Nintendo Switch VR - Is It Any Good?

have you ever booted up one of your favorite switch games seen a menu option to play in VR and wondered what the actual that meant me too so I picked up a cheapy VR headset bought every compatible game that looked halfway decent and gave them all a shot it did not take long to realize why nobody ever talks about this given the switch's inherent design rumors of VR support were plentiful from the second its concept was revealed and as more and more people got their hands on the console speculation only continued to heat up but eventually we got what we asked for in the most Nintendo way possible cardboard instead of capitalizing on the rapidly expanding VR Gaming Market Nintendo made their Flagship VR Hardware the fourth installment in the Nintendo labo Series yeah they really just treated their jump to Virtual Reality the same as a cardboard piano the Virtual Boy really must have scared them get over get away from me if I'm being completely honest I have no interest in the cardboard construction side of the switches VR at all I've got too much useless gaming nonsense tucked in every corner of my room as it is that would just be Overkill so instead I turned to Amazon and bought the cheapest headset I could find made of not cardboard and that's what I'll be testing everything with that does mean I won't be able to play the toycon 4 software exactly as it was intended but I don't think I'm alone in saying I don't want a fold cardboard I want to play VR games that said I'll still try the game out but I understand that not everything's gonna work right after the launch of lab OVR Nintendo added compatibility to four first party games and never touched it again a solid handful of third-party games are compatible as well and I'm gonna try a couple of those that I thought looked unique but most of them are just that no but before we get too deep into each game and definitively figure out which one has the best VR functionality let's talk about the hardware we're working with here the display is obviously that of the handheld Nintendo switch screen with a resolution of 1280x720 which isn't very good to begin with now take that divide it into put it right up to your face and yeah it's pretty rough to look at but I mean if you expect it better that's kind of your own fault it's a 360p resolution per eye and it looks blurry but it's not that bad and for most games it's not a big issue so long as they run at a decent FPS the headset I'm using was made by OVO I'm not sure if it's the best or anything but I assume it's in line with other third-party headsets look at how much the dude in the description is enjoying it though whoa nausea also comfortable to wear is straight up a lie maybe I'm just spoiled with my Oculus Quest 2 but the goggles themselves sit so flat on your face and the strap doesn't hold them up all that well so it rests on your nose and just hurts it's fine for like 10 minutes at a time but then it needs to come off thankfully most of these experiences are short and sweet but even still it's one of the last things I want to put on my face yes yes yes no yes yes at least the console's in there pretty securely once you velcro it in there it's not going anywhere and that's kind of important when you're turning your head a ton this one also has two sliders to adjust how far apart the lenses are and how close they are to the switch screen which allow you to get the best view possible that doesn't fix the blurry picture the console's giving but still it's doing the best it can while it's by no means a quality vessel to explore a virtual world it's a vessel nonetheless so let's get into some of these games starting with the introductory labo toy con 4. there's three modes make play and discover make walking through the assembly process for each accessory discover shows you how all the Contraptions work which is neat and play as a bunch of different minigames for you to try out only a handful work without the cardboard though and I use the word work very liberally you have to hold the controllers where they'd rest in the peripheral and for some that's flat out impossible since they use more complex rubber band and sticker technology it sounds sarcastic but that's actually how it works look the camera and wind pedal are the only ones that kind of function you can hold the right joy-con like a lens and turn it to zoom in and out which lets you take pictures of fish and this thing and you can pump the controller down as you would a pedal to make a frog jump Beyond those there's even smaller games in the VR Plaza and a lot of them work without any additional Hardware some of these can actually be pretty fun but there's only enough there to keep you busy for like 10 minutes without the cardboard though these are probably some of the best things you can screw around with in this game which doesn't say much but it's entertaining for sure I still wouldn't recommend it though if you want the full Nintendo labo experience go buy the full sets you probably knew that already but don't think you're getting a deal by buying just the software and a standalone headset you're not getting that same experience and it's not worth it it's a decent Tech demo for the hardware but other games you probably already own can show you the same thing starting with the one that launched alongside the system Zelda breath of the wild and of all the VR compatible games this one has the most content because well the entirety of the game is playable does that make it an exceptional VR experience though no not really you don't play in first person and act like link or anything you just see the exact same game as before but your head can now control the camera and it's very disorienting your point of view isn't set behind link either rather it's in the same place as it is normally so when you look up and down the camera pans in or zooms out which is really clunky in VR and I'm no novice I've been playing VR games for years now and I've certainly played more immersive games than this but I still felt motion sick relatively quickly now you can move the camera with the right stick but that kind of defeats the whole purpose if you play like that it's just just a blurrier and laggier version of the base game might as well just throw it up on your TV at that point nothing was added to differentiate this mode at all making it novel for 5 minutes and nauseating for anything beyond that moving on to Super Mario Odyssey they handle things a lot better and deliberately adapted some levels to work in VR now that gives you way less to do and it takes under 20 minutes to see everything but I'd much prefer a smaller amount of content that actually somewhat Works they took three kingdoms from the game locked your point of view in a set spot and let you control Mario as usual to navigate a small section of the level you wander around in search for three instruments to return to the proper band members which mostly involves running through all these music notes it's decent enough as a concept but the execution is poor since your Lock's position is so limited and interpreting distances as Mario moves farther away is almost impossible you can press R to zoom in but that doesn't help a ton half the time you're just squinting and try trying to make out what you got to do and it gets tiring very quickly thankfully as I said before it doesn't last long when you beat all three stages you unlock a fourth where you can watch jump up Superstar be performed right in front of your