Far Cry VR is a fun and sweaty dive into insanity before Far Cry 6 but its not really a Far Cry game

Date:
Sun, 15 Aug 2021 14:00:34 +0000

Description:
The premium VR multiplayer experience is now open at locations around the world and the TechRadar team visited its gun-filled paradise.

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Gaming baddies dont come much more unhinged than Far Cry 3s Vaas Montenegro, coming at you like Batmans Joker if hed got a tropical paradise suntan
instead of applying factor 100 sunscreen in some dingy Gotham alleyway. Its set to be a big year for Vaas hes definitely returning for Far Cry 6 s upcoming DLC packs and may even feature in the campaign in some as-yet-uncertain way. And now hes starring in the Far Cry franchises first foray into virtual reality.

But theres a catch yes, Far Cry VR: Dive Into Insanity does see the Far Cry character exist in a VR space. And yet, its a Far Cry game in name alone.

As the TechRadar team found out during a recent playthrough, however, thats not necessarily a bad thing. Far Cry 6 DLC will bring back fan-favorite villains New games 2021 : upcoming game release dates for console and PC Best FPS games : the most essential first-person shooters (Image credit: Ubisoft)
A pirates strife

Far Cry VR: Dive Into Insanity is a free-roaming VR experience thats being hosted at Zero Latency virtual reality locations around the globe (52 in total, with 3 in the UK and 11 in the United States). Returning to Far Cry 3s Rook Island, you (and a gang of up to seven pals) find yourself captured by the villainous Vaas, and must work together to blast your way out of the pirates clutches.

Though you may be familiar with PC VR, the Oculus Quest or PlayStation VR , Zero Latency works a little bit differently. For starters, youre out of your bedroom or living room, and out in a warehouse-sized play space, hosted by a game master that will help get the experience set up. Each player is given an OSVR HD2K headset to wear, attached to a gaming laptop housed in a backpack and networked up wirelessly with your fellow players. Youre then handed a pump-action gun peripheral (complete with motion trackers) and, after a short set up screen to confirm your height and name tag, thrust into the virtual reality world. (Image credit: Ubisoft)

From there youre free to run around with relatively few restrictions a really freeing experience for anyone sick of the confines of room scale play in a pokey flat or house. At Zero Latency youve got roughly the space of a tennis court to run around in, with the headset UI smartly warning when youre approaching a real-world wall or another player. In terms of full motion and immersive movement, its about as good as VR gets. A far cry from Far Cry

Far Cry VR: Dive Into Insanity itself is very straightforward however. The interlocking emergent systems of the Far Cry series are gone there are no stealthy kills, no animal taming, no crafting and no open world. Dive Into Insanity is very much a points-based, on-rails shooter. Theres more in common here with arcade staples like Time Crisis or House of the Dead than the free-roaming weve come to expect from Far Cry.

And yet in the context of a multiplayer shooter, thats fine. Chasing the highest score is far more of a novelty when side-by-side physically (read: virtually) with your pals. Dive Into Insanity does a good job of recreating the visual feel of Far Crys third instalment all lush tropical jungles, bandana-wearing pirates, rusty container sheds and exploding barrels. Theres even a hallucinogenic shootout in a mysterious cavern through which sea creatures float and pirates take potshots at you from the ceiling a high point of the experience. Zero Latency VRs weapon peripheral is responsive and accurate too (provided youve correctly entered your height, that is), letting you switch on the fly between a bullet-spewing, Rambo-aping machine gun and a more refined and accurate one-hit-kill crossbow. (Image credit: Ubisoft)

Where the six TechRadar players would have liked to have seen it be a little more ambitious however was in its environmental level design for the most part, youre funnelled from one arena-like shooting zone to another, with distant enemies to be picked off from afar, while youre stood shooting from a cave ledge or moving cable car. Itd have been great to have been able to take the inherent three-dimensionality of virtual reality to have been able to
have sprung some pincer-style surprise team attacks. Also, the final battle against Vaas and his cronies was a bit drawn out too, overly reliant on waves of enemies rather than the show stopping spectacle a VR games scale could be capable of.

Despite these grumbles, we had a lot of fun and, despite the relative lack
of interesting level layouts to navigate, quite the workout too. Without
going into too much gory detail, we were dripping with sweat by the end of
the games 30-ish minute run time. Though the game can accommodate up to eight players, six is probably the sweet spot youd run the risk of running into your mates too often otherwise.

Prices vary from city to city, but a session on Far Cry VR: Dive Into
Insanity starts at 19.95 / $40 / AU$49 per person at off-peak times. You can add roughly an extra ten pounds or bucks to that price for a peak time playthrough.

Its a far cry from a true Far Cry game then, but its an excellent showcase
for social VR gaming, and a succulent entree for this years main event Far Cry 6. Best VR games



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Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/news/far-cry-vr-is-a-fun-and-sweaty-dive-into-insani ty-before-far-cry-6-but-its-not-really-a-far-cry-game/


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