I don’t know if glasses are truly the future of mobile computing, as Meta says they are. What I do know is that the latest version of the Quest, the 3S, maybe the company’s strongest launch in years. The Quest 3S isn’t doing anything we haven’t seen before, but based on my short time with it, the $300 headset does everything the Quest 3 does and sacrifices little despite the $200 price difference.
Like the Meta Quest 3, the 3S is still a gaming-centric device. Along with demos of Painting VR and other AR-based apps, I played an extremely short demo of Batman: Arkham Shadow, a Quest-exclusive game Meta is planning to bundle in every new Quest 3 and 3S headset from now until next April. I’ve been using the Quest 3 often this last week, and even after all that time, the only noticeable difference between the Quest 3S and Quest is the FOV.
I’m worried Arkham Shadow—first revealed at Gamescom in August—will feel like a greatest hits compilation of everything we enjoyed about the original Rocksteady Arkham titles—or, perhaps, at least Batman: Arkham Asylum and Arkham City. I looked hard at the textures and the game’s visuals, and there are truly only minor quality differences between what I’ve played on Quest 3. The framerate kept steady, and since it’s using the same controllers as the Quest 3 I didn’t experience any latency or responsiveness issues.
Batman: Arkham Shadow Shows There’s Not Much Visual Difference Between Quest 3 and 3S
The demo included simple traversal sections that require a batclaw, a batarang, and your trusty cape. Cape gliding involves putting your hands to the side and raising your arms like a child doing his best Dracula impression. It took multiple failed attempts before I could get the cape to work correctly, and I’m not the only one who had that issue. Meta reps told me they’ve notified developers of the issue, which will hopefully be patched at release.
The best part of Arkham Shadow was the combat. Batman: Arkham Asylum was the first game to introduce the parry-combo system that is replicated in many third-person action games nowadays.
Despite all odds, I think developer Camouflaj found the right way to bring the collarbone-breaking antics of Batman to VR. The combat in the Arkham series was already a rhythm game reliant on the player’s timing. Instead of pretend-shadow boxing, Arkham Shadow replicates the action of games like Beat Saber or the exercise app Supernatural. You aim a punch at a baddie, and Batman leaps across the arena to land his blow. You then punch when and where the screen tells you to get around the enemies’ blocks. If somebody else is attacking, you fling your arm to the side to block and stagger your opponent.
What Are the Big Differences Between the Quest 3 and 3S?
Still, my demos were unnecessarily brief. I’ll need far more time with the headset for a proper review. I tried to focus on the visual fidelity of the games and apps. The Fresnel lenses on the Quest 3S didn’t dilute the image quality too much compared to what I expected from the Quest 3, but there’s certainly a difference. Finding the sweet spot takes more fiddling with the headset’s angle than on the Quest 3. There are more jaggies on the edges of windows than on the twin 2065 by 2208 pancake lenses of the Quest 3, which Meta likes to say is equivalent to 4K. The picture quality isn’t quite as good as the 3, but not so bad. I couldn’t comfortably watch a video on the YouTube app as if on a larger display.
The major difference is the FOV. It’s equivalent to 97 degrees horizontal versus the Quest 3’s 110. What was incredible about the 3S was just how close the passthrough and hand tracking was to the Quest 3. The more expensive headset has a depth sensor, though the two front-facing arrays on the 3S include some low-light sensors that take up some of the slack. The hand tracking in my demos was practically equivalent to what I already experienced on the Quest 3—AKA, very good, save for the rare missed input.
This is significant because the 3S’s $300 starting price essentially makes it one of the best bang-for-buck headsets I’ve used to date. If you’re set on Quest headsets, the three may be a bit more future-proof, thanks to the depth sensor, but anybody who wants to try VR may have a far better time buying the cheaper version.
Better yet, I didn’t see or hear anyone or anything reference “metaverse” during my demos. The Quest 3S still won’t be a laptop replacement. Thanks to recent additions like HDMI link that can balloon your PC screen into a larger window for VR, you’ll still be hindered by eye strain and a mere 2.5-hour stated battery life. In this case, the Quest 3S is still best used as a gaming-centric device. It simply does everything the Quest 3 does at a loss-leading price no other brand wants to match.
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