BARCELONA — The biggest difference between this year's HTC/Valve Vive VR kit and last year's is my perspective. The $799 Vive is still the gold standard of virtual reality, offering the ability to walk around in and manipulate virtual worlds in ways that no other consumer VR kit does.

Here at Mobile World Congress, I've worn the light and comfortable LG 360 VR, the clunky but inexpensive Samsung Gear VR, the PC-based Oculus Rift, and now the Vive Pre, the last pre-release version before the consumer model becomes available. (The consumer model was announced and shown here, but we couldn't try it on.)

The Vive is a completely different level of VR than everyone else provides right now. Samsung and LG both basically just let you look at things. Oculus will let you control them, but from a sitting position. Vive is a full-body experience. You don't just aim and shoot; you duck, dodge, and spin. Last year, I hadn't used enough VR to really appreciate the difference.

The Vive Pre requires a powerful PC, and it's a big headset like the Gear VR is. But unlike the Gear VR, it fits comfortably over even my clunky glasses. (LG's unit goes another direction for glasses wearers, allowing you to change the focus of the two eyepieces independently.) I grasped the sleek, black controllers in my hands and walked through 15 minutes of different VR experiences: a painting program, a shooting game, and "Job Simulator," a humorous game based on office work.

Gear VR and LG 360 VR are great for consuming content. They'll be terrific for watching videos. But Vive is a stand-up kind of a system. The difference became clearest in the shooting game: it was joyously athletic as I spun around, aimed, and shot at things. It was also much, much easier for me than a traditional first-person shooter. You don't have to worry about control schemes! The control scheme is intuitive!

Take a look at the video below to see what the latest Vive experience looks like inside and outside the unit. Yes, you'll look like a dork using it. That's inevitable with VR.

I'm a mobile guy, and I don't like to be tethered. But I've come to terms with the fact that the Vive has to be connected to a PC. To get its zero-latency, immersive experience, Valve told us that it's transmitting 90 frames per second of HD video in each eye. That's not possible with today's mobile devices, which is why LG and Samsung have more basic VR experiences.

The Vive Pre definitely fixed some of the problems that worried me last year. The huge bundle of seven cables that I was worried about tripping over has been slimmed down to one. Most importantly, the "chaperone mode," which helps you avoid objects or walls in your room, has been dramatically enhanced. Walls popped up as glowing grids when I got near them, and I could press a button to see a schematic view of whatever was actually in front of me in real life. That gave me a lot more confidence walking around the virtual world.

The full Vive kit will be available in early April.

This article originally appeared on PCMag.com.