There are two new hot games on the market right now. Plus, they are both in VR! Gamers are thriving in the new virtual realities ofIron Man VRandHalf-Life: Alyx. InIron Man VR, players become Tony Stark and fly around in his Iron Man suit. They shoot Droids and the main villain, Ghost, through the lens of a real superhero.
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InHalf-Life: Alyx, players control the protagonist Alyx as she escapes the Quarantine Zone. This zone is in City 17 and contains alien lifeforms. Both of these new games are rich and exciting. However, they both have their pros and cons. Let’s take a look at some of the better things aboutIron Man VRversusHalf-Life: Alyx. Let’s also take Stark’s ego down a notch and dissect the not so better things.
10Better: Plot
The original plotline inIron Man VRis tough to beat. It stays true to a lot ofthe MCU version, but it also provides many new ideas. These new ideas allow anyone to jump right in and get the full Iron Man experience.
WithHalf-Life: Alyxhowever, players basically need to read up on the entire life stories of the characters. They won’t understand anything that’s going on otherwise. Who isAlyx Vanceagain? How did she get to City 17? The plot simply isn’t as welcoming in comparison toIron Man VR.
9Worse: Technical Issues
Oneof the largestissues players are having withIron Man VRis the loading time. The time players wait for the screen to load in between missions is awful in comparison to any game. Not justHalf-Life: Alyx. There are a few glitches inHalf-Life: Alyxwhere the game crashes during quicksaves.
It can also be a little patchy sometimes. However, these issues are nothing compared to the loading time inIron Man VR. Players can take their headsets off and go for a run in between games while they wait. Tony Stark would be able to fix this in a heartbeat, but that can’t happen, unfortunately.
8Better: Grotesqueness
Players love a little blood and guts once in a while. However,Half-Life: Alyxtakes this theme a little too far. Especially for a virtual reality experience.Half-Life,as a series, is usually on a horror-basis and not an action-basis.
However, players are becoming rather disturbed seeing bloody zombies and testicles up in their faces. They have to take the headset off to ensure real blood isn’t on them! Players are in luck withIron Man VRbecause it is just clean and simple Iron Man blasting. No need to worry about human remains and standing underneath tongs and barnacles. Don’t eat before playingHalf-Life: Alyx.
7Worse: Physical Effort
Players expect to move around during a VR game.Iron Man VRgoes a little overboard with this concept though. Players must continuously move their heads, arms, and wrists to during the game. Some players even complain about being in pain the next morning! The level of physical effort in this game is ridiculous.
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It can even make players light-headed. On the flipside,Half-Life: Alyxdoes a great job ofmaintaining the VR experiencewithout making players nauseous. In fact, many players who usually feel nauseous claim thatHalf-Life: Alyxis the only game that doesn’t!
6Better: Speed
An exciting scene inHalf-Life: Alyxis when Alyx is traveling across the Quarantine Zone. The problem is, she is traveling across it for what seems like forever. Both the VR effect and the scene itself cause players to grow impatient.
Sure there are a few jumpscares and zombies to make it somewhat entertaining. Regardless, players feel stuck in this scene for much longer than they want to be.Iron Man VRis extremely fast-moving, however. Players are constantly moving without waiting for any action. Stark can’t waste time, okay?
5Worse: Difficult Playing Techniques
While many fans are applaudingIron Man VRfor its creativity, they are finding it difficult to play. It is not difficult all the time, but still. There are many different features in theIron Man costumethat players lose track of. There are also so many weapons aside from the main ones.
Basically, players have to jump through rings of fire and juggle in order to keep track of the playing techniques.Half-Life: Alyxis much easier to play. It involves way less complicated VR techniques while still maintaining the experience. In other words, players don’t experience physical pain the day after they playHalf-Life: Alyx.
4Better: Being The Character
VR games do a fine job of putting players in the characters' shoes. However,Iron Man VRis exceptional at this. In manysuperhero games, players simply hold onto the controller and press the same three buttons. They can kick, shoot, and punch. However,Iron Man VRallows players to actually feel like they are Tony Stark flying across the sky.
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They can even see his breath within the helmet! A superhero who can fly like Stark is a blast in virtual reality. Even thoughHalf-Life: Alyxsucceeds with the virtual reality experience, it more so makes players feel like they are holding a real gun. Not like they are really Alyx.
3Worse: Disorganization
Sometimes what makes or breaks a game is how confusing it is to play.Iron Man VRis great once it gets going, but its disorganization is pretty bad at times. There are many missions that players choose from. These missions are then in chapters. The main issue is that the home screen is where players goafter their mission ends. Players often forget which mission they’re on and have to search through the chapters.
It just seems like a complicated way to layout a game. Plus, there are many features involving the Iron Man suit. What if players want to just grab the suit and run? WithHalf-Life: Alyx, simply quicksave and wait for the next task to load.
2Better: Entertainment
Not saying thatHalf-Life: Alyxis boring by any means, butIron Man VRis hella entertaining. The main objectives are a lot of fun. Whowouldn’t wantto shoot Droids for hours? However, there are optional challenges players can partake in at Stark’s famous California mansion.
Players can explore their surroundings, workout at a gym, practice fighting, and even play basketball! There are also some Easter eggs that players can spend hours on.Half-Life: Alyxhas players dealing with surface tension and blast pits so they won’t be snoozing. However,Iron Man VRgives players some pure entertainment which is sometimes all they need with VR.
1Worse: Reused Ideas
It’s not that shooting Droids and Ghost is not enough. It’s just that it gets a little old after playing it every mission.Iron Man VRhas many reusable ideas for its missions. There is not much deviation from the Droids and Ghost as fun as it is.
However,Half-Life: Alyxis a continuous journey where players constantly feel astounded by what’s to come. There are various scenes and playing techniques that players use throughout it. This way, they are always experiencing something new.Iron Man VRoffers what Iron Man is likely to do in a game, but they could switch it up a little.
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