A Fun Singleplayer VR Tactical Shooter On The Meta Quest 3 - Tactical Assault VR Review

I keep coming back to Tactical Assault VR. Whenever I want to jump into Virtual Reality and do a bit of Singleplayer tactical shooting there’s no game that I’ve found myself drifting towards loading up for a few missions more often than this one.

Part of me wonders why, and the answer I keep coming back to is just how snappy and satisfying the whole experience is. Despite having very basic and blocky visuals, Tactical Assault VR is the closest any Singleplayer shooter on the Meta Quest 3 (it is also on PCVR via Steam by the way) has come to absolutely nailing the sound and most importantly the feeling of a quick and responsive tactical shooter in Virtual Reality.

There are, weirdly enough, very few good representations of a Singleplayer VR Tactical Shooter out there for the Meta Quest 3, though there are some in development on PCVR. Onward is another good example I suppose, but its Singleplayer is lacking when compared to the game we’re talking about in this article.

A long ranged firefight in Tactical Assault VR, a fantastic VR Tactical Shooter

There are two areas that this game is incredibly strong in and has only become stronger in over time with updates. The first is one that is really important for any tactical shooter whether in Virtual Reality or on the flat screen, and that is the AI.

Varied Missions And Reactive AI Are A Must For A Good VR Tactical Shooter

What is a VR tactical shooter without difficult AI opponents? Multiplayer focused games don’t have this problem, because they can rely on other players being smart and reactive. Tactical Assault VR, despite featuring Multiplayer PvP options, is much more focused on the PvE aspect of things.

The challenge in this game isn’t fighting other players as much as it is fighting against AI enemies that can and will take you down with a single bullet if you’re not careful. They’re not to be underestimated, and both you and they will go down when hit very few times, or just once if the shot is to the head.

Breaching a room with a pistol in Tactical Assault VR

This is a hallmark of any tactical shooter game. The AI opponents must be capable and they must respond very quickly. Otherwise what would be tactical about the game? You’d just breeze through every door and corner recklessly and without the need to think about your environment and your opponents in a tactical manner.

While still not up to the level of some flatscreen games like Ready Or Not, I have to say that the NPC opponents in Tactical Assault VR are very impressive and beyond anything found in other VR Tactical Shooters.

They can be suppressed by hits and near hits and will change positions to chase you or go prone to avoid incoming fire. Sometimes they will respond to nearby gunfire by running to the scene and supporting their fellows. However that isn’t always the case, and you’ll still often find AI opponents sticking to their patrol paths or just standing in a room just a few meters from where their buddies are being gunned down in plain sight.

Still, the enemies in Tactical Assault VR are leaps and bounds better than most VR shooters on the Meta Quest 3, and they’ve been getting better all the time. They can hear you coming if you’re too loud and be ready to shoot you in the face the moment you open a door that they’re covering. Sometimes they’ll even shoot through the door if you’re on the other side.

Speaking of doors, there is also an impressive collection of missions in Tactical Assault VR, and more are being added all of the time. Each of the main missions has an objective, a custom map, and its own suite of tactical considerations for the environment you’re fighting in and the mission you are completing.

This huge bank map offers some unique tactical considerations in a VR Tactical Shooter

Each of these maps makes you consider each set of buildings and environments differently and gives you different routes to take and options to consider for how you approach them. So you’ll have to reconsider your loadout and choice of weapons for each. If you fail, well that’s always a lesson learned you can take to your next attempt.

It would be nice if enemies had a little more variance in their roles, like snipers or machine gun bunkers, but there are some very impressive examples, like a Technical Truck on one of the newer maps.

There’s even a randomized shoothouse style map with procedurally generated doors and enemies and a training map that also features some randomization to enemy placement. If you want to get as tactical as possible then there are a bunch of options in this VR tactical shooter.

Of course, if soloing a mission seems too difficult, and it’s pretty clear that they’re meant to be very hard to solo, you can always team up with others in Multiplayer. Though in Singleplayer it’s the difficulty in finishing a mission that keeps me coming back, otherwise I would have completed them all a long time ago and gotten bored.

A VR Tactical Shooter With Varied And Responsive Guns

So the missions are varied and interesting. The AI is better than most. What about the weapons? A lot of games whether in Virtual Reality or on the flatscreen easily fall into the trap of making weapons feel very similar to each other.

