PlayStation VR2 Review

When PSVR first launched, it was an affordable way to try VR. For around $600, anyone with a PS4 could try VR. It had its limitations, but given the price between that and the thousands others charged, it was damn good value, and I loved it. Now with the PlayStation VR2, a lot of those limitations have been removed, with a spike in the price point to $1k.

It looks so much prettier

I’m not talking about the outside; that still looks like a hunk of plastic on your face. I am talking about the worlds you look at. Gone is the obvious screen door effect thanks to the 4K-quality lenses. With that and a beefy frame rate, the worlds’ look so good. In none of the games I tested did I get motion sickness. I have far from an iron stomach, as plenty of OG PSVR games made me crook, but I spent hours at a time in Horizon Call of the Mountain with no issues.

Fantastic tracking

One major limitation of the PSVR was its use of the PlayStation Camera and PS Move controllers. Each is sold separately, of course. If the camera lost sight of the Move controllers, your hand would stop working. The fun with VR is that you quickly forget which way the TV is pointed, and so it wouldn’t be uncommon for your hands to go heywire as the move controllers went behind your arms or behind your body.

Fortunately, the PSVR2 has gotten rid of both of those requirements. This beauty uses cameras in the headset for tracking. It also comes with those goofy-looking spaceship controllers, which have amazing tracking built in. I can’t tell you how many times I took my headset off and was not facing the way I thought, but it was fine because the games kept working.

It also introdcues eye tracking which is cool as hell. This was used in full in Horizon Call of the Mountain. This meant I could choose menu options just by looking at them and my accuracy with the bow got way better. I turned it off to test and man my aiming suffered.

Comfy as

The PSVR was reasonably comfortable, given that it was the first iteration. This one’s way freaking better. It felt a bit heavier on the head, but using it, I quickly stopped caring that I was wearing a headset. The first couple of times I used it, I could feel some pressure on my nose, but once you get the positioning and tightening right, it is a breeze to put on and use.

It comes with earbuds that plug into the back of the headset. These were perfect, and again, super comfy. What was mildly annoying was the USB-C cable that comes out of the unit. I kept feeling it against my body, and while it is nice and long, it still limits your play space. This was an annoying thing, but far from a deal-breaker. Though sometimes the cable tugging did help me realise where I was in my room and which way I was facing.

The feel

But how does it feel to play the games? Well first I’ll touch base on the UFO looking controllers. These beasts have Haptic Feedback and Adaptive triggers built in. These buzzwords are the reasons the DualSense PS5 controller is a masterful piece of technology. These add so much value in the games where it is used.

What about when you are immersed in the world and are woried about walking into a wall in our world? The great thing here is you set up a play area when you start up. The headset scans your environment and creates a general idea and you can tweak it. I never tweaked it and was very happy. When you get near an object in your world it starts to tell you, and if you keep going it creates an image passthrough so you can see your room where you are about to hit something.

It’s seriosuly excellent.

Should you get one?

Yeah. Yeah, you should. This headset rules so hard. Do you have a PS5? If so, then this is well worth the money. You don’t have one? Get a PS5, play all the exclusives, then get a PlayStation VR2. I absolutely loved every second I spent in it. The launch line-up is solid, and it looks like so many more excellent games are coming. It is gutting that it isn’t backwards compatible so I could keep playing my current PSVR games on it, but honestly, once Beat Saber is ported, I’ll be a happy enough man.