The Untethered Review of Zero Latency VR

As the sun-kissed the top of the city skyline, I turned onto Steel Street full of excitement… and Lasagne. The house filled city street & beautiful greenery fade away almost instantly to a gritty industrial area of grey & metal. As Steel Street went on, we caught the glimpse of a dark blue freshly painted building. As we approached, I knew we had found what we were looking for. Zero Latency VR Melbourne!

 

Have never heard of Zero Latency VR?

Well, Zero Latency VR is a technology company that develops free-roam virtual reality systems. It offers a VR experience like no other; offering Free-roaming, untethered virtual reality played in a large open space about the size of a tennis court. Allowing you to comfortably & naturally explore & navigate through the numerous game worlds on offer. Making for an incredibly real-world feel to it.

Opening its first centre in 2015 in North Melbourne & most recent opening its newest centre in Sydney on December 1^st. Zero Latency VR boosts over 46 venues across 22 countries. Not bad for a company that got its start from a crowdfunding campaign of just under $30k & a grant from Film Victoria.

First Thoughts

The technology of Virtual Reality has always fascinated me. As an engineer’s son, I love technology and figuring out how it works is what draws me to technology in the first place. And VR has been one of the biggest new pieces of technology in recent years. So, getting an invite to Zero Latency VR to see how far it has come & get to experience it from a leader in the industry excited me.

Unfortunately, it has never agreed with my stomach. Every time I have used VR, I have been left feeling uneasy or dizzy, due to motion sickness. Which seems a lot more common for more people than I realise, as 3 of our group of 6 suffer from it.

So, this could be the most amazing VR Experience or the shortest session in Zero Latency VR’s history? Fingers Crossed.

Once inside Zero Latency VR Melbourne

As the door open, a Towering Man of Muscle appeared wearing a mask & holding a thermometer (Oli we later found out was his name). He talked us through the COVID-19 Health & safety protocols & then hang around chatting, answered our questions as we waited.

Suddenly, from nowhere someone with a short, sharp bob & blunt fringe of platinum blonde hair appeared from around the counter with the excitement of a child. Karlee introduced herself as our Game Master & ran us through all the safety protocols, showed us how the system worked & what we could/would experience in our game. We filled out our form, picking our gamertag & started to get ready.

After suiting up, which consists of a backpack housing a computer, VR Googles, Headphones & your gun. Which I must say, I expected it to be a lot heavier & cumbersome that it was. We took our places, selected our Gamertag from the list & with seconds, we were in the world. I was shocked with just how quickly it took to get all 6 of us, tethered to the world….. even if when I did look around at my fellow players, I saw Shelley’s head on backwards…. which then freakily turned around to right itself seconds later.

As we were all looking around inworld, the bubbly & cheeky voice of Karlee ran through our ears. Walking us through what was going to happen in the game we were playing, Undead Arena.

The premise for Undead Arena is a reality show in which groups of contestants has to survive waves upon waves of zombies to win! See the trailer, it does a better job than I can of explaining it.

The VR Experience

As the games started, I was taken back by how real the world felt. You could walk around freely, stepping forward makes you move forward. Which I know sounds weird, but this is nothing like I have ever experienced. As most VR games are you standing still & a controller moving for you.

Suddenly, an announcer’s voice ran out over the Arena followed by a loud buzzer. That put a very quick stop to my fangirling over the environment & how interacting with it felt so natural. then 80’s style zombies started pouring out of every doorway & over every barrier. It was insane, there were gunfire, explosions & screaming zombies everywhere. Calls from my fellow players, like ‘behind you,’ ‘Need Help’ & ’#$%@, they’re on top of me.’ Adding to the experience of an intense battle & fighting for your life. It felt so real, so intense & at the same time, so weirdly fun!

