Hands on with Project Morpheus and London Heist

london heist

After a long line at the Sony booth at Pax Prime, I was led to a simple office chair and instructed to sit down. A Morpheus headset was placed on my head, and a Move controller placed in each hand. I was about to experience Sony’s version of VR in the game London Heist.

The game opens in a British car. I am seated in the left side passenger seat as a bald gangster with a heavy cockney accent speaks to me while driving. I’m not really paying attention to what he says, I’m too busy examining my environment. I open the glove box by reaching out and then squeezing the trigger on the Move. I pick up a can and throw it across the car by releasing the trigger. My driver seems annoyed.

My experimentation is cut short, however. Gunmen on motorcycles sweep up from behind and start riddling our car with bullets. My driver swears, then has me help him push the windshield out by pushing forward with both controllers. He hands me an Uzi, and gestures to an open duffle bag between us, stuffed with spare magazines for the gun.

The rest of the game demo is a shooting gallery. I pick a baddie, unload my magazine, and with my other hand grab a new magazine and slam it into the base. I found aiming to not be as precise as grabbing objects close to me, so I was grateful for the virtually unlimited ammo. Once or twice, the gun jumped from one hand to the other as I was trying to pick up a new magazine, which meant I was firing left handed for a while.

I was able to crane my head to get a better view to the side, and even open the door and look behind me. The camera followed my head movements very well, and wrist rotation seemed fairly accurate. My in-game hands always seemed to be where I would expect them to be, at least when close to my body. The resolution on the screen in front of my face was fine, but not excellent. I did feel a bit limited sitting in the chair for the whole demo.

I was fairly impressed with the Morpheus technology and I look forward to seeing what Sony and other companies will do with it. I encourage anyone who gets the chance to check out Sony’s VR experience. As always, to hear more of my thoughts on Morpheus and other gaming and tech topics, check out the Plug and Play podcast.

Tim Bledsoe

Podcasts & Single-player games are his thing except on "Adventure Time Tuesdays"