ARVI – Augmented & Virtual Reality Confabulation

June 14, 2018

Mystery Lands VR Hits Steam

Puzzle titles seems to work well within virtual reality (VR). Perhaps it is the immersion that means outside distractions are eliminated, or perhaps it is the improved interactivity of the VR environment. Either way, developer ARVI LLC are using those factors to its advantage to create Mystery Lands VR.

Mystery Lands VR is a puzzle title that puts the player in various exotic and fantastic locations where they need to eliminate a chain or three or more balls in order to collect crystals.

Players will need to travel across islands to find hills or other objects to find the best position and then take aim at the balls, matching three or more of the same colour to destroy them all before they reach the crystal. If you succeed, the crystal is yours. When the required number of crystals has been collected, you can move on to the next amazing location.

There are different types of bonuses available to make destroying all the balls, such as fireballs, chameleon balls, or freezing and reverse technologies so players can aim for the best result in order to complete the puzzle.

The developers are offering a range of difficulty levels, from Beginner up to Professional. Or for a more relaxed experience, its possible to just travel the various environments to admire the scenery that has been created as a backdrop.

The developers recently gave some players access to a closed beta so the development team could gather feedback from the community and fix any persistent bugs and any features that the audience might wish to be added.

Mystery Lands VR will be available on Steam from 14th June, 2018. It will be compatible with the HTC Vive, Oculus Rift and Windows Mixed Reality devices. Further information can be found on the Steam store page.

For future coverage of new and upcoming VR titles, keep checking back with VRFocus.

May 11, 2018

Never Play With Lasers Unless it’s a Laser Puzzle in VR

Action videogames are well and good but sometimes the need arises for a more mental challenge, igniting that grey matter in your brain. There are plenty of puzzle titles for virtual reality (VR) headsets, coming in all shapes and forms. One of the latest to arrive for Oculus Rift, HTC Vive and Windows Mixed Reality on Steam in Laser Puzzle by ARVI. VRFocus being dedicated gamers that we are took the challenge head on, recording a little gameplay video in the process.

Laser Puzzle

As the name suggests, Laser Puzzle is all about those focused beams of light, or more precisely manipulating these lasers to complete challenges and unlock the next one. The lasers bounce around at 45-degree angles, being fired from an emitter with the goal to angle the laser into a blue panel.

To do this you’re given cubes with sphere’s inside. The sphere’s reflect the laser’s whilst the cubes themselves can only be put on specific locations on a wall mounted board. While early levels give you an intro to how this all works, later levels ramp up the difficulty with multiple lasers, multiple end panels, immovable cubes, and multiple walls to deal with.

VRFocus’ four star review of Laser Puzzle found the videogame to be simple, intuitive, and most importantly addictive, with 72 levels to play through there’s a good few hours of game time wrapped into ARVI latest project.

Laser Puzzle in VR

As you’ll see in the gameplay video below, VRFocus has the first section of levels well in hand – and giving you the solutions should you get stuck. Towards the end of the video things do start to get a bit harder, trying out some new puzzles for the first time.

If you like your VR puzzles then Laser Puzzle isn’t a bad choice in the slightest. As ever, keep reading VRFocus for more gameplay videos of the latest VR titles.

May 10, 2018

Review: Laser Puzzle in VR

Having released action strategy title Zombie Grenades Practice last month for HTC Vive, Oculus Rift and Windows Mixed Reality, indie developer ARVI is back again with a very different style of videogame. Instead of explosions, zombies and the need for a powerful PC, ARVI has created simple puzzle experience called Laser Puzzle in VR, which doesn’t have the frills of Zombie Grenades Practice for a far more focused and enjoyable puzzler.

Laser Puzzle in VR

As the name suggests Laser Puzzle in VR is all about controlling beams of light – similar to titles like The Talos Principle or Symphony of the Machine. Whereas those videogames require the use of depth, having to look in and around for the best possible solution, Laser Puzzle in VR is purely wall-based. This doesn’t detract from the actual mechanics or difficulty however.

The best puzzle titles are brilliantly simple in premise yet highly challenging when they get going and Laser Puzzle in VR certainly leans towards that process. Each level takes place in its own room – a sci-fi space station for some reason – and upon completion a door opens into the next challenge. There’s a grid-based structure on the left-hand wall made up of laser emitters and cubes with a ball inside. When placed in front of a beam the sphere inside the cube will reflect it, with the idea being to get the laser on a panel which will illuminate and unlock the door.

Things start to get tricky when multiple beams, multiple goals, and immovable cubes are introduced. The latter levels even become so expansive that they extend onto a second wall. So all you need to do is arrange the allotted moveable cubes in a way that all the goals are illuminated, this can sometimes require all or some of the available cubes.

Laser Puzzle

What’s nice about Laser Puzzle in VR is its bare bones style. There’s no intro or tutorial to help ease you in (it really doesn’t need it), just use the touchpad (reviewed using HTC Vive) to teleport around and the trigger to pick things up. There’s not really much to go wrong. Depending on the space you have available the roomscale functionality works fine, as you’re able to wander up and down inspecting the puzzle for ideas when you’re stuck.

Laser Puzzle in VR doesn’t feature any high scores or stars to unlock, the puzzles just don’t work that way, which is one avenue developers use to extend single-player puzzlers for extra longevity. Yet Laser Puzzle isn’t going to be one of those videogames you’ll complete quickly. ARVI has included a rather substantial 72 levels, and as mentioned some take up quite a bit of space.

