Baalbek Reborn: Temples (Steam VR)

VR Shop Score – Silver Award

System: Valve Index & HTC Vive
Price at Time Of Review: Free
Comfort Rating: Green
Genre: Educational
Input: Tracked Motion Controllers
Best Playing Position: Sitting
Multi-Player: No
Age Rating: PG

 

Description: The Ministry of Culture, General Directorate of Antiquities of Lebanon presents this teletour, a cooperative project of the German Archaeological Institute and Flyover Zone, taking you on a virtual tour of the Roman temples in Baalbek, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Lebanon. See today’s ruins in the archaeological park and travel back in time to the third century of our era to enjoy its ancient splendour digitally restored. At each of the 39 stops, you can hear explanations of what you are seeing offered by the German archaeologists who have been studying the site for over twenty years.

Review: Maybe I am just getting old, or I just find educational apps boring, I mostly don’t like this kind of cheap educational tour of historic buildings as they are often over priced and don’t feature much educational material. ‘Baalbek Reborn: Temples’ is not only free, it is also one of the most in-depth virtual tours I have seen in VR so far. With almost 40 points of interest based on both inside and outside locations of the Baalbek, Lebanon, this app was not only interesting but also ram-packed with educational material and it is free! If you use it in an educational setting or just to satisfy your own curiosity, this app is well worth a download. Sure, not all the 360 photo waypoints look great, but with the narration on each point as well you can still get the gist of what you are seeing.