360° Battle of Waterloo Video Review
The 360° Battle of Waterloo experience proves how informative and captivating VR videos can be. In these 2 minutes, you are taken through a reenactment of this historical battle, all through an up close and personal view, and you can see first hand what war looked like 200 years ago. The 360° footage enabled a wider viewing range that made me feel like I was walking alongside the soldiers as they marched through the plains of present-day Belgium. Text popped up in many of the scenes to give more context and information on the battle. These sentences were easy to read, but sometimes they were placed in awkward spots that drew my attention away from the more interesting part of the scene. By the time I looked over at the text to read it, it was starting to disappear (0:21 as an example). If these text boxes were placed in better spots, it wouldn’t disrupt the viewing experience as much nor distract the viewer.
Overall, with this experience, I was able to learn a lot about the Battle of Waterloo and its impact on the Napoleonic Wars, but with the 360° aspect adding onto that, I gained a whole new understanding from this point in history that wouldn’t have been achieved with a regular video. I encourage you to check it out yourself! With videos like these, using 360° footage/VR content for historical education has proven itself more than beneficial, and we are only starting to scratch the surface.
