Everybody is always looking to the “next big thing” in video gaming, and back in the 90’s it seemed to be virtual reality. Television shows and movies were convinced that before too long people would be donning big goofy helmets and possibly even body suits, and they’d be walking around shooting things and playing games in a way that had never been done before. The only problem with VR in the 90’s? It sucked.
It’s been 13 years since the 90’s ended, and only now are we able to develop virtual reality into a usable form: Oculus Rift. By donning a headset you can get the full 3D experience, and so far it looks pretty good. Many games currently have Oculus Rift support, and Half-Life 2 is now the latest game to be compatible with the system. To access Oculus support open the properties for Half-Life 2 in Steam, set the command line to ‘-vr’. and then make sure you’re opted-in to the SteamPipe beta.
Unlike Team Fortress 2, the support for the game is “a bit more raw”. For instance, there are some issues with the UI, and the HUD can be difficult to read at times. Overall, though, the game looks pretty good on Oculus Rift, and should provide quite a bit of entertainment.