Hi everyone, Thanks for the responses and feedback 🙏🏻 Just to let you know, I’m going to be cut/copy pasting, reorganising & adapting the section of the script talking about the VR youtube content bubble into its own separate video to be released later this month, that has been the plan all along. I want this topic and my thoughts to have the chance to reach others who would be interested in it, but not Showdown, and thus wouldn’t click this video. Do be aware though that bar some minor adaptation, extra lines here and there and reorganising of the voice over paragraphs, it will be mostly the same you heard here just with different background footage.
You bring up many great points in your critiques, and I hope these issues are shown to a lot more people, developers included. Love your videos sir, keep up the good work 👍
Just want to pop in at the 28:30 mark. You talked about content being incredibly deceptive and "overhyped" in a lot of ways but you then added a section within the video where you blatantly showed recommendations of my content and TimelessVR where those videos were in fact not sponsored content and just us enjoying the game and sharing videos on it. We HAVE to disclose when videos are sponsored and I've been sure to do that with the content I've posted. And I feel that this was added just to throw some jabs out there. If you plan to add a section where you call out creators be sure to get the facts from those involved because this can create unnecessary claims and dangerous views like you stated previously in the video about those talking on good things of the game. You actually stated a lot of my own concerns about the game and I agreed with a lot of the other points in the video, overall a very cohesive review and I think it's good to see content like this. Speaking for myself here I've never been here to "review" VR games, I'm just here to have fun and make the most out of the time I spend in VR. So of course I'm always trying to do what is fun and enjoyable to me at the time, and Showdown has been that for me! May not be perfect for others but I find myself continuously enjoying my time in the game as I'm overall a very big fan of Caveman Studios! Bias or not I believed in this game months ago when I found it was in development over on twitter, and I plan to continue playing for the future to come! We’re all huge fans of the VR genre and I just want to commit to making content that help get more eyes on titles that truly deserve it. No bad blood or anything, but just wanted to set the record straight so there wasn’t any misconceptions 💪
Hello Toast. The reel of search content was just a generic search under Contractors Showdown review on youtube, and I displayed the results as given publicly. It was not meant to target anyone alongside the commentary specifically nor was it edited or curated to show any one creator. It was merely to emphasise the general tone of content presentation and titling when doing a search, not to target or call you out. This is why I included the search term at the top of footage scrolling through videos.
@@MrVRVoice thanks for clearing that up man! Rest of the video was very well spoken and I feel we need some feedback like this from creators like you. Give some good where it’s needed and the more realistic approach of what to expect. 🤘
Thanks very much, glad we cleared that up. I was very careful when writing the script not to target anyone specifically and be very general with the critique, though I can completely get why you saw that clip and raised an eyebrow. I’ll be more careful to clarify such things when making the separate video on this topic.
I don't agree with all of your complaints about some of the games you review. But you are genuinely the only person in the VR review space who actually reviews games. There is such a severe lack of any sort of criticism to the products that are reviewed from most mainstream vr "review" channels that I leave most videos feeling like I have no better understanding if the game is actually quality or not. Most of the videos on youtube that are labeled as "reviews" from mainstream VR channels would be much better off being named, first impressions. I've played a couple of hours of showdown and am very much enjoying the game, but it is incredibly frustrating to sit in an echo chamber and act like the game is a 10/10 flawless masterpiece like everyone else on youtube seems to be doing. I really appreaciate the criticism you offer in this video. Also they have been promising cross buy support for the game on quest so you can also play the meta PCVR version since launch but the developers have still not allowed it to work for some strange reason. Haven't heard one single reviewer mention that and I know that many of them play on the quest version.
Thank you so much for speaking on the Net code/delay as you have as well as the uselessness of selecting server region. Good video. Hope I'm not part of the problem media wise lol. Edit: People have been begging caveman for better servers in OG Contractors since 2020. Hopefully in Showdown...they deliver
15:41 - Yea the raising a gun mechanic is awesome but unfortunately this can also be done with a button press, so nobody who is competitive is going to use the raise gun method.
I use the raise gun method to avoid controller drift. There’s no competitive advantage to using the button. You can raise your gun for .2 seconds and then lower it. The raise simply activates sprint toggle. It doesn’t sprint while you have your gun raised.
Paid praise aside, I feel like people just talk about things in a positive light because of their excitement for VR and want to show it in a positive light. And it comes off as you’ve stated here. Well said! And I decided not to cover Showdown because I saw what you saw here…(I’m too new to be sponsored by the game) but not covering because it’s bad may be part of the problem as well! Anyways thanks for this video. This all needed to be said.
It really is hard to find genuine reviews for games. You remind me a lot of Total Biscuit but for VR...I would love to see more regular Honest VR reviews...I'd love to hear your opinion on Into Black, it been fairly hyped,
I was thinking I'd heard this voice before, then I realised I'd had the pleasure of meeting you in game. That was me stuck in the window! It's great to get a more balanced view of the game - loving your work.
holy shit this was an amzing breakdown, u managed to really point out alot of the shit that i was experiencing but all the other creators seem to leave out when talking abt the game, love to see it
If i had one wish from a vr genie, it be that vr studios would be required to have you as a consultant when developing a game and actually implement changes that you recommend. Mr VR Voice - "Come for the seductively relaxing voice, stay for the hard hiting truths."
I'm glad a friend introduced this video to me, it really sums up a lot of the reasons VR just hasn't been keeping me engaged as of late. I really enjoyed showdown at first and was pretty positive with its reception but as my hours starting racking up in the game (almost 90 now with over 100 wins) I just started to lose interest, and the jank just kept getting more off putting and frustrating. I whole heartedly agree that VR games as a whole need a quality standard that is higher than it currently is and its very refreshing to see someone take a realistic approach to what almost all the titles have been lacking. I've streamed the game quite a lot at this point and have suggested it to some viewers but this video has helped me gauge my priorities for VR titles in a more articulated fashion besides an unfiltered rant. So thanks for the vid and keep up the good work Ill be sticking around for some other content you make.
Thoroughly agree with all points made here and would like to build on the discussion of the network issues here as someone who has played roughly 200-250 matches now. In my opinion the network issues are actually understated here. They are ROUTINELY game breaking (directly causing elimination from the match). On top of this, there is absolutely no in-game indication of a user's ping outside the region selector shown (this only appears outside a match and is not representive due to lack of control over joined servers). This results in the *exhausting* feeling of never knowing whether it is your own reaction times that are at fault or the in-game lag. This has increasingly resulted in players becoming bitter towards opponents who have beaten them in combat, seemingly producing an environment shift from a friendly and pleasant social experience to a toxic negative one. Great video V, I enjoy your perspective. -Madmax2110
At last a TH-camr finally highlighting, what we players have been screaming about since the start. Great video from an honest content creator, keep up the good work.
Finally, someone aknowledges this. It was the same for Asgard's Wrath 2 - that game is mid at best, but was overhyped by influencers into high heavens.
I agree with much of what you said. Still, let me offer a few points as a mild rebuttal of sorts: 1. This might not be the case for everybody, but I personally don't watch/read VR game reviews to follow them and blindly buy games. I usually do so to get an impression of gameplay and style to see if the game is "for me", and then make the decision myself. Case and point: Contractors Showdown. I buy a *lot* of VR games. Showdown was described as an amazing game and "the best battle royale in VR". Yet I didn't buy it because it's just not my type of game. So I guess at least for me, the system works... 2. While yes, I agree that weak points and issues should be mentioned in a so-called "review" (which I personally call "preview"). But I would rather watch a generally positive and friendly video about a new game. Even if I don't decide to buy it, it fosters less negative bashing in the comments and on social media. And if I buy the game, I might actually enjoy it more having not seen a mostly negative review of it before. I would probably pay less attention to the jank and more to the stuff that I like in the game. 3. I have played mediocre game and really, really enjoyed them. Just like your critique of TH-camr's opinion quotes, it often just comes down to "the game is just fun for me", even though I know that the mechanics are janky and the graphics are lazy. And sometimes a game has the most amazing, realistic mechanics and looks great and is perfect on paper, but I simply don't like playing it. For example the gun mechanics in Showdown: for me, not being a player who will spend hours and hours in the game, and for whom the social interactions and fun would likely be in the foreground, it's actually advantageous if the slide zone of the magazine is a little larger or if you have mild aim assist in the scopes. There are more realistic mil sim type games, and there are a lot of people playing those all day, and they get really good at it. But that's not me, and it's maybe not even most people, and us silent masses are quite okay getting a little assist to slightly level the playing field in VR multiplayer games. 4. Now let's step out of the VR bubble. How many games would you say have come out in the last year that were just really, really good and would deseve high praise? Very few, if any, I would say. Again, details and issues should be mentioned in review videos, but if the outside world only sees a generally negative perspective on almost every VR game that is being released, would this actually help the industry? Would more people come to VR and stick with it? I dare to say that it probably won't. I have already given three friends of mine cheap (Quest 2) headsets to get them into VR. Showed them Half-Life Alyx and Vertigo 2, showed them Walkabout Minigolf and Saints and Sinners and Lone Echo. But what they eventually bought and what kept them in VR were some very simple and flawed games like Population One, Skyrim (jank is its name), or Gorilla Tag. I want to restate that I mostly agree with what you are saying. But I'm not sure that growing VR or improving games is better done by content creators bashing 90% of games for their flaws, but maybe rather by the audience better understanding that there are (many!) content creators that will give them an overview of the gameplay and a personal opinion, not a detailed analysis of a new game. For such a thing, they can still come here. :-) Interestingly, this is exactly what I would tell my friends as well: A personal opinion of a game and if it "is fun", rather than technical analysis. Which in my mind is perfectly fine. Some of the most popular (flat screen and VR) games are very janky indeed. But that's okay.
