Razor Hydra

September 2014

I’ve had the Razor Hydra controller for some time now and haven’t written a review until now. However, playing Half-Life VR with the Hydra is one of the better VR experiences out there.

There’s now a mod to play Half Life Episode 1 and 2 with the Razor Hydra where you can use your weapons as if you’re holding them. It’s really quite amazing. Once you center your controllers so they line up in real life, roughly with what you’re seeing in your Oculus Rift DK2, it’s quite convincing to rotate your gun and look at your health and ammo on your hand. You can even swing your crowbar as well as throw grenades.

Pistol

Magnum Revolver

The Razor Hydra was released in 2011 for $139. This was unheard of until this point for a 6DOF magnetic tracking system. Originally showcased with Portal 2, this controller really shines with Half Life VR. I was able to pick one up from Frys Electronics. It’s really worth the price just to play this one game.

There are some issues with it however. It frequently becomes offset and needs recentering during play. This is somewhat annoying because in the heat of things you are focusing way too much on trying to compensate for the offset of your arm in the game and your arm in real life. However, you quickly become used to recentering very often. When you have it just right you can actually aim down the barrel of the gun and shoot. Really cool!!

You’ll definitely want to go through the training simulation to learn how to use the controller. Once you have the hang of it, the experience is probably like nothing else you’ve had before. I would recommend this highly to any VR nut. The Razor Hydra really excites me about the new STEM controllers coming from SixSense. In case you aren’t aware, SixSense is the company who owns the technology behind the awesomeness of the Razor Hydra.

The flood of new consumer VR gear over the last several years really is exciting!

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