Shooty Fruity

Shooty Fruity is a VR game developed and published by nDreams on Jan 2018. It is a game where you scan as many items you can at the checkout while shooting the fruit coming at you. You can buy different guns at the home screen before you play. To start the game you pick the level you want and put the card in the slot. There are different types of fruit. Your guns hang in front of you and you have to grab a new one when the ammo runs out. One hand is used for scanning and the other for shooting fruit. The level is over when you scan all the items. The lady over the P.A. system has a very annoying voice with her one-liners.

The graphics are good. It can get boring as you are at the checkout most of the time. The lady warns you when you hit the food on the shelves. As the levels get harder you can buy better guns.

6/10

BOX VR Review

Box VR is a rhythm based boxing game used for a workout. It was developed byFitXR and published on June 2017. The workouts are made by professional fitness instructors. This is an early access game, but it looks polished. You can train to the beat of the music. You can choose your music as well. You have to hit the orbs the come at you as the music plays. There are jabs, uppercuts, hooks and blocks. Sometimes you have to duck and swerve as well.

I would rate this game the same or better than audio shield. So much fun and an intense workout. The graphics are good and there are different backdrops to play to, even a Halloween one where you hit pumpkins. There are endurance workouts as well as fast workouts and workouts in between. The beat of the music is very precise to hit the orbs. But you can adjust the latency as well. There is more to come from this game as it is early access.

One of the best.

9.6/10

First Person Tennis Review

First Person Tennis Review

First Person Tennis is a VR tennis game and was published by  Mikori Games and released in December 2016. The game has a training mode where you can practice your forehand, backhand, serving or a practice match.

The trackers are really good at tracking your hands as you hit the ball. I used the vive controllers, but you can also use a tracker and put it on a real tennis racquet. Because of the accuracy you can time your shot to aim to the opponents forehand or backhand. You teleport when your opponent hits the ball to put you in the right position for the shot. You can also run to the net if you want to. I found this difficult, so I normally waited for them to run to the net and hit the ball past them.

If you are a good tennis player with a good tennis mind this game can be easy, even on the advanced setting. You can choose 3 set matches or 1 set matches and best of 6 games or best of 3 games. Serving can be difficult if you have a fan in the room so I had to serve under arm.

You can play a number of Tournaments, each having different surfaces. clay, grass, hard, blue-green hard, classic synthetic, indoor hard and indoor synthetic. As you progress through the tournament the opponents get harder and hit the ball faster. The tournaments are played in different countries. There is also an arcade or simulation mode.

If you have a powerful computer, you can play on the high graphics settings. There are other options like commentary on or off and options for vive tracker and volume.

This game is good exercise. Playing one tournament would get your heart rate up. (You have to be careful not to hit anything in the room).

7.5/10

Virtual Sports Review

Virtual Sports is a game for the HTC VIVE. It is a combination of two games. Table tennis and tennis.

The game was made by Free Range Games and published by Vive Studios in March 2017.

It is easy to navigate through the game. To start tennis or table tennis you just pick up the paddle or racquet and push the button. They both have practice modes and career modes. The career modes have a number of difficulty levels which you go through by winning matches. Each opponent is different.

Table tennis is more enjoyable than tennis I found. Because it is more suited to the Vive. The graphics are good enough but not very demanding. There is also a bit of humour with a dog being the umpire and calling out the scores. I could not finish the highest difficulty modes but I came pretty close. For people who like racket sports I think the game would be more enjoyable. The AI is pretty good and the opposition is many people not just a stick figure of something. Tennis is still enjoyable as it’s the next best thing than playing on a court. The tennis game teleports you to different parts of the court to hit the ball because the court is so large. This can be confusing at times as you are suddenly in one place then somewhere else.

The responsiveness of the controllers is good. Very accurate and the ball goes where you want it to go (if you have good co-ordination).  There is not much else to the game other than the two sports. I liked the game as I really like those two sports.

7/10

Arcade Saga Review

Arcade Saga is a game developed by 2 Bears Studio and published by Vive Studios on 9 Dec 2016. It is a game for the HTC Vivie.

It is a collection of 3 games: Fracture, Bowshot and Smash. Each mini game has many levels and they are of different difficulty. There is both Single player and Multiplayer modes.

