One of the slickest titles on the Rift right now, Epic Games’ arcade shooter Robo Recall has received an update which addresses one of the bigger criticisms the title received at launch, 360 degree tracking for the Oculus Touch.

Update (4/6/17, 10:33PM PT): Today Epic released a new update to Robo Recall which brings additional improvements to 360 degree tracking. With the 180 degree tracking, players could use the thumbstick to decide which direction they wanted to be facing after the teleport, however this option wasn’t available to players using the newly added 360 degree tracking feature. Thanks to feedback from the community, Epic has updated the game to add this option to 360 degree tracking, along with a few other improvements, as noted by their patch notes:

  • Based on feedback, we’ve added support for directional teleporting with 360 tracking.
  • Added a “tracking settings” prompt that should show up one time, on the main menu, for people who have 3 trackers, or have 2 trackers pointing towards each other.
  • Re-enabled some optimizations in the physical animation code that had been disabled during development.
  • Removed half-finished text localization from the build, as it was accidentally being activated for some users.
  • Improved the feedback for players who’ve stepped away from their “center” position.

Original Article (4/1/2017): Robo Recall is a rare example in VR, a title that represents what can be achieved with the right funding, technology and developers behind it – one of the few titles on VR which comes close to the polish and production values expected of Triple-A titles in the traditional gaming world. It’s also bloody good fun too!

However, one sore point which was highlighted in our review of the game and vocally by the VR community at large, was the emphasis the game put on a front-facing experience – one that’s seen as optimal for those with a standard ‘out of the box’ Oculus Touch tracking set up (i.e. two Oculus Sensors). Thanks to the game’s built-in mod support, the community tackled that issue in no time at all, along with a full-locomotion version of the title to boot. However, Epic acknowledged that there was an issue to address and promised to tackle it in a future update.

SEE ALSO
'Robo Recall' Review

That update is now here and the new version of Robo Recall now offers a new 360 tracking mode, which is selectable within the game’s settings menu. We’ve not yet had a chance to give this a try, but the hope if that those with a more robust Oculus Sensor (i.e. 3 or more) can now benefit from their investment.

The update also includes a raft of bug fixes and improvements, all of which are listed below, with one curious item a new music track which accompanies the end credits. The poignant sounding “Shooty Shooty Gun Hands” didn’t quite make it into the initial release of Robo Recall, and if you’re curious what this musical masterpiece sounds like, you can check it out below.

Robo Recall Update Release Notes:

  • Added support for 360 tracking mode. Available in Settings->Tracking Options.
  • Replaced ending credits music with “Shooty Shooty Gun Hands”, the masterpiece that came in too hot for launch.
  • Improved and stabilized teleporting up onto ledges.
  • Fixed a bug that caused crawlers to be wiggidy-wack when you grabbed them during one part of their “get up” sequence.
  • Added more unique colors for high multiplier numbers. People are tearing it up on Youtube!
  • Fixed a bug that caused flickering between LODs in a very narrow window.
  • Some improvements for spectator leaderboard functionality.
  • Fixed a small bug on the Holo-table that caused weapon dangly bits to misbehave when weapon was dropped.
  • Fixed “Whip Slam” damage scoring events and made damage scale with impact velocity.
  • Some audio performance improvements.
  • Fixes for font caching that wasn’t working properly. Players should now experience fewer small hitches the first time unique text is rendered.
  • Fix bug where Boss VO wasn’t being affected by VO volume settings.
  • Misc audio bug fixes.
  • Spectator leaderboard now correctly states when player is in “All Star Mode”.
Newsletter graphic

This article may contain affiliate links. If you click an affiliate link and buy a product we may receive a small commission which helps support the publication. More information.


Paul James
Based in the UK, Paul has been immersed in interactive entertainment for the best part of 27 years and has followed advances in gaming with a passionate fervour. His obsession with graphical fidelity over the years has had him branded a ‘graphics whore’ (which he views as the highest compliment) more than once and he holds a particular candle for the dream of the ultimate immersive gaming experience. Having followed and been disappointed by the original VR explosion of the 90s, he then founded RiftVR.com to follow the new and exciting prospect of the rebirth of VR in products like the Oculus Rift. Paul joined forces with Ben to help build the new Road to VR in preparation for what he sees as VR’s coming of age over the next few years.

  • Anyone out there with a 3+ Sensor setup tried this yet?

    • burzum

      Yes, the only difference I’ve noticed is that the circle doesn’t have the triangle anymore and you can’t use the thumb stick to turn. That seems to be all they changed…

      I would have preferred if they would have removed the cut scenes of Odin or made it possible to skip them. They get terrible annoying and really reduced the replay value for me, they’re just freaking annoying after the third time you’ve had to go through them. Also the count down when you encounter a wave of robots is pretty annoying after some time. I would love to have an option to remove that. :( The updated has nothing really amazing in for me.

      • NullReference

        You see the difference when you are not facing forward and you teleport. The arrow on he teleport points the way “forward is” so if you were facing left when you teleport you will be facing left of the arrow when you arrive. Really confusing. The difference now is that you face the direction you were facing before the teleport. It’s far more intuitive, but you lose the ability to chose a direction!

        • burzum

          Well, that’s what I described? :) Honestly, it’s not a big difference for me. Walking like locomotion and the other things I’ve mentioned in my previous post would have been awesome. I know there is a locomotion mod but I would like to see it as an official feature.

      • Tom

        I agree about the Odin scenes needing the ability to skip after seeing it once. Really annoying when you’re doing the same levels multiple times in a row. Otherwise great game and the updates are a huge improvement for 3 sensor setups.

  • Foreign Devil

    Nice! I know what I’m doing tonight. I only started the game. . then got my 3rd sensor so I’ll be trying it tonight

    • Caven

      Um, why did you get a third Touch controller? Did one break?

      • Foreign Devil

        No. Because if you want decent 360 degree room scale tracking with Touch controls you need 3 sensors. Ooops. . OK I see. I wrote the wrong word. .. edited it.

        • Caven

          Lol, that makes a lot more sense now.

  • Update:
    The new patch that allows 360 + Directional fixes all my complaints. Go forth and rip and tear.

    Original:
    I have 3 sensors and I have to say, I hate 360 compared to 180. It disables the function to rotate where you jump, so if you want to quickly warp behind a robot, you have to physically turn around after the jump. It makes it so much harder. I just want the rotate jump to match my current head direction, is that so hard?

    • Matthew White

      I don’t understand why this is so hard for them to figure out. It seems obvious the first second you play it.

      • NullReference

        Yeah, totally agree, the modders fixed it within 2 days.
        However, I don’t really mind having to turn – its a hell of a lot better than it was previously and has already improved my score.

    • Foreign Devil

      fixed in this update

  • impurekind

    Cool.