Tactical Assault VR doesn’t have that problem, and for a VR game that’s even more impressive. Virtual Reality means that you’re using even more of your senses to really get in tune with what you are doing in the world of the game.

In VR you aren’t just seeing what is happening on a distant screen, the screens are so much closer to your eyes, and your actual body movements correspond to what you’re doing, so you have a much greater sense of being within the game world.

Your feeling of touch and balance comes much more into play than on the flat screen, especially when it comes to handling objects. That’s why it’s so great that the guns in Tactical Assault VR feel so varied and different from each other.

One of the many fantastic weapons you can enjoy in Tactical Assault VR, a fantastic VR Tactical Shooter

Guns with a bullpup design, or smaller SMGs, will have you naturally holding your hands closer together than more traditional assault rifles with the grip towards the rear of the rifle and the foregrip near the front.

Each of the weapons controls better if you hold them like they’re intended to be held. Actually having to adjust your grip to the length of the weapon not only increases immersion but naturally improves your ability to react and aim.

Even without the physical weapon to feel, it’s incredible how each of the guns in Tactical Assault VR can feel different to hold despite there being nothing physically in your hand to grab onto except for your touch controllers.

Though that’s something common to many polished VR shooters, where Tactical Assault VR really shines is how each of the weapons feels to fire as well as hold. Weapons generally sound very punchy and each shot feels like it has real weight to it like firing a real gun, because the varying amount of recoil to each weapon not only makes each unique but also feels very realistic. It’s clear a lot of time and effort went into making the weapons of Tactical Assault VR feel good and weighty like actual weapons.

Each action you take on your weapon, putting the magazine inside, or pulling back the charging handle to load a round into the chamber, lacks the floatiness and feeling of weightlessness that a lot of objects in VR games have. Firing them also feels like a dream.

Larger weapons naturally have more recoil and really kick the gun back, and the weapons really sound impressive too whether they’re loud or suppressed. The entire ensemble of tight VR controls and sound design clearly shows that a lot of attention and care has been given to each of Tactical Assault VR’s weapons. Switching between them changes how you play and leaves a lot of room for personal preference.

Despite the very low res look of Tactical Assault VR, which I think is likely a big reason that it is not more popular than it is, this is a level of polish in weapon design and implementation only seen among other legends of the genre like Into The Radius or Onward.

This even extends to the other parts of your loadout like the various tools and grenades that you can use from flashbangs to bulletproof shields to breaching charges and breaching shotguns.

A little sniping in Tactical Assault VR

This has been a quick review of why Tactical Assault VR is such a fantastic Singleplayer VR tactical shooter. While at the time of writing this game is still in development it is getting better all of the time and has already nailed some of the basics of what makes a tactical shooter excellent. It’s a quick and easy game to jump into for a few rounds and really makes you take things cautiously and respect its difficulty. Enjoy!

VR Isn’t Dying Or Dead - It Is Uncomfortable Though

Today I went to put on my headset after a long day of work. Since most of my work, such as writing articles like these, consists of sitting down and typing on a keyboard, I figured it would be nice to actually move my body while I enjoyed a video game and unwound.

For those with more sedentary jobs and lives, this is one of the big appeals of Virtual Reality gaming. After a long day of sitting it’s a very entertaining way to do a little moving whether or not you’re aiming to do a full workout. While normally this would be great, today it wasn’t.

Maybe it was the aggressive amount of work I did that day, but I just could not get the Meta Quest 3 headset to sit comfortably on my head. This is despite upgrading from the default headstrap to the Elite Strap. Honestly, the headset feels almost unusable for more than thirty minutes without the elite strap and I think that it should come with one by default, but that’s only part of the problem.

What bothered me more was the weight of it, despite the Meta Quest 3 being slimmer than the Quest 2, it is still about as heavy. Sure the weight sits closer to your face so it feels lighter, but the weight of the device is apparent despite it being packaged more comfortably.

Regardless of the improvements made in Virtual Reality head mounted display technology, it’s still a big hunk of stuff strapped to your face, and the fact that you need to strap it in place, even if those straps are well-designed and comfortable, means that there’s going to be pressure on your head from the weight of the device.

