When comparing The Lab vs Job Simulator, the Slant community recommends The Lab for most people. In the question“What are the best HTC Vive games?” The Lab is ranked 5th while Job Simulator is ranked 20th.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Shows what the system is capable of doing
Pro Amazingly fun collection of mini games and experiences
The lab is a collection of a bunch of very fun mini games. You get to use a bow and arrow to defend your castle against waves of enemies, control a fighter drone in a classic arcade style shoot-em-up, repair a Aperture science robot, explore the secret shop from Dota and more. Although each game is simple, they are all very well executed and make fantastic use of VR mechanics.
Pro Nice VR games collection
Pro Perfect for showing your friends what the Vive can do
All the games and experiences are very easy to play and are simply an incredible introduction to the capabilities of VR.
Pro Free
It's free so there's no risk of wasting money in case it turns out you don't like it.
Pro Amusing writing
The Lab is a mini game collection created y Valve, who are know for a very specific witty sense of humor. That is not lost in The Lab whatsoever as the writing is cleverly funny, which makes a mini game collection game all that more enjoyable.
Pro Non game sections are really interesting
The user can stand on the top of an Icelandic mountain top and look around, there is no game to it, it is just an experience but one that is quite interesting as it is almost like actually being there.
Pro Great for demos for beginners
Amazing for people using the Vive for the first time.
Pro Good at showing off VR capabilities
A good test to see what VR and the Vive are capable of but more than a proof of concept due to the available gameplay.
Pro Funny gameplay
Lots of humor is included in the game, making for an enjoyable experience for those that appreciate slapstick.
Pro Comes free with the Vive bundle
Comes free with the Vive bundle, which is a bundle with no additional cost, but has limited stock, so may be difficult to obtain.
Pro Plenty to do
First there are the objectives for each of the 4 jobs available, which usually in total take about two and a half hours to three hours. Once you finish that you get three modes you can add on to any of the jobs, being, bouncy mode, zero g mode, and dollhouse mode. There is also lots of things to mess around with and small things that make it great, such as being able to copy your hand or brain in the copy machine.
Cons
Con More a proof of concept than a full fledged game
The mini games are quite short and will not provide a whole lot of entertainment. The purpose of this title is to showcase what room scale VR is capable of (which it does well), but when considered as a game for those interested in gaming it falls a bit short.
Con Not much replayability
Once each mini game has been played through, there is not much incentive to continue playing. While it does service as a nice proof of concept to show off to friends, the lasting appeal of this game is basically zilch.
Con Really simple gameplay
While the game does require both Vive controllers to be used, more often than not only one will be in use. On top of this the games found within are all simple tasks, such as layering sandwich ingredients one by one or stamping resumes of employees that need fired. Basically all the games within are take object from point A to point B, which many be a bit too simple for some.