The Pyramid Of Movement

 The Pyramid Of Movement

There will be two more posts in this blog. This is one of them. I decided for the last two posts I would look at VR games. The VR games I have chosen are unique ones. One has to do with time and the other has to do with space. This is partially because it’s funny and partially because these will make good posts and representations of VR games. 

Let’s talk about the post for this week, which is  called SUPERHOT. It is kind of a general game for VR. SUPERHOT’s movement is pretty basic. You can literally walk. You can move your arms and hands. You can grab stuff by pressing the grip buttons on either controller. We’ll talk more about that in a minute. It should be noted that while you can walk, you are limited by your play area. Again we will talk more about that in a minute. The big twist of this wonderful game is time only moves when you do. There is a movie series called the Matrix which I recommend you watch if you haven’t. If you have ever wanted a game like the Matrix, this is pretty much it for VR. If you have ever watched the Matrix, there is a scene where the main character Neo gets shot at and he dodges the bullets because he is just fast enough to do so, but it seems like time slows down. Imagine that scene but as a game. It’s a pretty interesting concept. 

We interrupt your regularly scheduled blog to go backwards and describe equipment. For the equipment, I am using a Laptop computer (Republic of Gamers laptop to be more specific) and an Oculus Rift VR System. 

All the equipment together. There is a giant laptop and a mouse. There is a wired headset plugged into the computer. There are two oculus controllers, and finally, two sensors. 

An Oculus Headset. On the inside of the headset there are two lenses. That’s where you put your eyes. There’s straps going horizontal and vertical to adjust the headset to your head. There’s a shifter for the lenses so you can adjust them to where your eyes are. The headset looks cool already but once you put it on it gets better. 

Left controller

Right controller

Right controller

The controllers, for all intensive purposes, are your hands. It feels almost like holding a normal controller like Xbox or PS controllers. Each controller has a grip button and a trigger button. They also have two buttons and a thumbstick. There is also a third button and a sensor button. If you have your thumb on the sensor, it puts your finger there. For how little the controllers have on them, there is a lot you can do. 

The Sensor. There are two sensors that track player position and where you are.  You can use a third sensor to triangulate your position and make it more precise but currently I do not have mine setup that way. The oculus rift comes with two. These also help you create a play area which I will show in one of my pictures. 

Home screen. This is the store page.

Funny enough, Lone Echo is the other game I am going to play. The game has a lot to do with space. 

Home. You can customize your home screen on the Oculus. 

Play Area

This is your play area. You set this up when you set up your Oculus. It is recommended that you don’t step out of this because there could be obstacles like tables, walls, etc. 

Game menu. I own many other oculus games. 

Now let’s go back to SUPERHOT. 

Start screen.

The game starts with a bunch of broken tv screens like this.

Matrix screen.

This truly reminds me of the Matrix movie. Before every mission, you start in an area like this. You are in a white room that is seemingly endless and there is an object you are supposed to grab. In this case, it’s a gun. You reach with your physical arm and press the grip button and the game starts.

Starts.

Like I said, you grab the gun and now here you are. Time only moves when you do. This picture shows that you are frozen in place. Let’s describe colors for a minute. Your character is made up of black pixels to make you look different. In addition, all objects you can grab are made of black pixels. The room is all white pixels. Our nice friend here is an enemy. Enemies can do everything you can do. They are all red so you can see them very well. 

Fired.

You can fire the gun by pulling the trigger button on the controller that has the gun.

Fist.

You can also make a fist by holding the grip button in order to punch enemies. Some mission, like this one, start with enemies in what I called the matrix room earlier. This is essentially where you get ready for the mission you’re going into by grabbing objects or beating enemies.

Cage fight.

SUPERHOT was originally a computer game that got made into a vr game. This is a cage fight mission. In the computer game, you are surrounded by like 4 enemies and the only weapon you have is your fists. In this case, you only have to fight these two. Then you get to teleport. I haven’t made it to that yet. 

This is the hallway after the cage fight.

After the cage fight, you are brought to a narrow hallway with three guys for more boxing. You can only punch. 

Winning a level.

After you win a level, you will hear and see the words SUPER and HOT.. On the regular computer version, it shows a replay of what you did. In thi, you simply grab the pyramid. This teleports you.

True matrix scene.

Again, if you have ever seen the Matrix, there is a scene on a rooftop where the main person gets shot at and does these really cool dodging moves. It is time to try that for yourself. You are in a hallway and a guy with a gun is waiting for you. You move and he aims and fires. Dodging can be going left or right or ducking. You have to dodge him until he gets close enough for you to attack him. In this game, you move quite a bit.

Hallway scene 2 minutes later.

He gets close enough you can punch him or steal his gun and hit him with it or shoot him. 

Shuriken.

Better picture of shurikens.

It is worth noting that there are a wide variety of things in this game. Shurikens (Ninja Throwing Stars) are one item. If you throw them the way you would an actual shuriken, physics will do the rest. Some items break on impact even if you are in melee. Guns and melee weapons won’t break on melee impact but will usually break if thrown. All weapons break on throwing mostly, unless you get very, very lucky. 

Start mission.

Start mission.

Start mission.

It is worth noting that the game loves throwing you into missions with guns literally in your face. The first two pictures I just labeled start missions are very good examples. The one directly below them and the immediate picture above this is a good example of racing for a weapon. You and this guy were having tea or coffee and you both reached for the same gun. You have to race him to it or he will shoot you. 

THE REAL WORLD.

THE REAL WORLD.

