When comparing Cosmic Trip vs The Gallery - Episode 1: Call of the Starseed, the Slant community recommends The Gallery - Episode 1: Call of the Starseed for most people. In the question“What are the best HTC Vive games?” The Gallery - Episode 1: Call of the Starseed is ranked 14th while Cosmic Trip is ranked 33rd. The most important reason people chose The Gallery - Episode 1: Call of the Starseed is:
More a walking simulator with puzzle aspects, this is a highly narrative focused game, meaning it should be accessible to many different types of potential players as there is no combat or worry about having to make split second reactions through the games controls.
Specs
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Pros
Pro High level of polish
The look of the game as well as the gameplay has a great level of polish reminiscent of a AAA release. While this is in early access and not finished as well as made by a small indie team, the level of detail to the game and its gameplay far exceeds most release offerings for the Vive.
Pro Immersive base defense gameplay
The implementation of virtual reality in a base defense game is done quite well. It is all in first person, where you mine different nodes on an alien planet in order to build machines and structures, which will then allow you to automate the process (much like an RTS). From there you can attack enemies on your own with an equipped frisbee, all while you send out troops to attack incoming forces as well. What makes this work so well is the design of the game, being that you actually take part in all of these tasks, it makes the user feel more connected to what is happening.
Pro Great use of haptic feedback
The haptics used in the game allow for pretty accurate sensations when manipulating objects in VR. Being a new technology, many games are having issue with the accuracy and "feel" of their haptics, luckily the team developing Cosmic Trip have nailed down how to create a game that feels right, out of the box.
Pro Gameplay has wide appeal
More a walking simulator with puzzle aspects, this is a highly narrative focused game, meaning it should be accessible to many different types of potential players as there is no combat or worry about having to make split second reactions through the games controls.
Pro Great graphics
One of the better looking games out for the Vive in its infancy, the visuals are fantastic giving a real sense of being in the environments. For those looking for a very good visual experience on the Vive, this would definitely be a game to consider.
Pro Puzzles feel natural and not overly complex
Many adventure puzzle games see obtuse clues and hidden items that require back tracking, making for an exhausting experience having to constantly research areas. The Gallery does not have this issue at all as each puzzle and items that need found feel natural and intuitive in the same way searching for something in real life does. There is never a moment where the player will have to continually research or apply objects in order to guess how to solve something, all conclusions come with ease (though not that the game is too easy, more that puzzle solving is just intuitive).
Pro Intuitive and reactive controls
The games controls work quite well and are very responsive. For instance when slowly pressing down the rigger button, the players hand in the game will start closing their fingers. Once the button is depressed all the way the player will now be showing a fist in game. This is all pressure sensitive and natural feeling.
Cons
Con No completion point (lack of content)
You either die at the hands of AI attackers on your base, or you succeed long enough that the hardware being used cannot keep up with the amount of bots created in the game, causing too much lag. There is no end to the gameplay, it will continue to the point you lose or the game just lags out. Mainly this is all due to the fact that this is an early access game that is unfinished. There are not many options to change up the gameplay, making for something lacking in content, which may get tiring after repeated plays.
Con Currently too easy
The gameplay itself does not offer as much challenge as it should, while this may change in the future, since it is still in development, currently it may be too easy for many players.
Con Poor movement mechanics
While this game doe use a teleport mechanics (as many other Vive games do, where you point to where you want to teleport to in a level), the actual mechanics provided in this game are lacking. It feels imprecise and can make for a frustrating time moving around.
Con Picking up objects can be difficult
At points in the game there are objects that need picked up off of the floor, players can run into an issue here when the floor in the game is lower than the users actual floor, making the objects out of reach. basically this seems to be a bug and not a calibration issue which will need addressed but currently is not.
Con First epsiode is short
An episodic game that will be much longer when all episodes are out, but is short for what is on offer within the first episode. Lasting at about 2 hours of play for $30.00, this may be a bit pricey for some.