When comparing Onward vs The Lab, 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 Onward is ranked 35th.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Fluid movement
Unlike a lot of Vive games that rely on teleportation, Onward has fluid locomotion using the gamepad. This makes the gameplay a lot more realistic, especially given it's a multiplayer military sim.
Pro Very realistic military sim
Everything from the sounds, how you reload and fire your weapon to the graphic for the map all come together to create a highly realistic and immersive military simulation. It's like ARMA in VR.
Pro Great communication
The built-in mic on the Vive makes team communication a key component of this game. It's also very realistic as it's just how a military squad would communicate over radio.
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.
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.