Having been in Early Access for 18 months, CloudGate Studio’s dinosaur filled, action packed virtual reality (VR) title, Island 359 should be well known to HTC Vive and Oculus Rift users as its received continual praise since its initial arrival. Having seen numerous updates in that time Island 359 has now been fully released on both platforms, bringing with it a whole new survival experience that combined with the other modes provides one of the best single-player experiences in VR.
Island 359 is about one thing, hunting dinosaurs, so if you thought you’d kick ass in Jurassic Park then this is going to be the videogame for you. Split into three separate modes, Survival, Mercenary and Arcade, even the introduction to Island 359 doles out plenty of intense action, giving a brief glimpse at the legendary T-Rex.
Mercenary and Arcade are the best two modes to jump into first, where you can learn your dino hunting skills, offering different scenarios across several maps. Mercenary is all about getting those kills in, collecting loot drops to delve ever deeper in to the jungle then hopefully making it out alive for the bounty. Arcade is somewhat more casual, offering a wave-based gameplay option. Additionally, there’s a Big Hunt mode which arms you with just a bow to take down the toughest creatures.
You’ll soon notice that the gameplay does get somewhat samey, as you are just constantly killing dinosaurs. It’s not until you delve into Survival mode that Island 359 really starts to shine. CloudGate Studio has done a commendable job creating a lush, jungle filled island that’s six square miles in size. After being dropped off in a helicopter you are on your own, suddenly realising the task ahead. You’re supplied with a rucksack and a tent, after that everything is up to you – the first time a compy ran up before picking up any weaponry was intense. In this mode you can craft items to aid your journey as well as uncover a thinly veiled storyline.
If you’ve had Island 359 for a while then Survival mode expands the entire experience greatly, offering a great deal more gameplay than the other modes. What’s also useful is the central hub with a store that can be used for each mode. Collect cash in one area and you’ll be able to use it to buy guns and ammo for use in another.
Also well worth pointing out the Island 359 caters for all your locomotion needs, offering teleportation alongside free movement. If you can, using the free locomotion option does add to the whole experience, creeping through the under growth trying not to disturb a group of raptors is certainly fun.
Considering the island size Island 359 does look amazingly good. Sure there are points where certain areas look barren and detail free, or pieces of foliage look out of place but for the most part the design is spot on – especially when on the beach as the sun goes down silhouetting a Triceratops.
It’s been a long wait but it was worth it. Island 359 offers a proper showcase of what can be built specifically for VR when enough time and effort is put in. It’s not 100 percent perfect in places but the videogame offers enough of everything that you won’t really care. Grab that gun and get hunting in this thoroughly enjoyable and engaging VR shooter.
CloudGate Studio announced last week that Island 359 would be leaving Early Access and bringing with it a new survival mode in the virtual reality (VR) dinosaur packed survival experience.
The title has been in Early Access since August, 2016, receiving continuous updates and support from the developer, CloudGate Studio since then. In the full release, players can expect a more polished experience with bugs sure to have been fixed across the board. The new survival mode will put a players skills to the test as they have to survive on a jungle island, six square miles in size, which is packed with dinosaurs who are hungry for something to eat. Starting with next to nothing players will need to venture into the island depths in order to find supplies, find a safe place to camp and of course a means to fight off the likes of raptors, T-Rex’s and other dangerous dinosaurs.
One of the features included in a past update to Island 359 was the inclusion of full body tracking. This allows a player to not only get a more immersive experience but also now see their virtual self by switching to a third-person perspective and following their virtual avatar. Depending on the tracking setup a player has, the results may vary but you can see a demonstration of the full body tracking in more detail here. Both HTC Vive and Oculus Rift users will be able to use the virtual self feature and the Vive Trackers will allow for even better body tracking for HTC Vive users.
VRFocus’previewed Island 359 saying: “In its present state you might have thought Island 359 was a fully fledged experience, but Cloudgate Studio still have a few bugs to solve, tweaks to add and some other tricks. Even so, Island 359 is shaping up to be one of the best first-person shooters (FPS) available on any headset.”
Island 359 is now out of Early Access and has support for the HTC Vive, Oculus Rift and Oculus Touch. You can see the launch trailer for yourself below before dropping in to try and survive.
For more on Island 359 in the future, keep reading VRFocus.
