VR motion control comes to AirMech: Command, and the game has been released on Steam with support for multiple VR headsets and controllers through OpenVR. The game originally appeared as a launch title for the Oculus Rift in March 2016.
Drawing direct inspiration from pioneering real-time strategy title Herzog Zwei, AirMech started life as a free-to-play game on PC in 2012, where it has remained an open beta. Optimised for gamepad control like the Mega Drive/Genesis game, AirMech naturally found its way to Xbox and PlayStation consoles in the form of AirMech Arena in 2015. As Oculus launched the Rift with a seated, gamepad-controlled focus, the game was again in an ideal position to transition to a new platform, and AirMech: Command became an exclusive launch title for the headset on March 28th 2016. The game was largely well-received, showcasing VR’s suitability for the RTS and MOBA genres.
Today, Carbon Games released a major update, adding support for Oculus Touch controllers (existing owners of the Rift version receive a free update). At the same time, the product has also launched on Steam with full OpenVR support. As shown in the teaser trailer, the motion controls allow for brand new ways of interacting with units and navigating around the battlefield, described by the creators as ‘a huge game changer for RTS games in VR’.
By using two virtual cursors, Carbon have devised a way of amplifying hand movements for faster control, and the zoom and rotate functions mean that you can play in a single spot like a board game (seated VR is still supported) or walk around a massive world in room-scale VR.
Editor Update 03/10/2017: A previous version of this article suggested that AirMech Command had been under a timed exclusivity agreement with Oculus up to the time of writing. Carbon Games have informed us that this assertion was incorrect, and we’ve therefore amended the piece to remove that emphasis.