So today I quickly got a headache and discarded the headset after about fifteen minutes, a real shame. I really wanted to have some fun in Virtual Reality while I got off my butt and limbered up a little. Going out for a run instead was still good for the fresh air, but I would rather have been punching robots to bits or ducking and weaving while blasting through waves of enemies.

Here’s a screenshot from UNDERDOGS just for fun

It was a real shame, and it was clear that the weight of the headset was just bothering me that day as it sometimes does. It did make me think though.

I realized that a lot of people probably feel the same way all of the time, but something keeps them away from the headset. Whether it’s motion sickness, or possibly just being too tired to want to move around after a day of more physical labor, there are tons of VR headsets gathering dust in closets for many reasons.

I think a chief one is the weight of the headset. It’s no secret that Virtual Reality headset sales have been down since last year. I’ve heard a lot of stories from people who love VR, yet the headset sits unused. A big part of this is that strapping a machine to your face is just uncomfortable. That doesn’t mean VR is dying, there are still so many people, myself included, who will use it forever for a number of reasons.

I love VR, but even I sometimes opt not to hop back into it because it’s hard to be entirely comfortable with the big HMD on your face, and that also cuts into the immersion of many experiences. Even the Apple Vision Pro, a headset designed to be worn constantly and comfortably, has been seeing an alarmingly high number of returns not only due to motion sickness but also due to wearing it giving people headaches.

There’s only so far ergonomics can go. Before mass adoption is possible Virtual Reality headsets need to be lighter and easier to wear. Right now the weight of the headset cuts down on how often even dedicated Virtual Reality users will utilize it.

Maybe it’s time to save up for a Bigscreen Beyond.

Top 7 Racing Games For Free On The Oculus Quest 2 and 3

So you own an Oculus Quest 2 or Oculus Quest 3 and want to play a fun VR racing game… but you don’t have a bunch of cash to spare to buy one.

Well don’t worry because there are plenty of free VR racing games that you can enjoy that are available on the Oculus App Store! There are more available on SideQuest, but we won’t include them here as they have a tendency to not be as fleshed out as those in the store.

Anyway if you want Oculus Quest 2 racing games for free you’ve come to the right place. Here are the best free VR racing games you can find on the Quest.

V-Speedway - A Solid VR Racing Game That Puts You In The Driver’s Seat

The V-Speedway Logo - This free Virtual Reality racing game absolutely nails the feeling of VR racing

If there is one free VR racing game that I’ll recommend to you more than any other it’s V-Speedway. It’s a simple game and doesn’t have a ton of replayability or features, though who can complain because it costs nothing, but this free VR driving game does nail the feeling of driving in Virtual Reality.

Instead of using a joystick to steer your car, you use your VR hands to grip the steering wheel and turn it to steer, like you’re actually driving a car! You can also optionally use the shifter on your car manually as well. All of your mirrors actually work, and you get to race AI drivers on a variety of maps.

Though these maps are pretty straightforward, just different lengths of track with varying turns, and while the AI has multiple difficulty modes there isn’t anything like powerups or abilities to really excite the back and forth of racing. Just good solid driving will get you the win in V-Speeway, and it is a very hard game on higher difficulty levels.

If you want a free VR driving game that makes you feel completely like you’re in the cockpit of your race car then look no further than V-Speedway. It is a fantastic VR racing game and like every other one on this list, it is free!

Racemaker VR - A Free VR Driving Game Where You Make The Track

The Racemaker VR Logo - Now you can build your own race tracks and drive on them in Virtual Reality

Racemaker VR doesn’t just have you drive, it also lets you build your own racetrack to zoom through. In this VR racing game for the Oculus Quest 2 and 3 your imagination and creativity are as much a part of every race as your ability to drive is.

While building your race track is a ton of fun, so is the driving, in this game you aren’t just limited to how well you can drive, but also to how you employ the numerous abilities and powerups that you can find along the track as you go. Though the powerups are few and can get old quickly as they are repeated very often.

While it is lacking in some comfort options for those who get motion sickness easily, Racemaker VR has a fantastic track builder and a fun and easy to grasp racing style. Oh, and like every other game on this list, it is completely free!

Slowp - A Fun And Unique Free VR Snowboarding Game

The Slowp Logo - A very unique VR snowboarding game

Slowp is a free Virtual Reality racing game that doesn’t have you racing cars, or bikes, or any sort of motor vehicle. Actually, in this game, you'll be racing with a snowboard.

