Nintendo Labo VR review: There’s no “Nintendo magic” inside these lenses

Enlarge / Your intrepid author, staring intensely into the Nintendo Labo VR universe. (credit: Sam Machkovech)

Above all the other failings of Nintendo Labo VR, the biggest might be its lack of 'Nintendo magic.'
Virtual reality has already emerged as a millions-selling gaming genre, complete with beautiful, compelling, and unique experiences that scale from giant HTC Vive rooms to cramped PlayStation VR stations. When Nintendo barges into a new control paradigm, it usually tops the recent competition with either a hardware innovation, a game-design revelation, or a brilliant combination of the two.
But Nintendo Labo VR, the company's first serious VR product, is hamstrung by a nagging feeling that its solution to 'VR-on-Switch' is the very thing getting in the way of the fun. Its players are constantly urged to get out of VR, whether by lengthy cardboard build times, pint-sized VR experiences, or the sheer strain of having a 720p Switch screen filtered through a pair of glass lenses.
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