Meta Quest 2 Review
Hey everyone! Today we are doing our official review of the Meta Quest 2! This hasn't been my first hands on experience with the Quest headsets but owning one has really given me more insight as to the strengths, limitations, and potential future of VR. So without wasting any more time lets jump right in!
The Good
There are a lot of great things I can say about the Quest 2! I think my favorite thing has to be the immersion and creativity VR can bring. The experience is so much different and each game feels like a totally new experience. So much so that I'm actually using tutorials! There are so many fun new mechanics in VR and it really feels like we are just scratching the surface.
I recently picked up The Light Brigade and it's a great example! The game has some really cool rooms where everything is mostly black emptiness but there are these big almost aurora-like lights in beautiful colors! It's a one of a kind experience and really felt so awesome. Another great example would be Blade and Sorcery, learning to aim fireballs according to where your hand goes is quite a learning curve but also something you'd never get to experience without VR. Overall these fresh ideas and unique games have made my Quest feel like a wonderland of things to try out and explore.
Aside from the games being awesome there was something else I noticed. The pricing and monetization of VR games is also awesome! Most games on the Meta store that I've considered buying are in the $20-30 range which feels like a fire sale compared to $70 becoming the norm in gaming. There also haven't been microtransactions and battle passes etc. so if you're a fan of the "old school" pay once and own the entire game approach, VR is the way!
The last thing I wanted to mention was ease of use and learning curve. As I said I have used a VR headset before but I felt right at home almost immediately with my Quest. First was the UI and layout, which felt great for me! I was immediately dragging and resizing my videos for the best experience and adding things to my utility bar for fast access.
The Meta app on mobile has been just as easy! It's so awesome to be able to instantly cast or record and it's made it more fun for my girlfriend and I being that we only own 1 headset(for now haha!).
Lastly I've used the Meta app on my PC quite a lot already while trying to learn VR development and it's awesome! I was able to get set up for VR development no problem! My headset connects to my computer like a charm and has a great layout when connected too! You can also load APK's directly onto the quest to test or play your games so I've already gotten DinoSmash on it!
There are more cool things to cover about the Quest but these are the highlights I've immediately noticed! That being said let's move on to the not so good.
The Bad
Now that we've looked at some strengths of the Quest, lets look at some of the downsides.
The very first thing I have to talk about is battery life. It's terrible! Granted this is easy to avoid but I noticed it really quickly. If you're playing games the battery drains pretty rapidly and will be totally dead within 2-3 hours, and low battery even before that. The good news here is I picked up the elite strap with the battery and it's nearly doubled that! Definitely an upgrade I'd recommend!
That leads us to my next downside, the accessories. Now don't get me wrong I am addicted to buying accessories and customizing haha but the Quest feels like it should have had these out of the box. When we swapped the head strap my girlfriend even had less motion sickness! The other accessories I bought include Logitech Chorus audio attachments, and the Quest stand so it has a proper place to sit. The accessories are both fun and useful for me but maybe a starter pack with some of these awesome upgrades would be a great idea.
Overall there are a lot of upsides to the Quest and not a lot of downside! I've had an absolute blast with mine and can't wait to drop our first VR game! Stay up to date with Sleepless VR development because we have got some great things planned! Thanks for reading everyone and Stay Sleepless!