System: Valve Index, HTC Vive & Oculus Rift
Price at Time Of Review: Free
Comfort Rating: Green
Genre: Non-Interactive Experience
Input: Tracked Motion Controllers, Gamepad, Keyboard & Mouse
Best Playing Position: Sitting
Multi-Player: No
Age Rating: 15+
VR Shop Score 1/100: 70
Description: The Mill’s emerging technology team joined forces with Clark of Warp Records to produce a VR music video set to the artist’s latest track Hoova. Hoova, a room-scale VR experience, explores a dark, dystopian future and investigates topics of isolation, dependency and identity in Virtual Reality. Directed by The Mill’s Chief Creative Officer Angus Kneale and Executive Creative Director Ben Smith, this piece is also unique in its advanced use of game engine human characters; a notoriously difficult feat in visual effects. Hoova takes an eerie look into a virtual reality led, isolated dystopian future, wherein each character is part of a frightening cycle in which they become consumed by the VR experience they are witnessing.
Each character seen in the experience was developed in CG using game engine technology. The Mill’s Emerging Tech team led by Joji Tsuruga created the game engine characters by using motion capture of live-action talent. These characters are striking both in appearance and movement; choreographed to the music and animated to be accurate to the human form down to a single finger.
Review: Clark | HOOVA VR is one of that VR experience that some people will love and some will hate. At its heart, it is a non-interactive music video, but the horror element does make it worth a watch as well as a listen. I feel the two things together do work well, but given that it only lasts for about 3 minutes you can’t really get into it too much. It’s free so why not give it a go! At the end of the day, the only thing you will be missing if you don’t like it is a few moments of your time.
