System: Oculus Rift, Rift S
Price at Time Of Review: £22.99
Comfort Rating: Red (Extreme Movement)
Genre: Space Shooter
Input: Gamepad, Flight stick, Touch (as gamepad)
Best Playing Position: Sitting
Multi-Player: Yes
Age Rating: PG
Description: In EVE: Valkyrie™, you are in command of a heavily armed fighter in the most realistic dogfighting game available on any platform. Immersive VR technology puts you right in the cockpit for visceral team-based action.
Review: It was one of the Oculus Rifts launch titles and it was a game that was often used to showcase the power of VR. But is EVE: Valkyrie (with the Carrier Assault update) any good? While it is little more than an arcade space shooter this is a game that feels much bigger than it really is. While there are two modes of play this game is best when the multiplayer mode is running. A few games of this will soon have you wanting to get revenge time and time again.
Everything looks simply stunning and at it’s best it is so amazing that it will leave you slack-jawed. It feels like a dream to play as well with super responsive controls you can easily swerve and twist out of trouble and while this will make you feel nauseated, it will also trick your brain into believing this is real and you will die if your ship explodes. But it is mostly down to how you deal with this nausea that will make or break your love for this game and VR. Some people (like myself) will take the headset off, rest for five then get back to it. But some people will jump right into this game first and be instantly put off by VR as a whole which is not good. Happily, most VR games are nowhere near as intense as this one it, but sadly not many look and play as good as this one.
I want to admit that secretly I did want EVE: Valkyrie to be bad so I could rip holes out of it for costing more than a good mobile VR headset. But sadly there is nothing bad about this game at all. In fact, you get the feeling that virtual reality was made for this game and vice versa. VR as the new gaming system needs more games like this and I am sure that in time more will come. Sure, most people will feel sick the first few times they play it, but that is not from poor graphics, it is because this game looks so real and runs so smooth that your whole body will believe that it just did that barrel roll to get out of the way of enemy fire!
At times there is too much going on and you can’t concentrate and at times you are never really sure what you are doing. But all through those times you will be having fun, believing you are in an epic space battle. I hate to admit this but EVE: Valkyrie is worth every penny and then some. This is a game that can sell VR systems and so far there is no other VR experience that comes close to the intensity and immersion this game offers. If you are one of the lucky people who got it free with your Oculus then well done and you are probably already enjoying it, but if you didn’t, do consider buying this game just to show yourself and anyone else you share it with just how good a VR game can be.
