TheOculusQuestisalreadythebest
all-roundVRheadsetonthemarket,
butit’ssoontobecomeevenbetterwith
twoupdates.ThefirstisOculusLink,
a softwareupdatethatwillenablethe
Questtotethertoa PCandplayOculus
Riftgamesusinga USB3 cable.This
essentiallynegatesoneoftheQuest’s
maindrawbacks– itsseparateandlimited
gamelibrary.HowwelltheQuestwill
runRiftgamesisa questionwecanonly
answeroncethefeatureisreleased,but
if it workswellenough,it willbea huge
stepforwardforthestandaloneheadset.
ThesecondfeatureOculusishand
tracking,whichbasicallymeansyou’llno
longerrequiretouchcontrollerstoplayVR
games.That’sright,you’llbeablecontrol
VRgamesusingjustyourownhands–
pickingup,throwing andmanipulating
objectsexactlyasyouwouldinreallife.Thisdoesn’t come without issues
though.Existing VR games may encounter
compatibility problems, as they require
buttons,which you obviously won’t find
onhumanhands. On the other hand
(punslightly intended), if the Quest’s
handtracking is precise enough to track
individualfingers, it could massively
expandthepotential for interaction in VR
games.Forexample, imagine being able
torewirea circuit in VR using your fingers.
Handtracking is set for beta in January,
whileOculus Link should be available
bythetimeyou read this magazine. Any
USB3 cable will work for tethering your
Questtoyour PC, although Oculus has
developeda special low-latency fibre
opticcablespecifically for the Quest
thatwillcost around £50 inc VAT.OVERALLSCORE
74
VERDICT
Vader Immortal
remains entreatingly
Star Wars, but this is
a fleeting adventure
even by VR standards.
VADERWAY
+^ Excellent production
values
+^ New force-throw
mechanic is fun
+^ Lightsaber dojo is
excellent fun
FADEAWAY-^ Not long enough
-^ Not much lightsaber
combat in story
VALITY FAIR
NEWS
Sentinel, turning both of them into a knotted
pile of metal. However, the excellent
lightsaber combat from the first game
gets far less attention in this Episode, and
there’s no getting away from the fact that
the whole experience is extremely brief.
Fortunately, Episode II makes up for the
brief story mode with a much improved
lightsaber dojo. Not only does it feature a
much greater mixture of enemies, including
lighstaber droids, remote, and what we can
only describe as flying goblin things, it also
adds the Force abilities from the story mode
and the ability to throw your lightsaber at
enemies, which is unbelievably satisfying.
The only real downside is that you don’t
get to fight any Stormtroopers or other
Jedi. Hopefully, we’ll get some full-blown
Jedi vs Sith combat in the final episode.