A new update hit the Nintendo Switch this week, making a lot of changes to the console's software. Chief among them is VR support for two of Switch's biggest titles: Super Mario Odyssey and Legend of Zelda: The Breath of Nature. And this may be the worst experience you can have with the Nintendo switch. I was surprised when I tried the VR headset in the Nintendo Labo VR Kit, and was generally impressed with what Nintendo had done with their handcrafted capture. The Switch isn't very high resolution for a VR-capable console (since its 1280 x 720 pixels are split in two for each eye) and the VR Lab Kit has largely corrected this problem by following simple shapes and low resolution. and textures, and generally keep your first person view locked in place, to avoid excessive motion sickness. However, when I completed BOTW from my last backup, it became clear that the same care had not been postponed. Materializing on one of the game's many Sheikah towers, I paraglided to explore the game's impressive mountain ranges. Although BOTW did a great job with its 1280 x 720 resolution, it was designed for nothing less, and the blurry VR mode is painful to look at after spending hours in the game's beautiful setting.
Paragliding at high speed in virtual reality causes brutal vertigo. (Image credit: TechRadar / Nintendo) BOTW is a very vertical game, and it usually requires you to constantly jump, climb, and hold to navigate its vast terrain. Even on flat terrain, Link must fight his way through enemies, backflip to avoid attacks, and cross all sorts of obstacles with a fast-moving camera. Doing this in low resolution is really causing problems, and I only managed about six minutes of gameplay (fighting two Moblins and finding a Korok seed) before going to bed. because of nausea. VR mode also doesn't take into account Link's new HUD view, which means you can barely see the number of hearts on him in the corner of the screen. Only about half of the text is also visible on loading screens. There is a big difference between VR lab kit VR games, which only last a few minutes and often remind you that he should take breaks to worry about his health. BOTW isn't a minute-by-minute game, and the gameplay is absolutely embarrassed by its half-baked VR mode, which seems incredibly myopic given the evidence that the issues should have been during testing. . It all sounds like a bad bet to make headlines.
How you got there (Image credit: LaComparacion / Nintendo)