One of the “killer apps” for the Oculus Quest is Beat Saber: a rhythm game where you swing swords to music. The description pretty much speaks for itself, so I’ll let it stand on its own here. It’s every kid’s dream to have lightsabers, even better if they could use them in rhythm with some excellent music. With Beat Saber, you get to do that. It’s actually a pretty cool feeling; it feels like playing Guitar Hero (or Rockband) with lightsabers.
I’ve had it on my Quest for several days now and I haven’t put the controller down since the day I got it. Here’s what I think of Beat Saber after spending some time with it:
Pros:
-The game challenges your hand-eye coordination and makes you swing the blades pretty quickly. It’s like holding a sword duel between two Jedi (or Sith) without worrying about physically hurting anyone or cutting yourself! – It’s an amazing workout! I didn’t think that this would be tiring, but it gets your arms moving. It’s a good upper-body workout.
-The Quest’s Display Resolution is good enough that you can see the blocks swinging towards your blade easily. I’ve tried Beat Saber using both the Quest and Rift S, and while the Rift S may have higher resolution, it’s sometimes too clear that you can see exactly when you should be striking each block. It’s easier to focus on the music using the Quest. -It’s such a great idea for a game! The developers (Beat Games) really did an amazing job with this one, and it shows how long they spent developing this.
-The tracking is quite accurate as well; I can smack those blocks pretty good and nothing happens other than the blocks get “smashed” (or slashed).
-There are more than enough songs to keep me interested for a while. I’ve heard some people say that they’re getting tired of playing the same songs over and over again, but there are so many songs that you never have to play the same one twice. You can even create your own Beat Saber songs to play, too!
-The game is so good that it’s almost comically fun. I’m having a blast playing this thing.
-It’s also quite challenging. If you don’t do well on the high score pass at the end of each song, then you have to keep practicing until you can get an A or S rank.
-You can use the front camera to watch your body movements so you don’t have to look at the screen if you want some privacy.
-The game is exclusive for Quest on Oculus Home, which means it’s Pixel Shader 3 compatible! Yay!
Cons:
-The only bad thing is that Beat Saber was $30 when it first came out, but now you’ll probably get it for $20.
-The developers really did their job here so I can’t complain much other than nit-picky things like “it’s too loud” or “I wish there were more songs”. -It puts a lot of stress on your arms, shoulders and upper back after playing for a while. It feels similar to how you might feel after sword fighting.
-Not enough songs to keep you occupied for too long if you happen to be the sort who gets tired of the same thing easily.
Verdict
Yes! You need it in your library! It’s so good that I’d be surprised if someone didn’t like it, even if they were afraid of rhythm games. I think it’s a great game for everyone to enjoy.
Score: 5/5 – Beat Saber is a fantastic game and deserves its spot as the #1 most requested Oculus Quest launch title next to Stormland, but this is one of those times where I prefer not being so hyped about a specific game because it might just turn out to be overhyped. But really, Beat Saber is so fun that it’s hard not to have a blast playing. It may be just one game, but the developers did an amazing job with this one and they deserve their money for making such an enjoyable, challenging and addicting game. I highly recommend buying this game if you’re lucky enough to have your hands on a Quest.