Recently a new Sports Bar opened up in my neighborhood, I visited it a couple of times and besides the expensive food, there’s a lot of fun to be found in places like those. You can enjoy yourself with friends or co-workers and just take away some of the stress. Sports bars are great since they combine quality time with fun competitive sports. But what if you don’t want to go out? Well, maybe Sports Bar VR might bring the solution.
The virtual bar
Sports Bar VR does exactly what you think it would do, it teleports you from your boring living room to a poorly neon-lit virtual bar. The developers nailed the atmosphere. The moment you activate your PSVR, you’ll be able to look around in the virtual bar and you’ll see some cool details everywhere you look. From the neon signs to the bar itself, everything looks like the real deal so you’ll have no trouble believing you’re in an actual bar. Until the moment you try to walk around.
The actual moving is a real chore to get done but teleporting helps. By selecting the place you want to go, your character will automatically jump toward that spot instead of trying to walk to the spot in your living room. If you lose track of your character or if you struggle with the angle of the camera, you can always recalibrate your position but this leads to some motion sickness in my case. It’s not the best virtual bar out there but once you understand how to move around, there’s certainly some fun to be found here.
The actual sports
Of course, creating a virtual sports bar wouldn’t serve any purpose if there aren’t any actual sports to play. This virtual sports bar offers the joy of virtual pool, darts, air hockey and Skeeball. Each sport has its own strengths and flaws but one thing’s for sure. No matter what you’ll be playing, you’ll need to practice first. Let’s take a look at the different sports shall we:
Pool: Pool looks good but has one big disadvantage, there is no real pool table in your living room, so that’s messed up when you’re trying to lean on the virtual table. That being said, the sport is also rather hard to control since you’ll need to use both your Move controllers in order to make it work, which still isn’t easy. Performing trick shots is crucial to win the round but again takes time to learn and master. Playing online against others is a great experience but we recommend to practice on your own first.
Air hockey: Without a doubt, the best game in the bunch. The goal is clear, smash the puck in the goal of your opponent to win. Just like it is in the real world, Air Hockey is fast, loud and extremely addictive. The Move controllers work perfectly here and we’re always up for another match if we see others playing it. If you have to point out one mini-game as best, it’s most certainly this one.
Darts: The worst of the bunch. Playing virtual darts is a mess and it even feels like it’s just broken. Switching on the auto aiming certainly helps but takes away the fun of the actual darts so that’s not really a solution here. The problem here is that the controls aren’t as accurate as they should be, resulting in a very inaccurate experience. Perhaps a sport worth ignoring in this bundle.
Skeeball: This one feels very realistic. You’ll have rounds where everything seems to work out exactly as you had it in mind and then you’ll have rounds where nothing seems to work, like in the real world! Skeeball is fun but misses the thrills of other sports like Air Hockey.
Throw chairs and bottles
That being said, big part of the game is its online community. If you switch on the option, you can spend your time in the virtual sports bar with others online. You’ll see strange helmets and Move controllers floating in the bar, representing the Avatar of the other players. In here you can challenge others in several sports or you can grab chairs and bottles to throw at each other. Sadly, this seems to be the most favorite thing to do among the players so actually finding a sports partner isn’t that easy at all. If everybody follows the rules and plays as they should, the online environment is very enjoyable. Too bad everybody acts like they’re drunk beyond repair.
Conclusion:
Considering the small price you have to pay for this game, Sports Bar VR does offer some fun. Not all the sports are that great to play but Air Hockey definitely deserves your attention. The developers tried to bring a Sports Bar into your living room and they succeeded in their purpose. You can go for some exciting rounds or you can smash each other with chairs and broken bottles, just like the real deal!
