Actually, I'm not a big fan of Early Access, because many games never get done. Of course it is wrong to lump this together, as there are certainly some good projects that could use the money. However, I have never been as enthusiastic about early access titles as this masterpiece by "Hyperbolic Magnetism".
What it's all about?
"Beat Saber" is a rhythm game in which the player in VR has to use his two lightsabers to break through dice flying towards him, partly with directions. This requires a lot of practice, especially at higher levels of difficulty, since as the difficulty increases, more and more dice and walls hit the player in a shorter time and in alternating directions. Similar games already existed for VR, such as the game "Audioshield". That's how quickly the basic premise of this game is explained. It's a classic game of the brand, easy to learn but hard to master. This video can illustrate better than all the words what "Beat Saber" is all about.
Scope of the game
Even though this game is only Early Access, it offers a lot of scope.
In the single player you can play one of the 10 available songs in different modes and difficulty levels and climb up the world rankings by points. In Party Mode you play against your friends in your own local rankings. It should be said that this only works offline and your friends have to be there. However, I think that this mode should also be a lot of fun, especially when you watch your friends move. Unfortunately only the standard mode, with two swords is available here. More about the other modes that are available in the single player so far.
There are 3 different modes:
- Standard
- No Arrows
- One Saber
Standard
In this mode you can play through one of the 10 songs from easy to expert. You have two lightsabers and have to divide the dice in the correct direction. And I can tell you that expert will be sweating on your forehead.
No Arrows
In this mode, the directions on the dice are missing, but there are usually significantly more. Also in this mode there are the difficulty levels - easy to expert.
One Saber
You really have to get everything out of your wrist here. Although you only play with one sword, you often have the same number of dice to split. That doesn't sound difficult at first glance, but really challenges everything you can do with the lightsaber. Only the level of difficulty Expert is available here.
The music
The most important thing in a music based game by far is the soundtrack as such. "Beat Saber" has a lot to offer here. The songs were all composed especially for this game by none other than Jaroslav Beck, who also made the music for the "Overwatch" short films for "Blizzard Entertainment" and for the intro of "Starcraft- Legacy of the Void". The whole soundtrack consists of electric sounding pieces, but apparently Jaroslav tried very hard to cover different music styles. In addition to classical electro songs, RnB, rock sounds brand "Rammstein" or medieval-sounding pieces such as "Schandmaul" can also be found here.
That Jaroslav composed all the songs just for this game can be seen in the gameplay. Every target you try to split in two perfectly matches the acoustic beat that just roars through the headset when you hit it perfectly. When you have already played a song several times and no longer have to pay close attention to where you have to hit, you often find yourself getting more and more absorbed in the music and developing your own choreography.
The graphic
The game is not very graphically demanding. Nevertheless, it is absolutely consistent in everything it tries to portray someone. You are always in a corridor surrounded by laser lights. Depending on the level, the distance to the main course is longer or shorter, which increases the difficulty. To sum it up, the graphics are useful and well underscore the mood of the game. The relatively simple graphics should also allow older systems to enjoy the game to the full. Whether it will also run on the "Oculus Go" is still in the stars, at least from the controller this should be difficult.
Long-term motivation
At first glance, one could think that "Beat Saber" is quickly out of breath. But the demanding levels of difficulty and game modes offer a long motivation even with "only" 10 songs so far. Just mastering this in standard mode at all levels of difficulty without mistakes can take up an enormous amount of time. Also the other game modes and the party modes bring a lot of fun. The fight for the first place in the world ranking should also inspire one or the other player.
VR Games as a workout? Is that possible?
No other game has made me sweat so intensely with so much joy. The question whether such a game can not serve as solid cardio training is then no longer far away. The fact is that there are already institutes like theVR Health Institute on the Internet to test VR games for their calorie consumption per minute. Unfortunately, this website, which examines its experiments from a very scientific point of view, has not yet checked this game, but this should only be a matter of time. According toVRFitnessinsider "Beat Saber" reaches the following values in a committed game over thirty minutes.
- Kilocalories burned: 378
- Average heart rate: 128
- Maximum heart rate: 179
Coupled with my own experiences I can say that these values are apparently not too high, even if they were "only" captured by a Smartwatch. After a few titles you start to sweat intensively and after a few more you notice clearly how your own muscles tire. On the first day I played this game for about 4 hours and the next day I got a pronounced full-body muscle soreness (admittedly: I am a couch-potato), but also well-trained friends of mine quickly started to sweat a lot. Main muscle groups that are trained: The shoulder girdle, back muscles, buttocks and inner thigh muscles. Irrespective of whether such a training is really efficient, I have finally felt this beautiful feeling again, when you have put all your strength in the exercise.
Conclusion and outlook
Despite its early access, "Beat Saber" already feels really round and I can only recommend everyone to buy this title. It is available at the Steam or Oculus Store for just €19.99 and can be enjoyed with Oculus or HTC Vive.
Everyone who liked games as "Audiosurf", "Audioshield" or "Guitar Hero" can access "Beat Saber" without hesitation and will have a lot of fun. Also used as daily timeless fun training, this game makes sense to burn some superfluous calories.
With all this praise, one should also leave some room for criticism. So far there are only 10 songs and no possibility to add your own songs. These functions are already planned, when they may appear is still in the stars. Personally, I also miss an endless mode in which I play an increasingly difficult loop of a song until I can no longer keep up. Also the party mode could contain more functions than the local point comparison among the other players.
Nevertheless, I had an unbelievable amount of fun with this title this week and will probably continue to have it. I'm really looking forward to the following updates and songs and hope they will expand this great game well. In any case, I can make a clear recommendation to buy.
Are you in the mood now and have you tried "Beat Saber"? You had it before and want to agree or disagree with me? Why don't you write me in the comments what she thinks of this game?
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