Developer / Publisher – Virtual Medicine
Price(PS) – US $19.99 / EU €19.99 / UK £15.99 / AU $29.95
Release Date – August 27th, 2019
Control Method – DS4, 2 x Moves
Pro Patch – No
Digital only – Yes
Reviewed on –PSVR (PS4 Pro)
If it’s not entirely clear from the title, Human Anatomy VR is not a game but an interactive educational experience that lets you explore the human body from a whole new perspective. With a few options you can view specific systems inside the body or go in for a closer look as you shrink down and navigate around and through parts of the body.
Pick a body part and learn a little bit.
2 Moves or the DS4 are supported with the moves being the preferable method of play as they just just allowed a little more freedom of movement and kept the menus in check as they are locked in position above the tracked DS4, but can be moved around and placed with the Moves. Otherwise, the controls are fairly simple with an introductory tutorial breaking down exactly how to navigate and interact with the body in front of you. You can view different portions of the body like the venous and nervous systems or the skeleton or muscle structures along with a few others. The digestive tract can be viewed as well as the brain and breathing systems. To go more in depth, you select and remove individual sections whereupon you are given text detailing what exactly you are looking at. The option to shrink down and “fly” through the body and get a very close look is a great use of VR and a few other options are available that allow you to rotate the body or slice it up for a cross-section view. There is a test you can take at any time to see just how much you know or have learned with the entirety of this experience being to teach you about human anatomy at your own pace.
Test yourself!
Human Anatomy VR looks good, but there isn’t a lot to look at besides the body standing in front of you. The game takes place on a ship orbiting the Earth and while you can navigate around this area, there isn’t much to see and should you want to, you can actually toggle the environment on or off, leaving you with just the body before you an nothing else. The body itself looks pretty darned great and breaking down and removing layers on the body is interesting to see. You can view many of the systems in tandem, though in some cases the game will only let you view one specific system at a time, and I wouldn’t have minded a few more options to view a few more of these side by side. Still, toggling through all the options is slick and removing individual sections for closer scrutiny is something that just wouldn’t work outside of VR. Using the cross-section option also offers some very unique views of the body but the star of the show has to be the ‘Ant Mode’ which allows you to shrink down to the size of said insect and take a closer look at any part of the body you want. Clicking on any specific body part opens up those text windows I mentioned earlier with the overall presentation being enjoyable…in an educational way. A light sci-fi/exploration track plays throughout the experience and falls instantly in the background and never once offended me.
I really had no expectations going into this and I think, overall, I’m happy with the content in here. Scrutinizing every body part is informative and fun though there is still some room for improvement. The text detailing the individual components is relatively simple and those looking for in-depth detail will be left wanting. My second issue is that there is an option to switch from viewing a male or female body, but when you choose the latter, only the pelvic area is displayed and I can’t help but think this was done to navigate away from showing a naked woman on screen which just seemed silly as the male form is naked in all it’s glory. Lastly would be the that you can only go into Ant mode while viewing the default placement of body parts and can’t remove individual components for closer inspection. The quiz stuff is fine enough but is really only for those that are trying to commit this stuff to memory and it’s a nice little inclusion for those that like test themselves.
I love the cross-section tool.
I don’t think this experience will be in depth enough for those in the medical field looking to educate themselves further, but it’s a little more complicated then high school biology. It is, at the very least, a great starting point for those who may be curious about the human body. The added ability to shrink and take an up-close look is a fun use of VR and I for one enjoyed messing around and accidentally learning a thing or 2 about the way I’m built. It’s not medical journal level of detail, but for those curious, viewing and messing around with a body in VR is a unique way to view our insides.
What would I pay? This is $20 US and I think that’s a fair price for what you get currently and the devs have promised more content to come soon. Ultimately, if you have little interest in learning about the human body then this experience won’t change your mind, but for those who are even a little bit curious, I bet you’ll dig what’s offered here.
Virtual Medicine provided The VR Grid with a press code for this title and, regardless of this review, we thank them for that!
