While we might have seen the VR headsets to not be as famous as they had been when they had entered the market, the ideas around the usage of it have always been innovative. One of those ideas was from JetSyntheses, that has been working on content around the Cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar and there was already the Sachin Saga Cricket Champions for fans to enjoy, but now the inclusion of content for VR is giving the fans “Sachin Saga VR headset” to enjoy Sachin’s cricketing career in the form of a game, with the virtual view.
The Sachin Saga VR is a combination of an app for Android phones along with a VR headset, and most importantly it has the name of the legend who is idolized by fans across the country. While you can download the Sachin Saga VR app on your phone, it can be accessed and played well only if you have the headset since it gives the split-screen view to be seen only through the headsets.
The headset is priced at Rs. 1999 and it is a well-designed and built unit that comes along with a proper controller/joystick that helps you play the game. The joystick has controls for the shot selection and then to move the player and adjust the actions, there’s the combination of A-X-B-Y keys. The controller is a one-time learning accessory that you get used to in a few minutes, as the buttons have specific functions and you cannot customize them, so there is no big learning needed there. The controller gets connected to the smartphone via Bluetooth and it needs the regular batteries to run.
The headset itself is based on the regular concept of Google Cardboard but this one has a plastic body with a comfortable grip and some interiors are such that they are made to not press the head and make it uncomfortable. The same headset can be used not just for the Sachin Saga VR game but also for the other VR apps and games.
Now, with what the game offers, you have only one task – batting! It’s the use of the joystick buttons to control the batsman, i.e. Sachin Tendulkar to hit the shots out of the park with timing, but that’s where we felt a small issue with the latency and some times, the timing isn’t perfect because of it. One of the good experiences here because of the VR is that you would be turning around to see where the ball travels after the shot, and the only challenge here is that if you miss the timing, the ball wouldn’t be even going in the direction you intended to hit it towards. You might then entirely miss tracking the ball until it reached the boundary. This, still, is something you might not see happening many times but even the rare occasion hampers the experience a bit.
There’s a multiplayer mode that we couldn’t try out, but there is also the scenario mode where some of the important moments of Sachin’s cricketing career can be played. For fans of the legendary cricketer, this could be a treat but for the enthusiasts, looking at the tech side of it, the reaction could be neutral with both, positives and negatives.
The headset is comfortable, and the app does work well with only some scope for improvement. Now, paying Rs. 1999 for a VR headset would be too much to ask for, frankly, but with a purpose and a solution offered here, it seems a little worthy. The major reason is still Sachin Tendulkar and that experience with the career that he did. The only downside for the entire experience is the latency that makes it hard to always track the ball and time the shot. On the other side, the setting up and the VR experience still is something to check out, and if you are someone who would want to try out a VR headset for the first time, this is not a bad choice after all, since the same headset can be used for any VR app.