Dinosaurs have been an intimate obsession of pop culture for quite some time now. When I was younger, I had figurines of various different dinosaurs that I’d use to reenact scenes from the iconic Jurassic Park films, various cartoons, and other media. In the decades since, dinosaurs have fallen out of the collective conscience for most people and are nowhere near as scary as they used to be. The latest entry in the long-running movie franchise, Jurassic World, was surprisingly fantastic, but was more of an action movie and left behind the pseudo-horror film tone of its predecessors.
Island 359 (pronounced 3-5-9) is the latest attempt at reminding us that these cold-blooded killers may be extinct, but they can still be terrifying. You’ll begin your adventure by getting dropped off in a jungle via helicopter. The opening moments of gazing out the door as you zoom past a tropical canopy of trees is exhilarating and helps get the adrenaline pumping for what’s about to follow. But if it’s too much movement and is making you sick in VR, you can look down and grab the conveniently placed chuck bucket to skip the travel sequence.
On the surface, if you were to walk by and see someone playing Island 359, or passively glance at a gameplay video, you’d feel like you’ve seen it all before. Creepy monstrous enemies, guns, the whole nine yards for what appears to be the “Let’s make a VR game!” starter kit. But if you look a bit deeper, you’ll actually find something quite impressive.
For starters, Island 359 is a downright ambitious project. The team at CloudGate Studios built an absolutely enormous six-square-mile island that feels every bit as alive as any locale featured in big budget AAA game projects like Far Cry and Just Cause.
In the movement department you can do pure teleportation, node-based sprint movement, or fully free smooth locomotion. Rotations can be either smooth or snap-turned as well with adjustable degrees and turn speed. Naturally, it’s got the full range of comfort options.
Perhaps Island 359’s strongest aspect is that it offers a bevvy of ways to enjoy its massive six-square mile world. And to be clear: that isn’t an exaggeration. The jungle landscape is dense and massive with tons of variety spread out across the environment. It’s so large, in fact, that I’d wager it will take you a very, very long time to really see it all — if you ever do. Multiply that across each of its four game modes and you’re certain to have a nuanced and varied experience every time.
If you’re brand new to the world of Island 359 then I’d absolutely recommend starting with Mercenary Mode first once you’re done with the tutorial mission. In this mode you’re dropped down into the jungle or on the beach and you’re goal is to kill dinosaurs (dinos) and pick up loot crates that drop with new items and better gear. The longer you last and the deeper you go, the better your rewards at the end, but the only way to bank any of your credits and complete the mission is to get back to the chopper alive. This creates a great sense of risk vs. reward.
However, the great thing about all of the game modes in Island 359 is that they’re interconnected. The premise of the game is that you’re playing as the same mercenary throughout it all so the credits you accrue, gear you find or purchase, and progression you make is all consistent. So that means you can take all of the stuff you got in Mercenary with you into the more casual wave-based Arcade mode. There’s a Big Hunt mode too, that focuses on taking out really big dinos — with a special focus on a high-powered bow.
Finally, there’s an elaborate Survival Mode that’s brand new for the 1.0 release today — it’s the focus of the Launch Trailer embedded near the top of this review. In this mode you’ve got to manage resources that contribute to not only your health and hunger, but you’ve got a tent attached to your backpack as well for sleeping. And you can eat dinosaurs.
This is the most “hardcore” mode on offer and should only be attempted after you’ve amassed a good amount of gear and credits from the other modes. It’d be pretty gnarly to dive straight into Survival without getting your feet wet first.
Despite all of these games modes offering a solid chunk of content, it still feels like it’s missing “something” and I think that a real, structured narrative would have gone a long way. The survivor notes that all have recorded voice over by talented actors (such as are a great touch, but I was craving a real story. Who hired me to come to this island? Why am I hunting the dinosaurs? What is my goal? What is the end point to this journey? Even if it was just a handful of hours a “Campaign” would have been great to play.
Luckily, those concerns were fleeting because of how smooth it all plays when you’re actually in the moment. Every gun feels great, but different, and really simulate the power of a firearm outside of true haptic force feedback. Crouching in bushes, trying not to get spotted, and sneaking up behind giant behemoth dinosaurs gave me a rush unlike anything else I’ve seen in VR to date.
Visually the team at CloudGate has outdone themselves because the draw distance on this island when you’re up on a mountaintop is incredible. Some of the animations still feel a bit wonky and lacking, but it’s easy to look past the occasionally distracting tree in order to appreciate the depth and brilliance of the overall forest. I mean that both figuratively and literally in this case.
Before Island 359 I couldn’t have told you the last time I played a dinosaur game I actually enjoyed other than Ark: Survival Evolved and Robinson: The Journey — and I mean that for both VR and otherwise. Growing up they seemed like such an iconic part of the 90s, but they’ve just lost a lot of their luster recently. Island 359 absolutely brings that back. I’ve never stood at the foot of a t-rex before in real life, but thanks to this game I feel like I have.
