In many cases there were at least two different directions I could choose to go, some of which had interactive elements blocking the way (like one where I had to pull a chain on a pulley to open a sewer pathway in front of me, or another where I used C4 to blow open a blocked pathway). There were reeds that I could use for cover, and I could shoot lights out with my silenced weapons to make new pathways of darkness. Gameplay plays out like you’d expect from a stealth shooter-beyond being in a kayak, that is-I paddled my way through dark waterways, trying to avoid being seen by enemies, spotlights, and sometimes boats. A paddle stowed on the side of the kayak is used to propel yourself stroke by stroke, and indeed you’ll need to paddle on one side or the other to turn as you navigate the swampy waterways. Phantom builds its gameplay around the kayak which serves as both the player’s locomotion and much of their interaction. See Lone Echo as one of the finest examples of the former approach, and Déraciné as the latter. The all too common alternative in VR development is ‘on-paper design’, whereby someone expects to easily translate well defined non-VR genres into VR without first figuring out if the underlying mechanics that existing in those non-VR games actually make for a fun VR experience. NDreams has hit on the same approach to designing Phantom that I regularly rant about on Twitter-find what actually works and is fun to do with a VR headset on your head and tracked controllers in your hands, and then find a way to build your game around it.
4ext recovery img htc shooter evo 3e full#
Still, I’m excited to see what the game will look like on Rift with the power of a full PC behind it.Īfter a few minutes into the game, I felt immersed enough that I completely forgot I was even using Quest (or in the middle of a noisy room at E3)- Phantom: Covert Ops feels like a serious game for serious gamers, rather than a casual title for VR first-timers. This is all thanks to the smart locomotion and interaction design of Phantom which revolves entirely around the player covertly infiltrating a facility from the waterways. It’s clear that this game was not stripped for all it was worth to meet Quest’s lower powered hardware, but was instead thoughtfully designed with the graphical limitations in mind. The first thing I noticed when I put the headset on was that the game looks surprisingly good for being on Quest. At E3 2019 I got to play the first demo of the title on Quest. Phantom: Covert Ops is in development for both Rift and Quest.
While the kayak part sounds just a little ridiculous, it’s actually a genius bit of VR design which affords the game an immersive locomotion and interaction system that has huge potential. The game plays out over the course of a single night, and follows a special operative as they infiltrate a facility in a tactical kayak. At E3 2019 this week, I got a chance to go hands-on with Phantom: Covert Ops, an Oculus Studios exclusive in development by nDreams.
0 kommentar(er)