Caveman studio's should see this but are blocking links on discord. Bought game but don't play cause so many problems that they are not addressing keep eye on updates hoping they will be ironed out in the future
You have a VERY impressive eye for detail. Half of the things you are talking about I would never have noticed at all. I am very curious about what your dayjob is.
The moment I tried out the vaulting mechanic in the "playtest" I lost all interest in the game. Well, that and the shiny microtransactions cleverly disguised in the game trailers, but mostly the poor interactions.
Definitely the same sentiments for the game, stand-alone players get an awesome bug with freezing you and your squad in limbo but still In a match untill you crash and then reset while you're still in a match you can still hear your squad until you make it back to the base. I played a lot of VR shooters and I've never seen latency issues like showdown and I haven't seen anybody else talk about issues besides you great video 🤟
Great video love your critiques we might have a couple more years before the criteria you mentioned becomes the norm. Especially since there are more kids and teens in the VR space than there are adults, while we would love to feel like we’re in actual war, young ppl would view those things as tedious and have short attention spans. Content creators have majority a young fan base so they only appeal to that audience.
100% agree I'm subscribed! Everyone else is just creating fluff content to get love like and subs from the devs and community..This guy is doing ACTUAL reviews. I had no idea about the aimbot (yes it is an aimbot), the sprint while aiming, and just now BAD the netcode is. This is eye opening and explains so many instances where I was sure the guy who killed me was hacking. I mean technically they kind of are if using the aimbot that sees people through walls but that's a built in hack lol
One thing i absolutely hate is the slot machine aesthetic on the unlock process. Granted it’s not a showdown exclusive but it feels jarring in vr, and makes it seem like the game is kinda just a trend follower. You go to a menu area, select a tier, load up the unlock card, wait for the animation and the jingle sound affect to get a random unlock. Booooooo. Also the nerf gun skins are lame. I miss the gritty aesthetic days
Just for the record, only 1 of the 5 videos you showed of mine were sponsored. I only play games to have fun, not critique everything wrong about them. I leave the in-depth reviews to creators like you. I get what you mean in saying that creators should point out game flaws, and you’re right to an extent, I should do that more, and I will **start doing that more from here on out.** But, then again i’m just here to play the games and have fun, and I am not going to crack down on every single issue I may come across. I’ve made kind of honest review style videos in the past on games like Tabor, which I played religiously, and can thank for the success of my channel, but it’s not really my style of content. Plus critiquing every flaw in a game causes controversy. People are soft asf. You probably know that. So I personally like to avoid that style and just have some good fun in VR and showcase some good games. So no, Showdown is not a perfect game by any means, but it’s just what VR needed to diversify the genre a bit
Hello Timeless. The reel of search content was just a generic search under Contractors Showdown review on youtube, and I displayed the results as given publicly. It was not meant to target anyone alongside the commentary specifically nor was it edited or curated to show any one creator. It was merely to emphasise the general tone of content presentation and titling when doing a search, not to target or call you out. This is why I included the search term at the top of footage scrolling through videos. Respect to you for what you said regarding being a touch more critical if needed 👍🏻 As for what you mentioned about your mode of operation for making content, I’m completely aware there is no ill intent and that’s why I’ve the clarification @ 42:38.
Additional thought: “people are soft asf” People can be, yes, but in particular terminal internet dwellers and their bubbles are irrationally, immaturely and unreasonably soft, and they do not represent the general everyday normal consumers, as much as they would like to convince us all otherwise with how loud they are online. You know what also has such people be like this and yet maintain a big influence…? Influencers and companies enabling them, coddling them, pandering to them, walking on eggshells around them. This select minority of unreasonable weirdos lack the emotional, rational intelligence & basic fortitude or maturity to have their opinion be challenged and like to be loud about it online. It is NOT something we should be capitulating and compromising our presentations for.
@@MrVRVoice Yeah for sure, and I wouldn’t compromise video presentation just to satisfy all viewers. I am far from that. I do speak my opinion but I also do not point out every single thing I think is wrong with the games I play because that’s not the content I am striving for. But my main point is that I just play games for fun, rather than fully critiquing aspects of a video game. I don’t lie about game features just to please those people who I call “soft”, but again I do not make it my mission to review VR games. I only showcase them.
@@TimelessVRyt I know. This is why I was very careful to speak in general collective terms and not point a finger at anyone specifically. You only showcase them, sure, and that’s fine, there’s plenty of room for that and all other kinds of stuff. But let’s be honest and gaze a little broader here. You don’t *only* showcase things now. You sell (or discourage from buying) those things, indirectly, through the size and influence of your channel just by featuring them, labelled as ‘review’ or no. And this is fine by the way, an unavoidable consequence of having a public platform and human psychology. But to paraphrase myself from the video, whether you like it or not, expected it or not, your influence now tangibly impacts on an ecosystem bigger than yourself or your original intent. This is why you get the chance to be financially rewarded for your showcases, because your showcases are influencing sales meaningfully. And that kind of power comes with responsibilities and consequences which eventually have to be faced, cheesy as it sounds. So, sorry Timeless, but you’ve done good work with your channel over the years which has resonated with an audience large enough, now having enough influence that you no longer can use the convenient absolution of responsibility in the form of; “I only Showcase them.” Again, by the way, nothing wrong with this way, it’s just what I say in the video about VR content having little to no reprieve from an overwhelmingly dominant kind of presentation.
I got VR for the prospect of the motion controls and, as you say, having the device track my actual movements. I was not expecting the stereoscopic effect to make such a strong difference, but after the "newness" of that wore off and Half Life Alyx thus dropped down the list of what I consider to be the "best" VR games, I get more and more frustrated/annoyed/hopeless(?) when new games come out and disrespect the concept of the motion controls as you have so aptly pointed out. Great vid, thanks for the in-depth review.
I am also very sensitive to the lack of audio/visual presentation, but isn't this caused by the smaller budget (small VR user base)? I learned to accept this because of this reason (though I could be wrong). Isn't this the reason why they don't clean things up, having to set priorities? This is why I love UEVR so much :)
I don’t think he’s wrong. But I do think he’s stupid for overly editorializing the negative points about the game; speaking as though anything short of ultra-realism is not deserving of the VR space. His idea of “why play VR if you’re not interested in a 1:1 IRL replication” is comical at best. The insinuation that his standards and expectations of VR games are the only viable ones for a game to be worthy of VR is insulting. As if no one should enjoy a gaming experience to their own liking.
@@T-P-M_405 if by more examples you mean more examples of why I think he is stupid, then yes, I do. Calling a $15-$20 game with no in-game purchase options a cash grab is so far out of touch with the general VR audience that it just deteriorates any credibility he built up during the video. Not only is the game ridiculously cheap, but hundreds of game keys were given out during open-beta events. Game keys could even be won in the twitch chats of official Caveman employee’s twitch streams during that time as well. To a normal person, that insane, inherent value of the game supersedes a lot of its issues.
will you make a video talking about Bonelab? Stress level zero seemed to be the only decently sized company to make real physics based VR games like Boneworks, but they just stumbled with this one. They just released a new patch and are promising more to come in the next months. What do you think? Did they get lazy and just want a quick buck, or is it reasonable to wait for them?
Objectivity?! What?! Just a minute in, and I had to subscribe. Humorous and objective right out the gate. And you're right, I think so many of us are just desperate for anything even resembling a full, polished game that we'll heap tons of praise onto almost anything without being objective or critical (two things that actually make things better), while some of us will just jump on the bandwagon as creators to get visibility. After doing one video on this game, I've noticed a lot of this and had to do some self-evaluation just on a personal level to avoid this pitfall myself. Just in my own life outside of YT, if it's crap, I'm gonna say it's crap. If it's enjoyable, I'll say it's enjoyable. No reason why it should be any different inside of it. I think people are desperate for this honesty. And most can see through inauthenticity, whether they say so or not, and will most often just speak with their feet out the door, and the VR community will be all the worse for it. I, for one, appreciate the objectivity! More of this please, VR people! It's not negative to be honest; it's constructive. The market is starved, and devs will listen to honesty because they have to. It's not demotivating to be real with them, and it's not commendable to lie to people, whether in ignorance or knowingly, about a product. It just hurts the market in the short-term, and sets a standard for the long-term. No one is this accepting in the console market, or even with standard PC games, indies included. We need to at LEAST establish a solid standard first before compromising on it.
Zero Calibur 2 also has the same problem with regards to VR reviewers overhyping it. They state how good the graphics are in ZC2 (they are dreadful, even for a VR game) or how great the story is (think of the most generic and cheesy Command and Conquer story and dialogue you can- that's ZC2). The most egregious lie a "reviewer" said about the game was that the recoil felt immersive and realistic, forcing you to use 2 hands for rifles etc - BS. I found it incredibly easy to dual wield rifles and accurately hip-fire them on full auto. Thank you for being honest, showcasing the good and the bad. Never change - I think you are going to go far as a VR reviewer. Would love to see your take on Zero Calibur 2 to see if you come to the same conclusions I did despite the glowing praise by the sponsored youtubers.
