Sony PlayStation VR2 review: Gaming through a new, albeit pricey lens

The design of the headset and the controllers is very intuitive and both are a pleasure to use. (Image: Moneycontrol/Karan Pradhan)

Announced back in February 2021 as “the ultimate entertainment experience with dramatic leaps in performance and interactivity” and revealed in January last year at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, it was in February this year that the PlayStation VR2 (PSVR2) was launched worldwide. And as has been the case with the PlayStation 5 and almost all its peripherals, the India launch would occur sometime after.

Of course, the grey market and certain dubious retailers (who shall remain unnamed) were soon stocked with imported and ‘imported’ (precisely why those particular retailers remain unnamed) units of the VR headset in town. But these were being sold at inflated costs and without any warranty — two major red flags. Flash forward a few months, and it finally came to be on December 11 that the social media channels of PlayStation India and a bunch of legit retailers began lighting up with the news that the elusive PSVR2 was finally available legally in India.

Sony, on its part, also sent across a unit for me to put through the paces and what follows are my impressions. My past couple of brushes with any sort of virtual reality had resulted in a fair bit of motion sickness, so I was aware of the challenge that stood before me. The PSVR2 retails for 57,999 for the unit alone and Rs 61,999 for the Horizon Call of the Mountain Bundle. It’s also worth noting at this stage that you do require a PlayStation 5 to use the PSVR2 as it is a peripheral and not a standalone console.

(Image: Moneycontrol/Karan Pradhan)

The setup

Getting things underway with the unit is a fairly straightforward process, aided by some clear onscreen instructions. The headset looks a lot bulkier and heavier than it is, particularly when you affix it to your skull. The process can be less described as ‘wearing’ than affixing, considering the calibration required to make sure it sits just right.

A four-and-a-half-metre cable connects the headset to your console via a USB-C connector — and begins setting up as soon as you switch it on.  The wireless Sense controllers — described by Sony as “orb-shaped… like hollowed-out spheres” — require plugging into the PS5 using the USB-A to USB-C cable to sync them, and you’re ready to go. Both the headset and the controllers unsurprisingly follow the same design language as the PS5 and its assorted peripherals, but they also seem slightly plasticky and not the sort of premium feel you’d expect after forking over Rs 57,999. Still, I imagine that’s what keeps the device relatively light (approximately 560 grams).

In terms of the technology we’re dealing with here, the PSVR2 has adopted a rather different approach to its predecessor. While the original PSVR made use of the PlayStation Camera to track player movements, the PSVR2 does so with four embedded cameras on the front of the headset. Aside from the fact that you require one less peripheral, the biggest benefit of this technological evolution is that it enables the use of See-Through View. As the name suggests, this allows you to view your surroundings through the headset, which means you can see where you are standing and how you are oriented, glance at your phone, check that your pets or children aren’t within hitting distance and so on.

As with most PlayStation peripherals, the PSVR2 is an absolute cinch to sync with the console and before you know it, you’re loading up a game. Presuming, of course, you’d downloaded it first.

(Image: Moneycontrol/Karan Pradhan)

Finer details

Having noted that the materials used on the PSVR2 don’t seem premium enough to justify the price tag, I’d be remiss not to also mention what the device gets right structurally. The headset can loosely be interpreted as the sum of two parts: the visor and the headband. As alluded to above, the visor features four cameras on the outside. It also features two IR cameras on the inside to track your eyes — a particularly interesting feature since you can then navigate menu screens by simply looking at the various choices.

The panel under the visor is where you’ll find the power button, an in-built microphone and a function button (that lets you enable/disable “See-Through View”, among other things). On the top is a lens adjustment dial (that lets you tweak the distance between the lenses according to how far apart your own eyes are) and a release button to help you move the visor back and forth according to your preferred fit and focal length. On the inside of the visor is a face gasket to provide some comfort and a tighter seal over your eyes. The gasket is made of some sort of thin rubber-like material and seems flimsy at first glance, however, if you place the headset on your face, it can be extremely comfortable. Plus, the gasket can be removed and washed, which is handy. The visor also houses an internal HDR OLED display that supports 2000 x 2040 pixels per eye, a refresh rate of 90Hz (120Hz for ‘Cinema Mode’) and provides a field of view of around 110°.

Moving on to the headband, it features a healthy amount of faux leather cushioning for the forehead and back of your head, and a headband release button on the rear (to help you get it over your head easily). Once it’s on, turning the bezel around the button helps to get as snug a fit as you desire. This is why I referred to the process earlier on as “affixing” the PSVR2 to your skull. On the lower rear side of the headband is a 3.5 mm jack, for you to plug either the provided set of earphones or a pair of your choosing. And if that wasn’t enough, the headband also features a nifty pair of sockets into which you can pop the earphones to keep them out of the way when they’re not in use. Interestingly, the headband goes narrow at just the right point to allow the use of a pair of headphones. I used the Sony INZONE H5 (currently being reviewed) with the PSVR2 and had no run-ins with surfaces rubbing against each other or any such issues.

In short, there are a ton of clever little touches that speak volumes of the intuitively designed nature of this piece of kit, however, you only really appreciate that after you’ve gone through the fiddly process of getting the headset to sit just right on your head.

The Sense controllers — again, extremely intuitively designed — are easy to use and even easier to fasten to your wrists with the attached wrist straps. They feature an array of buttons, triggers and joysticks that you’ll be familiar with if you know your way around a PS5 Dual Sense controller. And a grip button (that rests under your thumb when gripping the controller) that you’ll have encountered on other VR controllers. I found the provision of a home (the PS button that sits in the middle of the Dual Sense) button on either Sense controller to be another smart little feature — and perhaps even a considerate one, since it gives the player a tiny way to choose how they play.

