Hands-on with Hitman 3 on Quest 3: Avoid for now
Hitman 3 VR: Reloaded could have been a showcase for Quest 3, but instead it turned out to be a disaster.
VR fans have been waiting a long time for a congenial VR version of the Hitman games.
In early 2021, IO Interactive brought VR support for Hitman 1-3 to the first Playstation VR. The implementation wasn't bad, but it was severely hampered by outdated hardware, as Ben wrote in his review.
A PC VR version followed a year later. Would it solve these problems with superior processing power and precise control tracking? Far from it! The PC VR version performed even worse and was removed from Steam, probably due to very poor player reviews.
Hitman 3 VR: Reloaded could have been the version the series and VR fans deserved. XR Games, the studio in charge of the port, promised a new art style, a revamped user interface, and new VR interactions, among other things.
Mission failed
If you've been wondering why Meta hasn't promoted the game in the past few weeks, or even published a blog post about yesterday's launch, you now have an answer: the VR port should never have been released on the Horizon Store in this desolate state.
I finished the tutorial and the first mission of Quest 3 and didn't want to continue.
The game renders at a low resolution, which results in a lot of aliasing, people look more like mannequins than human beings, and visual elements keep popping up as you walk through the scenery, not to mention the graphical glitches. Despite the simplified graphics, the frame rate is at the limit of what is tolerable for a VR game.
The gameplay is largely the same as the original, but most interactions are triggered by simply pressing buttons, including reloading weapons. The menus follow this pattern and are kept in 2D.
The first patch is coming
XR Games promises a patch for next week, but I'm skeptical that it will bring any significant improvement. Hitman 3 VR: Reloaded looks like it needs at least another year of development.
If you've never played Hitman 3, you should go with the flat version, and if you want to experience the game in VR, you should think twice about whether it's worth it.
Hitman 3 VR: Reloaded is available for $28 on the Horizon Store.
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