The last bit of “coolness” the game packs is in the way of a really impressive virtual avatar system. Not only does it have full-body IK for all players, but there’s even a spectator cam you can enable to record your avatar and if you have Vive trackers you can get accurate full-body tracking — including kicks.
But despite being in early access for so long it doesn’t really feel all that different, it’s just better and more polished with more of the same or similar things to do. That’s fine and probably for the best because otherwise it’d be drifting too far away from its core vision. Island 359 is a game that sets out to let you murder a bunch of dinosaurs and it does just that very, very well.
Final Score:8.5/10 – Great
Almost two years removed from the launch window of the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive, Island 359 — a game that’s been in Early Access for almost just as long — has evolved from its humble beginnings into a shining example of not only quality VR gaming, but how to improve a project while in Early Access. They iterated on what worked and expanded in areas that were lacking until Island 359 became just as polished as it was ambitious. It’s still not for everyone, but fans of tense action games, shooters, and hardcore survival games owe it to themselves to get lost in the lush jungles of Island 359.
A few days ago VRFocus reported on CloudGate Studio announcing that its Jurassic Park inspired virtual reality (VR) title Island 359 would be leaving Early Access after almost two years.With the launch only a couple of days away, VRFocushas a few more screenshots to whet your appetite for the dino hunting experience.
If you’ve not heard of Island 359 before then what have you been doing? Set to be one of the biggest virtual reality (VR) releases of the year, the videogame puts you on a massive six square mile island, filled with jungle and most importantly dinosaurs, from little compies to giant Allosaurs and the always deadly raptors.
There are three modes to play through, Mercenary, Arcade, and the all new Survival Mode. Mercenary mode is all about cash, getting as many kills as possible then returning back to base for your payday. The longer you stay out the more cash you’ll earn, and the greater chance you’ll be killed before making it back. While Arcade is all about running around having fun on the hunt, Survival will be where the true hardcore reside. Here you’ll be given minimal resources to start with, having to scavenge for food and crafting materials to stay alive for as long as possible.
As you can see from the new screenshots, CloudGate Studio has created a rich and vibrant land for you to explore. From high mountain peaks and dense jungle, to open plains and winding rivers, it’s everything you’d expect from an uninhabited island. That is apart from the dinosaurs, who want to eat you, apart from the herbivores, alas they still want to kill you.
Island 359 will launch out of Early Access on Steam, Humble, and Oculus Home 26th February, 2018 for $24.99, with a 20 percent launch sale reducing down to $19.99 for a limited time. For any further updates or announcements form CloudGate Studio, keep reading VRFocus.
Dinosaur fans are in for a treat over the next couple of months as two big dino filled titles are coming to virtual reality (VR) headsets. For those that want a part action, part educational experience Snail Games’ ARK Park will be released next month. For a purely action oriented adventure, CloudGate Studio has confirmed that Island 359 will be leaving Early Access next Monday, 26th February, 2018.
As part of next weeks launch, CloudGate Studio will be introducing a new survival mode that aims to truly test your skills on a huge six square mile jungle island, teeming with hungry dinosaurs. Dropped in alone, you’ll have barely any gear and there won’t be any of the loot drops from the main campaign to rely on. You need to venture out into the dangerous jungle to look for supplies, encountering raptors, T-Rex’s and more. Then it’s all about finding a safe place to camp as it gets even more dangerous at night.
Survival Mode means not only choosing strategically sound weapons but also what can be carried in the backpack. Players will need to hoard crafting supplies, and head to one of the numerous crafting tables on the island to create even better tools, weapons or food. The military grade holographic smartwatch will help players monitor their stamina and health, resting in found beds or pitching their tent, as well as managing hunger through both man-made and naturally found consumables.
Since then, the studio has added plenty of updates including an experiment with full body tracking using Vive Trackers. Next weeks release will included a Virtual Self in Survival Mode, allowing players to see their entire body in VR, and have their VR avatar move like they do. Virtual Self works for both HTC Vive and Oculus Rift, expandable on HTC Vive with the addition of the Vive Trackers for even better body tracking.
Island 359 will launch out of Early Access on Steam, Humble, and Oculus Home on 26th February for $24.99 – there will be a 20% launch sale dropping the price down to $19.99. For any further updates keep reading VRFocus.
