First things first : I've never been a big fan of online multiplayer gaming. Something always felt off. I've tried pretty much every genre and lots of classics, from The Fourth Coming to Fortnite, with a lot of League of Legends, Hearthstone, Smash Bros, Mario Kart, Pokémon TCG Online and the obvious Call of Duty in between. I can understand why people dig it and I really wish I did : playing online with your friends is like gathering at a skatepark. It's about hanging out, talking shit, sharing a moment rather than being good. And yet it never clicked with me. I was more a "grab your gamepad or your Switch and come to my place I also have a lot of retrogaming consoles if you fancy a good ol' Goldeneye 64".
But that was until Echo Arena VR on the Oculus Quest.
Bit of a backstory : Echo Arena VR is a free game for Oculus Rift and Oculus Quest based on Lone Echo, a game in which you play a robot and you do stuff (I haven't played it) (looks nice though). In this spin-off, you play a futuristic sport : you're floating in a Zero-G arena with your teammates and adversaries (teams can be made of 2 to 5 people), your goal being to get the frisbee and throw it in the goals on the opponent side. Fairly easy to grasp and basically the very idea of "what would sport look like in the 2020s according to the people in the 80s".
And it looks like this :
Oh yeah, and this game is free!
There are a lot to unpack and I could talk about it for ages, even though I am roughly 10 hours in on the Quest. But the sheer exctasy of floating in Zero-G while staying alert, punching your way out of a melee, performing your first goal and the many more to come... It just FEELS like a proper sport. And hanging out with your friends in VR in this game? It's the best multiplayer experience I've ever had. You never cease to have this ridiculous smile (VR + zero-G, I mean come on, of course it's AMAZING) and perpetual adrenaline shots in game. Then, hanging out in the lobby for a quick debrief feels like chilling in a pub! Very few games have properly made me sweat, but I genuinely have to take a shower after 1h30 of Echo Arena. If you ever get a Quest or get to try one, Echo Arena VR is amazing. And because your brain is tricked into thinking you're living the real thing, it's MILES beyond what you could experience if this game were flat.
Of course, there are a couple of downsides:
- Some people might endure motion sickness. I hope it won't be your case (I didn't, and I got sick on Mission ISS, the other zero-G freebie on the Quest)
- The tutorial is soooooooooo long and frustrating, but it's only 15 minutes long. It's also necessary, but once it's done, it's done. There are no tricks, no hidden controls... Only skills. And a decent ping.
- The Quest version is still a bit behind its Rift counterpart, but the wirelessness makes it the BEST way to play it. I keep turning around, crouching... It'd have wrapped myself if I were plugged to my computer.
All in all, the more I invest time in the Quest, the more I love this machine. So far, it's the ultimate home arcade gaming machine for me!
Have you tried it? What did you think of it? Also, if you've got the game, would you be interested in a private Era match at some point? How do you feel about the game?
But that was until Echo Arena VR on the Oculus Quest.
Bit of a backstory : Echo Arena VR is a free game for Oculus Rift and Oculus Quest based on Lone Echo, a game in which you play a robot and you do stuff (I haven't played it) (looks nice though). In this spin-off, you play a futuristic sport : you're floating in a Zero-G arena with your teammates and adversaries (teams can be made of 2 to 5 people), your goal being to get the frisbee and throw it in the goals on the opponent side. Fairly easy to grasp and basically the very idea of "what would sport look like in the 2020s according to the people in the 80s".
And it looks like this :
Oh yeah, and this game is free!
There are a lot to unpack and I could talk about it for ages, even though I am roughly 10 hours in on the Quest. But the sheer exctasy of floating in Zero-G while staying alert, punching your way out of a melee, performing your first goal and the many more to come... It just FEELS like a proper sport. And hanging out with your friends in VR in this game? It's the best multiplayer experience I've ever had. You never cease to have this ridiculous smile (VR + zero-G, I mean come on, of course it's AMAZING) and perpetual adrenaline shots in game. Then, hanging out in the lobby for a quick debrief feels like chilling in a pub! Very few games have properly made me sweat, but I genuinely have to take a shower after 1h30 of Echo Arena. If you ever get a Quest or get to try one, Echo Arena VR is amazing. And because your brain is tricked into thinking you're living the real thing, it's MILES beyond what you could experience if this game were flat.
Of course, there are a couple of downsides:
- Some people might endure motion sickness. I hope it won't be your case (I didn't, and I got sick on Mission ISS, the other zero-G freebie on the Quest)
- The tutorial is soooooooooo long and frustrating, but it's only 15 minutes long. It's also necessary, but once it's done, it's done. There are no tricks, no hidden controls... Only skills. And a decent ping.
- The Quest version is still a bit behind its Rift counterpart, but the wirelessness makes it the BEST way to play it. I keep turning around, crouching... It'd have wrapped myself if I were plugged to my computer.
All in all, the more I invest time in the Quest, the more I love this machine. So far, it's the ultimate home arcade gaming machine for me!
Have you tried it? What did you think of it? Also, if you've got the game, would you be interested in a private Era match at some point? How do you feel about the game?