This might be a little silly but a surprise. You are playing a vr game about a guy playing a vr game. The game itself is the virtual world of SUPERHOT. This is the real world. As Morpheus says in the Matrix, welcome to the real world. 

Location.

Location.

It is worth noting that the people who designed the game always try to leave some weapons and cover near you so you don’t immediately die. You can duck behind anything that’s a part of the map. You can grab anything that is black and you can dodge. As I have said earlier, this game is all about physical movement.

HEIGHTS.

I should probably mention that there are a decent amount of heights in this game. You can’t fall off; don't worry about that. It will throw you completely off balance though. 

Helicopter.

Helicopter.

Enemies may be in high places. Having the high ground gives advantages sometimes but also makes things easy targets. The helicopter above is about to smash into you. This game does a good job of making you feel like you're actually there. Just remember, you cannot leave your play area. Your Oculus is on a cord. You are in a house. Some scenes may be scary but still do not move a lot. 

Back home.

Knife.

There is something we haven’t talked about. Melee weapons are effective and won’t break on impact. This knife behaves like a knife. You can stab and slice through enemies. You can even throw it like a knife. You hold it with the grip button like all objects in either of your hands then release holding the grip button that has the knife as you physically throw the object. Only release the grip button. Do not throw controllers. 

Hatchet.

There are also axes which act similar to the knife. You just hack and slash or throw. 

Suicide.

You are welcomed by the guy in the hallway turned into three guys in a room. Yes, I know there are two guys shown but screenshots are hard to do in vr. The third guy is on the right. Dodge until you lose them or can get one of them. Did I mention you move a lot in this game? 

Mafia.

Execution by mafia.

Most of these missions have some sort of theme to them. There are two images directly above. The first is you shooting a guy in the back. The second is you getting executed. This is what I call the mafia. You don’t really get executed. You have to move around until you can teleport away. They are all holding sawed off double barrel shotguns. Unlike pistols, these scatter shots. It takes a lot of movement to dodge one. Dodging three takes a lot of prayer, a miracle, and determination. 

Teleport.

Teleport.

Teleport.

On the bright side, after you finally master dodging, you get a teleport to a balcony behind them where you get submachine guns. Cover cannot be destroyed. You can hide behind it forever. 

Gun in car.

Gun in face again.

I think there is a stapler on the desk that you throw. Always remember that any and all school and office supplies make good weapons. Staplers, books, binders, and some other stuff appears.

Elevator.

The missions all have fun names. Wrong floor is an elevator scene. Three guys are in an elevator with you. It is very hard to move. Two guys have guns. 

Back home.

Floppy disk coming out of computer screen.

If your computer starts handing you things, you either need a new computer or you need to run. 

Powers. 

You are THE ONE. You basically have a magical power. You can speed up the pixels of a being and cause its head to explode. The problem is it has a recharge time of like 3 seconds. That’s nothing real time. Game time that’s like 3 minutes. Time moves when you do, which means time only passes when you move. It comes in handy but it also speeds up the game time while using it. 

Dog Bowl.

Remember anything like this is a weapon, even a dog bowl. All enemies if they are hit once with anything will die instantly. 

Skyscraper.

Skyscraper.

Skyscraper.

The game loves heights. The photo above the one that’s immediately above this is a scaffolding walkway where a guy with a shotgun was. Shotguns are definitely the most brutal weapon in my opinion. This was not much better than being executed on one mission. All you had were hammers and fists and, I suppose, power. Hammers are used to smack enemies around with. They are also one of the few weapons that won’t break if it gets shot when you throw it. Glasses and bottles and most things will break if the enemy is smart enough to shoot it. 

Workforce.

Factory crane.

Factory boxes.

The factory mission is kind of fun and evil. You start by executing your workforce from above. Then you almost get smacked by a factory crane. This is one of the few instances where you have to duck after being teleported. I did forget to mention that there is no object boundary. You can hide inside your cover if you want. This will confuse the game bots. If they fire at you, it will get stopped by the hit box. That being said, the same goes for you. Cover is funny and nice. 

Hijack the plane.

Hijack the plane again.

The plane mission was fun. You take out the pilots in the cockpit with axes. You fight through the cabins. Then you are teleported to the cargo hold where you complete your mission. 

Back again.

Bar fight.

Bar fight.

It is a perfectly nice pool game until the person opposite you pulls out a shotgun. You have to throw pool balls at him. Then when you are done there, you are teleported behind the bar. The game is going with the old style bartender of keeping twin shotguns under the bar. 

Helipad.

Kitchen.

Pots and pans can block bullets and are basically bullet proof. 

Back again.

Disk coming from computer.

Disk inside head??

Some missions require you to put things inside your head. You put the disk inside your head. Suddenly you are the game. It takes you to the next mission. 

More enemies.

Control room.

Lastly, the Pyramid.

The point of the control room is used to hold off a bunch of enemies. Then, the final point of the game is to destroy the pyramid. 

Ending.

Pyramid in the real world.

The game ends with you having the pyramid visit you in the real world. 

Options game.

You unlock many things. Endless mode lets you fight enemies until you die. Speed run is a time challenge. You can also pick specific missions to play in the normal SUPERHOT.  Head shots only are what it sounds like. Hit enemies in the head or they are still alive. 

In summary, this game has a lot more movement than anything I have shown already. It will make you dodge and dance. You must fight using physical arms. Next week, I will discuss Lone Echo and how space works in that game. Leave feedback in comments. I hope you enjoyed our game tour of SUPERHOT. Come back next week for the last set of movements we will talk about.