System: Oculus Rift, Rift S
Price at Time Of Review: Free
Comfort Rating: Green (No Movement)
Genre: Educational
Input: Keyboard & mouse
Best Playing Position: Sitting, Standing
Multi-Player: No
Age Rating: PG
Description: Colonist A514 tells the future story of a teenage colonist aboard an outbound ship, held back in detention and tasked with learning the origins of life on Planet Earth to prepare himself for an unknown destination. It is a seated only experience – suitable for initial VR exposure – that hopefully offers an insight for modern day educators around the world into the immersive advantages that Virtual Reality can bring to the learning process.
Review: Colonist A514 is an educational app with a nice little sci-fi story underneath. You play the role of Colonist A514 who is being sent to a far planet on a colony spaceship because we silly humans killed the earth. While on board it will take a long time to get there, so you have to be educated along the way.This is where virtual reality teaching comes into it. The lesson for today is how the earth was formed and you are not only going to learn about this but thanks to virtual reality you will also be shown it as if you were there!
With nice fly arounds, great visuals and good narration, this is one lesson you will not forget in a hurry. While short lived, the idea is a good one and I for one would love to see more of it.
It always pleases me to see someone making educational apps like this because much like the makers of them, I too believe that a big part of the future of virtual reality lies within the educational sector. It is one thing being told about the dinosaurs and how the Earth was formed, but experiencing it in VR as is you were right there when it happened is something that helps the brain soak in all that data and remember it. If apps like this really are the future of education, it will be a bright future indeed.