Excellent write-up in commentary on this game. While a bunch of influencers have raved about this game and don't get me wrong, it is fun and addicting and brings back social cues from playing Halo 2. But for a multiplayer action game, you are 100% correct in getting the action q sound cues. Having words obscure your vision while you're trying to kill people, all these need to be corrected and when. So this game would be awesome. I do enjoy playing this game everyday and we'll show in the future, but these changes will greatly impact the quality of life
I wonder what kind of game it would take for people outside of the VR space to want to buy a VR headset. Sort of like how some games have made a large number of people go out and buy a console just to play that game.
VTOL VR with better looking graphics. A shooter with H3VR style handling. Driver sim with good UI and game modes. Or any type of game that would actually benefit from being in VR instead of a 2D screen. Something like Subnautica but made for PCVR. Ocean Explorer Simulator. 😂
The only thing that will sell more headsets is hybrid flat games that release the VR version of the game at or near launch of AAA flat game release dates. The loss of flat game launch day hype is to huge to overcome for VR games and VR modes that occur many many months later. If hybrid flat/VR game mode games could happen then VR could take off. DFR is needed on ALL headsets for the above to even have a chance of happening, because without DFR it is to hard for Dev-teams to get flat games to work in VR easily enough for them to try it. DFR standardization across ALL headsets is the key without this standard we will keep seeing lack-luster ports, and the lack of will to even try from AAA studios. Sad as it sounds it helps to identify the problem & we have to "yell it from the rooftops" or this problem will continue and may even kill VR in the long run if we dont speak out now before its to late. So Devs can have a chance to even try to make GOOD VR happen. ...Also pvp games NEED to have two leaderboards, so advanced players can play in Tournament-mode with all the things Mr-VR-Voice mentions in his critiques, and a normal-mode control scheme for new players to compete in until they get good and can try out advanced Tournament-mode leaderboard control scheme if they want. its the only sane way i see to be able to cater to both player types in the same game without losing both casuals and advanced players. Time will show which mode is prefered by the masses by choice not by forcing everyone into the same control scheme and two leaderboards are the encouragement needed to push both. Happy VR'ing!
@@avaron_VR_Gamecat Probably the best approach I've seen so far. I can imagine a really well made massively multiplayer looter shooter like the division 2 being released alongside VR and flatscreen, flatscreen being fun but having VR really elevating the amount of fun and ways you can do things in the game (on top of flatscreen players being able to see the motion tracking and things possible), definitely incentivizing people to go out and buy a headset. Only problem is that no company/dev/publisher would ever do this LOL. Publishers and studios are already busy shooting themselves in the feet, so I doubt there's anyone willing or competent enough to pull this off.
This is such a long video, but wow! i can't recommend watching it enough. You are spot on, on everything! happy to see a like-minded VR user. For me the biggest disappointment of this year is still "AC: Nexus", hard to surpass that.
I,m Only 1 minute in and I love your voice and your command of the English language, Also As a VR developer that has hight vr interaction standards mysell I fully intend to watch the remainder of said video too.
if you develop a pvp game it needs two types of control schemes with 2 leaderboards one for each control scheme. Normal-mode, appeal to the masses controls like showdown has, and advanced Tournament-mode, with all the things Mr-VR-Voice mentions. That is the only way to sanely appeal to both player types and not lose both types of gamers because of lack of challange over time that occurs when you try to lump everyone under one control scheme. Good luck but its the only way i see this problem being resolved so VR can grow and not be killed by odd game control schemes that try to cater to both advanced and casual gamers at the same time and then lose them both in the process. Happy VR'ing!
Thanks for putting out these videos. It's great to have people who try to be a little more reasonable and realistic when talking about new VR games with hype behind them. I feel like every new release is hyped to the -nth degree anymore and it makes genuine critique hard to some by.
I bought this game and never play it because the na servers are 3 thousand miles away from where I live in California. Couple that latency with the horrible net code and it’s an awful experience. Thanks for making this.
Yo, I couldn't agree more about the 'magical screen' point. I fucking hate the ray selection tool for VR, and when devs put screens up with tiny ass font that you have to steady the controller and pull the trigger to select options... jesus fucking christ dude. I'd much rather it just be a thumbstick controlled menu at that point.
I find your opinions very interesting. While I can see why the designers do this type of thing (flatscreen shooters are what we know and all of this is to help casual players) but at the same time "if it aint broke dont fix it" isnt really what VR needs right now is it? Nor does it live up to what the potential of VR is.
kinda astupid kneejerk reaction from me, but overly, fakely positive and unhelpful commentary on games has been the norm for a long time, especially in VR where it seems like the main job of videos is to convince people their headset purchase was worth it. It made me completely ignore any 'influencer' since the first years of oculus rift. And adding to the chorus, its why i appreciate your videos. Overyhyping bad vr kills VR. There are a few really good VR games, and a bunch of them that do at least one thing really well, and i wish they were easier to find. Its why we need critical Voices.
Agree with all the points. This video is a must to watch by the Developers, although I think they have already knew what flaws are in game. Nonetheless that game's still the best out there in the genre.
I agree with everything said here, i tried the contractors showndown beta, i started the tutorial and instantly became mad and thought how are people ok with this level of quality, there was sooo much jank and HUD, dude we dont need huds in vr WHAT IS THIS GAME DESIGN. I uninstalled shortly after. It's been more than a year since i got my vr and i literally only play h3vr and vtol vr, other games just dont seem to undestand how to make vr games most feel like a vr mode for a flat screen game.
The VR industry needs critical voices like you! If you ever want to review something challenging: I am very curious what your thoughts are on the leaning mechanism of the new Vrider SBK motorcycle VR game.
Holy crap dude, this video was absolutely amazing! To be honest (lol i know im kinda a hypocrite for saying it) I definitely think vr is missing (even if its just one) a creator who can be on the side of pushing for the improvement of vr in general. would love to connect with you on discord sometime, id love to see you blow up.
It's coming. I'm looking into getting a VR headset now because I can see that flatscreen PC gaming is plateau'ing/monopolized and I think VR gaming's time is coming soon [once devs can implement graphics like half life2 aylx for PVP games it'll get there]
I don't think Linus is a good example of trust in a reviewer. The most pressing issue with his group is the stats are far far off due to negligence.. due to extremely high self imposed quotas. Most people see him for entertainment value and take his measured stats with a grain of salt. Linus group recently got called out and they say they're making corrections but only because they got called out..
Really glad you started the negatives with the netcode, as that's also probably my biggest grip with what is otherwise a really fun game (but has flaws for sure). I have had SO many instances where I am shot from behind cover because I guess the enemy can still see me on their screen? Also totally agree with you about the whole speed of actions hurting VR perception issue, but honestly I don't know what the right path forward here is because if you make these actions more difficult people will complain about jank. It seems like there's a very fine line between something that is difficult to do so takes time and precision, but isn't considered janky.
Man, this is a breath of fresh air. Can't agree more. That whole "game of the year with asvaurds wrath, for example, when the game is, at best, a mobile game with 6dof and grabbing. It's OK, but I was paaaainfully underwhelmed. This game, I didn't get to play the beta and didn't see reviews. I just saw caveman studio and thought "well, contractors was great and raised the bar". And I just... Couldn't get into it. It turns out, a lot of the reasons I'm terrible at this are be ause I was playing it like I expected it to be higher quality without realizing all of the major shortcuts and flaws exist. I just thought "well, I suck at this" with the random occasion of "oh, I can't believe I made that shot. Well , OK." plus, nothing like getting shwacked and kicked back to menus-ville every three to five minutes. Of all the games on my headset, the only one I go back to is gun raiders. It doesn't have much depth, but it's polished in its simplicity. The other one I loved was world of mechs, and that had incredible potential, but it was unfortunately basically abandoned by its devs because they took oculusvsmoney and used it to start making their block chain game (thst, tbf, does look nice and may play nice now. It sure af didn't in alpha. But that's... Expected, I suppose) because the shareholders saw bigger dollar signs. And the hype train for every new big release, when we adults with headsets just kinda... Know... Deep down... Thst it's not gonna hold up.... I get it, the medium, at least on the standalone headsets, is years behind current Gen tech. But when my first Gen Xbox games and PlayStation 1 games managed more depth and stronger fundamental game design elements than your average quest game, it's hard to not feel like maybe people should just be honest with the current state if things. The number of games I've played since my q2 two years ago that get built up and the the players just dip out because it didn't make the grade is massive. But if developers don't learn to look backwords at techniques applied to previous more limited consoles, and instead just try to push everything to modern aaa, this is what we get. On the flipside, tactical assault vr is one of the most immersive and tight experiences I've played. Like gun raiders, it doesn't look like anything special. But it's damn good. There's just not much to do. But I mean, one guy is making it, so, fine.