Smash is a simple game where you hold two shields and bounce balls at the enemy on the other end. If you get it past the enemy you get a point. If they get it past you they get a point. The graphics are good and to the style of the Arcade days from years ago. There are bonus items to hit for example multi ball and she shields can shoot out a sphere to help hit the ball away. The game is easy but gets harder as you improve through levels.

The next game is called Fracture. Fracture is a game about a virus ball destroying a fire-wall. You are in a sphere and have a bat and a gravity device to catch the ball. As you hit the ball it takes down a square and then comes back at you. You pass the level when all the squares are destroyed.

The last game is called Bowshot. In this game, you have a bow and arrow and you have to shoot the squares before they shoot at you. The game is also quite basic. There are a few waves you should get through to complete the game. The squares move around a lot. The graphics are the same as the previous game quite basic. The bow and arrows look cool. The music is basic but it is ok.

Not a bad little package of games to play. Should enjoy it for a while. Not bad for the price.

6/10

VR Multigames Review

VR Multigames is a collection of games from Mad Triangles. It was released in July 2016.

The collection of games includes:

·         Goalkeeper Simulator

·         Drone Fight

·         Last Stand

Goalkeeper simulator just involves you as the goalkeeper where you hold two large hands to block the incoming balls. The balls are shot with three cannons positioned apart and they take it in turns. To make it easier there is a red square which appears on one of the cannons before it fires. The game is quite simple an involve a few lives and the highest score. The graphics are quite basic and there is no music.

In Drone Fight you should block the incoming projectiles from the drones with a lightsabre in one hand and a gun in the other hand to shoot them down. Each wave is harder until you are getting shot by multiple drones and the game is over when your lives run out. If you have room scale setup you can also dodge them by moving. Again, the graphics are quite basic and the sound is ok.

Last Stand is probably the best of the three mini games as you have a bow and arrow. The bow can also be used to hit the enemy if they get to close. The enemy is mostly a person in a red costume with a shield who runs at you. There is also a person with a gun who can shoot at you, so you have to dodge the bullets sometimes. There are many lives also. I could finish this one without much hassle. You can move around the level freely whenever you want. This is the only shooter I know so far where you can move around while the action is happening.

There is a new game coming also. It gives you two guns, its room scale and the enemy runs around trying to shoot you while you duck around objects trying to shoot them back and it also involves teleporting between locations until you get to the end. This game is only still in development.

The games a worth playing a few times. The best being the Last Stand. All the games are fairly short.

5/10

Fast Action Hero Review

Fast Action Hero is a FPS made for virtual reality. It was released on Oct 2016 by RL Agency and developed by Sirius Sam. It is a room scale game so you need some space to move. At the moment, there are two levels. A mall and a motel. You basically should shoot yourself out of a gunfight while ducking behind objects and peaking around corners. Some of the items you hide behind are destructible which means you are left with no cover. There are a few difficulty modes from easy to very hard. Even on the easy level I found it very difficult to finish a level. There are a few guns to choose from including duel pistols, duel machine guns and single high-power machine gun. The best way to play is to use one at a time so you can reload while firing the other. The targets are men in black clothes and they also move around to shoot at you. The shooting at you is also in a slower motion than the rest of the action so that makes it more interesting I guess.
 This is still an early access game so I will write the rest of the review when the game is complete. The graphics levels don’t seem to change much. I started on the highest level but the guns were a bit laggy. Then I found that the guns were laggy on all settings. This was disappointing as it had a negative effect on the game play.

6/10
 

Holopoint Review

Holopoint is an archery game set in a room like the training fight room in the Matrix. It was released in April 2016 by Alzan Studios, LLC.
You use a box and arrow to shoot the boxes that appear and if you don’t do it in time they explode by themselves and shoot something back at you. They also explode when you hit them. You really must dodge them fast. It is about the most physically demanding game on the HTC Vive I have played due to the movement involved. It is a great game if you like a good workout. I was only able to get through the waves of squares because it was so demanding. The game also has waves of Ninjas and Samurai to defeat. Once you get to a certain level you can catch up later to a previous level if you wish. You should be careful not to damage the setup or knock into anything in the room. It is a room scale game. It is an Indie game but it is still very enjoyable. The best game I know if you want a very good workout. 
You get the chance of two lives before the end of the game. It would be nice if you had more lives as you could progress further. The feedback of the controller is also very realistic. I had a bit of trouble and worries about the cord getting in the way. It would be nice if it was wireless and light weight. Like any game with one objective in mind it does get a bit boring to play after a while. At least it has a few game modes to play. One more thing, I found the accuracy too realistic and would miss the target sometimes. A good fast paced archery game from Alzan Studios, LLC

7.1/10
 

Space Pirate Trainer Review

Space Pirate Trainer is a fast action arcade FPS where you shoot down wave after wave of drones with weapons that you can select throughout the game. It was made by I-Illusions and released on April 2016. It claims to be a VR trainer for wanna be space pirates. This game was reviewed in the early access stage. It’s a clever idea to shoot the droids before they can shoot at you. When they shoot at you need to use a shield or dodge. The game is fairly basic with only one objective. To get through as many waves as possible.

