Shooting Games in Virtual Reality
Shooting games have never been more immersive than in VR. With these games you can grab your weapons and holster them like you would in real life.
Thumper is a physics-based shooter that feels as good without a headset as it does with one. Beat Saber melds rhythm and shooting with a great soundtrack for a rave-dance lightsaber workout.
Sniper Elite VR
Sniper Elite VR is the first game from the series to be ported to virtual reality. The developers have done an excellent job of transferring the arcade-esque sniping of the games to VR. They also did an impressive job of modeling the actual hold and use of a sniper rifle, requiring precise positioning to line up your shot with the scope’s aperture. This can be a little disorienting at first but quickly becomes satisfying once you master it.
Gun handling is a little less polished but still competent. The game supports a wide array of movement options, including full locomotion and accessible single stick teleport. It also features a suite of comfort options, including vignetting vr shooting game and snap turn to help reduce nausea. The game also includes a number of settings that can be adjusted to customize gameplay, including modifying the frequency of the ‘kill cams’ that show enemy soldiers’ brains and guts blow out in grisly detail.
Sniper Elite VR does an outstanding job of putting you in the shoes of a World War II partisan and making you feel like you’re there. The game also has an amazing array of historically accurate WW2 weapons and a powerful campaign with a compelling story told through the memories of an Italian veteran. It even has a couple of fun and creative stealth-based missions that test your skills.
Phantom: Covert Ops
Phantom isn’t your typical action vr game. It puts you in the shoes of a covert James Bond-esque operative dispatched to infiltrate an abandoned naval base overrun by terrorists. It’s a nerve-wracking, spy thriller accented by explosive set pieces, all of which play out from the comfort of your camouflage military kayak.
This is a very unique conceit, which sets it apart from other vr stealth games that often have you teleporting your character five feet ahead or running around like an idiot to get caught. Instead, it uses your Touch controllers to control a virtual kayak that feels surprisingly realistic. It can be rowed in a range of ways, including leaning to turn and navigating narrow waterways. It’s a great way of allowing players to be methodical and sneaky – something that is important considering your mission is one detection away from an international incident.
The gameplay is also a lot of fun, especially if you’re able to master the kayak. While it does have a tendency to float straight to the next area of the map, you’ll soon learn how to use the surroundings as your cover. Can you slip under walkways that your enemies are patrolling? Can you cause a distraction to let you pass unnoticed? And, for a game that’s stuck in a kayak, it has some of the most imaginative level designs I’ve seen.
Gun Club VR
If you’re looking for a different kind of action in VR, Gun Club VR is the place to go. It’s a gun range simulator that brings realistic weapons to life, complete with all the bells and whistles of real-life firearms. Fire dozens of iconic pistols, shotguns, rifles and even a grenade launcher. Each weapon is meticulously modeled and highly interactive. Load and cock your weapon, flick off the safety and select from burst or full-auto shooting modes. Upgrade and customize each weapon with a range of attachments.
The game’s pacing is perfect for VR, with short gameplay bursts that are incredibly intense and engaging. Unlike most shooters, Gun Club VR doesn’t let players study targets for the perfect shot. It’s a true test of nerves and skill, with a few rounds ending in heart-stopping failure. Fortunately, the game’s design means that the player is frustrated with themselves rather than with the gun itself.
This is a fully immersive experience that requires an open room and a pair of motion-captured headsets. The game will track your movements and accurately mimic them in-game, so it’s recommended that you play standing up. You can also use your controllers to aim, which is a nice touch if you’re used to playing with a gamepad or joystick. There’s also an online leaderboard where you can compare your scores with other players around the world.
Space Pirate Trainer
If you are a fan of simple wave shooters or just want to see what VR can do with this genre, Space Pirate Trainer is definitely vr shooting game worth checking out. It may not have the depth of Robo Recall but it does its job well and gets you sucked into the gameplay pretty quickly.
It is a simple game with no story or cut scenes, just a platform in space where you are standing in place with two pistols and a series of flying robot drones to blast. There are a bunch of different weapon types to choose from, including buckshot, single shot, railgun and pulse lasers, which you can change on the fly. You can even swap one of the pistols for a shield, which is not only fun to use but really helps increase your score.
There are some minor issues like the lack of a power-up system and the repetitive nature of gameplay but overall Space Pirate Trainer is great fun to play, especially for those that get hooked on high score chasing games. Its simplicity makes it easy to pick up and play, but it does feel like a game that will run out of steam a little before too long. If you already have a Quest you can get the DX version, which adds multiplayer modes, to keep it fresh.