Laser Puzzle in VR is certainly one for the VR puzzle aficionados. It’s got a decent amount of content and the difficulty level ramps up at a steady pace that you shouldn’t get too stuck until later on. Yes the design is sparse but at least it works in a min spec PC so everyone can enjoy it. Considering ARVI’s VR titles released so far, Laser Puzzle in VR is probably the best.

80%

Awesome

Verdict

May 6, 2018

Complete Laser Filled Brain Teasers In Laser Puzzle In VR, Out Now

Sometimes what players want is to take a step back from all the action and focus on a challenging puzzle instead that will test their thinking more than anything else. With Laser Puzzle in VR, the latest virtual reality (VR) title from ARVI, players will have to complete a number of brain teasers involving lasers and mirror spheres.

Laser Puzzle in VR

Set on a futuristic space base, Laser Puzzle in VR puts players in an atmospheric and immersive virtual world full of neon lights, metal plating and plenty of lasers. Each puzzle will require the player to arrange a limited number of mirror spheres that will direct a laser towards a set direction. If players can solve the puzzles and connect the lasers with the end points, they will complete the task and unlock the next puzzle to be completed. Though it sounds simple, Laser Puzzle in VR will keep players challenges with complex and creative solutions hidden behind every element of the gameplay.

Laser Puzzle in VR comes with 72 unqie levels, each offering a different range of solutions and complex thought required in order to complete them. As players progress through the puzzles, it will become clear what solutions work, what don’t and have to make the most out of the limited tools available to them. Of course, if all else fails, players can try a different approach.

Laser Puzzle in VR

ARVI have developed a number of VR titles including Zombie Grenades Practice, a title that allows players to prepare for the coming zombie apocalypse by using grenades to defeat their foes. VRFocus’ Senior Staff Writer Peter Graham reviewed the title saying: “Zombie Grenades Practice has a lot of positives going for it, with a nice mixture of levels and options with which to complete them. The optimisation problem is going to be an issue for some – if you don’t have a GTX 1070 or an AMD RX Vega 56 or higher then don’t bother – yet for those with the kit Zombie Grenades Practice is a reasonable, albeit short, VR experience that offers a change from all the guns.”

Laser Puzzle in VR is available now on Steam with support for the HTC Vive, Oculus Rift and Windows Mixed Reality headsets. For more on Laser Puzzle in VR and ARVI in the future, keep reading VRFocus.

April 10, 2018

Review: Zombie Grenades Practice

Zombies are so prevalent in videogames it’s highly likely that every gamer in the world has at some point come across them. The majority of these tend to fall into the first-person shooter (FPS) genre, running around with pistols, shotguns, swords and other weaponry trying to save the human race from being lunch. On the odd occasion a developer takes a somewhat different tact when it comes to the undead, which is just what ARVI has done with its latest virtual reality (VR) title Zombie Grenades Practice.

Zombie Grenades Practice

The unoriginal title kind of gives the game away as this is an experience involving lots of grenades, zombies, and a few hidden extras to keep things interesting. With 15 levels to complete, the developer keeps things flowing with an ever widening selection of explosive ordinance for you to fling at the undead.

Each level has a selection of zombies to kill and a set number of grenades to use. The fewer grenades you use the higher the score will be, aiming for a maximum three stars for each level. Time isn’t a factor and you’re never in any danger – apart from yourself and a poorly thrown grenade – from the zombies as you’re always in an area they can’t reach.

Gameplay really revolves around skill more than puzzle solving in Zombie Grenades Practice. While some of the depth does come from planning where the choicest areas are to drop a grenade, actually getting it there is where the core addictive gameplay lies. And this will also depend on what grenade is chosen to do the job. ARVI has include a massive assortment of explosives, from timed frag grenades and grenades that explode on contact, to mines that can be set off with rocks and bouncing grenades that are more fun than practical.

Zombie Grenades Practice

In addition to throwing these balls of death around each level is uniquely filled with other items to aid or hinder your score. How about a force field that will only let grenades through at certain times, or switches that need to be hit to activate a crane that can run zombies over. It’s these little extras that help lift Zombie Grenades Practice from your average highscore seeking title to a puzzler with some actual thought put into it.

While all of this sounds good, you’ll need a decent PC to run Zombie Grenades Practice. ARVI recommends an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070 as the minimum GPU, much higher than the usual GTX 970 that most VR titles recommend and that VRFocus runs. Normally when VR experiences require higher end GPU’s a quick settings adjustment usually sorts things, but in this case dropping the graphical settings to low made little difference, latency was still bad at points thus making grenade throwing a pot luck chore. It’s difficult to understand why Zombie Grenades Practice needs such a powerful GPU – apart from poor optimisation – when visually impressive videogames like Robo Recall or The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim VR run fine on a lesser GPU.

Zombie Grenades Practice has a lot of positives going for it, with a nice mixture of levels and options with which to complete them. The optimisation problem is going to be an issue for some – if you don’t have a GTX 1070 or an AMD RX Vega 56 or higher then don’t bother – yet for those with the kit Zombie Grenades Practice is a reasonable, albeit short, VR experience that offers a change from all the guns.

60%

Awesome

Verdict