Dinosaur fans are in for a treat over the next couple of months as two big dino filled titles are coming to virtual reality (VR) headsets. For those that want a part action, part educational experience Snail Games’ ARK Park will be released next month. For a purely action oriented adventure, CloudGate Studio has confirmed that Island 359 will be leaving Early Access next Monday, 26th February, 2018.
As part of next weeks launch, CloudGate Studio will be introducing a new survival mode that aims to truly test your skills on a huge six square mile jungle island, teeming with hungry dinosaurs. Dropped in alone, you’ll have barely any gear and there won’t be any of the loot drops from the main campaign to rely on. You need to venture out into the dangerous jungle to look for supplies, encountering raptors, T-Rex’s and more. Then it’s all about finding a safe place to camp as it gets even more dangerous at night.
Survival Mode means not only choosing strategically sound weapons but also what can be carried in the backpack. Players will need to hoard crafting supplies, and head to one of the numerous crafting tables on the island to create even better tools, weapons or food. The military grade holographic smartwatch will help players monitor their stamina and health, resting in found beds or pitching their tent, as well as managing hunger through both man-made and naturally found consumables.
Since then, the studio has added plenty of updates including an experiment with full body tracking using Vive Trackers. Next weeks release will included a Virtual Self in Survival Mode, allowing players to see their entire body in VR, and have their VR avatar move like they do. Virtual Self works for both HTC Vive and Oculus Rift, expandable on HTC Vive with the addition of the Vive Trackers for even better body tracking.
Island 359 will launch out of Early Access on Steam, Humble, and Oculus Home on 26th February for $24.99 – there will be a 20% launch sale dropping the price down to $19.99. For any further updates keep reading VRFocus.
Dinosaur-themed action survival game, Island 359, is finally releasing out of Early Access next week on February 26th, 2018, and from what we’ve seen over the past year it’s shaping up to be one of VR’s biggest and best titles yet.
We first covered the game when it debuted in Steam Early Access a year and a half ago and have since seen large, game-altering updates ever since. With the release version of the game slated to drop in just about a week’s time, the team at CloudGate Studios is gearing up for their biggest and most dramatic overhaul yet.
Coming with launch on February 26th next week is a brand new “Survival Mode”. In this mode you’ll start with absolutely nothing — PUBG style — but are then pitted against massive, deadly dinosaurs instead of other humans.
The island is six-square miles of dense, lush jungle landscapes for you to explore which should help ensure each playthrough is drastically different. There’s the standard hunger, health, stamina, and rest resource management systems that have become staples of survival games as well. Killing and then eating a dinosaur is something I never thought I’d do in VR, but I’m looking forward to chowing down on some t-rex t-bone.
Island 359 will also feature 30 unique craftable items, which really helps play up the “stranded on an island” concept even more. And finally, there are 45 fully-voiced “Survivor Stories” to find that they’ve hired real, bonafide professional voice talent to perform for the release.
The release build of the game will also naturally include a slew of updates and improvements to the core of the game as well, including both the Mercenary and Arcade modes.
For more info on Island 359, including our final verdict, check back at UploadVR on February 26th for our full and final review. Until then, let us know what you think of the game down in the comments below!
Developers behind Chicago-based studio CloudGate and their dinosaur hunting game Island 359 have been working for months on a full-body tracking solution that uses limited data points including the head, hands, feet and waist to raise immersion levels.
Most VR developers only represent the hands and head of a person immersed in a virtual world because those are the only things that can be tracked accurately with current consumer tech. It can break your sense of presence in a virtual world to see your arms represented in a position they aren’t actually in. Instead, in VR you’ll usually see your hands floating in front of you but no arms. If you look down your body is missing. It’s a very hard technical problem to accurately represent the myriad ways your body can move with only data from a few points being tracked.
Jeremy Chapman and Steve Bowler at CloudGate are trying to solve this problem. With an update to Island 359 today you can strap Vive Trackers to your feet and/or waist and get a pretty convincing full body avatar. The software update also represents your full body without Trackers too, but you can’t do things like kick dinosaurs in the face unless you have the Trackers.
I tried out an early build of the solution using Rebuff Reality’s TrackStraps to put a pair of Trackers on my feet. It was a really cool moment to see my full body represented in VR. I could lift up each of my feet one at a time and I could see those movements reflected accurately in a virtual mirror.
The release of the Vive Trackers for the HTC Vive system to consumers opens up the possibility of full-body tracking in virtual reality (VR), thus fulfilling the dream of VR as depicted in popular fiction such as Ready Player One. One of the pioneers of this, CloudGate Studios, has been demonstrating how its tracking system will work.
