Virtual Reality is now a reality. It’s one of the biggest growing technologies of 2016 and is predicted to have a huge year in 2017, so you can imagine our excitement when we stumbled upon a virtual reality gaming centre right here in Liverpool.
VR-Here brings virtual reality gaming to a studio based just outside of the city centre. Here they have the latest and arguably the best in VR equipment – the HTC Vive. As we entered the studio we were greeted by VR-Here’s friendly owner Leszek, who excitedly set us up on the equipment.
If you’re a gamer you may have already dabbled with Virtual Reality. Headsets for smartphones which are now readily available in shops, however these are very much beginners steps and can’t even be compared to the HTC Vive.
We dive right in to our VR experience with a 30 minute session with Leszek guiding us every step of the way. First we start with an underwater experience to ease us in gently and allows the user to get to grips with the graphics. Just this experience alone is seriously impressive, the graphics are literally out of this world. Each VR user has their own space to wander around in and fully immerse yourself in the experience. The games will show you how far you can wander before you will walk into a wall, by putting up a virtual wall in front of you, which is useful!
Once the user is used to the virtual reality world then you move on to some more interactive games. One particularly enjoyable game is Space Pirate where you shoot spaceships with the trigger controls in your hand whilst avoid being shot by the pesky things by ducking and weaving.
There’s also games that you can play against your mates in the ajoining gaming cells. The virtual reality paint balling game is just as immersive but far less painful than actual paint balling!
The VR experience is suitable for children over 8 due to the size of the equipment. We had an excitable 11 year old with us and he loved every second of it, but us adults enjoyed it just as much.
This growing technology is going from strength to strength however real high quality experiences like this are still hard to come by and the consoles themselves are hugely expensive (the HTC Vive retails at £759). It makes VR-Here a brilliant opportunity to experience it at an affordable level.
VR-Here offer free 15 minute VR Taster sessions on Sundays between 3-7pm, visit the website here to sign up for a free session. 30 minute sessions are £20 each and longer sessions can be booked in.
VR-Here are open Monday – Friday 6pm-10pm, Saturday 4pm-10pm & Sunday 1pm-10pm.
You can find more information about VR-Here and book VR sessions on their official website here and Like their Facebook here for all the latest news.