The sound goes well with the game and graphics are good. The game is set on the deck of a spaceship where the drones come up from underneath in one direction.

Most of the time when they shoot time slows down and gives you time to react. They also have an audible warning before they shoot as they warm up before they fire. You can either jump out of the way or reach behind you and pull out your shield. There are a number of power ups that appear from shield boost to gun enhancements. The controls are very accurate and it does not take long to master them. 

This is a standing only game but it is still a pleasant experience. The fun only lasts for a while only because there is not much else to the game. It’s a good game to come back to now and again. 
The game does not tax the computer in any way. For the controller, you simply use the Vive controller and the instructions are in the game. 

6.8/10
 

HoloBall Review

HoloBall is an arcade-sports game developed and published by TreeFortress Games. It was released in April 2016. The game involves the player having two paddles, one in each hand. The game is very similar to squash. Except the ball is a lot bigger and the opponent is an AI player in the form of a red square where the wall would be in a game of squash. The object of the game is to get the ball past the AI player and they try to deflect it past you. The game makes full use of room-scale VR which means you should clear some room and be careful not to hit anything with the controller. There are different game modes. A campaign mode starting at Easy and ending at Expert, the first to score 5 points wins a round. There is also an Arcade mode which has Zen for an east hit and Score attack where the AI gets better and better. An Endurance mode to see how many times you score without letting the ball go past and there is also a multiplayer mode which is still in beta.

The graphics are quite basic but they are meant to be as it is based on a design from the past arcade games. The music is okay but nothing special. (There is a feature coming soon so you can play your own music).

It is a very retro style game designed like the arcade classics of the past. Lots of fun to play especially if you like racket sports. The game can be challenging or easy depending on how you want to play it.

7.2/10

Redout: Enhanced Edition Review

Redout is a virtual reality anti-gravity racing game developed by 34BigThings srl released September 2016. It was meant to be a tribute to the old games such as Wipeout and Rollcage.

Redout is the effect of negative G-forces on the human body. Redout claims to be the fastest game ever made and because it is in VR get ready for a thrill ride. As the name suggests there is high G-forces involved in this game. Most of the tracks even have full inverted loop where you are upside down and there are many steep inclines and drops as well. As you level up you can change to a faster ship and there are bonus slots available such as magnetism and boost. Two slots in total. This game has very sharp turns and it is easy to hit the walls to damage your shield. Once you get used to the cornering it gets a lot more fun. The game can be played in both multiplayer and single player mode. It can also be played without the use of VR.

The environment is very high detailed. The graphics look good at medium and give the computer a good workout. On extra settings, it looks a bit better, the computer still uses the same resources but it is quite jittery and hard to concentrate on this detail level. The sound track is very good also and the beat goes well with the action. It also supports 5.1 surround sound.

It’s annoying when you are winning that you get hit or hit the wall and explode. Some of the races even warp into other tracks from different courses as part of the one race. Each race can go for age so if you get last place at the end it can make you feel like you don’t want to do it all over again.

It is a little bit difficult to play when you start as you keep hitting the wall and that slows you down. You also should learn the course a bit as it is so fast you need to predict your turns.

If you suffer motion sickness I would not recommend this game. It was played with an Xbox controller for Windows. The recommended specs are a core I5 processor and GTX 960 GPU but for the VR a GTX 1080 GPU still has stutters at the highest detail.

7.7/10

Radial-G Racing Revolved Review

Radial-G: Racing Revolved is a futuristic anti-gravity arcade racer made in March 2016 by Tammeka Games. It is a very fast paced racing game with courses to race through in VR and different tracks. There are lots of jumps and twists and turns and requires your full concentration at all times. Most of the tracks are tubular where you move around the tube. You have a shield which runs out eventually. There are battle modes in the races as well where you have weapons to fire. There are different ships to choose from. Some being faster than others. All the ships have different properties.

