Crayon
Member
I only had a psvr1 till now so I had heard of pavlov but never got to try it. I'm trying it now. I've not even really played a game proper. I've just been killing zombies and bots for a few hours. I'm blown away now but I haven't even seen what the ramifications of social multiplayer are like. This thread could be premature but I'm already mind-blown. btw warm welcome to assholes who think they need to point out that it was already out. This is a thread about someone who has never played anything like this and the game in that context.
Horizon is supposed to be the showcase game. Realistically, it's GT7 that is making the waves, but same concept: See how good this looks. Both the the graphics and the display quality.
Pavlov, on the other hand is one of those vr games that throws off all the chains and lets the designers and the player go nuts. With the massive interactivity-bandwidth of vr, most games want to hover in an area where things are slowed down a bit, or other constraints are put in for the sake of accessibility.
Have you played counterstrike? Have you played laser tag? Let me tell you a story:
There are zombies coming. Some loot has popped up between rounds. It's been all pistols, so far. I can holster one sidearm and hold two more. So duh, grab three. You need a hand to reload so when one of these guns empties, one has to go.
My plan is... I'm going to find a spot to defend and when they come, I'll be both hands blazing and have the backup in the holster. When one empties, I am going to drop whichever one I though was less effective as I eject the mag from the one I want to reload. Then in one graceful motion (foreshadowing), I'm going to grab a new mag from my hip, slot it into the pistol, pull back the slide, then pull the other loaded gun out of it's holster and resume the dual-wielding.
I stand at the pedestal in the short time I have between waves and practice this plan. mimicking the gestures that I hope will prepare my brain to execute.
Yeah guess what fucking happens. One weapon empties, I drop the wrong one. There is no wrong one, you idiot. I've already panicked. Grab a mag... good... forgot to eject the clip. Okay now I am being bitten and I am not reloaded yet. Eject the clip, slam in the new one, pull the slide, reach for the gun on the holster... with my left hand?
This is now a full blown crisis. When I was planning this out, I didn't consider that I might be reaching for the holster on my right hip with my left hand. There actually was a wrong gun to drop. I'm not sure if reaching with the left hand will work or not and am in the middle of a plan that is still under-performing and I am being bitten as I backpedal from one room to the next. I have to turn for a moment and look behind me to make sure there aren't more coming from that direction; I lose another precious second. In the heat of the moment, I go to throw the gun in my right hand over to my left hand and catch it. I've done this before. I was playing around at the shooting range doing this. But under duress, my left hand does not catch the gun. It goes flying. Soon after, I die.
The interesting thing about that little story is that I was making a plan - a strategy - around the rich physical interactions in the game. I made a plan that I had reason to believe could work, and it failed. I am still not sure how much of that was the plan and how much was the execution.
Strategy. Making plans and seeing if they work. I experienced strategic gameplay possibilities around handling multiple guns like they do in the movies. And here you thought vr gameplay meant smashing random plates and finger painting.
This is what I would call an advanced vr game and it is going hard on vr's capacity for gameplay. And it's doing so with little concessions for comfort. Handling the weapons is just one thing. You will hear about it because it seems like anyone who tries the game is going to go through the clown-epoch of fumbling. It's okay because it is absolutely hilarious and the challenge of doing it is a ton of fun in it's own right. Vaguely like that initial shock of demon's souls back in the day but multiplied by a thousand thanks to vr equipment.
Beyond that initial weapon handling teething phase, you are spinning on your heal, crouching behind car hoods, blind firing, reaching around corners to throw grenades, bringing scopes up to your eyes, dual wielding in two directions at once, leaning out to check corners all kinds of these essential gameplay maneuvers that are completely organic (ie: not "hold forward in cover and press r2 for blind fire").
I'm not really into military shooters or competitive shooters. Just sayin if you want to see what vr can really do to facilitate hardcore gameplay then maybe you should have a look at Pavlov.
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