Terror in virtual reality awaited me as I waited for over an hour to check out the Oculus Rift for the first time. I didn’t waste the wait too much. I did go off and leave Nuckles87 in my place for a bit to play as Sonic in Smash Bros 3DS. I won my match and even had an adventure kicking some Koopa and Egg Robo butt. But that’s not why you’re reading this. So after getting inside and sitting on a nice sofa, the fine folks at Oculus strapped on my headgear and headphones and put me into the world of Ridley Scott’s Alien.
I used a 360 controller to move and turn around and used the helmet to look around. The environment was in full 3D as I crawled and scurried about to make sure I avoided the Alien. I crawled behind barricades and moved slowy as to avoid detection. I used the movement tracker which was in my left hand and I had to turn my head just to look at it. Even stopping to look around the environment was incredible. The fact that the screen covers your eyes and is in 3-D really puts you into the world. But just as I was starting to admire it, a fiery explosion happened in the distance which put some light on me. The Alien sprang up and saw me! Screeching with bloodlust, it chased after me and I booked it into the closest room and hid in a locker. As I could hear Amanda’s (the character you’re playing as) fearful breathing, the Alien crawled into the room to look around. I instinctively backed my head up and the goggles reacted to that by pulling the camera back. I then realized I could push my body forward and look through the locker grate my moving my head. The hairs stood on the back of my neck as I peeked out as far as I could and watched as the Alien searched the room for me. Just as he headed out, the game went to black and the demo was over. A very short demo for such a long wait, but at least I survived.
Alien: Isolation shows just how terrifying it can be to virtually put yourself in a scary environment that your eyes can only perceive as real. If virtual reality helmets like Oculus Rift and Morpheus are the future of gaming, then we are in for some incredibly terrifying moments.
Here’s a bonus video of some other poor soul playing the game and not being as lucky as me.
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