It is high action. There is a multiplayer mode as well, up to 16 players. Different views to change from depending on your preference. The soundtrack is very good and has a great beat. It was advertised as the fastest VR anti-gravity racer out there. Each race can go for a long time so if you end up finishing past 3rd place at the end it can make you feel like you don’t want to go through the length of that race again. When you race you must hit the green arrows to keep up your speed or the other ships will overtake you. You also have to avoid the red gates and anything red basically. It can be hard at times to avoid an obstacle and it’s a bit hard to learn the track as they are so long and go in multiple directions. In career mode, you progress as you win races. You must win a certain number of events before you can progress to the next stage.

The graphics are good and no jitters on high settings. I used an Xbox controller for windows to play in VR.

I would not recommend this game if you suffer from motion sickness. A very fast action game and it would be aimed at people who like lots of action in there racing games.

7.8/10

Eleven Table Tennis Review

Eleven: Table Tennis VR is a virtual reality game published by For Fun Labs in June 2016. It is a simulation for table tennis. This can be played online or against the AI. The AI has various levels of difficulty. From amateur to professional level. I could only beat the amateur level even though I have lots of experience playing racket sports. The mechanics of table tennis are very very real. From hitting the ball as speed and the way it moves in the air. The weight of the controller is about the same weight of the paddle in real life and when the ball hits the paddle the vibration is real as though the ball has hit the paddle. It is so easy to hit the ball too hard and out. I found it best to play defensively until the AI player makes a mistake. The scores are the same as real table tennis as well.

The graphics are good and the environment is good also with more environments to come. There are also other mini games involved like hit the target etc. This game can be played for hours if you know how to play table tennis.

The game is really enjoyable with the only downside is the lack of any other environments to play in but it says they are coming soon. If you like table tennis and don’t have the equipment or the room then this is the game for you. If you don’t play any racket sports then I guess you will not enjoy it much as it can be quite difficult. The opposition player is just a figure with a mask on.

A fun and realistic game that can be fun for hours.

8.9/10

Boo Breakers: The Ghosting Review

This game was released in Oct 2016 and made by Rank 17. It’s a bit like Ghostbusters as you have a wand and another wand in the other hand. The object of the game is to catch ghosts and put them in the trap and deflect the objects they throw at you. There are a few various levels such as the library and the study in which there are different furniture items you must scan to find the ghosts then zap them and put them in the trap. That is about all the game must offer. There are also secret keys to find which lead to boss’s chambers where you should fight them. You can also upgrade your weapons. I found this game boring to play as it would be more fun for the younger ages. The game has not much else to offer.

The graphics are mediocre as well. The music is okay. The game is not that expensive which is good as the quality reflects this. Once again, the game must be aimed at younger audiences.

5/10

Blade Shield Review

Blade Shield is a VR sci-fi game developed and published by Rank 17. Made in Nov 2016 the game involves holding a shield and a laser sword. The object of the game is to deflect and destroy enemy bots that come at you. The setting is inside a space ship with a view outside on either side and it looks to be some sort of storage area of the space ship. The game is fun to play at first while blocking with the shield and attacking with the sword.

This is mainly a standing only game where you cannot walk around much. There are multiple waves to fight off, starting at wave 1. I got up to wave 30 something and that was fun as there was so much going on at once. You can start at wave 1, 15 or 30 and there is not difficulty setting. (The game starts really easy anyway). You can change your blade and shield between hands or choose to have two swords or two shields. The bots that shoot at you can be deflected back at them to destroy them. The shield also has an EMP blast to disable all the bots in the scene at once. You can only do this once each wave. There were a few diverse types of bots to fight off as well.
The game is fun for a while. The visuals are look good for VR and the game is not that taxing on the computer and does not come with and graphics settings but that does not matter. 
A fun game for the whole family.
6.7/10
 

Super Pixel Smash Review

Super pixel smash was developed and published by Rank17 and was released on the 26th Janurary 2017.

It’s a retro game, quite basic in its approach. The player has a bat and a device to catch the ball. You simply hit the ball at the wall full of pixels and you get bonus points for hitting bonus items. You can also hit the wrong items which will give you a disadvantage. For example you hit the red tiles and you lose your ball. There is also a timer which eventually runs down to zero. The graphics are fairly good and they are deliberately done basic as that is the style of the game.

