During our last VR Game Roundup, Half-Life: Alyx was understandably the attention grabbing title. Now that Valve’s colossal virtual reality hit has released, we’re moving towards a more standard week of titles highlighted by some basketball titles and Ironlights, an interesting melee combat game.
Guns’n’Stories: Bulletproof VR
Originally released in 2018 for Valve Index, HTC Vive, Oculus Rift, and Windows Mixed Reality, Guns’n’Stories: Bulletproof VR has now been ported to Oculus Quest. The Wild West-themed shooter is pretty basic in nature, harkening back to the quick aiming fun of Mad Dog McCree. With varied locales and some boss fights to take on, this is a more than a basic shooting gallery title.
Fitness Potential
Players can duck out of the way of oncoming bullets and into cover, so there is some movement that will keep the player active. However, this won’t compare to the movement found in more physically demanding shooters such as Superhot VR or Pistol Whip. So, while you’ll definitely be burning some calories while playing, this isn’t the ideal shooter for fitness purposes.
Developer/Publisher: MiroWin
Release Date: April 2, 2020
Compatible With: Oculus Quest
Price: $9.99
Link: Guns’n’Stories: Bulletproof VR
Basketball Madness
While Basketball Madness looks to be on the simple side in terms of learning how to play, there’s a surprising amount of modes. From just shooting some hoops to playing against the computer, players are given quite a few options. Most interesting are the fun mode, where the game’s sense of humor is inserted and power-ups can be found, and high hoops, which challenges players by having hands blocking the hoops that have to be removed before players can score. Considering there are many VR basketball titles already available, it’s good to have a variety of options.
Fitness Potential
Shooting hoops is definitely a physical maneuver, and many of the modes will challenge the player to shoot as many times as they can in a short time period. You won’t be running up and down a court like the actual sport, but there’s definitely some activity. This could provide a solid arm workout if played intensely.
Developer/Publisher: ITC Studio
Release Date: April 3, 2020
Compatible With: Valve Index, HTC Vive, and Oculus Rift
Price: $4.99
Link: Basketball Madness
Ironlights
The most anticipated title in this week’s VR Game Roundup is Ironlights, which has players taking on either other humans or artificial intelligence in an arena. There are five character classes in total that each have their own weapons ranging from a two-handed greatsword to a rapier and buckler. The melee combat is quite complex as players can parry and block attacks and all the gameplay is physics-based. There’s a bare-bones single-player campaign as well, which is good for getting the basics down before truly testing your skills.
Fitness Potential
Ironlights allows the player to be creative with their attacks, and it can be a great workout if the player is regularly moving around and ducking blows from enemies before launching into counters. The level of physical exertion can vary and really depends on how much the player gets into the online multiplayer as intense matches could really get your heart rate pumping as players swing controllers and jump around.
Developer/Publisher: E McNeill
Release Date: April 9, 2020
Compatible With: Valve Index, HTC Vive, and Oculus Rift
Price: $19.99
Link: Ironlights
Hooplord
Finishing up our VR Game Roundup this week is one of the most unique takes on basketball that we’ve ever seen. Hooplord has players participating in a game of H-O-R-S-E while making sure a gigantic golem doesn’t block their shots. There are three guardians to face off in total, so there’s not a ton of content here, but it’s certainly an interesting spin on a beloved sport and is priced appropriately.
Fitness Potential
Players have to be a bit more measured with their shots due to the golems and playing a game of H-O-R-S-E is never going to get as physically demanding as rapidly firing off basketballs. So, this isn’t the best basketball title from a fitness standpoint. Basketball Madness or one of the other readily available basketball sims would be better suited for a workout.
Developer/Publisher: Hooplord VR LLC
Release Date: April 9, 2020
Compatible With: Valve Index, HTC Vive, and Oculus Rift
Price: $4.89 to 6.99
Link: Hooplord