As a free VR snowboarding game, Slowp is sort of simplistic at the moment and does feel sort of like an indie project, but it does stand out significantly from its flatscreen counterparts through the unique way that you control your snowboard. Instead of using a joystick or buttons to control the front and tail of the board you control them with your hands via your touch controllers.

So if you want to point the front of the snowboard to the left you move your front hand to the left, and to really shred you can move your back hand to the right at the same time to turn the whole board at once. You can do tricks after jumping off of a ramp by moving your hands as well, and the entire VR racing experience of Slowp is really transformed by its innovative use of VR hand controls.

So if you want a snowboarding VR game that really puts the “Virtual Reality” in Virtual Reality snowboarding, give Slowp a try. Competing to bet your best time, and the times of other players is very addictive.

Downhill Bike - A Free VR Biking Game

The Downhill Bike Logo - A free VR dirt bike game

If you want a free VR biking game or a free VR mountain biking game then Downhill Bike is it.

In this VR racing game, you’re a person on a bike, and you’ve got to carefully control your handlebars to pedal to the finish line through a variety of courses as quickly as possible. The controls for the handlebars can be a bit challenging without physical handlebars to grab onto, and this method of controlling a bike in Virtual Reality can be a bit hard and frustrating to grasp.

The physics feels a little floaty, and while the controls are easy to get the hang of using, they are very difficult to master. This is actually a good thing, because there’s not a huge variety between the tracks, and the gameplay boils down to just trying to get to the end as quickly as possible without many interesting obstacles in the way.

While it has got some problems, Downhill Bike is currently the only free VR dirt bike game out there, and it does do most of what it sets out to do pretty competently. It is still free after all, so why not give it a try?

Touring Karts - VR Kart Racing For Free

The Touring Karts Logo - It’s like free VR Mario Kart and is all around a great VR free racing game

If you want a free sort of but not quite Mario Kart VR type of experience for your free VR racing game, then give Touring Karts a look.

This free VR driving game has been around for a while and is far more polished than most others on this list, with the debatable exception of V-Speedway. It features different customizable Karts to try and experiment with, but the most interesting thing about this game is the tracks. Each track is varied and contains a ton of items and powerups to use. Each map also has environmental obstacles and helpers like ramps that give you a significant speed boost to launch you into the air.

Touring Karts also features a number of fantastic comfort options. The one area it falters is that controlling the steering wheel can sometimes feel awkward, and you must always have at least one hand on the wheel at all times. So when you physically move both hands away from the wheel it can end up with you awkwardly veering off of the track.

I highly recommend you try Touring Karts because not only is it pretty polished (despite a few bugs here and there) it also has multiplayer! Of all these free Virtual Reality driving games, this is the only one with true multiplayer where you can race directly against your opponents and hinder them with items and abilities. Oh, and as always Touring Karts is completely free!

Oh, there is also a paid “Pro” version of the game, but you don’t have to pay to get a ton of Touring Karts content.

TrailBouncer - Basketball And VR Racing In One

The TrailBouncer Logo - It’s like a VR basketball game mixed with a VR racing game

TrailBouncer is a very unique free VR racing game for the Oculus Quest 2 and 3 in that you’re not really racing anything that you could race in real life.

Instead of driving a car or a bike or anything like that you race in TrailBouncer by using a ball. This is an extremely cool idea that only really works in Virtual Reality because this VR racing game has you speeding up, jumping, and steering by using your physical hands with your tracked controllers to bounce, hit, and rotate a ball of energy in front of you.

TrailBouncer takes some learning to wrap your head around, but the unique concept works so well for Virtual Reality that I really suggest you give it a try to see for yourself just to find out what can be accomplished with a Virtual Reality game that couldn’t possibly be done on a flat screen. It’s sort of like dribbling a basketball… but the dribbling controls your movement and you move really fast.

Oh, and it looks really good, especially for a free Meta Quest game, so if you want to experience a hint of what might be the future of VR racing games give TrailBouncer a try.

Dart Racer Demo - Futuristic VR Racing For Free

The Dart Racer Logo - A futuristic free VR racing game

Okay, so this final free VR racing game is actually a demo for a racing game that, at the time of writing, is still in development. Still, don’t let that turn you off from giving this VR free driving experience a try.

