Boom Dojo
Experienced on the Oculus Quest 2
You can view my review & gameplay here: https://youtu.be/wTl0PeFFdVA
Boom Dojo is an improvement of Groove Balls, the previous VR music rhythm game from this same developer. Unfortunately, as it stands now, this game is still inferior to the average VR music rhythm game. There are much better VR music rhythm games out there.
There’s a disappointing lack of content. The game only has 1 map and 4 in-game songs. The core gameplay is not as polished as in other VR music rhythm games. While you are punching the matching colored object to your red or blue tattooed hand (or optionally also dodging bars) with music playing, the procedurally generated beatmap doesn’t really go with the beat of said music. At least you can play your own songs by moving your mp3s to your music folder.
– Real player with 0.5 hrs in game
Read More: Best Boxing Rhythm Games.
It doesn’t look like much and it won’t teach you technique, but I actually found this to be one of the best VR boxing punch pad trainers out there. The patterns have just enough variation to keep me on my toes and I like how the difficulty dynamically scales up as you do well. Many of the other boxing trainers I’ve played force you to break important habits or are too focused on being a rhythm game. I wish this was less bare bones, maybe have an option that adds a little circling footwork and blocking, but it’s a good start.
– Real player with 0.2 hrs in game
BOXVR
The good thing about this game is that it’s the best workout vr game.
The bad thing about this game is that it’s unfortunately the only proper workout game.
Take any boxing vr game, combine it with beat saber and take away the “game” part and you get yourself a boxvr. What I didn’t like about beat saber was that for a workout purpose it focused too much on a wrist movement and with intense “hard” songs it could interrupt your workout by showing you game over. None of that here. You are forced to move your entire body to hit cues. And while patterns are simpler, you can focus on doing proper movements that actually train your body instead of fumbling when things are going too intense, As for comparison with other boxing games, what I didn’t like in a lot of them is that they are basically waiting games. You wait for an opening, you also need to learn how to read animations and then you make a few quick punches which don’t feel satisfying as you can feel no feedback so it’s like punching a balloon figure. Here you punch abstract orbs, so your brain doesn’t expect any feedback from punching those, and you get feedback! Orbs explode with confetti and a satisfying thud. You also don’t need to wait for opportunity to punch as orbs come at you constantly and there is almost no learning curve in reading your oponent. Everything is simplified to just make you move. And if you fail a few punches nothing stops, just keep on punching. Your calorie counter will go up anyway. Oh, did I forget? There is a calorie counter. It’s like a no brainer to have it in a workout game but almost no other game has it!
– Real player with 320.3 hrs in game
Read More: Best Boxing Indie Games.
I might only have an hour and a half in this game, but I’ve given it a full runthrough and feel like it’s time to share my thoughts.
The good:
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Automatic mapping. It’s just… amazing. It feels completely designed, and even responds fantastically to songs that have different tempos throughout. Set up a playlist that goes from slow to intense, and it’ll do something that matches it. There are sensible patterns that the mapping follows, and it’s all flawlessly on-beat.
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Suitability for purpose. This is the VR workout game. Put wrist weights on (consult your GP) and have a ball going for a guided shadowboxing workout. It feels great, the moves are great, and it has everything you’d expect from a workout title. Playlists, calorie tracking, difficulty adjustment, great feedback, different environments.
– Real player with 36.3 hrs in game
Pistol Whip
Perhaps my favorite rhythm VR game with the addition of the latest campaign
– Real player with 39.5 hrs in game
Read More: Best Boxing Indie Games.
Great high paced party game.
– Real player with 34.6 hrs in game
Dance Collider
Game provided via the Steam Curator program.
Dance Collider is a VR rhythm game.
There are a couple of games of this genre already so how does Dance Collider stand among them? I believe it’s one of the best. I’m having a lot of fun while playing it, unlike other rhythm games moves here actually make sense which makes it even more enjoyable. While in Beat Saber you are forced to make random erratic movements trying to hit the boxes(let’s face it people who make custom songs there have no idea what they are doing), here in Dance Collider your movements are much like dancing. You are punching nodes by the rhythm of a song/tune. The visuals are wonderful, not too much on the eye and not too little. Despite me not being fan of dubstep and modern electronic music I do think the sound effects and the music included are excellent to get your groove on. What makes this even better is that you choose characters which act as your opponent. Each of them has unique style and has different tunes. Movement is fluid with no tracking issues.
– Real player with 29.7 hrs in game
TL;DR: For an already small selection of titles Dance Collider is a must have title for any rhythm game enthusiasts that want to get into a cyberpunk themed dance battle.
The review:
If you want to find out what “you’re yoghurt” is continue reading.
The Street Fighter of dance battles set in a variety of distinctive arenas that give off a strong cyberpunk vibe. Each character has a unique musical style and special move to keep you moving. The idea of a dancing off vs a character that taunts you occassionally gives you a better sense of purpose rather than just dancing alone in a game racking up points.
– Real player with 25.6 hrs in game
PowerBeatsVR - VR Fitness
Updated Review:
I’ve had this game since April and I still play it 5 times a week.
Pros:
*It is one hell of a full body workout. You will be lunging, crouching, punching, reaching, dodging, and just all around moving
*It is fun, not quite as fun as beat saber, but it is significantly more fun than BoxVR
*The developers are out-freaking-standing. They are the most responsive devs I have ever seen. They try to find a way to accomodate every request they get if they can. Even if they can’t, they are super friendly about it.
– Real player with 64.1 hrs in game
I’m very much enjoying including PowerBeatsVR into my daily exercise routines. If I was able to incorporate my own favorite music it would quickly become my favorite VR software. For now Audio Beats holds that place, but this doesn’t detract from the lure of being able to smash large boulders with only my fist in PowerBeatsVR. With the future improvements mentioned, I think this will be something important to keep my interest in keeping fit.
I would not want to see the scoring system changed in any significant way. I’m used to this, I know I have to be perfect in order to get the higher scores. I wouldn’t like it if the game was “dumbed down” in order to make reaching the higher levels easier to accomplish. Reaching the number 1 spot is the goal, and it wouldn’t mean very much if I found out I reached this level because the game had been altered to make it easier to do so. I don’t think it should necessarily be made artificially any more difficult either, but certainly don’t make it easier.
– Real player with 15.9 hrs in game