CloudGate Studio released its dinosaur hunting title Island 359on to Steam Early Access in Summer 2016. The development team have been keen on introducing frequent updates, including an update which added Oculus Rift support. Since the Vive Trackers were made available to developers, CloudGate developers began work on incorporating the extended motion tracking capability into Island 359, which would allow users to not only shoot dinosaurs as is usual but also to kick or punch velociraptors or even T-Rexes.
The demonstration video released by CloudGate Studio shows various configurations of Vive Trackers, which can be strapped to a user’s hips, or feet to provide for accurate body tracking. With Vive Trackers attached to user’s feet, which allows CloudGate’s VirtualSelf system to create an accurate virtual avatar which can allow users to move the avatar in time with the real life movements of the player. The video indicates that the best results could be obtained by using three Vive Trackers, working in concert.
The development team are also working on another feature to add to Island 359, and potentially other VR titles in future. The ‘Spectator Mode’ allows for a third-person view, a feature which has potential to be useful for Twitch streamers, YouTubers and Esports, allowing audiences to get a better view on the actions of a player in the videogame.
It isn’t currently known when CloudGate Studio plans to introduce the VirtualSelf feature into Island 359. Island 359 is currently available on Steam Early Access for HTC Vive and Oculus Rift, priced at £14.99 (GBP). Further information and updates can be found on the Steam Store page.
The demonstration video is available to view below.
VRFocus will bring you further news on Island 359 and VirtualSelf as it becomes available.
Everyone loves dinosaurs – or they should do. These ancient prehistoric animals that roamed the Earth millions of years ago have enthralled countless generations, inspiring literature, films, TV series, cartoons and of course videogames. The Jurassic Park film franchise is probably one of the best known use cases of dinosaurs in entertainment – with a few dodgy videogame tie-ins – and then there’s the sci-fi videogame series Turok. VR fans on the other hand haven’t had a great deal of choice, until Cloudgate Studio came along and released Island 359 for HTC Vive last year. Now it’s the turn of Oculus Rift users to explore the jungle in search of these dangerous creatures.
Not yet ready for a full release, Cloudgate Studio is bringing Island 359 to early access on the Oculus Home, but that by no means means it’s half a title. This version will see all the latest updates so the Oculus Rift users will have as much fun as their HTC Vive counterparts.
The videogame is split into two, with an Arcade Mode and a Mercenary Mode available. Cloudgate Studio has covered all the bases, whether you’re a VR newbie or a VR veteran. Arcade mode is essentially a dinosaur wave shooter, with you in a set position armed with a pistol and an Uzi. Then wave after wave of razor-toothed animals are unleashed upon you, testing how long you can survive. Get far enough and you’ll earn upgrade bonuses to improve your chances. If this was all Island 359 offered it would be ok, but it would get dumped alongside all the other wave shooters. Luckily though there’s Mercenary Mode.
This is certainly the core of Island 359 and where you’ll likely spend most of your time. There are three locations but only two are currently playable, the Jungle and the Beach – the third area will be coming soon. The Jungle has one mode option ‘Loot Drop’ while Beach has that and one other ‘Big Hunt’. Whichever level you play ‘Loot Drop’ is all about killing as many dinosaurs as possible. After killing a certain amount you’ll be gifted a crate drop with new guns, health, and upgrades to choose from.This is by far the best mode as it’s just you against little Compys, Raptors, Allosaurs and Triceratops. Hunting through the Jungle is wicked fun, learning how to use the spatial audio to hear a dinosaur before you’ve seen it is well worth mastering.
Cloudgate Studio has gone for a sort of teleportation whereby you click the stick on either Oculus Touch controller to bring up the way point, then adjust the distance by using your head. While weird at first, it quickly becomes instinctual as you can instantly move to where you’re looking – very good when trying to dash round the bigger dinos.
As you play a mercenary hunting dinosaurs for cash naturally you’re provided with the latest weaponry, pistols, auto-pistols, SMG’s, Assault rifles and more are available. You can also upgrade them with sights, laser pointers, or for a stealthy kill a suppressor. If you venture into ‘Big Hunt’ then you’ll have none of these, just you, some massive dinosaurs and a bow and arrow, this is where the challenge certainly ramps up.
In its present state you might have thought Island 359 was a fully fledged experience, but Cloudgate Studio still have a few bugs to solve, tweaks to add and some other tricks. Even so, Island 359 is shaping up to be one of the best first-person shooters (FPS) available on any headset.
