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I’ve never done anything like that in a VR game before and it’s a tantalizing tease of what the future of VR games could be like.Īs massive and sprawling as this recreation of LA may be though, it’s noticeably empty. After driving for over 20 minutes I finally reached the center of Hollywood Boulevard and I had to navigate there using a map and environmental landmarks. I hopped in my car, turned the ignition, put my hands on the wheel, and hit the gas. After scrolling the map upwards for several seconds it really hit me: eight square miles is a lot of room. After walking around for a few blocks, just to explore, I decided to look up where Hollywood was located. In the game you’ll explore crime scenes, collect evidence, interrogate witnesses, chase down criminals, and even engage in intense fist fights and firefights around downtown 1940s LA.ĭuring the first livestream we did for LA Noire VR the size of the game world hit me hardest when I decided to look at the full map. LA Noire VR does not include the entire game but is instead a collection of seven hand-picked cases that were rebuilt from the ground-up specifically to serve as the most effective showcases for VR integration. Since then it’s been remastered for PS4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch, with this most recent VR iteration serving as a spin-off of sorts.
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The original non-VR game was developed in partnership between Team Bondi and Rockstar Games for PS3, Xbox 360, and PC back in 2011. In LA Noire VR you take on the role of LAPD detective Cole Phelps, who is portrayed both physically and in dialog by actor Aaron Staton (Mad Men). It took me over 20 minutes to drive from one of the early mission locations to the center of Hollywood Boulevard. With eightsquare miles of meticulously crafted 1940s-era Los Angeles all represented, you can walk around the streets for hours and not see every corner of the city. LA Noire: The VR Case Files is the most recent reminder of this nuance.įor all intents and purposes, LA Noire VR is one of, if not the, largest and most detailed sandbox worlds we’ve seen in VR to date. its sense of presence, immersion, and scale, it gets tricky.
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But when it comes to evaluating a game’s mechanics vs. I’d hold a game like Rec Room to a different standard and criteria than I would a game like Skyrim VR, for example. What makes a good VR game? The answer to that question varies depending on who you ask, which platform the game is running on, and what the game in question’s actual intentions are.
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