Oculus Touch review
THE OCULUS RIFT’S NEW TOUCH CONTROLLERS FINALLY MAKE THE ORIGINAL VR HEADSET FEEL COMPLETE.
WITH THE ARRIVAL of the Oculus Touch controllers, the tides are about to turn on HTC Vive’s dominance in the VR headset arena.
Once you’ve got the dual controllers in hand, it’s time to connect your new sensor to an open USB 3.0 port on your PC and sync the controllers. Unfortunately, the setup process isn’t nearly as smooth as it should be. We’ve had problems getting the Oculus up and running in the past, and the Touch can be just as finicky as the headset itself.
Like the HTC Vive, you’ll need to use both the motion controllers and the sensors to map the area around your play space. Oculus’ advice is that the sensors should be placed in parallel on your desk and be facing forward.
Everything considered, Oculus Touch follows a similar design style to the HTC Vive’s motion controllers (looked at in issue 53, page 72). For example, both end in a plastic ring, which is used by the cameras to track the controllers, and both offer grip and trigger buttons. Where Oculus Touch differs slightly is that it’s a bit smaller than the Vive’s pads — the rest of the controller is around the size of one half of a gamepad — and sports two letter buttons, an analogue stick and two triggers.
Another difference is that, unlike the Vive, the left and right Touch controllers are actually different. The button layouts are on opposing sides, and while the right controller has ‘A’ and ‘B’ buttons, the left has ‘X’ and ‘Y’.
The third big point of difference is the number of buttons. Oculus sports extra buttons on the face of the controller, a trigger, menu and start buttons, a set of grip buttons that hang off the inside wing and a small touch sensor for your thumb next to the joystick. What that means is the Touch can tell what almost every finger is doing at a time.
But every wireless controller needs a battery. While HTC has opted for a rechargeable Lithium-ion one inside of every controller, Oculus instead uses good ol’ AAs. That said, you can get about 30 hours of battery life on a single charge.
Oculus has promised the world 53 Touch-compatible games on Day One, including the two that come with the controllers themselves. The games will be a mix of completely new titles, games that were already out on Oculus but now have Touch support and games ported over from the HTC Vive and PlayStation VR.
Taken on their own, it’s a varied and fun bunch of titles from the wacky multiplayer shooter Dead and Buried from Oculus’ own game studio to the self-explanatory Fruit Ninja VR and even an unofficial successor to Wii Sports called VR Sports Challenge. The majority of games we played over the last week were exceptionally fun and immersive and, compared to the Rift’s original launch, are downright near Game of the Year quality.
Everything that’s wrong with the Rift has nothing to do with the controller and yet, because they’re inseparably tied together, the Touch inherits the headset’s shortcomings. One of those problems is that Oculus doesn’t package every controller with the proper equipment for room-scale VR. You’ll either need an extension cable for your second sensor and/or opt for the third sensor for more accurate 360-degree tracking. The second problem is that the Touch needs to be a pack-in peripheral for the headset itself, as it enhances the experience in so many ways.
The Oculus Touch took a long time to get here, but we can now say with the utmost certainty that is was well worth the wait. Offering better finger tracking than HTC Vive alongside more buttons overall and slim, form-fitting design, the Touch is the best motion controller on the market that’s tied, unfortunately, to hardware stuck in the number two spot.
EVERYTHING THAT’S WRONG WITH THE RIFT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THE CONTROLLER AND YET, BECAUSE THEY’RE INSEPARABLY TIED TOGETHER, THE TOUCH INHERITS THE HEADSET’S SHORTCOMINGS.