Yeah, there's a lot of hype. I do watch a fair few VR channels, and basically all of them are more positive about games than I am. I've stopped watching the ones that are only ever extremely positive though. It also takes a while to factor in the personal tastes of the reviewers. Not only with games, but even with VR hardware you'll get very different reviews from those that mostly like horror versus those that mostly like sim racing/flying, or from those that spend all their time in VR Chat versus those that spend all their time in Beat Saber. There's also a big difference in game and hardware reviews between those that are primarily console gamers and are looking for a plug and play console experience versus those that are primarily PC gamers and used to using mods, messing around with settings etc, etc. Also those that play seated and those that prefer more active VR gaming. Can't say I've found any channel that perfectly reflects my own tastes, preferences and usage of VR. Funnily enough Contractors was recommended to me by a couple of creators because I said I preferred the slower more tactical survival style battle royale games, such as Z1 or PUBG on the really big maps. In contrast to the more Fortnite style of say Population One. It really doesn't seem like that at all though. More like COD Wazone. In terms of the overall state of VR media, could be a lot worse. At least VR channels and reviews don't seem to be overly infested with political commentary and opinions.
18:48 I think it's more complex than that. If we view generous hit boxes for interaction as arcade and skill based precision interactions as simulation, the decision to make interactions less accurate makes a lot of sense. As I see it now, due to the relatively small vr playerbase, it's quite common for games to receive a high influx of players on release, and then retain a small number of try hards. It therefore makes sense for vr developers to make their gamed accessible enough to the casual audience, at least enough to carry them through that refund window. You are fair to criticise the gamers who engage in this consumerist approach to vr games, but I think you are mistaking purposeful game design choices for laziness. I might be speaking for myself here, but I think vr generally has a problem with laziness, unless a game really hooks me (boneworks / blade and sorcery 1.0) I mostly play vr games in short spurts, assuming many other players are in the same boat, arcade orientated shooters seem to make more sense. I would very much like to see a vr shooter that is able to hook me in the same way other single player games have, maybe what you are doing will lead to that, but I think you should consider the habits of gamers in general and not lay everything at the feet of developers
The netcode/desync thing is a real thing. Its the thing that kills me the most and i think its also the thing that makes people say that there are cheaters in the game. I don't believe that there are cheaters but i think it all comes down to that issue. Hope they fixe it. It will kill the game for me in the long run if not fixed. Same issue has killed allot of otherwise good flat screen games in the past.
When I first tried the game, I was astonished by how poorly the game performed and how terribly the UI was designed (or the lack of design). So I refunded it. I kept seeing positive reviews and videos saying how amazing it is. So I got it again. The issues are still there, but I realized some of them can be worked around with some settings or a bit of practice. Which shouldn't be the case. I feel like I should be fighting other players rather than the game itself. I can see how it can get addicting but I can't rightfully recommend this game to anyone with all the jank that it has. There's a massive list of all of the issues I found just from 2 hours of gameplay. I still play it a little. It's still objectively fun. But I really hope the developers fix a lot of issues that should've been fixed in the beta.
WoW was hella bugged unpolished unfinished on release. The game is bugged, but enjoyable and playable. I.E Population one is polished, but hasn't pushed/changed the VR BR format in an interesting way in 3-4 years. This game is pushing new VR tech boundaries/game format in VR, blazing new ground. Maybe it doesn't deserve all the hype at its current state, but once it does (or if) get polished, it will cement its place as new milestone VR gaming history.
Lol this game isn't setting any precedent. If anything this is more of the shovelware that plagues VR. Buggy, laggy half baked copy of a copy game. I honestly have to wonder if you've ever played a vr game before this to have such a ridiculous take.
This is just another example of lowest common denominator game design. What can you do about it? Very little, I suppose. I would try and support "enthusiast" type games that focus more on the immersion you love, like Hot Dogs and Horse Shoes, but those VR games are currently rare.
I might edit this comment later to add some more stuff but regarding the gunplay, I wish they'd implement it that when you one-hand a rifle or something it flies out of your hand. And (maybe as a hardcore mode to not annoy newbies) implement reloading like H3 or something where you have to be really precise to make it less abusable Edit 1: I think the biggest problem currently in VR is, that there is too little good content coming out. So when something kinda decent like this releases the whole community will quickly glance past most issues. After seeing (most so far) your video I can see how this hurts the industry long term and actually experienced this directly. I was hyped for Showdown and sent a friend (who has a PSVR2 but mostly plays beatsaber, so I consider him mostly a flatscreen gamer) a video of AwakenToast and he was like "You really think that looks great" which is exactly the reaction you describe, that this game wouldn't make any flat gamer go "O yeah I need to get a VR to play this"
You should analyze more games like this its verry muc needed. It reminds me of TotalBiscuit (RiP). I bought this game (luckily with earned Quest credits) but i dont play much. I find it "unimmersive" much of the reasons you describe here. It doesnt feel verry "VR" when playing as much as it looks watching. Hard to describe. Thank you for the video
As soon as I heard the game was a seperate battle royale game, i knew it would mean that contractors would probably stop being updated. the fact that it is a paid game as well leaves a bad taste in my mouth. this should have been a free update
Okay jokes aside i've watched the review and i agree. I won't write a whole comment to agree with every single point, but heres the main things i definitely agree with. Content creators overhype games and don't really point out important flaws of games, they're good at making videos but if they don't give important feedback, then those games will not grow as well as they could. We've done better, and we can do better again, theres so many features that can be improved, or at least be at the best of their form, and it should be important for game studios to at least tell you that they're experimenting, show you "hey this feature, yeah that one, we're working on this specific thing to get it as good as it can be". If a studio is large enough and has the funding they need, our standards should not be set too low, issues should get fixed, games should get improved, and if a specific thing doesnt get better, and it better be at the best it can be.
Eventually people will grow out of the "omg it's like warbattlegroundzone but in 3D VR!!!" at which point the VR aspect won't wow them as much. At that point, they'll only care about and want to improve at the battle royale aspect of the game, which is the positioning, awareness, gamesense, etc, since you can only get so skilled at vaguely waving your hand around to interact with things. And at THAT point, why would they not simply play a desktop battle royale for a far more cohesive and complete experience? The 1km range of leniency on item interactions, redundant UI, aim assist- it's all to greatly lower the skill barrier of the game and make sure that little timmy can score a cheap kill every several minutes. A game engineered to appeal to the masses as much as possible, but not showcase the true capabilities of the medium its based on. If a VR game doesn't want to play to the strengths of VR, then what does it have?
There is a huge skill barrier in the game lol. Of course a game is going to be engineered to appeal to the 'masses', in business we call that appealing to the consumers. Which give you the money you are after. Contractors: Showdown is a phenomenal game. I would never go play a desktop battle royale because the VR gaming experience is much more immersive. Both Ghosts of Tabor and Contractors: Showdown have plenty of faults. However, they are both pioneers of the VR gaming world.
We're critical of games on our podcast. Some people have said too critical. I used your Stride Fates video (no audio) in our last episode. You can embargo my ass.
Listened the other day and had a good laugh remembering that Stride Fates video 😂 Keep up the good work just talking about your honest feelings about VR games, what you like, dislike, what's just fine or whatever else. The bubbly, always-enthusiastic people are alright and all for people who want that, but we need more people like the both of you and this channel
Hi everyone,
Thanks for the responses and feedback 🙏🏻
Just to let you know, I’m going to be cut/copy pasting, reorganising & adapting the section of the script talking about the VR youtube content bubble into its own separate video to be released later this month, that has been the plan all along.
I want this topic and my thoughts to have the chance to reach others who would be interested in it, but not Showdown, and thus wouldn’t click this video.
Do be aware though that bar some minor adaptation, extra lines here and there and reorganising of the voice over paragraphs, it will be mostly the same you heard here just with different background footage.
You bring up many great points in your critiques, and I hope these issues are shown to a lot more people, developers included.
Love your videos sir, keep up the good work 👍
Just want to pop in at the 28:30 mark.
You talked about content being incredibly deceptive and "overhyped" in a lot of ways but you then added a section within the video where you blatantly showed recommendations of my content and TimelessVR where those videos were in fact not sponsored content and just us enjoying the game and sharing videos on it.
We HAVE to disclose when videos are sponsored and I've been sure to do that with the content I've posted. And I feel that this was added just to throw some jabs out there. If you plan to add a section where you call out creators be sure to get the facts from those involved because this can create unnecessary claims and dangerous views like you stated previously in the video about those talking on good things of the game.
You actually stated a lot of my own concerns about the game and I agreed with a lot of the other points in the video, overall a very cohesive review and I think it's good to see content like this. Speaking for myself here I've never been here to "review" VR games, I'm just here to have fun and make the most out of the time I spend in VR. So of course I'm always trying to do what is fun and enjoyable to me at the time, and Showdown has been that for me! May not be perfect for others but I find myself continuously enjoying my time in the game as I'm overall a very big fan of Caveman Studios! Bias or not I believed in this game months ago when I found it was in development over on twitter, and I plan to continue playing for the future to come!
We’re all huge fans of the VR genre and I just want to commit to making content that help get more eyes on titles that truly deserve it. No bad blood or anything, but just wanted to set the record straight so there wasn’t any misconceptions 💪
Hello Toast. The reel of search content was just a generic search under Contractors Showdown review on youtube, and I displayed the results as given publicly. It was not meant to target anyone alongside the commentary specifically nor was it edited or curated to show any one creator. It was merely to emphasise the general tone of content presentation and titling when doing a search, not to target or call you out. This is why I included the search term at the top of footage scrolling through videos.
