Hockey VR

If you haven’t heard, Ice Hockey isn’t the easiest sport to get into. The price of the gear is staggering, the level of coordination you need to whack a puck while skating on the slippery ice is tremendously high. Plus, you’ll probably know from the litany of fights within the NHL posted online, that you need to be as hard as nails to play this sport. However, what if there was a way to become a master of the puck while enjoying the thrill of the ice from the comfort of your own home. We are of course talking about the virtual reality experience, Hockey VR.

This game is rather similar to the extremely popular Hockey game series NHL, as well as other sport series like PES, FIFA, NBA 2K and UFC. However, the game also has a lot of similarities with VR games like Echo Arena, Sports Vector and Everybody’s Golf VR. This is a chance to really immerse yourself in the world of Hockey but how does this game compare to other VR options? We find out in our review of Hockey VR.

Become A Legend of The Ice

Let’s begin with the visuals on offer within this game. Now, is this the photo-realistic experience that the NHL series offers? Absolutely not? However, is it a suitable sacrifice for the VR functionality that this game offers. Well, we certainly think so. The visuals are a little rough around the edges, the textures are quite blocky and the animations are far from smooth. However, considering this is a VR title and with that in mind, the graphics, if a little underwhelming, are acceptable.

Then as for the gameplay, the game is limited in what it can offer. While a lot of sports games will allow you to recreate full games, practice drills, create tactics and much more. Hockey VR offers stages that place you in specific scenarios and you will have to play the shot and hopefully, guide the puck past the keeper and into the back of the net. The gameplay for this reason is rather repetitive and unimaginative as a result.

This means that the game relies on its VR functionality to provide the fun factor for this game and thankfully, it does for the most part. The VR functionality is authentic, feels true to life and allows you to fully immerse yourself in the action, so you can pretend that you are the next Wayne Gretzky.

The Verdict

Overall, this game is a decent VR game but not one that will blow any sports fans’ minds. The gameplay is limited due to the format, it’s also very repetitive meaning you’ll only get so much enjoyment out of this one. Plus, the game’s visuals are quite rough around the edges.

Pros

• Great VR functionality
• Decent amount of content
• Inexpensive

Cons

• Janky visuals
• Repetitive and uninspired gameplay