I have spent the last few days with the new virtual reality for PlayStation 5. It is still a short time for a review, so for now I will summarize my first impressions, in which the positives clearly prevail.
After virtual reality on the last generation PlayStation, it was a logical step for Sony to prepare a successor. PlayStation VR2 is here and with it 30 games. You can recognize most of them from competing platforms, but the first bigger swallows like Horizon: Call of the Mountain also appeared right away. But we will look at the games next time, today we will talk directly about the headset and a pair of Sense controllers, which transfer the pleasure of playing on the PS5 to virtual reality.
Apart from that, you won’t find much else in the package. The box also contains simple instructions, a charging cable and headphones for the headset, which will be discussed later. If you want to see the unboxing in detail, you can try one of the bunch of unboxings (for example the official one).
First run
Unlike the previous generation of PS VR, you won’t get tangled up in a bunch of wires when you get the new headset up and running. The one from PS VR2 leads only one. I’ve seen complaints that if Oculus can handle wireless, why can’t Sony handle it too? I have to say that so far the wired connection is no problem for me. You can get tangled in the 4.5-meter cable, but I didn’t manage to do that even once during testing.
Once set up, you’ll get some tips on how to handle the PS VR2
Unlike some competing headsets where you have to spread sensors around the room, getting the PS VR2 up and running is really simple. You plug the USB-C cable into the connector on the front of the PS5, and after the hardware update, the console guides you through a simple setup in a few steps, which is also in Czech. During this, you can directly try out the possibility of looking at your surroundings with a headset on your head, which for me is a very useful function that you can use at any time.
You see the environment through the cameras in black and white. It’s ideal if you need to orient yourself in space and don’t want to take off the headset. Putting it on takes a little more practice than taking it off. You can slide the front part of it, and when you press the button on the back, when you pull it, the headset expands so that the PS VR2 can fit on your head at all. This is followed by tightening with a wheel on the back so that the headset finally sits down and does not fall off the player’s head. The weight is hardly felt on the head. Of course, you can feel less load, but it’s definitely not something that will give you a pain in the back of the neck after playing for a while.
Back to the settings. The dial on the top of the helmet lets you adjust the distance between the lenses to get the sharpest possible image, and it’s also needed for the eye detection feature, which I was surprised by how well it worked. Of the games that I had the chance to try, they haven’t been used much yet. To give you an idea of what the function can be, in Horizon you can move through the menu with just your eyes, and at the same time, thanks to eye tracking, the image should be rendered in a higher resolution in the place where you are currently looking.
Another important part of the setup is the game space in which you will move while playing. Just look around and the PS VR2 will simply scan your surroundings. Ideally, you should have a space of 2×2 meters around you. Even if there is not enough space, you can still set up the space. The headset then remembers the environment and you don’t have to worry about anything when you continue playing. In addition, it can be modified at any time. This applies to playing while you’re standing. If you’re going to sit, it’s much easier. A small circle will form around you and it’s done.
The lighting in your room is also important. You must not be in direct sunlight, at the same time it cannot be too dark. The headset would then not be able to detect your surroundings. However, PS VR2 can also deal with darkness. As soon as the light is too low, it will alert you and you will have to turn on the light to continue the game.
The lighting in the room is important for sensing the surroundings
I find space changes quite confusing at times. Especially when I was trying to go back from the temporary seating area to the original setting. But just go to the headset settings directly in the console and you will find everything you need there.
The controllers fit in any hand
Apart from the helmet itself, the Sense controllers are of course also an important aspect. Sony managed to cram all the unique features of the classic DualSense into them. So you can expect haptic feedback and adaptive triggers. After all, the haptics are also directly in the headset. So far, the vibrations of the Sense controllers have not impressed me as well as those of the DualSense. The best example of haptics is still Astro’s Playroom, which every PS5 owner has pre-installed on their console. When playing on VR, the haptics seem more like the classic vibrations from older generations of controllers. Haptics on the headset have a much greater effect. Rather than shaking your brain, it’s more of a pleasant massage, so I was looking forward to every next jolt while playing Horizon.
The controllers may seem quite flimsy at first glance, but the body is deceiving. After the first touch, it’s clear that this really doesn’t just fall apart, even though the body of the controller and actually the headset may look like cheap plastic.
