the core mechanics – shooting, throwing,
climbing and so on – have been seen in VR
before. What makes Boneworks different is
the physicality of the world around you.
A huge amount of work has gone into
making basic interactions feel satisfying.
Boneworks’ guns are incredibly tactile
objects, possessing an inherent weight and
power that their equivalents in other VR
games lack. You can almost feel the recoil
when you fire an assault rifle, and hear the
impacts as bullets strike Boneworks’ kooky
enemies. The same goes for interactions,
such as throwing a crate off a ledge to break
it, or swinging a sledgehammer through a
sheet of glass.
When it all works, Boneworks is one of the
best VR experiences available. The gunfights
are fantastic, and the puzzles enable a lot of
creative ingenuity, such as using a
breezeblock to prevent an automatically
locking door from closing. Unfortunately, the
physics simulation doesn’t always work. If
you’re climbing, for example, it’s easy to get
your arms trapped in the geometry. Watching
a physics ragdoll flip out in VR is a deeply
unpleasant experience. Boneworks can also
be quite frustrating. The save system is
awkward, as you need to unload all your gear
into a box before you activate a save point,
then pick it all up again afterward. Moreover,
some of the early puzzles are poorly
signposted, and being stuck on a puzzle in
VR is no fun at all.
Boneworks isn’t for new VR players either.
It involves a lot of jumping, fast movement
and falling from large heights. Unless you’re
acclimatised to VR, there’s a good chance it
will turn your stomach inside out. That said, if
you can deal with the nausea and/or the
game’s more obtuse moments, Boneworks
is a thoroughly entertaining VR action game.OVERALLSCORE
80 %
VERDICT
Despite some annoying
puzzles, Boneworks
nuanced physics
simulation results in
one of the best-feeling
VR games yet.BONEWORKS
+^ Highly tactile
+^ Great guns
+^ Imaginative story modeBONEMEAL-^ Physics can go haywire
-^ Puzzles can frustrate
-^ Requires strong VR
sea legs
TheOculusQuest’swirelesscapabilities
makeit oneofthebestVRheadsets,but its
limitedon-boardhardwaremeansgames
mustbebuiltspecificallyforit,resulting in
a reducedgameslibrarycomparedtothe
Rift.OculusLinkis designedtosolvethis
problem,lettingQuestownerstethertheir
headsettoa PCviaa USB-Ccable,and use
theQuestlikea RiftorRift-S.Havingtested
theLink,wecansaythatit’sa fantastic
upgradetotheQuest’sversatility,although
it doeshavea fewstabilityissues.
Touseit, youneeda low-latencyUSB-C to
USB3 cablewitha decentlength(thecharging
cablebundledwiththeQuestisn’tsuitable).
TogettheLinkrunning,youmusthavethe
OculusappinstalledonyourPC,thentick the
‘EnableOculusLink’optionontheQuest’s
headsetsettingsmenu.Afterthat,theQuest
mustbeconnectedtoa USB3 portonthe PC.
Atthispoint,theQuest’sheadsetmenu
is replacedbythatoftheRift,andtheQuest
canbeusedlikea tetheredVRheadset.
NotonlycanyounowplayRiftgames,
butSteamVRexclusivegamessuchas
Boneworkscanalsobeplayedthrough the
Linkwithnoobviousdisadvantages.Being
tetheredtoa PCalsogivesyouhighervisual
fidelity,astheQuest’son-boardhardware is
bypassedinfavourofyourPC.
Froma softwareperspective,OculusLink
worksgreat.There’snodiscernibledifference
betweenusingtheQuest+ Linkandusing
a dedicatedtetheredheadset.However,
thebespokeOculusLinkcable(whichhas a
mechanismtolockit in place)isn’tavailable
in theUK,andmostcompatiblethird-party
cablesaren’treallyideal.Wetestedwithan
AnkerPowerLine+cable,whichneeded
tobepluggedintotheheadseta specific
wayaround,otherwisetheconnectionwas
constantlydisrupted.There’salsoalways the
riskyoumightaccidentallytugoutthecable.
Somegamescanhandlebeingtemporarily
disconnected,whileotherswillsimplycrash.
Hopefully,Oculuswillreleaseits
bespokecableintheUKsoon.However,
aslongasyou’recareful,it’sperfectly
possibletoplayRiftorSteamVRgames
withminimaldisruption.FIRST LOOK
OCULUS LINK