[PAX East 2016] RIGS PS VR preview: My body and me

“Whoa. I’m feeling vertigo.”

Those are the first words that go through my mind as I look down at my dangling anti-aliased feet. I had climbed into a giant mech, ready to take part in a robotic sporting event that seemed to mix shooting and basketball. As I look to my left and right, I examine the details of the hub world I am in, a sort of pre-match staging area where technicians examine the mech suits and make adjustments. My virtualized teammates give words of support, clapping and cheering to hype ourselves up for our battle against the AI.

Again I look down, noticing my feet just hanging there in virtual space, feeling a bit dizzy during an early press demo after a night of alcohol, bad food and lack of sleep. Shifting left and right in my seat actually translates into the game thanks to the PS VR’s head tracking, so it all seems a bit too real, even with the clearly video game visuals. Mental note: VR after partying is not the best idea. Thank God I didn’t hurl.

Though, I almost do when my mech lunges forward at hyper speed, leaping into the air as the match begins.

The task for our team of three is to jump around an arena taking out enemies, collecting a set amount of kill points. Once we’ve individually obliterated enough we can make our way to the center of the stage and drop into a goal, giving our collective a point. The enemies can do the same, though, so we need to attack them before they attack us.

Traversing is a bit on the slow side — these are giant mechs, after all —  but that’s made up for with the ability to quickly spin and use a lock on feature to attack as needed. I feel incredibly heavy in this armored suit, weighed down by a few tons of metal and machine guns, and getting away from oncoming attacks means I need to be careful about what corners I pass.

The controller rumbles as I shoot or am shot. Thankfully I don’t need to look down at the controller, as the controls are familiar enough to anyone who’s played a shooter in the past decade. I just hope I don’t drop it. Putting on the PS VR headset required not only my own efforts, but those of the booth attendee as well, so if I have to take it off and put it back on, it could be trouble for my team.

Either way, I suck at this game. I get destroyed a lot, miss a lot of easy opportunities, and score maybe one goal? I’m not touting myself as a great FPS arena player, but at the same time it may take a little practice to get the hang of piloting the big mechanical suits. The game didn’t leave an amazing or memorable impression on me — apart from a little nausea — but that could be due to the bland arena we were in, or the relative lack of weapon and mech variety.

I’m curious what kind of depth the final game will have. Rocket League is a natural comparison for multiplayer mayhem, but we don’t know enough about RIGs yet to make that determination.

There’s no release date for the game yet, though the Playstation VR launches later this year so maybe then?