App Review: The Future (Now) of Movies. Be a Private Investigator with VR Noir.

I've neglected VR for entertainment thus far which is weird because this is probably how VR will move from gamers and early adopters to everyone else. VR movies as they are now are almost a hybrid of a game and a movie which is amazing. You must try it. This particular movie I'm reviewing will only take about 10 minutes of your time. 

In looking where to start, I decided to do Google best VR apps. Surely there will be a short film I can watch on the list that exists purely to be entertainment, and not have other agendas. 

I picked VR Noir because I thought the synopsis was intriguing. This film a thriller where you play a private investigator, Veronica, who happens to be a former cop. 

The movie begins in her office. She explains what's going on in her life as you walk around. She has a nice, soothing voice, like a childhood math teacher that patiently explains to 11 year olds why there are suddenly now letters in math equations. She narrates details from her life, and her character develops in a short amount of time. You begin to feel her problems. 

After a rough FaceTime with her estranged husband, in walks a desperate, haggard looking woman, who sits and begins to explain why she has come to a private investigator. It is now when the investigation begins! I won't ruin the story for you since I think you should download the app and watch it for yourself, however, my analysis requires that you've seen it, so if you go now and watch it, it will only take about 10-15 minutes. 

Here are some notes about what I think was good and what needs improvement: 

Good 

1. Storyline moves at a good pace.
2. Storytelling is wonderful, you are very engaged. 
3. Liked that it was real people and real surroundings versus some completely made up world. 
4. Fun activities. There's a part of VR Noir where you have to look for a bad guy. This guy is a prick so you really get into it looking for him. Motivation is definitely there. Took me a while to find him, to the point I recalled those cheat codes you could buy as a kid for video games. I got one for Tomb Raider. Do you remember these things? Maybe they should make them for VR haha. So 90's. 
5. Nice variation of audience participation. Just like #3 above, there's another activity where you get to start looking for DNA! 
6. Good casting. Though there were only a few characters, I think they were convincing. 
7. Scene, costume design and makeup were on point. The details. They were handled with care like a filmmaker. 

Needs Improvement 

1. Somewhat cliche storyline (so far at least, and you'll find out why) but I guess it makes it believable which is fine. 
2. If VR is supposed to be immersive, I didn't really feel that here. Yes, I know it's early in the VR entertainment game, and yes I know I was on mobile  VR. I will cut some slack here. 
3. Some scene design elements need improvement. I (Veronica) was "sitting" in an office chair but then when I looked down I saw the seat of the chair, not my legs. Didn't seem right. Didn't feel there. 
4. Some weird lags. I was at the part where you're using a long lens camera to do some spying and the dialogue for what you were supposed to have found started playing, even though I hadn't found what I was supposed to be looking for yet! 
5. Biggest pet peeve: inability to save where you were. I stopped the first time watching around the 5 minutes mark because my head was hurting from the VR. (Tip: The second time around I watched at night, in the dark, in my bed because I was too lazy to move around, and it was  much better! No headache!) So, I re-opened the app and had to start from the beginning. This happened again because I was interrupted by a message I had to answer, and again, had to start from the beginning! Very annoying! Thankfully the movie wasn't that long. 
6. Don't like the false sense of plot choice. Did you ever read Goosebumps or any of those books as a kid that let you choose different endings or even storylines? Example: Does Laura get eaten by a dinosaur? Turn to page 156. If Laura fights the dinosaur and escapes, turn to page 158. - Then you make a choice, and they have different outcomes. If you're like me, you'd go and read both outcomes because hey, it's possible. But the point is, your choice makes a difference. Early in VR Noir, you can "make some choices." I guess this is supposed to make you feel like you're Veronica but because of critique point #5 I was able to go through and choose different courses of action, and guess what, they all lead to the same responses from the other character no matter what reaction you picked. Felt cheated. 
7. Unbelievable scenes. Remember when I said it was cool you could collect DNA as an activity in one of the scenes? Well guess what, the prick you're trying to catch is in the next room, with the door open. How on Earth can I just jump around the room like a Ninja Warrior contestant, trying to swab DNA as Mr. Bad Guy is pouring a glass of Rose in the next room? Unlikely! 

What I hope to see in the future 
VR Movies that address the areas where I said need improvement.
Movies with a lot of thought or strategy, turned into VR - like House of Cards in VR with real decision making capacity would be awesome. Imagine making some calls as Francis Underwood! 

Crazy last note 
I think it would be cool to use VR as a method of "trying on" careers. Imagine you could go through a "season" of a specific job, just like on Netflix, and decide if you enjoyed that industry or profession, or not. I sort of felt like a private investigator here. I think a lot of kids went through I want to be a spy, investigator, explorer, etc phase and then (perhaps falsely? I will never know) assume it's too difficult, too dangerous, or too impractical. Maybe VR can open up career possibilities to people earlier in life (as opposed to oh hey figure out your life in four years of college and be bound by that decision forever). 

More information 
The makers, StartVR 
Behind the scenes of making VR Noir - highly recommended!