eyes which is admittably really cool but there's nothing else you can do in the level overall I'm happy to see them put a little effort into it and for what it's worth it runs really well but it's just not all that engaging if most of the action didn't take place miles away from you it'd be a lot better but even still it beats out breath of the Wild's offerings moving on to the one that intrigues me the most Super Smash Bros ultimate that option's been staring me down for years and after finally booting it up I'm sad to report it's the worst one yet next time just like Mario Odyssey it feels like you're so distant from the action and this being a more fast-paced game makes it even harder to keep track of everything your Viewpoint is at the center of the stage and it's pretty narrow so as the fight moves away you've got to turn and look further to see what's happening on a smaller stage it's not that bad but when they get longer or things move off stage it's really difficult to make out where you are in comparison to the other fighter and the stage however the worst thing by far is the fact that you can control the game with anything but attached joy-con controllers this immediately kills any enjoyment you could get from the game because it makes it even more uncomfortable to play my arms got tired after holding the controllers up to my face for like two matches and by then my eyes were strained from trying to focus on my character so I called quiz for as bad as it is though it still runs at a consistent FPS and the fact that all characters in a good amount of stages are compatible is impressive again though it's just not worth it play on your TV you can see everything so much better and view way more at a time watching cpu's fight is probably the only highlight here since you can take the whole scene in and not have to intently focus on one small thing which is way way easier on the eyes but then it's not really a VR game anymore is it bottom of the Donkey Kong barrel and lastly we have Captain Toad treasure Tracker which like Mario Odyssey has a small selection of levels that have been optimized for VR and it actually works a lot better here that's partially thanks to the Simplicity of the game itself it's not crazy demanding or tough to keep up with levels play about the same as they would normally but on top of controlling the camera with the right stick you can turn your head to get the best possible angle and it works way better than any of those other games Zelda had turning and the right stick move the camera the exact same way which makes you dizzy Mario only lets you move it with your head which is limiting and this has both as options but they act as separate entities which actually makes it relatively Pleasant to play there's still only like 10 minutes of content but it was the most seamless experience yet and I really like what they did with the last stage you jump into this cart and it transitions you to First person where you can throw turnips and aim for stuff with your head it definitely caught me by surprise and if I wasn't so numb to VR roller coasters it would have been a little thrilling [Music] but unfortunately Nintendo didn't build off that momentum and add support in other games this is where it died that's okay though because we still have two more third-party games to try out and I literally have no idea what to expect first up is reflex Unit 2. A top-down shooting game I was really hopeful that it let you play in first person or something but nah you just get to watch from farther away huh by default the game puts you nice and close so you can see what's going on pretty well you know because that makes sense then VR mode pulls you way back so you can see this cool room better whoa I can't interact with it's stupid and defeats the whole purpose of it being VR but that said the entire game can be played as such so there's a lot of content but again nothing about it is enhanced or different when in VR so it's pointless it's not unplayable it's just an uninteresting game that's even harder to play so I'm calling it the worst so far and the final game I picked up is called night of the queen it looks pretty low quality quality but it seems ambitious for a VR switch game so for five bucks I had to get it it was at this moment that he knew he up why do I do this to myself so my initial observations were right but my assumptions were dead wrong the blocky visuals were as expected and that does make the console's limitations less apparent and allows it to run better but everything else is rancid and it all starts with movement that's kind of important pressing up on the stick moves you forward but it does so one inch at a time block by block which is so slow and Jagged and then turning makes it even worse you can do it with your actual head which is okay but if you don't want to spend 360 Degrees the entire time you got to use the stick and that sharply jumps your perspective a slight angle in whatever Direction you press it's the clunkiest movement I've ever experienced and in VR I just can't handle it but maybe you don't have to walk a ton right wrong it's an RPG so you walk these long paths with absolute absolutely nothing going on until [Music] you can try fighting each one but you'll die within like three and if you run sometimes it doesn't let you escape and you'll die pretty quickly that way too then it sends you all the way back to the castle it's not worth it I'm willing to admit when I made a bad purchase and this is literally textbook worst VR switch Game Bar None So to recap from worst to best my VR switch rankings are Knight of the queen reflex unit 2 smash ultimate breath of the wild Mario Odyssey and Captain Toad but yeah overall the Nintendo switch and VR go together about as well as an electrical outlet and a fork great if you hate yourself and bad for everything else now there's an argument to be made that it's a good entry point to VR Gaming but I beg to differ if this was my first experience gaming in VR I'd probably never touch a headset again if you want to start playing VR games go get the Quest 2 it's a standalone headset that has a massive library of games also it fits your head so nice and snug and is Better Built for extended play and for someone looking for an entry point to VR in general go get one of those smartphone headsets you'll have way more fun and get a better feel for what VR really is there's a clear reason why nobody ever talks about this and I'm not talking about lab OVR I didn't really give that a fair enough shot I'm sure it's fine so I'll leave it alone I'm referring to the switch VR experience as a whole I'm glad they stopped trying to make it work and stuck with what the console does well that was way louder than I thought geez to learn more about a VR experience that's actually fun click the video right there and if you're just a Nintendo switch fanatic try the video there thanks for watching

Channel: Jeremy Klinger

Views: 1,654,615

Keywords: nintendo switch, virtual reality, vr, nintendo switch vr, vr switch, vr nintendo switch, switch vr, switch vr games, nintendo switch vr headset, labo vr, nintendo switch vr review, breath of the wild vr, zelda vr, mario vr, mario odyssey vr, nintendo labo vr, vr goggles, nintendo vr, switch vr headset, oivo switch vr headset, virtual reality games, virtual reality headset, switch vr review, nintendo switch vr gameplay, nintendo, vr nintendo, gaming, vr games, botw vr

Id: dDjjo6LXnQ4

Length: 13min 43sec (823 seconds)

Published: Fri Mar 17 2023