@@MrVRVoice thanks for clearing that up man! Rest of the video was very well spoken and I feel we need some feedback like this from creators like you. Give some good where it’s needed and the more realistic approach of what to expect. 🤘
Thanks very much, glad we cleared that up. I was very careful when writing the script not to target anyone specifically and be very general with the critique, though I can completely get why you saw that clip and raised an eyebrow. I’ll be more careful to clarify such things when making the separate video on this topic.
I don't agree with all of your complaints about some of the games you review. But you are genuinely the only person in the VR review space who actually reviews games. There is such a severe lack of any sort of criticism to the products that are reviewed from most mainstream vr "review" channels that I leave most videos feeling like I have no better understanding if the game is actually quality or not. Most of the videos on youtube that are labeled as "reviews" from mainstream VR channels would be much better off being named, first impressions.
I've played a couple of hours of showdown and am very much enjoying the game, but it is incredibly frustrating to sit in an echo chamber and act like the game is a 10/10 flawless masterpiece like everyone else on youtube seems to be doing. I really appreaciate the criticism you offer in this video.
Also they have been promising cross buy support for the game on quest so you can also play the meta PCVR version since launch but the developers have still not allowed it to work for some strange reason. Haven't heard one single reviewer mention that and I know that many of them play on the quest version.
Thank you so much for speaking on the Net code/delay as you have as well as the uselessness of selecting server region. Good video. Hope I'm not part of the problem media wise lol.
Edit: People have been begging caveman for better servers in OG Contractors since 2020. Hopefully in Showdown...they deliver
15:41 - Yea the raising a gun mechanic is awesome but unfortunately this can also be done with a button press, so nobody who is competitive is going to use the raise gun method.
I use the raise gun method to avoid controller drift. There’s no competitive advantage to using the button. You can raise your gun for .2 seconds and then lower it. The raise simply activates sprint toggle. It doesn’t sprint while you have your gun raised.
If I could give you more than 1 thumbs up I would!
Thank you for being the Critical Drinker for VR community.
Love the bit with your knife aim getting corrected when cutting the onion!
🫢🫳🍿
Paid praise aside, I feel like people just talk about things in a positive light because of their excitement for VR and want to show it in a positive light. And it comes off as you’ve stated here. Well said!
And I decided not to cover Showdown because I saw what you saw here…(I’m too new to be sponsored by the game) but not covering because it’s bad may be part of the problem as well! Anyways thanks for this video. This all needed to be said.
It really is hard to find genuine reviews for games. You remind me a lot of Total Biscuit but for VR...I would love to see more regular Honest VR reviews...I'd love to hear your opinion on Into Black, it been fairly hyped,
I was thinking I'd heard this voice before, then I realised I'd had the pleasure of meeting you in game. That was me stuck in the window! It's great to get a more balanced view of the game - loving your work.
You're a godsend to the VR community.
Very kind of you to say 🙏🏻
As well as anyone with ears.
Absolutely. Now..we just need companies to hire him and take him seriously
holy shit this was an amzing breakdown, u managed to really point out alot of the shit that i was experiencing but all the other creators seem to leave out when talking abt the game, love to see it
Totally agree , I’m. 160 hrs in showdown , Caveman Devs should watch this vid
Massive thanks for a non hype honest direct vid
If i had one wish from a vr genie, it be that vr studios would be required to have you as a consultant when developing a game and actually implement changes that you recommend.
Mr VR Voice - "Come for the seductively relaxing voice, stay for the hard hiting truths."
Thanks!
Thank you Wiki!
this is like the first COD like BR for VR , first gen stuff. there will be more and better. this is just the start
I just discovered your youtube channel today. Great stuff. I hope other game devs find this channel as well.
This is a great video even if you're not into VR IMO. So many global problems explained related to game design and TH-cam as a platform.
Go on my son, good to see someone actually reviewing this game
I'm glad a friend introduced this video to me, it really sums up a lot of the reasons VR just hasn't been keeping me engaged as of late. I really enjoyed showdown at first and was pretty positive with its reception but as my hours starting racking up in the game (almost 90 now with over 100 wins) I just started to lose interest, and the jank just kept getting more off putting and frustrating. I whole heartedly agree that VR games as a whole need a quality standard that is higher than it currently is and its very refreshing to see someone take a realistic approach to what almost all the titles have been lacking. I've streamed the game quite a lot at this point and have suggested it to some viewers but this video has helped me gauge my priorities for VR titles in a more articulated fashion besides an unfiltered rant. So thanks for the vid and keep up the good work Ill be sticking around for some other content you make.
Thoroughly agree with all points made here and would like to build on the discussion of the network issues here as someone who has played roughly 200-250 matches now.
In my opinion the network issues are actually understated here. They are ROUTINELY game breaking (directly causing elimination from the match). On top of this, there is absolutely no in-game indication of a user's ping outside the region selector shown (this only appears outside a match and is not representive due to lack of control over joined servers). This results in the *exhausting* feeling of never knowing whether it is your own reaction times that are at fault or the in-game lag. This has increasingly resulted in players becoming bitter towards opponents who have beaten them in combat, seemingly producing an environment shift from a friendly and pleasant social experience to a toxic negative one.
Great video V, I enjoy your perspective.
-Madmax2110
At last a TH-camr finally highlighting, what we players have been screaming about since the start. Great video from an honest content creator, keep up the good work.
THIS IS GUD, BECUZ I LIKE IT, AND IT IZ FUN 2 WATCH, BECUS IT IS GUD N FUN!
Finally, someone aknowledges this.
It was the same for Asgard's Wrath 2 - that game is mid at best, but was overhyped by influencers into high heavens.
A PvP shooter with the gun handling of H3VR would be peak
12:32 man... You just visualy represented 70% of vr's object iteractions 🤣
I agree with much of what you said. Still, let me offer a few points as a mild rebuttal of sorts:
1. This might not be the case for everybody, but I personally don't watch/read VR game reviews to follow them and blindly buy games. I usually do so to get an impression of gameplay and style to see if the game is "for me", and then make the decision myself. Case and point: Contractors Showdown. I buy a *lot* of VR games. Showdown was described as an amazing game and "the best battle royale in VR". Yet I didn't buy it because it's just not my type of game. So I guess at least for me, the system works...
2. While yes, I agree that weak points and issues should be mentioned in a so-called "review" (which I personally call "preview"). But I would rather watch a generally positive and friendly video about a new game. Even if I don't decide to buy it, it fosters less negative bashing in the comments and on social media. And if I buy the game, I might actually enjoy it more having not seen a mostly negative review of it before. I would probably pay less attention to the jank and more to the stuff that I like in the game.
3. I have played mediocre game and really, really enjoyed them. Just like your critique of TH-camr's opinion quotes, it often just comes down to "the game is just fun for me", even though I know that the mechanics are janky and the graphics are lazy. And sometimes a game has the most amazing, realistic mechanics and looks great and is perfect on paper, but I simply don't like playing it. For example the gun mechanics in Showdown: for me, not being a player who will spend hours and hours in the game, and for whom the social interactions and fun would likely be in the foreground, it's actually advantageous if the slide zone of the magazine is a little larger or if you have mild aim assist in the scopes. There are more realistic mil sim type games, and there are a lot of people playing those all day, and they get really good at it. But that's not me, and it's maybe not even most people, and us silent masses are quite okay getting a little assist to slightly level the playing field in VR multiplayer games.
4. Now let's step out of the VR bubble. How many games would you say have come out in the last year that were just really, really good and would deseve high praise? Very few, if any, I would say. Again, details and issues should be mentioned in review videos, but if the outside world only sees a generally negative perspective on almost every VR game that is being released, would this actually help the industry? Would more people come to VR and stick with it? I dare to say that it probably won't. I have already given three friends of mine cheap (Quest 2) headsets to get them into VR. Showed them Half-Life Alyx and Vertigo 2, showed them Walkabout Minigolf and Saints and Sinners and Lone Echo. But what they eventually bought and what kept them in VR were some very simple and flawed games like Population One, Skyrim (jank is its name), or Gorilla Tag.
I want to restate that I mostly agree with what you are saying. But I'm not sure that growing VR or improving games is better done by content creators bashing 90% of games for their flaws, but maybe rather by the audience better understanding that there are (many!) content creators that will give them an overview of the gameplay and a personal opinion, not a detailed analysis of a new game. For such a thing, they can still come here. :-) Interestingly, this is exactly what I would tell my friends as well: A personal opinion of a game and if it "is fun", rather than technical analysis. Which in my mind is perfectly fine. Some of the most popular (flat screen and VR) games are very janky indeed. But that's okay.
Subscribed
Wish I discovered you earlier. Great video, you have a new subscriber.
Caveman studio's should see this but are blocking links on discord. Bought game but don't play cause so many problems that they are not addressing keep eye on updates hoping they will be ironed out in the future
You have a VERY impressive eye for detail. Half of the things you are talking about I would never have noticed at all. I am very curious about what your dayjob is.
The moment I tried out the vaulting mechanic in the "playtest" I lost all interest in the game. Well, that and the shiny microtransactions cleverly disguised in the game trailers, but mostly the poor interactions.