(Image: Screengrab from Star Wars: Tales from the Galaxy's Edge )

The actual games

The review unit I received was the Horizon Call of the Mountain bundle, and so that was the first game I tried out. Before I could lay my virtual hands on a bow or arrow, I had to select a VR Play Style. The PSVR2 gives you three of these from which to choose: Roomscale (suitable for larger rooms and designed to make you move around a lot more), Standing (requires you to have enough space to be able to swing your arms around while standing in the same place) and Sitting (which requires even less space than standing, but you do need to be able to move your arms around).

Keen to put my poor track record with virtual reality firmly in the rearview mirror, I opted initially for Roomscale, calibrated eye-tracking and was all set to return to the 31st Century and the world of Horizon. Almost immediately, the PSVR2’s haptics turned up to introduce themselves with my forehead feeling the rumble of a Glinthawk flying overhead and my palm feeling the barest of vibrations as its virtual representation dipped into the river. And through it all, the PS5’s Tempest engine provided the sort of 3D audio that truly makes the immersion complete.

Soon after, I was in the settings once more, looking at ‘comfort settings’ and switching off the ‘Vignette’ effect — an effect that reduces the field of view to prevent motion sickness. I had no time for that, I wanted the full experience of total immersion. The results were incredible and it’s no surprise that Horizon Call of the Mountain is seemingly the device’s flagship game. As far as I was concerned, the ability to juggle fruit, play musical instruments and shoot arrows with the sort of accuracy that would make Deepika Kumari proud paled in comparison to one other factor: I did not feel mildly nauseous.

It was time to change things up, so I started up racing sim Gran Turismo 7. I was mildly disappointed to see that the VR mode on the game did not support the Sense controllers (and made me use the regular Dual Sense instead), however all that evaporated once I was in the driver’s seat. The sights and sounds were expected of very high quality, but what I was most taken aback by was how I felt my insides move ever so slightly to the left when I was taking a particularly sharp right turn. Lacking extensive experience with VR headsets, I’m not sure if this is the norm, but it felt incredibly mesmerising to me.

Through both these games, I found the controllers to be extremely responsive with minimal input latency — something you’d certainly expect given the price tag.

What next, I thought to myself as I scoured through the PlayStation Store. It was here that I ran into the first real issue I had with the PSVR2, which is that it isn’t backwards compatible and you cannot play PSVR games on it. This is fairly obvious (in hindsight since the PSVR utilised very different technology), but I was a bit disappointed. I was even more disappointed when I discovered that my PS Plus Deluxe membership does not give me access to many PSVR2 games at all. So I had to make do with a handful of demos — Box to the Beat, Travel The Words and Star Wars: Tales from the Galaxy’s Edge to name a few — that were certainly fun, and showed me some interesting applications of VR, but nothing scratched the specific itch I was experiencing.

That’s when I stumbled upon Among Us VR. Launched this very month, the PSVR2 version of COVID-19’s most popular social deduction game is an absolute riot. One of the major drawbacks of the mobile version is that communicating with your fellow players is a laborious task. The PSVR2 version pays for all that by allowing you to speak with them throughout the game and not only after a murder has been reported. This was a great opportunity to test out the headset’s microphone and from the feedback of fellow players, it transmitted my words to them crisply and with minimal background noise. The overall experience of Among Us in VR — doing the tasks aboard the spaceship, interacting more freely with fellow players and truly soaking in the charm of this game — was one of the standouts of my brush with the PSVR2.

Finally, it was time to try out “Cinema Mode” — a 1920x1080 rendering of regular PS5 games at 120Hz on a massive virtual screen. I fired up God of War Ragnarök’s new Valhalla DLC, Spider-Man 2 and a currently embargoed game that is being reviewed. Playing these extremely cinematic games on a massive screen was a treat, however, seeing things move at 120 frames per second just elevated the entire experience.

(Image: Screengrabs from Horizon: Call of the Mountain/Travel The Words)

Jack in or duck out?  

As always, this is the trickiest part: Whether or not you should go out and buy whatever it is that forms the topic of the day’s conversation. I should preface this by saying the PSVR2 is a device with which your mileage will most certainly vary based on at least the following points: Whether or not you suffer from motion sickness, whether or not you wear glasses (I’m told it can make things slightly uncomfortable), whether you experience claustrophobia, whether you enjoy gaming in virtual reality, whether the price isn’t an issue for you and so on.

In my opinion and given my use case scenarios, I found the PSVR2 to be an incredible way for me to immerse myself in a handful of games. The technology has reached a point where VR no longer gives me motion sickness, which is something I was grateful for. The design of the headset and the controllers is very intuitive and both are a pleasure to use.

However, I did encounter some problems. First and foremost is the oft-repeated (in this piece) matter of the PSVR2’s price. That it costs more than the PS5 is a sobering thought if you don’t currently own the console but want to experience VR gaming the PlayStation way. Second, there aren’t that many games available that make the PSVR2 a must-buy. The games that are on offer currently make it a great novelty item, but not much more than that. I spent a larger chunk of time on Cinema Mode than one would expect with a VR headset. Third, affixing the headset to your head is a tricky process and you often have to recalibrate. For instance, if your nostrils happen to be under the gasket at a particular angle, you can expect the headset to fog up, requiring it to be removed and wiped down. Fourth, it can get awful sweaty under the PSVR2 — which means cleaning it after each use becomes critical.

Overall, the PSVR2 represents a great stride forward for what virtual reality gaming could be. It’s just not quite there yet. Maybe give it a few months for the PlayStation store to fill up with a few more titles, and then that price tag will seem less painful.