Lucky’s Tale Oculus Quest 2 Review
Summary: An original release title gets a remaster for the current gen.
4.6
Virtual Platforming
Gather round children as I tell you story about the early days of (this generation) VR. Before making some questionable political choices and causing controversy, a young man named Palmer Luckey reignited the VR industry. He did so by creating and hyping one of the first commercially available headsets and with the release it needed a game that could be associated with it. Presumably in a tip of the hat to this VR entrepreneur the game was called Lucky’s Tale and saw players engage in platforming adventures as a fox called Lucky.
VR technology has obviously come quite a long way since the jump start to the industry finally brought VR to the home audience and with visuals and processing power being much more advanced today it’s not surprising developers might want to revisit launch titles to see just how much further they can take the games.
I never played the original release of Lucky’s Tale (partly because I opted for the Vive) but I was keen to finally have a look at how a platform game works in VR. I have to say I was pleasantly surprised. The basic concept of platforming in VR never seemed like a good fit for me… but Lucky’s Tale does a great job of bringing you down into the action whilst also giving you enough space to see what you are doing. The “active area” is never so broad that you feel like you are missing out on things just outside your view… if you did feel that way you could just look where you want to, it is VR after all.
The introduction actually did a lot of the impressing when it occurred to me that this world was more fleshed out than simply what was in this room (it starts in Lucky’s house)… you can look out the door and out the window and see the world beyond. That may not seem like much… but it’s kind of like many forms of art, the more detail, the more layers there are, the more immersive and engaging it seems to be.
The general game area, as mentioned earlier, is a nice comfortable space to be able to move around without feeling cramped. But some areas you can go to are far more “platformy” in that the view changes to a more side on (kind of like looking at an ant colony in an ant farm). It’s actually quite an interesting view and really makes it feel like you are observing things on a very intimate level.
The basic game play is nothing overly fancy… it is after all a basic platformer, but the execution is spot on and Lucky is quite the charmer. It’s clearly aimed at the younger audience but I found it all quite a nice change from the darker, bloodier world of more “mature” games.
Great fun little game and not a bad price either. Grab a copy for yourself or any younger gamers you are willing to let have a turn with your VR.
About the Author
Chris O'Connor Father of four, husband of one and all round oddity. Gaming at home since about 1982 with a Sinclair ZX Spectrum. Moving on to the more traditional PC genre in the years that followed with the classic Jump Joe and Alley Cat. CGA, EGA, VGA and beyond PC's have been central to my gaming but I've also enjoyed consoles and hand helds along the way (who remembers the Atari Lynx?). Would have been actor/film maker, jack of many trades master of none.
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