The buttons are arranged to resemble a classic controller as much as possible. The biggest oddity for me was R1 and L1, which you hold under your middle finger. But I appreciate the fact that the controller is adapted for different hand sizes. I didn’t have a problem with my larger palm myself, and neither did anyone else who tried the PS VR2. Even so, if it ever falls out of your hand, the strap on each controller is still secured to your hand. Some might argue that this could be a problem for a smaller child’s hand, but children under 12 should not be wearing the headset at all. After all, the headset informs you about this immediately during the setup.
“The orb shape of the controllers may look odd, but the design around your hand isn’t just for show.”
The orb-shaped shape of the controllers may seem strange, but the design around your hand is not just for show. These parts hide sensors that track the movement of your fingers. But this function did not make the best impression on me. I’m not sure if this is a problem with the PS VR2 or the game developers, but the fingerprint scanner doesn’t work very well. Even when my hand was still, my virtual fingers twitched in confusion at times. It doesn’t have a big effect on gameplay, but it does spoil the overall impression a bit.
As I mentioned, in the package you will also find plug-in headphones that you simply clip onto the headset. As with the classic plugs, here too you will find a trio of sizes so that the headphones fit in everyone’s ear. Putting on the headset is a bit more complicated with them due to the fact that they simply get tangled with the connecting cable, but I was very pleasantly surprised by their quality. As one of the key features of the PS VR2 is 3D audio, these plugs handle it without any problem. If you have no other alternative, you can enjoy playing to the full with the included headphones.
But if you prefer more comfort, you can use any other headphones. You connect wirelessly directly to the console as you are used to playing classic games. It can also be connected by wire through the 3.5 mm jack directly to the headset. After all, the included headphones also use it. How comfortable the headset and headphones will be on the head at the same time depends mainly on their construction for large headphones. I myself use Sony’s Pulse 3D, which they released directly for the PS5, and I haven’t had the slightest problem. Obviously, the official headset was thought of when creating VR, but it’s not a guarantee that other products will fit just as well.
Sharp image
Now a bit about the actual gameplay. There’s no denying that the first generation PS VR wasn’t very pleasing to the eyes. In this case, PS VR2 is a big step forward. The environment both during setup and during actual gameplay looks beautiful. You can still make out the pixels if you focus, but I didn’t pause once to notice the poor image quality during normal gaming. Especially if you start with Horizon, the game immediately blows you away with a wow effect and works at the same time as a promise of what the news for this virtual reality can look like.
But you don’t have to jump right into a VR title. Even with the headset on your head, you can use all the classic functions of the PlayStation 5. In front of you, you see the classic user interface in the space like when playing on a console, and nothing prevents you from playing a game that does not support virtual reality or playing videos on YouTube or any of the streaming platforms. Personally, I expected a little more from this way of playing. Sitting in the dark with a not-so-large screen in front of him doesn’t have much to do with himself. At least you can easily move the screen in space, and 3D audio works even in these moments. So when you turn your back to the screen, the sound makes you feel like it’s really behind you.
I would definitely describe my first impressions as very positive. Although I’ve only spent a few days with the PS VR2 so far, it seems like a very good way to get into virtual reality and offers a quality that won’t offend even those experienced with competing headsets. I will save the final evaluation for next time, and in the following days and weeks you can also expect game reviews on the Den, led by Horizon: Call of the Mountain.
Finally, I would just like to comment on the price. At the time of the announcement, I noticed the opinions that the PS VR2 was too expensive. However, the price tag, which here is around 15,000 crowns, does not seem excessive compared to the competition. The objections that the PlayStation 5 itself is needed for it, so the price is double in the final, are also not entirely correct. Even if we were to add both prices together, we would still get roughly the price of the PC you need to run VR games at an acceptable quality.
Today, in addition, many PS5 players have at home and do not have to wait long months to get a console, so the PlayStation VR2 will be a very good addition, rather than someone buying the console just for virtual reality. But Sony obviously has big plans for her. In addition to the 30 games that will be available with the release of PS VR2, over 100 more are said to be in development. We’ll see what they have in store for us in this direction in the future, but at first glance the PlayStation VR2 seems like an excellent choice both for those who want to start with virtual reality and for experienced VR players.
