VRapids (Oculus Go & Gear VR)

System: Samsung Gear VR, Oculus Go
Price at Time Of Review: £2.29 ($3)
Comfort Rating: Red (Extreme Movement)
Genre: Action
Input: Gamepad
Best Playing Position: Sitting, Standing
Multi-Player: No
Age Rating: PG

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Description: Play as The Etchemin (canoe man) delivering vital goods by boat to different native American settlements spread along the dangerous Móia river. The land trade routes of wild 1800s North America are blocked or too dangerous to travel. The barriers and the guns of your enemies are many but your skill with the bow and arrow (native word here would be great!) are strong and your people need these supplies.

Review: I am constantly being surprised by the type of games that work well in VR. VRapids has the potential to be one of the greats. But sadly it is far from that at the moment. The idea is pretty simple, you need to canoe down a series of waterfalls and rapids to get some sort of magical shield to safety because cowboys are trying to kill you and take it for themselves. Well, that is what I think is going on anyway, the lack of story narration is one of this games many problems.

You get a bow and a boat and need to avoid being shot, avoid traps, navigate rapids, collect pots of honey (that is what I think they are) and try your best not to hurl the contents of your stomach up whenever you go over a waterfall. With all that going on you might have thought there was a complex control system that uses a combination of head movements and the Gear VR motion controller. Sadly ALL actions are done via head movements which means you never really feel in control and survive a level often due to luck rather than actual gameplay skill. If the controls were sorted out this going be a fantastic game, indeed it looks great as it is and something I could find myself easily getting into. Yes, it’s worth downloading even now, but its a ‘meh’ game when it could easily be a ‘wow’ game.