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: 15+
VR Shop Score 1/100: 35
Description: Most people have never heard of ocean acidification—the process by which the ocean becomes more acidic as it absorbs carbon dioxide (CO2) that has been emitted into the atmosphere. Visualizing the impact to marine life is challenging. As a solution, Stanford researchers have produced a virtual underwater ecosystem to allow you to observe firsthand what rocky reefs are expected to look like by the end of the century if we do not curb our CO2 emissions.
With funding from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation and the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment, Stanford researchers have designed an educational experience that makes the impossible possible: watch the ocean absorb invisible CO2 molecules, a rocky reef degrade and marine life disappear as the ocean acidifies. Each step in the journey is based on marine science research.
Review: While little more than an advert for Stanford research, this is still a semi-interesting experience. Ocean Acidification is of course a real problem and you can learn a lot from this short interactive experience. But there is nothing “fun” to do here and only people interested in this sort of thing will give it a try. It is at least free so if you think you like it, you can give it a go, which is a good job because even for the smallest of charges I would have told everyone to avoid it.
