I’ve never seen anyone play HL:A but I wanted to watch to see if it would sway my opinion on VR as “the future”, in addition to getting to laugh at Jerma’s expense as always.


TL;DR: Not really no., but jerma’s ADHD antics were on point as always.

Long version: First of all, before anyone makes any sort of claim, YES I’VE USED VR WITHIN THE LAST YEAR. It wasn’t mine, but I’ve tried it several times before both early on and recently and my opinions have barely improved over time. I find too often that the supposed allure of VR is too much of a gimmick rather than some major leap forward for the industry. At best, it’s something that already exists but with an added level of dexterity (for better or for worse) and at worst it’s something that already exists but clunkier and more jank than if they had just used traditional controls.

When I first heard HL:A was gonna be VR exclusive and “coincidentally” the Index was coming out, all I really could think was “Oh, they’re giving the Index a killer app to avoid it being the next Steambox or Stadia. Clever business decision, Gaben.” And after seeing both Vinny use his Index and Jerma play this on a Vive, I’m even more certain that was the goal given how clearly geared towards the former hardware this game is, and it certainly makes good use of what the Index can do vs. other VR devices…but most of those are still in place because it can’t replicate the level of freedom a traditional control scheme offers.

It’s cool to grav-gun shit to yourself and jump from point to point, but that’s all there because VR prevents you from being able to just GO PICK SHIT UP easily without wasting a fuck ton of time. Part of the slower pace is because of VR sickness concerns, but most of it is just the nature of VR vs Traditional controls. And while games exist that let you use traditional controls with a VR headset, the new conundrum is…that’s totally fucking pointless. I recall Vinny being super pissed when he bought a game for a VR showcase and it didn’t use motion controls (a la early VR), and that’s honestly totally reasonable. Because the only thing VR really has going for it is motion input. Take that away, and all you’ve done is make the camera based on (occasionally wonky) head tracking rather than just using a fucking normal control method without that issue.

This then is what leads to people having to constantly make things that are “VR specific” even though the exact game-play concepts and mechanics could just as easily be done without VR, and possibly even function better: Because unless you build it VERY precisely around VR, it’s not worth playing. And even then, it’s not necessarily a “unique to VR” experience so much as it is “X genre/game-play mechanic, but now VR”…which is basically what HL:A is.

Like most “good VR games” I hear buzz about (Beat-Saber, HHH, HL:A, B&S, etc.) here’s very little keeping this game from being a non-VR game other than the fact that it was deliberately made VR exclusive and in HL:A’s case to be a techdemo for the Index, and in a way that isn’t inherently superior to tradition. It’s VERY well made and catered to VR, but you could still easily make everything here in a traditional FPS. And some features that seem “cool” in VR wouldn’t even be necessary if it was a traditional Half-Life game.

I’m not here to shit on VR or insist that it’s not fun or “game sux”, I’m just looking at it from a game design perspective because it’s something I’m passionate about. The question isn’t whether or not VR is fun with the games it’s made for, it’s whether or not it’s “the future of the industry!!!!!” or if I feel so much hype and resources should be allocated towards it’s application for gaming, and the answer looking at the actual alterations to game play as far as improvements and downgrades go is no, not really. It has as many hindrances as it does improvements/unique features, and while some of those like VR sickness and whatever may improve overtime there’s still fundamental mechanical restrictions that VR mandates that prevents it from becoming the defacto format for FPP games, let alone any other genre. It simply doesn’t offer that much, and what it does offer in some cases always come at the cost of some other factor of gameplay/design.

People get asshurt by the comparison of VR to motion-controls seemingly overlooking that there were/are plenty of games that utilized motion controls to great effect, even if they weren’t really mandatory to make a game of that type (and are now kind of a hindrance when it comes to playing them nowadays). So when I compare the two I’m not saying “VR SUCC, IZ BABI GAEM”, I’m saying it CAN be really good/interesting when done well, but isn’t gonna change much of the broader industry. And that’s exactly what HL:A is: a good shooter FOR VR that utilizes that control scheme to its best abilities with minimal concessions to gameplay…but at the end of the day it’s still just an FPS.

And for the record, I wrote this much because any criticism of VR always elicits “Lol POOR!”, “YoU pRobbABLY NeVR USd V-ARE B4!”, “NeKbeRD H8UR”, etc. and I wanted to make myself as abundantly clear as possible…though I of course know this just invites “LOL, Y’d U RIGHT SEW MUCH!? NBDY CARES, Looser!” comments. Because being articulate is such an arduous task and not something that took me < 10 minutes because I’m bored after classes… nah, “THIS GUY IS FUCKED!” is more reasonable.