Virtual Reality can allow us to do many things that some of us would not have a chance to do or possibly not even thinking about doing. It can range from a variety of things from flying a plane to conquering our fears. VR is a very powerful platform when you think about it. Sometimes it’s nice to escape just to try something new even in our own reality, we may not even make the attempt. So does Developer Infinity Studio show us what it’s like to escape to an arena of moving targets in hopes of getting the best score and still have fun as a family? Let’s find out with Shooting Arnea VR for PCVR.
Before we begin, I want to point out that there is a good chunk of the gameplay videos that is black on the right-hand side. No matter what I did, no matter how many attempts I tried, this is how it shows up when starting my version of the Steam version of the game. In the actual gameplay in the Oculus Rift S headset, this was not a problem, just the gameplay recording. The Developer is aware, so hopefully this will be addressed and corrected if you hope to share some of your own gameplay. With that said, let’s continue
Shooting Arena VR is a VR arcade shooting range where you have to mix speed with accuracy to try to shoot moving targets as you will have to move and shoot to become the best shooter as you can, but also try and top everyone else on the leaderboards as well. So like anything else, before you really hit the arena, training is your best bet so you can learn the basics. This is will you be introduced to the positivity of John your shooting assistant. The controls are very simple as you grab your weapon with the grip Grip buttons and shoot with the Trigger buttons and reload simply by bringing the weapon to your waist. No changing out cartridges, just simply lower to reload. So thank you for that Infinity Studio. If you want to shoot more accurately, align the green bars of the back of the weapon with the one in the front. I will say that once you have the aiming down, it is really accurate and that is always a good thing.
So as you can see, handling and shooting your weapon is pretty straightforward. But what you to watch out for is you have three lives. If you miss a target, you lose a life. But if you want to recover a life you lost, you have to hit 5 targets in a row without a miss. But remember, this is about timing, and as that timer countdowns, there will be times you wish that you had more time and this is where you will need to make three headshots to receive a time bonus, so just keep that in mind when you are in the arena. Once training is over, it’s time to go into the campaign. Before you enter a map, to your top-right, you can adjust the difficulty if need be. Also, you will have the objectives on the right that you will want to try and obtain such as getting the most starts and even completing the level. Remember, this is about getting the best score in the fastest time so you can be on top of those leaderboards.
As you start to get into more levels, you get to have a weapon in each hand and to add to the fun, the weapons are different colors as those specific colors are meant to hit those colored targets. So not only are you having to concentrate on your aiming, timing, and the leaderboards, now you get to worry to make sure that you shoot the right colored weapon at the right colored target. At first, it can be more challenging, but it’s when you really get used to how things are handled does it start to feel more natural. Plus if you find that your amining is just a bit off, you can adjust the height within the options, just don’t set it too high unless you want some extra difficulty in your game.
Looking at the graphics and sound, things are very clear. I like the fact that the developer did not try to do too realistic for the arenas and went for the cartoony arcade art style. Hitting the targets and hearing the gunfire hit the metal sounds realistic and you can even vote on how well you liked the level. The sound can be loud, so you may want to adjust the settings, especially, if you will be having younger family members play to see how well they can do not only against you but the rest of the world.
There were a few issues I ran into and this was far and few between. I did have at some parts when I was playing, a level would crash. But I was able to start it back up without any problems and my progress was still there. And, of course, the gameplay footage of that empty black space. If there is anything I would love to see added, it would be more maps of the campaign in the future. Yes, there is an Arcade option with short and dynamic levels and the difficulty levels of easy, medium hard and extreme are there, but I really do hope new and wild levels are added in the future.
Shooting Arena VR is out now on Steam and for the Oculus Rift/Rift S on the Oculus Store as Early Access. A review code was provided.
To learn more about the game, please visit the site and also where you can check your rankings.
In case you missed the trailer, please enjoy. Until next time, I have some leaderboards to climb.
