When comparing Aboard The Lookinglass vs The Crow, the Slant community recommends Aboard The Lookinglass for most people. In the question“What are the best Rift games with Leap Motion Controller support?” Aboard The Lookinglass is ranked 1st while The Crow is ranked 3rd. The most important reason people chose Aboard The Lookinglass is:
The core gameplay revolves around the players hands and being able to see through time with them. Each hand is a window, the left a window into the past and the right a window into the future. Both hands will be required at times to solve puzzles in the game by looking for clues or information in both the past and future. This is an interesting mechanic as it is not only the only control you have in the game (as it is on rails), but requires a lot of multitasking in a unique way of using your own body parts.
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Pros
Pro Makes great use of the users hands as a game mechanic
The core gameplay revolves around the players hands and being able to see through time with them. Each hand is a window, the left a window into the past and the right a window into the future. Both hands will be required at times to solve puzzles in the game by looking for clues or information in both the past and future. This is an interesting mechanic as it is not only the only control you have in the game (as it is on rails), but requires a lot of multitasking in a unique way of using your own body parts.
Pro Auto movement is done well
Many VR games that auto move the player can result in motion sickness if done poorly. Luckily Aboard The Lookinglass does not suffer from this problem as the auto movement is fluid and smooth.
Pro Relaxing freeplay gameplay
There is no set task from the outset of the game, it is up to the player where they would like to go and what they would like to do. Luckily there is a lot to explore thanks to the open world. You can hunt and gather for survival as well as play mini game or collect items. As you explore the world you will run into other creatures who you can interact with as well as take on tasks for. All in all it is up to the player how the game is played, which is quite liberating and allows for a low stress environment.
Cons
Con Movement is on rails
Most likely this is due to using Leap Motion as there is no way to be able to use a controller for movement as your hands are required to be used at all times in the game. Being an Oculus game created back when it was still in development also means that it was designed to be played sitting down and not accounting for any movement of the player in a room in order to move in game. So in order for the player to move around, the game automatically moves them in a situation called "on rails". As you complete tasks and puzzles in game, the player will advance automatically to the next point of interest.
This type of auto movement may not appeal to some due to the limited amount of control.
Con Short gameplay
The game can be easily completed in under seven minutes, making this more a proof of concept or demo over a complete game.
Con Current information on the game is dated
The game appears to have been greenlit on Steam and plans have been announced for ports on consoles as well. There is a gamejam demo available for free on Steam Greenlight as well as the Immersive Learning Center, but any beta version seems to be absent at this time. All info on the game seems to have stopped in 2015 and nothing new has been announced, even on the developers Twitter. Currently their domain page is gone as well. It is unknown if this project is still being developed at this time.