Valkyrie is all about fast paced dogfights, with a big focus on tailing or evading your enemies as the ships weave in and out of the arenas open expanse. The round was timed, and the team with the highest collective score came out victorious. After a briefing on what buttons do what and how to strap myself into the Oculus Rift headgear, it was time to launch from the docking bay and fill my opponents with seven shades of laser.

“Wooaahhhhhehehehheh” is probably the precise phrase I used when initially placing the virtual reality kit over my eyes, and it was one of the best experiences I had during this year’s Gamescom. The player is placed directly into the eyes of a pilot with full view of the cockpit, complete with every sci-fi flashing panel and holoscreen you could ever dream for. On each side of the cockpit are two screens detailing various stats about your ship and ammo, and with the full range of head motion they work perfectly as your HUD for the ships status.

The combat feels fluid and visceral, with quick reactions and tenacity playing a big part of the warfare. The demo I was shown featured two methods of attacking, the first being a standard laser machine gun which fired several blasts off in the direction of the ship. My favourite of the weapons however was the secondary fire, a homing missile capable of locking onto your target which forces them to take evasive action or risk becoming shrapnel in the atmosphere. There’s a lot more to the rockets than you’d imagine though, as aiming alone requires you to track the desired target with your view by looking at them directly, and thus taking your eyes away from what might be in front of you. Once you’ve managed to acquire a lock-on, you must then release the fire button to send your payload hurtling towards your foe.

On the other side of this exchange is evading an incoming rocket, which is done via a cool looking 3D map of your ship that rests between your legs. This grid maps out the space around your craft, showing you which angle incoming rockets are approaching from. I was told that rockets are slow at turning, so when attempting to avoid a grizzly fate, I had to align my craft with the rocket before taking a sharp turn and flicking the ships boosters on in an effort to outrun the missile.

My time with Valkyrie was brief, but every second was thrilling enough to leave me wanting more. This is definitely going to be one to watch for the coming year and with the Oculus Rift slowly progressing towards its inevitable launch, Valkyrie will no doubt take its place as a must-have title for the VR technology kit. Valkyrie is slated for a 2014 release window, so until then I guess I’ll just go back to playing games with my normal TV...hmph.