My Rift arrived today, just in time to check it all works before going away for a few days. I've only used Cardboard VR before, so this was all pretty new to me. I'd downloaded and installed Lucky's Tale, Henry and Dreamdeck.
My first comment is that everything feels very high quality. Unboxing was a pleasure. The mechanisms for adjusting the HMD are simple but clever. My only comment is that the instructions for adjusting the HMD aren't detailed enough. It's going to take a while to adjust it so that it's "just right". Most people will probably end up wearing it incorrectly, so it won't feel as comfortable as it could.
Visuals: The individual pixels are easily visible, so everything has a textured feel to it. This distracts from immersion somewhat. I was pleasantly surprised with the clarity of the image throughout my FOV, and the FOV itself is large enough to not feel too restricted, though it's still a bit like wearing a scuba mask. God rays are real, and very obvious (particularly in Henry) but don't distract too much. Blacks could be blacker; I have a slight red tint, it isn't a big deal but you can see the pixel texture where there's nothing being displayed. Hopefully Oculus will solve this one through a software or firmware update.
Sound: The headphones are great. They sit comfortably in front of my ear and were extremely easy to adjust. Positional sound adds a lot to the whole experience.
Tracking: Worked fine.
Games: I tried out Dreamdeck first of all. The forest scene didn't wow me, the alien scene gave me a shock when it first came up, the city scene didn't give me vertigo like I thought it would, and the T-Rex scene got my heart racing. The last was the best of the standard experiences, and while I never truly felt in danger there were moments where it was uncomfortably real. The expanded Dreamdeck experiences add to the overall effect, I particularly enjoyed the model town and the mirror scene (quite bizarre looking in a mirror and your face keeps changing).
I next tried Henry. Cute, engaging, probably won't watch it again.
Finally, Lucky's Tale. Having not experienced VR before I think I'll ease myself into this. The first few minutes of motion completely confused my brain, and I felt like I was moving with the camera. I didn't get VR sickness in my limited time with the game, but I can see how it might take time to get used to this sort of movement.
Overall, I'm happy with my purchase so far. Unfortunately I hadn't updated Elite: Dangerous recently so I didn't get chance to play it (still downloading). This is really what I bought the Rift for, so I'm hoping it lives up to my expectations. VR isn't perfect yet, but it's taken a huge step forward this year.
