World News – AU – ‘Population One’ is VR’s best battle royale yet

We’ve seen a few attempts at battle royale shooters in VR, like Virtual Battlegrounds and Rec Royale, but so far they haven’t I’ve managed to capture the fast-paced magic of Fortnite and Apex Legends It’s often too difficult to browse large maps, and matching with other players can be painful as there aren’t many headsets on the market. Just when I was ready to give up on finding the perfect VR battle royale, I played BigBox VR’s Population One, which wasted no time convincing me

While it looks like a Fortnite clone on the surface – the construction mechanic makes it particularly glaring – Population One adds its own unique elements for VR Every surface in the game is climbable, even the huge tower in the center of the map And you will be doing a lot of climbing, as you can also slide across the map with your arms outstretched What is most convincing is that the game will offer cross play with all the major VR headset platforms for PC – Oculus Quest (1 and 2), Oculus Rift, SteamVR, and Windows Mixed Reality – when it launches this fall for $ 30 (Sorry, PlayStation VR owners, you’re out of luck this time)

This is a level of cross-compatibility that we haven’t seen from any VR battle royale yet, and it should create a dynamic player scene. Not only will it be easier to match others up, but it means also that you don’t have to fork out for a gaming PC and desktop headset to get in on the action Just get an Oculus Quest 2 ($ 299) and you’re good to go

I was especially intrigued by how well Population One performs on Quest 2’s mobile hardware, so I made it my vehicle of choice during my demo. An offline training session helps you learn the basics of the game: you climb surfaces by holding your virtual hands across them and moving your controllers hand in hand It’s like climbing a ladder in real life, except you can do it at pretty much anywhere You heal by virtually peeling a banana or popping a soda can Revive players involves quickly rubbing two defibrillator paddles together And the weapons require manual reloading, which adds to the immersion when intense fighting

Fortunately, Population One doesn’t try to emulate Fortnite’s vast building characteristics.Instead, you can build simple walls to serve as cover, or bridges to cross chasms. all over the map, as well as guns, ammo, and shields, so you don’t have to spend time farming resources

Given Quest 2’s limited mobile hardware and the fact that Population One also has to run on last year’s slower model, Population One isn’t exactly a great experience.The environment is sparse and the textures don’t have a lot of details You’ll get more graphical frills if you play on a PC VR headset But what matters most is that the game ran smoothly on the Quest 2, with no framerate hiccups or slowdowns that would make you uncomfortable in VR I didn’t feel a lot of network lag either, which was surprising since I was playing in my basement, one floor away from my router

Like most VR entries, Population One can’t hit the crazy 100-person shootouts you’ll see on traditional battle royale titles Matches only have 18 players (made up of six three-person teams) , which allows for shorter overall matches It’s a better fit for VR, where you’re not just on a couch and mashing buttons You can play the game sitting or standing in VR, but either way you’ll have to move your arms a lot to shoot. , slide and climb Fatigue is always a problem in VR, but it will be an even bigger factor in competitive multiplayer games, where training can give you an advantage

What sets Population One apart is the versatility of its movement You can shoot other players by gliding through the air or hanging onto a wall You can smash a window in a large building and use it like snipers’ nest You’re really only limited by your imagination (and the ever-pervasive force field around the edge of the map) Instead of feeling like a virtual reality game trying to emulate the conventions of battle royale, Population One rather felt like it was evolving the genre to work better in virtual reality

Sure, you could knock it out for being a bit too much like Fortnite But remember, Fortnite only got famous by raising the concept of battle royale from PUBG and other PC shooters. more, this is what the developers add to existing concepts and genres and in this case, BigBox VR may have finally crafted the perfect VR battle royale experience

Population: ONE, Battle Royale game, Virtual Reality, BigBox VR, Fortnite