But first, the controls. VR has pretty much nailed the ‘floating hands’ form of FPS control, predicated on making the handling of weapons and tools as natural and intuitive as possible. Resident Evil 4 follows that to a tee and, again, it suits the anxiety and pace of the original game. While you can use a weapon wheel with a squeeze of the left trigger, you are strapped with your selected gear which can be grabbed from Leon’s tactical vest. The pistol sits in its holster, ammo must be grabbed from packs on your left hip, slotting the magazine in before pulling back the slide to fully load. The knife is on your chest, healing items can be grabbed from behind your left shoulder, two-handed weapons such as the shotgun pulled from behind your right. That weapon must be pumped and rechambered between each shell.
It’s all relatively simple stuff in VR terms, but each can add to the anxiety as plague-ridden Ganados bear down on you. The trade-off is that you are much more dextrous, able to pick out headshots with regularity and, importantly, are able to wield your knife in your off hand when armed with the pistol. Aiming wide at a more distant foe while slashing at a more pressing one will become a regular practice.
You can also move rather quickly, which feels like an acceleration on Leon’s pace in the game previously. As with many VR titles, you can either teleport a short distance to move, or use the Oculus’ control stick for full motion. I found the best balance between flexible movement and comfort while standing was using the stick to move forward and back, but moving my body and head to turn. You can circle with a flick of the right stick too, but I found that jarring movement made me a little queasy. Good, then, that Capcom have looked to make Resident Evil 4 VR flexible enough to account for most personal VR thresholds.
