RollerCoaster VR

Rollercoasters are quite thrilling for most people, although some would rather do anything else than put their brains and their stomachs through something like that. On the other hand, if you are aching for something extreme and a healthy dose of adrenaline, it’s enough to hop on a rollercoaster and satisfy your needs for quite a while.

RollerCoaster VR is a simulator that allows you to experience the joy of a rollercoaster ride without having to leave your chair, and without putting yourself in harm’s way. As you may have guessed, it only works if you have a virtual reality headset available, namely one of the Oculus Rift development kits. Hence, you’ll be able to really feel like you are sitting in an actual ride.

There’s nothing more to it, unfortunately, since all you have to do is press the Space key and wait for the train to start. The actual track is pretty intense, and there are some nice twists and turns, but the speed seems to be a tad too slow sometimes, unlike in a real rollercoaster. Still, you can pretty much imagine yourself in a real ride, especially if you turn your head and look around the track.

Although the game is meant to be the sort of thing you play for your friends to introduce them to the world of virtual reality, the environment could have used a bit more detail, because it’s disappointing to look around and see nothing but barren textures and boring grass. Even if you are usually more occupied trying to keep up with the track, these things are still noticeable.

The same goes for the graphics, because although the engine is quite capable of rendering much more detailed objects and special effects, it’s just not the case here. The colors are a bit off as well, since it doesn’t look realistic at all through the VR headset, which is a major downside. On the other hand, this is not the kind of game you play again and again anyway.

In the end, RollerCoaster VR is quite clearly not a revolutionary game, but it’s small in size and it can run on any kind of system. Thus, it’s the perfect way to put your Oculus Rift to the test.