B
Brent D'Alessandro
Guest
I have owned a Google Cardboard viewer for roughly a year now and have played tons of games and demos on it. However, out of all the games I have tried, my favorite is still one called InMind VR. The reason for this is it has everything you want in a virtual reality game. The graphics are good, the controls are great, and, above everything else, it’s just fun to play. InMind VR is not a very long game, only a few minutes, but that’s what makes it fun. Once completed, you can pass it off to your friend to play and then they can enjoy InMind VR too.
Story
Since this is a video game, there has to be a story. Like most virtual reality games, the story is ultra basic. Basically, it’s in the future where modern medicine has the ability to shrink you down to destroy problems directly inside a human brain. The patient suffers from depression and you must destroy all the “bad neurones” before it’s too late. It’s not really a medical game or very scientific, but that’s the idea of what you are doing. They make it fun and the looks are more space aged than medical.
“The future is nigh. The humanity is standing upon the brink of a new era where modern healthcare makes tremendous scientific advancements. With the help of nanotechnologies a surgical prototype bathyscaphe allows its operator to shrink to a microlevel and travel inside the patient’s body.”
You are also on some sort of pre-configured track, but you can see all around the inside of the brain. It’s more like a roller coaster track that can go in all directions, but mainly goes forward. As you are zipping around, bad neurones are forming all over. You must destroy them as quickly as you can. The roller coaster never stops so you must be as quick as possible to destroy them or the roller coaster will continue on. The more bad neurones you destroy, the better your score will be. Like I said, pretty basic, but really fun.
Graphics
I have played many virtual reality games and usually the graphics just aren’t that great. If you are used to playing on a PlayStation 4, moving to most virtual reality games will look horrible. Obviously, there are a lot more limitations with a mobile game, especially one of this kind, but InMind VR brings that perfect balance of realism mixed with video game characteristics. It’s not trying to trick you to believe that you are actually inside a real brain with photographic imagery, but instead everything looks very futuristic with heavy color saturation. All the lights and effects really make playing fun and exciting. This coupled with the ability to look all around really does give you a new experience compared to regular video games.
If you are using a Carboard viewer, the graphics are mainly based on your phone’s resolution. If you have an Ultra HD or 4K display like on the Sony Xperia Z5 Premium, it will look the best. Lower resolution phones should be able to play it, but you won’t get the same immersive feeling due to the screen door effect. This means there will be black lines forming squares that look the same as if you look through a window with a screen. However, in this case, the lines you see are the pixels. This isn’t anything to do with InMind VR and you will have the same problem with all virtual reality content, but I had to point it out as some people may think it looks bad when it isn’t the games fault.
Controls
The main limitation of virtual reality games, and mainly Google Cardboard games, is there is only one button on the device. You can buy a controller to play them, but they have to be designed with one-button use in mind. This is clearly a large limitation and the main reason why virtual reality games aren’t usually that great. However, one-button controls are not a limitation for InMind VR because it doesn’t use it at all. Since the Cardboard viewer is on your face and your phone is inside, the movement of your head provides control. When you physically move your head around, that moves the “gun” around allowing you to see everything around you. When you see a “bad neurone” forming, you look at it for as long as you can until it is fixed. You know it’s gone bad because it will be red and there will be a circle that must be complete in order to fix the neurone. Once you stare at it long enough, a beam will shoot out and turn it green.
The controls are another big reason why I like this game. The original Google Cardboard viewer has a magnetic button that doesn’t always work with all phones and will never work if the radio it needs to work is on the other side of your phone. For example, my aged Samsung Galaxy S III has the special radio it needs on the bottom of the device and not the top. You can’t just flip your phone around, meaning you can never use the button. The second Google Cardboard viewer solves this problem, but it’s still a little weird to press a button on the side of your head especially since it’s attached to cheap cardboard. However, InMind VR should work on every phone without any issues since it doesn’t use the button at all.
Fun Level
The fun level is really all that matters when it comes to virtual games. If you don’t believe you are in some other world, at the end of the day, the game has failed. Being in a 360-degree environment, especially if you have a Cardboard viewer that’s strapped to your head, makes everything in InMind VR seem a lot more real. All the colors and flashing lights really take you into another world. The fact that objects are literally all over the place and you have to physically move your head around to destroy them is truly next level. It is an experience that only VR games can provide. Everyone that I let play this game always thinks the experience is awesome.
Closing
Although you may not be playing InMind VR daily, it is definitely a game you need to check out. Whenever I want to impress people and get them hooked on virtual reality, this is the first game I let them play. It’s very easy to understand and fun for all ages. Also, as I mentioned earlier, many games look only as good as your phone’s resolution is, but this game doesn’t matter as much. I tried it on my older Samsung Galaxy S III with a 720p display and on my Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge with it’s Quad HD display and the fun level was close to equal. Of course, it looked better on the Galaxy S6 Edge, but it’s not always about looks, it’s about the feeling you get while playing.
Come comment on this article: [App Review] ‘InMind VR’
Visit TalkAndroid for Android news, Android guides, and much more!
News via TalkAndroid