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Oculus Rift Releases Soon, But How Many Games Will Launch With It? Is 30 Enough?

By Cal Jeffrey
Published on: 07:23 PST, Mar 17, 2016

The Oculus Rift releases March 28, but the question remains: Will it be worth $600 if there are not many games to play with it? According to Android Authority, the Rift will have 30 games available for it upon its release, with another 70 games to come out before the end of the year. It appears that a lack of virtual realities for one to become immersed in will not be a problem. While not every game title will be for every game player, with 30 titles to choose from, there is bound to be a few for every player’s tastes.

One game that will release with Oculus Rift is the highly anticipated EVE: Valkyrie. According to the title’s website, the game is a space fighter shooter that takes place in the EVE universe. It uses the VR headset to give players a 360-degree view within the cockpit, in turn giving the player the feeling of being a real fighter pilot.

Footage of an early version of the shooter at Fanfest 2015 is nothing short of spectacular. The sense of actually being within the ship is evident to the viewer and is certainly even more pronounced for the user of the headset.

The Oculus Rift also releases with another hotly awaited title called Adr1ft (or Adrift). Like Valkyrie, Adrift is also set in space. However, this game is paced much slower and is not a shooter, but is none-the-less intense. Adrift is an adventure game that hurls the player into space amidst the wreckage of a space station with no memory of what has happened. Players are able to move around in an open, zero-gravity environment. Their task is to solve puzzles while finding recordings that unfold the story of what happened to them and the space station.

The Oculus Rift release party has not left out of the faint of heart player. The game Lucky’s Tale is a cartoonish platform game in the vein of games like Super Mario Bros. and Crash Bandicoot. Lucky’s Tale is appropriate for all ages and actually comes bundled with Oculus Rift pre-orders (as does EVE: Valkyrie). The 3D game puts players in control of a fox named Lucky, but the controlling dynamic is what makes the game unique. Instead of making Lucky run around where the player wants him to go, the player is immersed in an environment where even his or her gestures (with the headset) make Lucky react.

In this particular Oculus Rift release, the player is less of a puppet master with the title character and more of a companion. Newsweek shared their thoughts on a trial run of the game.

“Lean close to Lucky, an orange fox with a big, expressive face, and he’ll look back at you, turning to watch you as you look around the space. He’ll even startle if you get too close. The player develops ‘sort of a Calvin and Hobbes relationship,’ with Lucky, according to Bettner. You often feel more like teammates with Lucky than a godlike player guiding him. One level actually requires you to use a flashlight that lets Lucky see where to move.”

Bundling Lucky’s Tale with the Oculus Rift release package is certain to see that the game gets a lot of play, but the developers are hoping for even more than that.

“We hope for Lucky to become a franchise that is known decades from now,” stated Paul Bettner, the CEO of Playful Corp., makers of Lucky’s Tale.

Bettner is hoping that Lucky becomes the mascot of the Oculus Rift in much the same way that Sonic the Hedgehog became the mascot for the Sega Genesis and Crash became the mascot for the first PlayStation.

Not all Oculus Rift Release titles will be top-notch games like those mentioned here. Like all new platforms, the Rift is bound to have some stinkers that come with its release. These will likely be games that were rushed to release, had low budgets, or that just did not translate well to a VR platform. Which titles will become losers remains to be seen, but full reviews of all the launch titles should start appearing as early as the day after the Oculus Rift releases.

[Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images]

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