The game is similar to squash as you are in what looks to be a squash court as you are surrounded by walls.

The game is a lot of fun at the start and there is continued enjoyment to be had here. There is not much else to the game as it is only designed to be like a squash game where you hit pixels with the ball. The music is okay and the announcers voice makes it quite exciting. The game is made up of levels. As you progress through each level it gets harder and when time runs out you are given a final score which is recorded. I enjoy this game and play it occasionally. This game would be best suited for people who enjoy raquet sports.  

7.5/10

Audioshield Review

Audioshield is a VR game that was released for the HTC Vive in April of 2016. Audioshield can be played in a standing mode setup and uses the tracking of both the Vive controllers.

Audioshield is a game where you have a shield in each hand and have to block the red and blue orbs coming at you in the beat of the music. The music can be from youtube or your own music collection. 

You can choose the difficulty level and that affects how fast the orbs come at you and what side and angle you have to block them. For example on the normal setting the orbs don't cross sides and you use one hand for blue and the other hand for red.

This game sounds fairly simple on paper but when I actually played it I found myself playing it until my arms were tired. It's one of the few games I keep coming back to play time and time again. The visuals look impressive and the feedback from the controllers when you block an orb are very realistic. It is also a great game if you want a light workout.

When the song is finished you are given a score based on your movement and how many orbs you missed. I found that if you punch the orbs you get a higher score. Your results are then put on a world leaderboard. It works with any song although some songs didn't sync to the beat of the music very well but most did. I found dance music was the best experience for me.

The tracking of the shields to your movements was very good and the menu navigation was very good also.

This game has a simple premise but what is does it does really well. It is my most played game for the Vive. The best VR game I have played so far.

9.5/10     

Zombie Training Simulator Review

Zombie Training Simulator is a virtual reality game that trains you for the impending zombie apocalypse. It was Developed and published by Acceleroto, Inc.

When you start the game, you are presented with a table. On the table, there are several things ranging from guns to hand grenades, gas bottles, steaks and a radio. When you choose your gun, you can choose your game mode. There is survival, skills test and target practice. Skills test and target practice are more about training you and include a number of simple tests. One of these is zombie bowling where all the zombies line up and you shoot them down like ten pin bowls. Survival is the main game mode where you face wave after wave of zombies and it progressively gets harder. You should use all the items at your disposal. Throw gas bottles at the ground in front of them and shoot, throw hand grenades and lure them into one area by throwing steaks on the ground. If they get too close you can reach for your sword from behind your back.

The style is simple and cartoon like. The zombies are actually cardboard cut-outs. You can choose different music tracks by switching the channel on the radio that's on the table. Even with the simplistic style, you can have a lot of fun with this game. The feeling you get when the zombies are almost at your face you still feel panic but because of the way they made this game, it scares you in a fun way. There is also a mode at night time which makes it harder as you can't see the zombies until they are close to you.

8/10

Skeet VR Target Shooting Review

Developed and published by Flatbox Studios, Skeet VR Target Shooting is a game where you have to shoot the targets.  There is a trap mode and a skeet mode. Clay discs shoot out of a machine into the air and you have to shoot them with your gun. You have two guns to choose from. A pump action shotgun which holds one bullet at a time or a double barreled shotgun which can hold two. You use the controller to reload the ammo as you play either by pumping the shotgun or reloading the barrels. The game is quite fun for a while as they have added extra stuff like an arcade bird flying across the screen for extra points and an alien space ship that shoots the targets so you have to shoot it. It's only a small game and the visuals aren't spectacular. But for a free game I would say it's worth playing for a while.

A little bit of fun to be had.

5.5/10 

Portal Stories VR Review

Developed and published by Prism Studios, Portal Stories VR puts you in the portal universe in virtual reality. It offers 10 room puzzles to complete that are similar to the game Portal 2 where you have to move boxes, direct lasers, use elevators and teleport around to exit to the next level.

This game is a bit short but it's lots of fun to play. You basically have two controllers. One lets you teleport around and the other shoots a tractor beam so you can grab the boxes to move them around. The most fun I had was a level where I had to crouch behind a barrier so I would not get shot by robots, I then had to (while crouching) move a glass box next to the barrier and redirect a laser so it would destroy the robots. I found this used the full potential of virtual reality it's just a pity there were not more puzzles to solve.

The visuals were really well done and the voice narration was quite humorous, just like the portal game. A bit on the short side.

7/10