After pumping over 200 hrs into it, i pretty much agree with everything you have said it is an adficively fun game that could be so much better
The developers need to play The Hunt Showdown and mimics its sound design. In a VR game especially sound needs to be three dimensional
ah finally a breath of fresh air
Definitely the same sentiments for the game, stand-alone players get an awesome bug with freezing you and your squad in limbo but still In a match untill you crash and then reset while you're still in a match you can still hear your squad until you make it back to the base. I played a lot of VR shooters and I've never seen latency issues like showdown and I haven't seen anybody else talk about issues besides you great video 🤟
Great video love your critiques we might have a couple more years before the criteria you mentioned becomes the norm. Especially since there are more kids and teens in the VR space than there are adults, while we would love to feel like we’re in actual war, young ppl would view those things as tedious and have short attention spans. Content creators have majority a young fan base so they only appeal to that audience.
Damn, those HUD popups would make me rage quit. Unbelievable that it's also rendered in scopes!
You are the only VR content creator i follow because only you are properly criticizing and demanding more from VR games.
100% agree I'm subscribed! Everyone else is just creating fluff content to get love like and subs from the devs and community..This guy is doing ACTUAL reviews.
I had no idea about the aimbot (yes it is an aimbot), the sprint while aiming, and just now BAD the netcode is. This is eye opening and explains so many instances where I was sure the guy who killed me was hacking. I mean technically they kind of are if using the aimbot that sees people through walls but that's a built in hack lol
I enjoyed the balance on this review, very good.
Very good critique.
This video NEEDS to be sent to the devs.
Tell ghost of tabor to add a lean mechanic, trying to be a tarkov clone without lean?
And the graphics suk
This video needs to be sent to *all* devs. Vr specifically, but the current run of flatscreen aaa games isn't really thst far ahead.
@@MachinedFace88ttvwouldn't you just easily lean in real life?
@stevebobowski3507 your in-game avatar doesn't lean so your body would still be exposed
@@lightmusicguitaroh, ok....I see now. Yup, this is BS and the devs should be ashamed to assume we are so ignoran
One thing i absolutely hate is the slot machine aesthetic on the unlock process. Granted it’s not a showdown exclusive but it feels jarring in vr, and makes it seem like the game is kinda just a trend follower. You go to a menu area, select a tier, load up the unlock card, wait for the animation and the jingle sound affect to get a random unlock. Booooooo. Also the nerf gun skins are lame. I miss the gritty aesthetic days
30:50 Maybe don't use LTT as one of your examples they do not have the best track record
Yeah tried the Playtest here in Australia and never touched it again. The lag is so bad.
Just for the record, only 1 of the 5 videos you showed of mine were sponsored. I only play games to have fun, not critique everything wrong about them. I leave the in-depth reviews to creators like you. I get what you mean in saying that creators should point out game flaws, and you’re right to an extent, I should do that more, and I will **start doing that more from here on out.** But, then again i’m just here to play the games and have fun, and I am not going to crack down on every single issue I may come across. I’ve made kind of honest review style videos in the past on games like Tabor, which I played religiously, and can thank for the success of my channel, but it’s not really my style of content. Plus critiquing every flaw in a game causes controversy. People are soft asf. You probably know that.
So I personally like to avoid that style and just have some good fun in VR and showcase some good games. So no, Showdown is not a perfect game by any means, but it’s just what VR needed to diversify the genre a bit
Respect 👍
Hello Timeless. The reel of search content was just a generic search under Contractors Showdown review on youtube, and I displayed the results as given publicly. It was not meant to target anyone alongside the commentary specifically nor was it edited or curated to show any one creator. It was merely to emphasise the general tone of content presentation and titling when doing a search, not to target or call you out. This is why I included the search term at the top of footage scrolling through videos.
Respect to you for what you said regarding being a touch more critical if needed 👍🏻 As for what you mentioned about your mode of operation for making content, I’m completely aware there is no ill intent and that’s why I’ve the clarification @ 42:38.
Additional thought:
“people are soft asf”
People can be, yes, but in particular terminal internet dwellers and their bubbles are irrationally, immaturely and unreasonably soft, and they do not represent the general everyday normal consumers, as much as they would like to convince us all otherwise with how loud they are online.
You know what also has such people be like this and yet maintain a big influence…? Influencers and companies enabling them, coddling them, pandering to them, walking on eggshells around them.
This select minority of unreasonable weirdos lack the emotional, rational intelligence & basic fortitude or maturity to have their opinion be challenged and like to be loud about it online. It is NOT something we should be capitulating and compromising our presentations for.
@@MrVRVoice Yeah for sure, and I wouldn’t compromise video presentation just to satisfy all viewers. I am far from that. I do speak my opinion but I also do not point out every single thing I think is wrong with the games I play because that’s not the content I am striving for. But my main point is that I just play games for fun, rather than fully critiquing aspects of a video game. I don’t lie about game features just to please those people who I call “soft”, but again I do not make it my mission to review VR games. I only showcase them.
@@TimelessVRyt I know. This is why I was very careful to speak in general collective terms and not point a finger at anyone specifically. You only showcase them, sure, and that’s fine, there’s plenty of room for that and all other kinds of stuff.
But let’s be honest and gaze a little broader here. You don’t *only* showcase things now. You sell (or discourage from buying) those things, indirectly, through the size and influence of your channel just by featuring them, labelled as ‘review’ or no. And this is fine by the way, an unavoidable consequence of having a public platform and human psychology.
But to paraphrase myself from the video, whether you like it or not, expected it or not, your influence now tangibly impacts on an ecosystem bigger than yourself or your original intent. This is why you get the chance to be financially rewarded for your showcases, because your showcases are influencing sales meaningfully. And that kind of power comes with responsibilities and consequences which eventually have to be faced, cheesy as it sounds.
So, sorry Timeless, but you’ve done good work with your channel over the years which has resonated with an audience large enough, now having enough influence that you no longer can use the convenient absolution of responsibility in the form of; “I only Showcase them.”
Again, by the way, nothing wrong with this way, it’s just what I say in the video about VR content having little to no reprieve from an overwhelmingly dominant kind of presentation.
The most based VR TH-camr. This critique is not only for Showdown, but for all VR games being developed.
I got VR for the prospect of the motion controls and, as you say, having the device track my actual movements. I was not expecting the stereoscopic effect to make such a strong difference, but after the "newness" of that wore off and Half Life Alyx thus dropped down the list of what I consider to be the "best" VR games, I get more and more frustrated/annoyed/hopeless(?) when new games come out and disrespect the concept of the motion controls as you have so aptly pointed out. Great vid, thanks for the in-depth review.
I am also very sensitive to the lack of audio/visual presentation, but isn't this caused by the smaller budget (small VR user base)? I learned to accept this because of this reason (though I could be wrong). Isn't this the reason why they don't clean things up, having to set priorities? This is why I love UEVR so much :)
Before you go ranting in the comments how hes wrong and stupid, maybe keep and open mind, and be civil and constructive with your criticisms
I don’t think he’s wrong. But I do think he’s stupid for overly editorializing the negative points about the game; speaking as though anything short of ultra-realism is not deserving of the VR space.
His idea of “why play VR if you’re not interested in a 1:1 IRL replication” is comical at best. The insinuation that his standards and expectations of VR games are the only viable ones for a game to be worthy of VR is insulting. As if no one should enjoy a gaming experience to their own liking.
@barrydvr fair point, but that's one example, do you happen to have any others?
@@T-P-M_405 if by more examples you mean more examples of why I think he is stupid, then yes, I do.
Calling a $15-$20 game with no in-game purchase options a cash grab is so far out of touch with the general VR audience that it just deteriorates any credibility he built up during the video. Not only is the game ridiculously cheap, but hundreds of game keys were given out during open-beta events. Game keys could even be won in the twitch chats of official Caveman employee’s twitch streams during that time as well. To a normal person, that insane, inherent value of the game supersedes a lot of its issues.
@barrydvr I'd say that's quite fair as well, you have a wonderful rest of your day.
@@T-P-M_405 you too
This is why we need to have our own experiences in order to formulate our own opinions. Be wolves, people, not mindless sheep.
finally....another video from my fav channel
will you make a video talking about Bonelab? Stress level zero seemed to be the only decently sized company to make real physics based VR games like Boneworks, but they just stumbled with this one. They just released a new patch and are promising more to come in the next months. What do you think? Did they get lazy and just want a quick buck, or is it reasonable to wait for them?
Objectivity?! What?! Just a minute in, and I had to subscribe. Humorous and objective right out the gate. And you're right, I think so many of us are just desperate for anything even resembling a full, polished game that we'll heap tons of praise onto almost anything without being objective or critical (two things that actually make things better), while some of us will just jump on the bandwagon as creators to get visibility. After doing one video on this game, I've noticed a lot of this and had to do some self-evaluation just on a personal level to avoid this pitfall myself.
Just in my own life outside of YT, if it's crap, I'm gonna say it's crap. If it's enjoyable, I'll say it's enjoyable. No reason why it should be any different inside of it. I think people are desperate for this honesty. And most can see through inauthenticity, whether they say so or not, and will most often just speak with their feet out the door, and the VR community will be all the worse for it.
I, for one, appreciate the objectivity! More of this please, VR people! It's not negative to be honest; it's constructive. The market is starved, and devs will listen to honesty because they have to. It's not demotivating to be real with them, and it's not commendable to lie to people, whether in ignorance or knowingly, about a product. It just hurts the market in the short-term, and sets a standard for the long-term. No one is this accepting in the console market, or even with standard PC games, indies included. We need to at LEAST establish a solid standard first before compromising on it.