In Dart Racer, you’re racing a futuristic floating contraption, a lot like the podracers from Star Wars. Many of the levels even take place within rocky canyons, just like in Star Wars, and the game gives you some options to customize your racing vehicle.

Of course, content is still limited as the game is an early access demo, but Dart Racer is very solid, and avoids the pitfalls of awkward controls that a lot of other Virtual Reality racing games, free or paid, fall into. So if you want a futuristic racing experience, for free, try out the Dart Racer VR demo.

That’s all for this list of fantastic free Virtual Reality racing and driving games. From cars to bikes to snowboards, there are a lot of options for racing in Virtual Reality even if you don’t want to spend a dime. No matter what caught your eye on this list, enjoy your free VR racing games.

Answered - How Do You Spawn Enemies In Blade And Sorcery?

Wondering how to spawn enemies in the fantastic VR sandbox fighting game Blade & Sorcery? Well look no further. This article will show you how to spawn enemies in Blade and Sorcery.

Spawning enemies in Blade and Sorcery, whether you’re playing it on PCVR or the standalone version for Meta Quest 2 and 3 called Blade and Sorcery: Nomad is quite easy. So here’s the answer to the question: “How do you spawn enemies in Blade and Sorcery?”

You may also be interested in:

• How To Use the Blade and Sorcery Controls

• All The Awesome Blade And Sorcery Maps

• All Armor in Blade and Sorcery: Nomad and How to Equip It

The Answer

The quick answer is: In each sandbox map there is a book, and you can spawn enemies from that book. It will always sit on top of a stone pedestal, and will sometimes be near where you spawn, but not always. Just look for the book and use it to spawn enemies. It’s usually near the book that spawns weapons as well, but again not always. For an easy example go to the Market map and the book is right in front of where you spawn to the right of the steps.

The book you spawn enemies from in the Market Map in Blade and Sorcery Nomad

If you want a more in depth explanation then here’s one.

To spawn enemies in Blade and Sorcery you’ll first need to go to a level in the Sandbox mode.

You start the game in your house, and you can go up to the map board on the wall next to the weapon rack and point at the “Travel Map” icon on it with a hand and then pull the trigger on that hand’s controller to be teleported to the travel map.

The travel map in your house in Blade and Sorcery

Or you can just go outside and walk down to the beach. The map is right next to the boat. There’s a path leading down to it through the rocks.

The path to the travel map outside your house in Blade and Sorcery Nomad

Once you’re at the travel map select the area you want to go to. This is as easy as pointing your hand at it and pulling trigger, just like using the map inside of your house.

Once you’ve selected a map take a look to the right side of the map screen and make sure that Sandbox mode is selected. Not all maps in Blade & Sorcery have Sandbox mode available. If you’re wondering which do then consult the list of maps. You can select which game mode the map will load in with the arrows on the board.

Once you’re ready hit the travel button and load in.

Selecting a map and putting it in Sandbox mode in Blade and Sorcery

In this example we’re looking at the market map. Each map will have the pedestal with the book that spawns enemies located in a different place. So if you don’t see it from where you spawn look around until you find it.

On the market map the pedestal will be right in front of you to the right of the steps.

The book that you spawn enemies from in the Market Map in Blade and Sorcery Nomad

Just walk up to it and you can spawn enemies in Blade and Sorcery by just selecting something from the book! Easy. That’s how to spawn enemies in Blade and Sorcery.

The book will also show you how many enemies will spawn on the right hand page. Enjoy!

You may also be interested in:

• How To Use the Blade and Sorcery Controls

• All The Awesome Blade And Sorcery Maps

• All Armor in Blade and Sorcery: Nomad and How to Equip It

This book is how to spawn enemies in Blade and Sorcery

The First VR Headset - The Sword Of Damocles and The Virtual Boy

Virtual Reality has actually been around in one form or another much longer than you might think.

VR is often viewed as a more recent technological breakthrough with huge advances in consumer headsets like the original Oculus Rift, Valve Index, and HTC Vive. Not to mention more recent breakthroughs in standalone VR headsets (those that don’t need to be plugged into a PC to work) in the Meta Quest and Pico.

Despite the popularity and consumer availability of VR headsets skyrocketing so recently in the last decade, Virtual Reality technology has actually been around since the 1960s with the first VR headset… The Sword Of Damocles.

