Title: Great Pyramid VR
Genre: Education
Developer:
Michal Bárta
Publisher:
3DA
Release Date: 14 Apr, 2017

Minimum:

• OS: W7, W8.1, W10
  
• Processor: i5
  
• Memory: 4 MB RAM
  
• Graphics: NVID

English

great pyramid of giza vr. great pyramid vr

Gday all :) I just bought and dived into the Great Pyramid VR, and here is my quick review. Pros : A good experience overall - I found myself crouching and crawling and exploring around in a fairly realistic space that is famous and atmospheric. Crawling out into the Grand Gallery was quite a thrill. I had two light sources - a torch in one hand (a burning wooden stick, not a flashlight) and a head-lamp (a flashlight or torch :) - and real shadows to enjoy. The interface seems a little complex at first, but it's not hard to pick up, and is actually full-featured and well designed. The left hand holds a 3D map of the pyramid, and the right hand trigger can point a finger to where-ever you want to go. It is an excellent interface model for moving around a complex space. This is a good example of serious VR that should interest people who are not into games, and would be a good VR introduction experience to show your friends and family. Cons : The model is rather low in detail, and (almost) everything is sharp-edged and perfectly smooth, e.g. the floors of the relieving chambers, the top of the pyramid, even al-Mamoun's forced tunnel. The sarcophagus has all corners looking newly crafted, and the main entrance shows no sense of violence done to huge stones. There are no chunks of stone anywhere. The ancient grafiti in the relieving chambers is not accurate. It's an idealised modern model that shows no modern features like ladders, lights, ventilation, stains or grafiti (no Belzoni.) Poking one's head through the walls/roof exposes the whole interior. I could find no way to climb to the top of the Grand Gallery to crawl up into the relieving chambers. Thumb-wheel top is the 'move' button (becoming a standard), but the trigger is just the map toggle - poor choice. Summary : A good introduction to the Great Pyramid, but if you know it well you will be a little disappointed at the inaccuracies. It's still early days for VR, and this is a first generation 'game' (we'll need a new word methinks.) Kapyong. Wow!! I just visited the great pyramid of Giza in the comfort of my own home! This VR experience is simple and straight forward yet offers a significant array of options- perhaps more than I expected. The experience is memorable and as advertised you get to explore the inside of the great pyramid with narration, cool map and torch to light your path. In my opinion, it's worth the price of admission at the introductory rate. Names of specific locales as well as their dimensions are clearly marked within the pyramid. Interface is well done and controls are easily available. Settings offer several ways for you to customize the experience. The narration is good but rather short and left me wanting more. One nice feature is being able to teleport to any given area of the pyramid at any time. This is useful because it can get claustrophobic traversing through the dark narrow shafts into the various chambers. Many times, I found myself coming up for air! The app is thoughtfully designed and well polished although it's not without its flaws. It would be nice to call up the narration like an audio tour- perhaps on specific nodes in each area. Also adding surrounding environment or buildings in the distance would improve immersion- I missed not being able to see the Sphinx. Lastly, better resolution options would be nice. (Audio worked fine). Thank you developers for this app.. I'm really interested in this sort of historical VR experience so thought i would give this a go. For the record i ran this on a high spec pc & ramped up the Pd to 2.0. Overal I can not recomend this product. It's a shame, a real opertunity missed that could have been amazing. I will list the reasons below. 1.No audio at all. 2.No educational descriptions in audio or text. 3.Teleport only. 4.The 3d structure/polygones are mostly very basic rectangles. 5.Textures are not great. 6.The are surrounding the great pyramid looks even more ugly even from a distance. 7.3d map is too big even when scaled down. What does work. 1.The 3d map with cutaway is really useful. 2.Concept is good you get a good idea of the scale & structure & everything seems to be in the right place. Overal i think its a lazy effort, I don't think its good value & i hope somebody else has a better go at it.. I completely agree with nrosco and I apologize that I stole most of his pros and cons: Cons: 1.No audio -- why not add some ambient music or sounds? Even the crackling fire of the torch would be appreciated. 2.No educational descriptions in audio or text -- this is a huge missed opportunity. There should be some narration or text to provide information on what we see in the pyramid. 3.Teleport only -- should also include walking controls. 4.The 3d structure -- It kinda sucks that the structure disappears when you walk through tunnels. 5.Textures are not great -- a little more detail would be nice. I'm certain there must have been paintings on the walls? 6.The area surrounding the great pyramid looks even more ugly even from a distance. Pros: 1. The 3d map with cutaway was well done. 2. You get to explore a pyramid!!! I agree with nrosco that this is a lazy effort. This seems to be alpha. No music, sounds, etc, and the outside area / inside area really needs more detail. Text & narration would also be a good addition. I really hope that this is a work and progress and not a finished version because in this state, it is worth $1 - $3 at the very most. I won't refund as I like to support education efforts, but please, update this program and add a little more depth. It is not immersive without sound, text, or narration. Unfortunately, I can't recommend this experience in its current state.. I have an oculus rift. apparently unlike most VR apps this one doesn't translate at all.