Oculus Quest 2 Review

So, My family tried the Oculus Quest 2 this weekend. Here are the good things and the things that we longed for as we played in virtual reality for the first time.

The Good

The Quest 2 is a really well though-out product. Providing an all-in-one technology that puts the user front and center in the experience without wires, but with the ability to play virtually anywhere (except in the dark or in bright sunlight). It is quite a departure from the longing to actually be in a video game that we typically play on a 2-d screen. The Quest paired quickly and easily with the Oculus app for iOS and we were up and running in less than 10 minutes. First Steps comes already installed on the Quest 2 and is a great app introduction that leads a new user through the buttons and motions that a user could use to interact with the new virtual environment. It begins with a shooting star that explodes into a scene that unfolds around you in all of its brilliance. Within the experience you will get the opportunity to throw paper airplanes, launch rockets with the pull of a string and try to catch them when they circle back, and play with a table tennis ball and racket. The experience was unlike any other video game that I have played before. You also get the opportunity to insert different game cartridges into a game console to change the experience you are having. There is one where you can shoot different geometric shapes with three different gun styles and another where you get to dance with an adorable robot. Grabbing that robot’s hand and then the other and dancing was surreal. Because of the way you grab the remotes, it feels like you grab onto something when you squeeze the controller, and you eyes see you grab the robots hand. The sound is excellent as well and focused so as to not flood the environment or disturb others around you, and it is stereoscopic. When you turn your body, the sound is in sync as well, turning the direction of the sound. The visuals are excellent as well. You need to make sure to get your eyes lined up in the right spot when putting the headset on initially, but once you are there, it looks excellent and you forget that you aren’t actually looking, hearing, and interacting with the environment around you.

After First Steps, I tried Beat Saber, because I knew the kids wanted to play that one badly, so I wanted to know what they were playing so I could help them if I needed to. It was really fun and the tutorial to get started was clear and simple to understand for all of us. There is only one song in the demo, so if you want to play more it is $29.99 to buy the full game. As with most music games, there are plenty of song packs to buy to customize your experience. I liked that the game didn’t have any turning around, so it was good for motion sickness because it was mostly side to side, or up and down. At the end of the demo song, you can put in your name and it creates a device leader board. My family was all able to put their names on, and my daughter beat all of us. In fact, I think she had the top 3 spots. She loved it. My two boys really enjoyed it as well. I would recommend it to anyone as it was easy to understand what to do and fun.

Next, I tried Journey of the Gods. It was very cool. Your player has feathers on their gauntlets that fill up with color. It was amazing to look at your hands and see something else entirely. Pulling back the lever on the crossbow feels really good. Shooting it feels great as well. It is very immersive. You character is in an open world and you turn your body to turn. I found using the right joystick, which moves the whole wold a certain number of degrees to be nauseating. Turning your body instead helped a lot. But moving forward and backward using the left joystick made me nauseas as well. I found the characters and monster rather bland, to be honest. It was really amazing to be in this world and the weapons were fantastic, but I don’t know if I would buy it because I didn’t like the monster artwork, at least in the demo.

I played a handful of videos in YouTubeVR, and that was a really interesting experience. It really showed off how brilliant the display was. Everything was clear and brilliant. I watched one about the Meg, the giant shark wrecking an underwater station and I watched a Star Wars one where you are in the cockpit of an X-wing flying around Star Destroyers and even the Death Star. It was short, but the experience was really cool to see in VR.

I also tried SUPERHOT VR. Basically, each quick scene lasting the span of a few seconds transpires. Humanoid red beings surround with and try to get you before you get them. You fail the scene if they get to you first, and you progress to the next scene if you get all of them first. They might have guns, and you might ninja stars, a small amount of objects like bottles in front of you which you can throw at the beings, or just your fists. Get them before they get you. If you don’t move, they don’t move. So pause to think about what to do next. It is kind of like stopping time for everyone else while you can still think. The challenge was fun and addicting and somewhat difficult. My boys tried it and it scarred them, and I can see that. But they cheered me on while watching the casted video on the iPad. It is $24.99 to get the full game. I am not sure how long the demo is, because I didn’t get to an end of it. I played about 5 scenarios.

There are a lot of games that look great for the system. Population: one looks like a lot of fun. Like Fortnite but in VR and you can fly and stuff for $29.99.

Until You Fall looks like a great roguelite, and rougelites are usually my thing, even thought I do like a good Souls-like experience. It is $24.99 and can get about 11 hours of gameplay.

