This project left me speechless for quite a while. When the "intro" (so i thought) ended, and i realized that's all there is, i kept staring at the main menu for quite a while. So consider that when seeing my time spent in the program.
There should be a big yellow on black disclaimers saying "Solar System VR" is not a game.
It's not even an educational program like Space Engine or Universe Sandbox or other actual simulations/educational tools/sandboxes.
It's barely an asset presentation.
I'd expect something like this as a free app for one of these boxes you stick a cellphone in, and it works "sort of" like a VR headset.
"Solar System VR" is just an extremely short, strictly on-rails ride through low-polygon model of certain objects in out solar system, while you listen to a narration by Wish dot com version of Morgan Freeman.
The whole experience is like this - imagine that you get a new game, set up the language and hit play. An intro starts ,so you sit through several minutes of intro. Then the intro stops, and it kicks you back into the main menu.
That "intro" was all there is. No game. No sandbox, No educational tool, not even a virtual gallery of Solar system objects.
The screenshots mislead users into thinking that all these sceneries can be visited by player whenever he chooses to. They can't. Those pictures are basically just screenshots from a movie.
Let's go over the tags.
Adventure - Nope
Simulation - Nope. Simulation has to simulate something to be a simulation.
VR - Yes, it runs in VR. Good job!
Space - Yeah there is space, but isn't some sort of space in every game ever released, including Pong?
Education - Nope. With an exception clause - If you're someone who did not know about Solar system until launching this thing, then yes, in that case it's educational.
Seriously, there's nothing of interest whatsoever. You as a player sit in a glass bubble, that's being yeeted from one low-poly model to another one, chaotically getting closer towards the Sun, while Morgan Freeman impersonator says what type of celestial body you're supposed to be looking at.
THAT'S IT.
SPOILERS (LMAO):
You get to Saturn, V.O. says "Saturn has rings", You get to Jupiter, V.O. says "There is a storm on Jupiter", You get to Mars, V.O. says that there are plans to send people there. AGAIN, not even all planets are mentioned.
You might think that was reductio-ad-absurdum. Well, maybe. I think he does use more words, but he definitely isn't providing more info. Nothing about the composition, orbits, day lengths, just one WELL KNOWN fact about each place. That's it.
To be honest to myself and to the unlikely person still reading this, i admit that my disappointment could all have been my own fault.
I didn't research this program in depth, so the fact that i ASSUMED that it's something like a simplfied cheap version of Space Engine or Universe Sandbox, made for VR, that's on me.
On the other hand, look at the screenshots and the way the description is written, would you ever guess that the most (and THE ONLY) interactive element in this project is the main menu?
I didn't measure the entire "ride", but it was definitely under 10 minutes. Maybe close to five.
Asking money, not to mention over three bucks for something like this, that's pretty much the definition of the term "chutzpah".
Especially when you consider there are actual games sold at that price. Not to mention even cheaper. Vampire Survivors, a game with basically infinite replayability was originally sold for less than that.
But there's one good thing about Solar System VR. It's very easy to refund.
If you want to explore space in VR, play E:D. X4, or any other Space Sim or shooter that has support for VR or at least a handy vorpX preset.
