According to the director of the latest Medal of Honor, first-person shooters are best-suited to VR platforms. Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond is the first franchise title to launch in eight years, and it is available exclusively in VR. The game takes full advantage of virtual reality, to the point that players must execute a given weapon’s reload process with their hands as opposed to simply hitting a reload button.
The Medal of Honor franchise debuted in 1999 and has mostly focused on World War II. However, the 2010 reboot, Medal of Honor, took place in the War in Afghanistan and its 2012 sequel, Medal of Honor: Warfighter, focused on fictional events in Pakistan. Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond was originally meant to be released as a standard first-person shooter, with availability on PC and consoles, but development shifted toward VR exclusivity after discussions with Facebook. The game then became one of the most expensive VR productions to date.
Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond director Peter Hirschmann shared his thoughts on why he believes VR is the best platform for shooters with PCGamesN. According to Hirschmann, VR “is a self-affirming platform.” The unique sense of immersion, zero-latency input, and controller tracking (which allows players to know where their hands are at all times instead of guessing) come together to pull off innovation previously unseen in video games. The reload system, where players must go through the reload process manually for each gun, allows gamers “to see how ingenious the Garand was, with the en bloc clip,” says Hirschmann.
The M1 Garand is one of the most iconic weapons to come out of World War II. The ping noise the weapon makes when that eight and final shot is fired would be sorely missed if it was neglected in a WWII game featuring U.S. soldiers. Being able to go through the motion of reloading the weapon by shoving the clip into the top of the weapon adds greater immersion to an era that has been portrayed in video games countless times.
Despite the the novelty of VR and its immersion potential, there is still something off-putting about wearing a headset and shutting out the outside world. Paranoia has a way of sneaking up on people when they are at their most vulnerable, and sinking into a virtual reality experience is a great way to become vulnerable. Regardless, Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond’s focus on VR is an indication of how far the industry has come the last few years, and as with all technology, it will continue to advance at a rapid pace.
Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond is available on PC via Steam VR and Oculus.
Source: PCGamesN
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