👏🙏👍🥰
Zero Calibur 2 also has the same problem with regards to VR reviewers overhyping it. They state how good the graphics are in ZC2 (they are dreadful, even for a VR game) or how great the story is (think of the most generic and cheesy Command and Conquer story and dialogue you can- that's ZC2). The most egregious lie a "reviewer" said about the game was that the recoil felt immersive and realistic, forcing you to use 2 hands for rifles etc - BS. I found it incredibly easy to dual wield rifles and accurately hip-fire them on full auto.
Thank you for being honest, showcasing the good and the bad. Never change - I think you are going to go far as a VR reviewer. Would love to see your take on Zero Calibur 2 to see if you come to the same conclusions I did despite the glowing praise by the sponsored youtubers.
Excellent write-up in commentary on this game. While a bunch of influencers have raved about this game and don't get me wrong, it is fun and addicting and brings back social cues from playing Halo 2. But for a multiplayer action game, you are 100% correct in getting the action q sound cues. Having words obscure your vision while you're trying to kill people, all these need to be corrected and when. So this game would be awesome. I do enjoy playing this game everyday and we'll show in the future, but these changes will greatly impact the quality of life
If I could double-subscribe I would. You're fantastic.
A breath of fresh fucking air holy shit.
your critics ARE THE MOST HELPFUL THE VR INDUSTRY/COMUNITY can hear....10/10 !
I wonder what kind of game it would take for people outside of the VR space to want to buy a VR headset. Sort of like how some games have made a large number of people go out and buy a console just to play that game.
VTOL VR with better looking graphics.
A shooter with H3VR style handling.
Driver sim with good UI and game modes.
Or any type of game that would actually benefit from being in VR instead of a 2D screen.
Something like Subnautica but made for PCVR.
Ocean Explorer Simulator. 😂
A game with the polish of Half Life: Alyx, The ambition of Boneworks, and the storytelling and atmosphere of a game like The Last of Us or God of War.
The only thing that will sell more headsets is hybrid flat games that release the VR version of the game at or near launch of AAA flat game release dates. The loss of flat game launch day hype is to huge to overcome for VR games and VR modes that occur many many months later. If hybrid flat/VR game mode games could happen then VR could take off. DFR is needed on ALL headsets for the above to even have a chance of happening, because without DFR it is to hard for Dev-teams to get flat games to work in VR easily enough for them to try it. DFR standardization across ALL headsets is the key without this standard we will keep seeing lack-luster ports, and the lack of will to even try from AAA studios. Sad as it sounds it helps to identify the problem & we have to "yell it from the rooftops" or this problem will continue and may even kill VR in the long run if we dont speak out now before its to late. So Devs can have a chance to even try to make GOOD VR happen.
...Also pvp games NEED to have two leaderboards, so advanced players can play in Tournament-mode with all the things Mr-VR-Voice mentions in his critiques, and a normal-mode control scheme for new players to compete in until they get good and can try out advanced Tournament-mode leaderboard control scheme if they want. its the only sane way i see to be able to cater to both player types in the same game without losing both casuals and advanced players.
Time will show which mode is prefered by the masses by choice not by forcing everyone into the same control scheme and two leaderboards are the encouragement needed to push both.
Happy VR'ing!
@@avaron_VR_Gamecat Probably the best approach I've seen so far. I can imagine a really well made massively multiplayer looter shooter like the division 2 being released alongside VR and flatscreen, flatscreen being fun but having VR really elevating the amount of fun and ways you can do things in the game (on top of flatscreen players being able to see the motion tracking and things possible), definitely incentivizing people to go out and buy a headset. Only problem is that no company/dev/publisher would ever do this LOL. Publishers and studios are already busy shooting themselves in the feet, so I doubt there's anyone willing or competent enough to pull this off.
This is such a long video, but wow! i can't recommend watching it enough.
You are spot on, on everything! happy to see a like-minded VR user.
For me the biggest disappointment of this year is still "AC: Nexus", hard to surpass that.
I,m Only 1 minute in and I love your voice and your command of the English language, Also As a VR developer that has hight vr interaction standards mysell I fully intend to watch the remainder of said video too.
if you develop a pvp game it needs two types of control schemes with 2 leaderboards one for each control scheme. Normal-mode, appeal to the masses controls like showdown has, and advanced Tournament-mode, with all the things Mr-VR-Voice mentions. That is the only way to sanely appeal to both player types and not lose both types of gamers because of lack of challange over time that occurs when you try to lump everyone under one control scheme. Good luck but its the only way i see this problem being resolved so VR can grow and not be killed by odd game control schemes that try to cater to both advanced and casual gamers at the same time and then lose them both in the process. Happy VR'ing!
I'm enjoying a lovely red wine in the bath while watching this fabulous breakdown. Bravo sir.
Thanks for putting out these videos. It's great to have people who try to be a little more reasonable and realistic when talking about new VR games with hype behind them. I feel like every new release is hyped to the -nth degree anymore and it makes genuine critique hard to some by.
I bought this game and never play it because the na servers are 3 thousand miles away from where I live in California. Couple that latency with the horrible net code and it’s an awful experience. Thanks for making this.
Yo, I couldn't agree more about the 'magical screen' point.
I fucking hate the ray selection tool for VR, and when devs put screens up with tiny ass font that you have to steady the controller and pull the trigger to select options... jesus fucking christ dude. I'd much rather it just be a thumbstick controlled menu at that point.
do ghosts of tabor!
I could critique GOT in one sentence.
Delete the game and make again from the ground up.
They seem to be putting a lot of their dev effort into other games too smh :( so much potential
Every time I watch one of your videos I want to make my own VR game.
I find your opinions very interesting. While I can see why the designers do this type of thing (flatscreen shooters are what we know and all of this is to help casual players) but at the same time "if it aint broke dont fix it" isnt really what VR needs right now is it? Nor does it live up to what the potential of VR is.
kinda astupid kneejerk reaction from me, but overly, fakely positive and unhelpful commentary on games has been the norm for a long time, especially in VR where it seems like the main job of videos is to convince people their headset purchase was worth it. It made me completely ignore any 'influencer' since the first years of oculus rift.
And adding to the chorus, its why i appreciate your videos. Overyhyping bad vr kills VR. There are a few really good VR games, and a bunch of them that do at least one thing really well, and i wish they were easier to find. Its why we need critical Voices.
Good vid
Agree with all the points. This video is a must to watch by the Developers, although I think they have already knew what flaws are in game. Nonetheless that game's still the best out there in the genre.
I agree with everything said here, i tried the contractors showndown beta, i started the tutorial and instantly became mad and thought how are people ok with this level of quality, there was sooo much jank and HUD, dude we dont need huds in vr WHAT IS THIS GAME DESIGN. I uninstalled shortly after.
It's been more than a year since i got my vr and i literally only play h3vr and vtol vr, other games just dont seem to undestand how to make vr games most feel like a vr mode for a flat screen game.
I love this game
The VR industry needs critical voices like you! If you ever want to review something challenging: I am very curious what your thoughts are on the leaning mechanism of the new Vrider SBK motorcycle VR game.
Holy crap dude, this video was absolutely amazing! To be honest (lol i know im kinda a hypocrite for saying it) I definitely think vr is missing (even if its just one) a creator who can be on the side of pushing for the improvement of vr in general. would love to connect with you on discord sometime, id love to see you blow up.
tridus!
It's coming. I'm looking into getting a VR headset now because I can see that flatscreen PC gaming is plateau'ing/monopolized and I think VR gaming's time is coming soon [once devs can implement graphics like half life2 aylx for PVP games it'll get there]
Ty for this, saved me some time. Il b hoping for them to make changes
I don't think Linus is a good example of trust in a reviewer. The most pressing issue with his group is the stats are far far off due to negligence.. due to extremely high self imposed quotas. Most people see him for entertainment value and take his measured stats with a grain of salt.
Linus group recently got called out and they say they're making corrections but only because they got called out..
Good job Mr VR Voice, say it like it is…. Keep up the good work
Really glad you started the negatives with the netcode, as that's also probably my biggest grip with what is otherwise a really fun game (but has flaws for sure). I have had SO many instances where I am shot from behind cover because I guess the enemy can still see me on their screen?
Also totally agree with you about the whole speed of actions hurting VR perception issue, but honestly I don't know what the right path forward here is because if you make these actions more difficult people will complain about jank. It seems like there's a very fine line between something that is difficult to do so takes time and precision, but isn't considered janky.
Man, this is a breath of fresh air. Can't agree more. That whole "game of the year with asvaurds wrath, for example, when the game is, at best, a mobile game with 6dof and grabbing. It's OK, but I was paaaainfully underwhelmed. This game, I didn't get to play the beta and didn't see reviews. I just saw caveman studio and thought "well, contractors was great and raised the bar". And I just... Couldn't get into it. It turns out, a lot of the reasons I'm terrible at this are be ause I was playing it like I expected it to be higher quality without realizing all of the major shortcuts and flaws exist. I just thought "well, I suck at this" with the random occasion of "oh, I can't believe I made that shot. Well , OK." plus, nothing like getting shwacked and kicked back to menus-ville every three to five minutes.
