During the Oculus Connect 2 conference on Sept. 24, Epic Games ("Gears of War," "Infinity Blade") unveiled a new virtual reality game called "Bullet Train." According to Engadget, Tim Sweeney, the man behind Epic Games, has been a long-time champion of virtual reality (VR), saying it will "change the world."
"There are some amazing things happening in VR right now, and a lot of them haven't seen the light of day publicly at all," Sweeney said in an interview with Engadget.
We may be seeing the light of "Bullet Train" very, very soon. In the said conference, gamers got the chance to play a demo version of the game. As the name states, the game's setting is in a bullet train. It's a first-person game, and your goal is to battle against attacking terrorists. This is all done using the wireless Oculus Touch motion controllers. These controllers simulate real-life actions, giving the player virtual hands and fingers. You can pull a gun's trigger, pick up objects, and throw things around as you do in real life.
A review by Venture Beat describes the game as Matrix-like, being the closest thing to "stepping into Neo's shoes."
"While nothing's more common in games than shooting people with guns, the experience felt remarkably different with 'Bullet Train.' The motion tracking in the Touch controllers offer a drastically different experience. You aim with your hands instead of with a mouse or analog stick - It's so much faster to kill things that way," the review goes on to state.
Another review by Gizmag discusses the possible downside of virtual reality: nausea. "Bullet Train" solves the problem by allowing the player to teleport around the game play. The review called the game "great fun."
"In probably the single most innovative VR demo we've seen so far, Epic Games showed developers a brilliant workaround," it states.
"Bullet Train" is still under development. According to CNET, the Oculus gear, as a headset, will be launched late this year for $99. It's just a matter of time for the controllers and the games to follow.
