourself in a prime position, close without debris and with a clear view of your career. Listen to the sound signal indicator to alert you to a lock-on, then release the left trigger to release the payload. It is intensely satisfying things, the kind of joy video game that is clear and immediate. The thrill of having the indicator Kill arise in front of your face as you wheel away a hard-earned splosions dam death “your back is something everyone can enjoy. I even tested some non-gaming parents it is easier to show people what the Rift is that why there is now a mountain of cables and hardware taking over your living room and he had panting , cooing and ahhing. I could not get my dad in the bowling on the Wii still here, he was happily downing spaceships Eve in a play. VR. Who knew?

Valkyrie, by its nature, is an arcade experience. Those of us weaned on the likes of Elite: Dangerous or before that, Freespace, find their cockpit stripped back and built for shorter, shallower, and yet more emphatic combat experiences. Having sunk hundreds of hours in the two aforementioned games, I always found myself looking around my Valkyrie cockpit and want to interact with myriad levers and buttons flashing doo-dads that fill the space. I could not.

Yet for all the essentially useless tat on the screen there is a respectable performance in some individual elements of the design of the cockpit. Shield and armor hull meters before you hang on each side, and you go on the task not to jump you are actively looking around when the light of a red emergency light enters your vision missile strike. Which, again, feels cool, giving your look even more the agency.

When it comes to the world outside the cockpit there are other significant design settings to enable or enhance your probably soon to be the sore neck influence on proceedings. Enemy ships leave a clear red line behind them, far more than normally found in your typical hunting dog, just to make it a little easier for crane at them. the integrity of the hull can be increased by collecting floating armor packages I will say it was an experience that arcade green glow tell tale in the context of explosions and general chaos ensuing space around them .