As wave 3 started, Zoe & Shelley asked to pause the game & get a breather. I found out afterwards, that it was not because of motion sickness, which I thought it might have been. They were just overheating. As remember, we had a backpack, headset, VR Googles & a facemask (Only need due to the COVID-19 restrictions at the time of playing). You are covered up with very few places for the cool air to get in, then add in the intense of the game.

The 4 boys played the next few rounds, which was insane. The wave kept coming and now 2 women down, it was even more intense. Somehow, we played out the remaining waves for the win. We could breathe a sigh of relief, feeling like we had beaten all the zombies & the game was over…..Then the announcer came over the headset ‘Round 2’.

Before the next part could start, Karlee again came over the headset saying they were just pausing the game so the girls could come back. Which was a great thing for 2 reasons.

1. I didn’t want them to miss out & was glad they were feeling better &
2. They are both badass & we need their skill if we were to win!

Round 2 starts & though much the same as Round 1, the intensity was insane. I was counting my lucky stars we had a full team, as this wasn’t for the faint-hearted. After the first round, we found that if we break up the arena into sections & work in pairs to take down the zombies in our own section. It allowed us to be more organised & it really showed in the end results too. As our team went from being in the top 54% to the top 4%.

After the Session

As the Game ended & we had killed the ever coming horde of zombies, we all let out a cheer. It was a little corny I know, like clapping as the pilot lands the plane or at the end of a movie. But we had just been through an intense battle.

We removed all our gear, which funnily you didn’t even notice while playing but suddenly felt like it weighed 80kg. We were exhausted, but full of excitement & adrenaline. We went over to the chill-out area joined by the Towering man of muscle, Oli & the bubbly, badass Game Master, Karlee.  We chatted about our experience, relaxing after our hard-fought battle & checked our scores. Massive congratulates to Oz on making it top 10 in the venue….. through I think I must of accidentally choose his gamer tag by mistake. Lol

I checked on Zoe & Shelley too, they explained it was the heat & both felt fine now & actually really hungry. They told me about how Oli, had try to take care of them. He was checking on them & keep them company, just in case, while they were off the game.

Game Results

As I mentioned earlier in the review. We had to fill in a form with all our details, including our email address. I thought this was for marketing purposes & didn’t think much of it. After leaving the venue & going to grab some food, we noticed we had 2 emails from Zero Latency VR. They were our results; in a super detailed, easy to read webpage. Telling us how we did, our percentages. Everything you wanted to know & more. Was amazing…. And a lot better than the blurry photo I took of the TV screen in the chill-out/after game area.

This was actually a really nice and surprising touch, so enter in your real email address.

Final Thoughts

Zero Latency VR is a must-try, period. If you have one in your home town or within driving distance, you need to go. You will not regret it.

If like me, you are scared because you have had bad experiences with VR in the past, you have nothing to worry about. As you are completely untethered & you move in-game by moving as you would in the real world, your body isn’t affected by motion sickness you normally experience in VR

Not a fan of zombies? Don’t stress either, as they have many games to choose from, with new gaming coming out regularly. So, you won’t get bored.

Overall, We loved the experience we had at Zero Latency VR Melbourne & Arwin has already asked if we can do it again for his Birthday. Remember who took you your first time, Arwin. I better be getting an invite! Lol

If you’d like more information on anything Zero Latency VR  or would like to book your own experience head to their website.
Go Test your metal against the Zombie Hordes as we did!

Special Thanks

As much as we had an amazing time in the game, I must say, the Staff really made it something special.

• Oli, supporting & taking care of the girls while they took a break. He ensured they we safe & well, then encouraging them to come back to play.
• Our Game Master, Karlee, who was always there with helpful hints, to answer questions & who got more excited than OZ, when she GM a game where someone made the venue 10.

They just really seemed to care about our group & were as much, if not more, a part of the experience as the experience itself. So for that, I can’t thank you enough!

And one more special thanks, to Double Jump Communications & Zero Latency VR for setting this up for me & my friends. I think you put me at the top of everyone’s friend list.