Developer Epic Games, known for the Unreal and Gears of War franchises, demonstrated sci-fi first person shooter Bullet Train for the Oculus Rift virtual reality device at the Oculus Connect 2 conference held in Hollywood.
Bullet Train is made with Unreal Engine 4 and has support for Oculus Touch controllers that are used to map the gamer's gestures in virtual reality.
"Master the art of teleportation, time manipulation and close-quarters combat to blast through resistance forces," said Epic regarding the title, with gamers given the ability to physically interact with a multitude of weapons ranging from grenades and missiles to guns. Gamers can even feel the action from the haptic feedback feature of the devices.
Virtual reality is poised to become the next big thing in video games, but as with all hardware, it would need to be paired with great software to be able to attract consumers.
Bullet Train was introduced by Tim Sweetney, the founder and CEO of Epic Games. Several mechanics of the game were revealed, with the two main features highlighted being the teleportation ability and the bullet-time mechanic.
In the game, users can teleport to different locations in the virtual reality world by pointing to the area through the Oculus Touch controller. As for the bullet-time mechanic, it is not a new thing in video games as it was popularized by other titles such as Max Payne. However, in Bullet Train, gamers can slow time down not just to dodge bullets, but to grab the bullets while they are in midair and use them against the opponents.
As a shooter, Bullet Train is a simple setup, according to The Verge. There is a real sense of threat as the train where the player is riding stops and the action unfolds. However, while the game is one of the most advanced and immersive virtual reality experiences available, gamers are still not quite interacting with the game.
Teleportation was decided to be the main way to travel within Bullet Train because it is one of the better ways to move in a virtual reality world to prevent motion sickness, with other options being riding in a vehicle or using a faraway third-person camera. The game positions players in certain spaces and facing certain directions, with teleportation only moving the gamer to predetermined areas.
"It may not be for everyone. You're shooting people, you're teleporting, you're slowing down time. It's a little bit insane," said Epic Games senior designer Nick Donaldson. "But it's fun. And that's what we wanted to make, because we're a game company."
