Playing Retro PC Games in Virtual Reality
By: Charles Jackson
Tags: Oculus Rift, Star Wars, Simcity, Virtual Desktop, Quest For Glory

Many people buy a VR headset to experience the cutting edge of technology and fully immerse themselves in a virtual world. Today I’ll be experimenting with the opposite concept: can playing a game more than 15 years old in VR be more immersive than on a standard desktop computer? For this experiment I’ll be using a mid-range gaming PC and an Oculus Rift S with Virtual Desktop.

Quest for Glory V: Dragonfire

Released in 1998, Quest for Glory V: Dragonfire is the climax of Sierra’s critically-acclaimed Quest for Glory adventure series. While older installments took a point-and-click approach, Dragonfire further develops the series RPG elements. Taking place on the Greek-ish island kingdom of Silmaria, the seasoned Hero takes part in the Rites of Rulership, a contest to both stabilize the kingdom and determine the next ruler. Full of new faces and old puns, Dragonfire is a fitting sendoff for the beloved series.

Dragonfire was a staple of my childhood and has since become a yearly ritual. Being a product of the awkward early days of 3D, its graphics almost feel more dated than older, sprite based entries in the series. While the hand painted backgrounds still look amazing and mesh with the atmosphere perfectly, characters and enemies almost look Minecraft-esque. That said, the ability to expand the screen in VR to the borders of your peripheral vision greatly enhances the immersion. I found myself using the number keys that correspond with your tool belt much more often, if only because their profile has increased. Using noise cancelling headphones in conjunction with my headset was another game changer — Chance Thomas’s soundtrack is absolutely magnificent and possibly holds up better than the game itself. The voice acting is also on point, and any fan of Cowboy Bebop and late 90’s/early 2000’s cartoons will recognize a lot of familiar voices. Playing through QG5:Dragonfire in VR was an absolute blast, and will definitely be part of my yearly ritual going forward.

Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds

Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds is essentially Age of Empires II with a star wars reskin. Civilizations span the original trilogy, and also cover Episodes 1 and 2 (it was released in November 2011). The campaign is competent — good at explaining the games mechanics, but the voice acting is absolutely terrible, and the game mostly shines in its “Standard Game” and “Multiplayer” offerings. In VR, I noticed that navigating the games interface was actually more comfortable than playing on PC — there is no widescreen option due to the games age, and Virtual Desktop automatically adjusts the resolution to be full screen with no .ini tweaking or third party programs. I also compared it to playing Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition in VR and found that the infinitely higher resolution only made menus harder to see and I had too much going on-screen to really stay on top of (I’ve noticed this with a lot of the “God games” I’ve tried in VR. While I’m definitely looking forward to something like Civilization made for VR from the ground up, so far they are still more comfortable on a flat screen). Using a starfield background greatly enhanced the immersion.

SimCopter/Streets of SimCity

SimCopter and Streets of SimCity are companion games for SimCity 2000 and are among my earliest experiences with PC gaming. While researching this article I stumbled upon a blog post stating that they had recently been patched for Windows 10. For best results, stick with the default screen resolution as Virtual Desktop will automatically adjust for 4:3.

SimCopter is one of my favorite retro games of all time. You are a helicopter pilot working for the city, and will receive missions to clear traffic, put out fires, rescue sims, and capture criminals, all to a bumping soundtrack with multiple djs and various ads that are dripping with Maxis humor (kind of similar to what you would expect from a Grand Theft Auto soundtrack without the licensed songs). As you complete missions you earn money to buy new helicopters and upgrade equipment. Streets of SimCity is built in the same game engine, but instead of saving sims, it’s a vehicle combat game similar to Twisted Metal. Gameplay is spread across five “Channels” including a deathmatch mode, courier and racing modes, and most interestingly a campaign where you play an old lady and her dog escaping from aliens. Man I miss pre-EA Maxis.

The VR experience is definitely mixed — SimCopter relies heavily on keyboard controls and not being able to see the buttons definitely adds some delay you wouldn’t otherwise have. I’m sure with some tweaking you could get a controller to work (though having tracked down the ISO, installing an image mounting program, then installing and then patching it with the update I may wait on that a bit). Streets of SimCity fares a bit better, being a less complex game overall, and the dashboard view does lend to a more immersive experience. Gameplay is simple but very zippy, and like SimCopter the original soundtrack hilarious djs does the game much credit.

Conclusion

Overall, I can say that it was enjoyable playing older games in VR, and Virtual Desktop handling all your resolution tweaking woes makes it a lot easier to pick up and play a game made for 4:3 without any effort by the consumer. With the option to fit your background to the game you’re playing, these experiences can be richer and more immersive. Using backgrounds with fixed positions such as auditorium or living room options are not advised (one exception being emulators if you have a controller handy). Games that rely heavily on keyboard controls are more difficult to navigate, and newer games can be difficult to follow on high resolutions if the HUDs do not scale. Under the right circumstances, Virtual Desktop can breath new life into your older game collection, and for only 19.99 it is a must-have app for any VR enthusiast.