Holoball game review - ownordisown

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HOLOBALL - GAME REVIEW ON HTC VIVE


Holoball is a virtual reality racquet ball game. It is mainly a single player gamne although a second player can control the AI opponent using the AWSD keys on a keyboard. They can also change spectator view too which is a nice touch.
The game is $9.99 on Steam which is good value.

The AI opponent is a large red square on the opposing side of a large "court" and as you progress through levels and difficulties it returns the ball faster and faster. It has a geat ability of hitting the ball at your feet hight which makes it hard to return, although I am sure avid racket sport players will be good at this.
The controller/racket control is accurate and even the angle of the racket is quite good - allowing you to direct the ball up or downwards.
Holoball HTC Vive game review
You start off on the easy level (although there is a practice "Zen" mode with no opponent) and the first person to win 5 points wins a game and when you win, I believe is 5 games, you move on to the next difficulty level. Certainly, as you progress the AI opponent seems to get faster and the ball comes back to you quicker. I found the only way to get points as the difficulty increased was to hit the ball on the edges of the opposite wall and this is called a "rim" shot and gives you 200 points. You also get 200 points for doing an "ace" and extra bonus points if you beat the AI 5-0 etc.

The play area seems a bit "cramped' to me. Not so much width wise but front to back. The ball spawns on a pedestal in front of you and if you are standing too far forward you can inadvertantly knock it off and get a -100 point reduction for a dead ball as it doesn't rech the front wall.

It would be nice if it included a coop option to increase replayability. The graphics are nothing special but get the job done and the audio is quite good with futuristic music and the robotic voice of the AI opponent.

The game does get your pulse running though. After 30 minutes my heart rate averaged 130 bpm, I did 2604 steps and burnt 322 calories. Not bad !
Conclusion

Holoball, although entertaining, can get a bit monotonous. It would be nice if you could do coop for instance. It is good that a second player can move the AI around though.
Its replay value comes from the active element of the game. If this game was a regular 2D game it would get boring quickly, but since it has room scale it is a classic example of making a simple gaming enjoyable and this is where VR shines.

Scoring:

Immersion: 8/10
Graphics: 6/10
Gameplay: 7/10
Replayability: 7/10
Value: 7/10

Total score: 7/10

                            
 
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