Things to think about

The unit isn’t cheap. The lenses have the potential to get scratches, and apparently that can really ruin your experience. This magic stuff apparently fixes scratched lenses, so I guess that is always a good option to fall back on. I just don’t have any experience to know how valid that actually is.

The battery life only gets you about 2 hours of play, in my experience. I kept it on the charger between plays and turned off the auto-on feature when picking it up, so as to save those precious seconds :) But since we were passing it around 4 family members, we didn’t get a whole lot of time each before the battery was toast. It handled better when I played it by myself after the kids were in bed, but for a party situation, it didn’t have the staying power to keep the party going until the later hours. Recharge time is about 2:30 minutes as well when the battery is fully drained. There are many third party batteries that will balance the unit and provide up to 6 extra hours of play, but I am buying the unit to be sleek and strapping something to the unit seems to contrast that.

The elite strap with battery improves on the stock strap that comes with the Oculus, and also comes with the official carrying case, is $129. It will approximately double the base unit battery life and it is built into the rear of the strap. But adding that expense itself, without purchasing any games at all, will make it more expensive that a PS5 Digital Edition. When buying the the more expensive Quest 2 with 256GB of storage (compared to 64GB in the base unit) will cost $100 more. While not necessary to get, if more in depth experiences are desired and the idea of only 64GB being a hinderance in the future when many games are added, then it is more expensive than the PS5. Many people complain about the stock head strap that comes with the Quest 2, but I found it to work just fine. Granted, I wasn’t doing any fitness applications, but during the Beat Saber demo we didn’t have any problems with the unit not staying in place and needing adjustment in the middle of playing.

So, in my opinion, if you want to take it anywhere, the unit is expensive and fragile. If the lenses get scratched, it isn’t good, so a case is probably a good idea. Also, if you want to play with others (when Covid allows us to do that again regularly), a better battery is recommended. So, getting the Extended Battery Strap and Case isn’t essential at first, but it is probably a good luxury to invest in.

Some games are free, but if you want to play a great game like The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners, they can be pricey. It is $39.99 and will give you about 16 hours with the extras of gameplay. I know it is a different comparison, but the experience is more expensive and there aren’t a lot of long and deep games to dig into for hours each night for months on end (if you can swing that).

So, if you buy the more expensive model to get the extra storage space of games and apps, the extended battery strap and case, and a few games and you can expect to put about $600 into that package. If you go more casual and get the base unit and a few games, you can expect to put about $400 into that package.

The first Oculus Quest came out May 21, 2019 at $399 for the 64GB version and $499 for the 128GB version. The second unit, the Oculus Quest 2, came out October 13, 2020 at $299 for the 64GB version and $399 for the 256GB version. I would think, giving allowance of COVID-19, a third unit might appear sometime in 2022, possibly at a lower price point and with more memory in the base model, maybe 128GB.

Over the weekend, I got motion sick from using the unit and felt that way most of the weekend, even if I only played it a total of 3 hours at the most. My son also felt sick from using it as well, even though we were both excited to use it. We also didn’t let the kids use it for more than 20-30 minutes at a time, and only one day were they allowed to play it twice, even though they wanted way more than that and started to get nasty to each other. My daughter was even trying to buy my sons’ time so she could have more.

So, since the investment was as much as as PS5, and the game catalog on the PS5 is huge when the PS4 games are included and the Oculus catalog of games isn’t currently very big (just truthfully speaking, not meaning to sling mud at them because of it and it will grow in time), and it made me sick to play it, and the kids were a little too obsessed with it, I decided to send it back. I bought it through Amazon, which game me the same amount of time to return it as the Oculus Store would have. But, I received it in 2 days, rather than the 2 weeks that Oculus was going to deliver it to me when I checked. Also, I have heard that the refund process with Oculus took longer than average. I returned my unit and the same day I had confirmation that my refunded was on the way. Amazon Prime is pretty amazing.

Maybe I am just getting to be one of the older generation that wants more value for my money. Maybe I just can’t stomach a moving experience. If you are above 35, do you also realize that a playground swing, as fun as it sounds to get on and swing up high, will also make you nauseas? Maybe I have grown attached to my games on a 2d screen where I don’t get sick when I play them. Maybe VR just isn’t quite ready for the masses quite yet. When more people get into it (if they do), I am sure some great experiences will be had. I hear that Assassin’s Creed is coming to VR. Sniper Elite VR is also coming and it looks fantastic.

“If you build it they will come.” And I might come along for the ride, but I am glad I could try it out before making up my mind. Who knows what the future might offer.