The First VR Headset - The Sword Of Damocles Or Rather The Stereoscopic-Television Apparatus for Individual Use (or Head Mounted Display)

You read that title right, while the “first VR headset” is commonly known as the “Sword Of Damocles” in reference to the biblical story in which a ruler lives beneath a swinging sword that may fall at any moment over their thrown, this prototype Virtual Reality device wasn’t actually called that.

According to the inventor credited with the creation of this device, Ivan Sutherland, the proper name of it was actually “Stereoscopic-Television Apparatus for Individual Use” or the “Head Mounted Display”. It was created way back in 1968.

Some old photos of the “Sword Of Damocles” Head Mounted Display. The first VR headset.

This name can be linked to a common term for VR headsets, which is Head Mounted Display or HMD. A very scientific sounding name, since any VR headset is, in essence, a display of two screens mounted on the head of the user.

The Sword of Damocles's name might also originate from the fact that this early VR prototype was suspended from the ceiling, and each user had to be strapped into it so that they wouldn’t move too far and escape the device. Surely a far cry from today’s VR headsets that are completely self contained and stay attached to your head until you purposefully take them off.

The field of view was merely 40 degrees, and since computers of the time had such limited processing power the first Head Mounted Display showed only wireframes and basic geometric shapes.

This innovation was derived from the head tracked camera displays being developed for helicopters. The difference here being that what the user saw was rendered by a computer rather than cameras.

While a far cry from today’s VR devices, the Head Mounted Display is far and wide attributed to being the first VR headset in that it was the first device ever to display a 3D environment generated by a computer to a user with a stereoscopic view by using a display over each eye. Each of these displays show the same environment from a slightly different angle to simulate depth perception like your actual eyes do in the real world.

For more about the first VR headset check out this Forbes interview with Ivan Sutherland.

Of course, a very select few students and professors could actually access the Head Mounted Display, and so despite the innovation it represented, it wasn’t really the first VR headset that was commercially available or usable by the public. So what was?

The First VR Headset Anybody Could Own - The Virtual Boy

Of course, the lack of access to the original Head Mounted Display for anyone except a select few makes it kind of dubious to call it the first VR headset because it was more of a prototype than a product.

The honor of the first mass market VR headset is widely attributed to the Virtual Boy. This was the first mass market console that could display stereoscopic 3D graphics into a gamer’s eyes.

The Virtual Boy. The first VR headset to be available to consumers.

Released to the public in 1995, the Virtual Boy was the first VR head mounted display available to the average consumer, though for a hefty price (about 370$ in today’s money). The Virtual Boy didn’t sell well, less than a million units overall, and to this day is much sought after by vintage game collectors for this reason.

That being said the Virtual Boy might have been before its time. It married a lot of the parts and features you might find in a Virtual Reality headset today with those of a gaming console you might find today.

The Virtual Boy had no hand controls, but rather a controller that also powered the headset itself, which was meant to be used not attached to your head, but on a stand on a table in front of you. Just like a modern VR headset, there was a face cover on the front of the Virtual Boy to keep external light out of your eyes. You could even change the distance between the two displays that simulate your “eyes” with a slider, just like a modern headset.

The graphics of the Virtual Boy were way behind that of the original Head Mounted Display, though they’re still pretty bad by today’s standards, and are also all in black and red monochrome.

This is what a game in the Virtual Boy looks like. Very red.

This was all to keep the costs of producing the headset down. There were also few games available for it, and the public reception was very poor. This is attributed partially to how the VR headset was marketed, but mostly that it was considered very uncomfortable to use. The stand of the headset was not very adjustable and so it was hard to use it without having to hunch over uncomfortably. Eye strain was also common due to the low resolution and red color of the rendered graphics.

Despite this, the Virtual Boy is widely considered simply ahead of its time and the first VR headset to hit store shelves. While SEGA had earlier attempted to create a VR game console like the Virtual Boy, they never made it to market. So Nintendo gets the dubious honor having the first VR headset to be commercially available and also to commercially fail.

The Virtual Boy was discontinued in 1995, the same year it was released.

Thanks for reading. While the “Sword Of Damocles” Head Mounted Display is the first VR headset ever, the Virtual Boy is the first VR headset that anybody could buy and use, for a year at least, and so both of these pieces of technology have gone down in history as true innovators of their times.