Virtual sports simulators can drive user interest towards a sport that they haven’t experienced playing before and can be an exciting treat for sports fans with VR headsets. Cherry Pop Games soccer sim VRFC: Virtual Reality Football Club just celebrated their PlayStation VR release on March 6th, while Oculus and Vive will be getting theirs today March 13th!
VRFC Mechanics
VRFC: Virtual Reality Football Club is a soccer/football sim that’s set from the player’s point of view. This is not a single player or console game, it’s an 8-player team game that will have you playing against other VRFC players in public or private matches.
Players will move their dual tracked controllers like they’re running in place but won’t be moving their legs. Their Agile Locomotion movement system looks a lot like what’s already been done by Sprint Vector with their pump your arms to run feature. Players will likely enjoy not having to teleport around a field with this feature.
To get around obstacles players will need to strafe and turn by using their left and right controllers. To practice the action of strafing and turning, players can go through the tutorial to go over drills on the virtual soccer field. To snap the ball or dribble the player will also need to memorize where to touch and which buttons to press on the controller to do so.
In a PlayStation.Blog (EU) post, Cherry Pop Games and VRFC creators show that they understand that learning their locomotion system is a skill that players will have to have patience with, “With the use of two Move controllers acting as your feet, natural arm motions provide the base running and kicking mechanic, while a series of basic button presses control the more precise movements. VRFC is easy to pick up but harder to master. To play well as with any sport, practice is key.”
Kicking the ball and going for a goal might be challenging for anyone who’s new to VR and controllers, but may be less difficult to master for VR owners who’ve been at it for a while. For PSVR, you’ll hold down the T button and uppercut to kick, but not much is known about how Vive/Oculus players will kick. We’ll have to wait and see.
The VRFC Steam page says that this game is a standing only game and does not mention room scale for the Vive or Oculus. So, there’s likely no foot or full body tracking (yet) to actually kick that football/soccer ball on the floor in front of you.
VR Fitness Potential
Using the tracked controllers to kick, strafe, turn, dribble and do other actions isn’t going to give you a workout unless you count the brain power it takes to memorize buttons to press and on which controller. Pumping your arms to run in the game is another story. Moving your arms to move forward or backward in multiple games is going to give your upper body a huge workout.
Experienced and active VR gamers are going to want to play a few rounds and get used to the locomotion movement and controls before they add on a weighted vest or weighted gloves. Players can go into Training mode to play in a low-pressure environment and get a better understanding of the game before they head into competition with a team of real people.
PSVR gameplay videos online show players can input their age and weight into the VRFC system. But there’s no word yet on whether the game will track how many calories you burn or steps that you take. Posting steps or calorie burn in a corner of the display could keep fit gamers more pumped up as they learn how to play.
Find It Here
VRFC: Virtual Reality Football Club is available for PSVR for $15.99 to $19.99, while Oculus and Vive are selling it for $13.99 to $19.99. The great news is that PSVR, Oculus, and Vive owners can cross-play against each other and even chat online, making this a very social VR game that bridges the gap between platforms!
Follow Them Here
Facebook: Cherry Pop Games
Twitter: @CherryPopGames
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YouTube: Cherrypopgames