Of all the games on my headset, the only one I go back to is gun raiders. It doesn't have much depth, but it's polished in its simplicity. The other one I loved was world of mechs, and that had incredible potential, but it was unfortunately basically abandoned by its devs because they took oculusvsmoney and used it to start making their block chain game (thst, tbf, does look nice and may play nice now. It sure af didn't in alpha. But that's... Expected, I suppose) because the shareholders saw bigger dollar signs.
And the hype train for every new big release, when we adults with headsets just kinda... Know... Deep down... Thst it's not gonna hold up.... I get it, the medium, at least on the standalone headsets, is years behind current Gen tech. But when my first Gen Xbox games and PlayStation 1 games managed more depth and stronger fundamental game design elements than your average quest game, it's hard to not feel like maybe people should just be honest with the current state if things. The number of games I've played since my q2 two years ago that get built up and the the players just dip out because it didn't make the grade is massive. But if developers don't learn to look backwords at techniques applied to previous more limited consoles, and instead just try to push everything to modern aaa, this is what we get.
On the flipside, tactical assault vr is one of the most immersive and tight experiences I've played. Like gun raiders, it doesn't look like anything special. But it's damn good. There's just not much to do. But I mean, one guy is making it, so, fine.
Yeah, there's a lot of hype. I do watch a fair few VR channels, and basically all of them are more positive about games than I am. I've stopped watching the ones that are only ever extremely positive though.
It also takes a while to factor in the personal tastes of the reviewers. Not only with games, but even with VR hardware you'll get very different reviews from those that mostly like horror versus those that mostly like sim racing/flying, or from those that spend all their time in VR Chat versus those that spend all their time in Beat Saber.
There's also a big difference in game and hardware reviews between those that are primarily console gamers and are looking for a plug and play console experience versus those that are primarily PC gamers and used to using mods, messing around with settings etc, etc. Also those that play seated and those that prefer more active VR gaming.
Can't say I've found any channel that perfectly reflects my own tastes, preferences and usage of VR.
Funnily enough Contractors was recommended to me by a couple of creators because I said I preferred the slower more tactical survival style battle royale games, such as Z1 or PUBG on the really big maps. In contrast to the more Fortnite style of say Population One. It really doesn't seem like that at all though. More like COD Wazone.
In terms of the overall state of VR media, could be a lot worse. At least VR channels and reviews don't seem to be overly infested with political commentary and opinions.
18:48 I think it's more complex than that. If we view generous hit boxes for interaction as arcade and skill based precision interactions as simulation, the decision to make interactions less accurate makes a lot of sense. As I see it now, due to the relatively small vr playerbase, it's quite common for games to receive a high influx of players on release, and then retain a small number of try hards. It therefore makes sense for vr developers to make their gamed accessible enough to the casual audience, at least enough to carry them through that refund window. You are fair to criticise the gamers who engage in this consumerist approach to vr games, but I think you are mistaking purposeful game design choices for laziness. I might be speaking for myself here, but I think vr generally has a problem with laziness, unless a game really hooks me (boneworks / blade and sorcery 1.0) I mostly play vr games in short spurts, assuming many other players are in the same boat, arcade orientated shooters seem to make more sense. I would very much like to see a vr shooter that is able to hook me in the same way other single player games have, maybe what you are doing will lead to that, but I think you should consider the habits of gamers in general and not lay everything at the feet of developers
Also, thank you for your other criticisms, I had been on the fence about trying this with some friends, and you saved us all some money
tabor hooked me so much even when its often a piece of shiat
just bc it demands some sort of skill and is not too arcady
The netcode/desync thing is a real thing. Its the thing that kills me the most and i think its also the thing that makes people say that there are cheaters in the game. I don't believe that there are cheaters but i think it all comes down to that issue. Hope they fixe it. It will kill the game for me in the long run if not fixed. Same issue has killed allot of otherwise good flat screen games in the past.
How'd you get Sir Patrick Stewart to do this voiceover?
When I first tried the game, I was astonished by how poorly the game performed and how terribly the UI was designed (or the lack of design). So I refunded it. I kept seeing positive reviews and videos saying how amazing it is. So I got it again. The issues are still there, but I realized some of them can be worked around with some settings or a bit of practice. Which shouldn't be the case. I feel like I should be fighting other players rather than the game itself.
I can see how it can get addicting but I can't rightfully recommend this game to anyone with all the jank that it has. There's a massive list of all of the issues I found just from 2 hours of gameplay.
I still play it a little. It's still objectively fun. But I really hope the developers fix a lot of issues that should've been fixed in the beta.
WoW was hella bugged unpolished unfinished on release. The game is bugged, but enjoyable and playable. I.E Population one is polished, but hasn't pushed/changed the VR BR format in an interesting way in 3-4 years. This game is pushing new VR tech boundaries/game format in VR, blazing new ground. Maybe it doesn't deserve all the hype at its current state, but once it does (or if) get polished, it will cement its place as new milestone VR gaming history.
What VR tech boundary and game format is this game blazing exactly? Can I have some specifics to understand where you're coming from.
Lol this game isn't setting any precedent. If anything this is more of the shovelware that plagues VR. Buggy, laggy half baked copy of a copy game. I honestly have to wonder if you've ever played a vr game before this to have such a ridiculous take.
This is just another example of lowest common denominator game design. What can you do about it? Very little, I suppose. I would try and support "enthusiast" type games that focus more on the immersion you love, like Hot Dogs and Horse Shoes, but those VR games are currently rare.
Scraping my footprint.
I might edit this comment later to add some more stuff but regarding the gunplay, I wish they'd implement it that when you one-hand a rifle or something it flies out of your hand. And (maybe as a hardcore mode to not annoy newbies) implement reloading like H3 or something where you have to be really precise to make it less abusable
Edit 1: I think the biggest problem currently in VR is, that there is too little good content coming out. So when something kinda decent like this releases the whole community will quickly glance past most issues. After seeing (most so far) your video I can see how this hurts the industry long term and actually experienced this directly. I was hyped for Showdown and sent a friend (who has a PSVR2 but mostly plays beatsaber, so I consider him mostly a flatscreen gamer) a video of AwakenToast and he was like "You really think that looks great" which is exactly the reaction you describe, that this game wouldn't make any flat gamer go "O yeah I need to get a VR to play this"
You should analyze more games like this its verry muc needed. It reminds me of TotalBiscuit (RiP).
I bought this game (luckily with earned Quest credits) but i dont play much. I find it "unimmersive" much of the reasons you describe here. It doesnt feel verry "VR" when playing as much as it looks watching. Hard to describe.
Thank you for the video
thank you for calling shit by its name in all cases 🍻
i think all vr shooters should have an option to play without hands, like h3vr
lovey Video as always brother ^^ but you know what i say last time we played brother "time how long befor it dies down"
I love this game but you hit the nail on the head with the slop content being pushed out with it
As soon as I heard the game was a seperate battle royale game, i knew it would mean that contractors would probably stop being updated.
the fact that it is a paid game as well leaves a bad taste in my mouth. this should have been a free update
I really hope your girlfriend keeps liking you man! you got this.
Okay jokes aside i've watched the review and i agree.
I won't write a whole comment to agree with every single point, but heres the main things i definitely agree with.
Content creators overhype games and don't really point out important flaws of games, they're good at making videos but if they don't give important feedback, then those games will not grow as well as they could.
We've done better, and we can do better again, theres so many features that can be improved, or at least be at the best of their form, and it should be important for game studios to at least tell you that they're experimenting, show you "hey this feature, yeah that one, we're working on this specific thing to get it as good as it can be".
If a studio is large enough and has the funding they need, our standards should not be set too low, issues should get fixed, games should get improved, and if a specific thing doesnt get better, and it better be at the best it can be.
Eventually people will grow out of the "omg it's like warbattlegroundzone but in 3D VR!!!" at which point the VR aspect won't wow them as much. At that point, they'll only care about and want to improve at the battle royale aspect of the game, which is the positioning, awareness, gamesense, etc, since you can only get so skilled at vaguely waving your hand around to interact with things. And at THAT point, why would they not simply play a desktop battle royale for a far more cohesive and complete experience?
The 1km range of leniency on item interactions, redundant UI, aim assist- it's all to greatly lower the skill barrier of the game and make sure that little timmy can score a cheap kill every several minutes. A game engineered to appeal to the masses as much as possible, but not showcase the true capabilities of the medium its based on. If a VR game doesn't want to play to the strengths of VR, then what does it have?
There is a huge skill barrier in the game lol. Of course a game is going to be engineered to appeal to the 'masses', in business we call that appealing to the consumers. Which give you the money you are after.
Contractors: Showdown is a phenomenal game. I would never go play a desktop battle royale because the VR gaming experience is much more immersive. Both Ghosts of Tabor and Contractors: Showdown have plenty of faults. However, they are both pioneers of the VR gaming world.
We're critical of games on our podcast. Some people have said too critical. I used your Stride Fates video (no audio) in our last episode. You can embargo my ass.
Listened the other day and had a good laugh remembering that Stride Fates video 😂 Keep up the good work just talking about your honest feelings about VR games, what you like, dislike, what's just fine or whatever else. The bubbly, always-enthusiastic people are alright and all for people who want that, but we need more people like the both of you and this channel
@@CFTSthebandThanks for listening! (Commenting from my regular account)