I have to give credit to Velan Studios. Velan Studios likes to keep things interesting. Following Knockout City, a low-crime competitive dodgeball game, and two of its coolest augmented reality games, Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit and Hot Wheels: Rift Rally, the studio's next game will be another unexpected and fascinating turn. Bounce Arcade is a VR game that combines elements of pinball, brick breaker, and ping pong to create a completely unique arcade experience that's hard to put down but easy to pick up. We're still figuring out VR slang.
As a recently converted pinball player and one of virtual reality's bravest soldiers, Bounce Arcade hits the exact intersection of my very specific interests, but I think its appeal is pretty universal. The ball comes, you hit it, and watch it bounce everywhere. There are fun noises, lots of lights, and you can score millions of points on the scoreboard even if you have no idea what you're doing. This is the beating heart of pinball and why the game has lasted for nearly 100 years. Bounce Arcade captures the energy and excitement of pounding a ball and watching it crash into objects.
Bounce Arcade is inspired by pinball, not virtual pinball in the same way as Pinball FX. The play field of each map is a large three-dimensional space where the ball can fly freely, and each hand controls the paddle to bounce the ball and keep working towards various goals. There are four levels in the full game, but in the preview we were able to play the first two levels: Gunpowder Gulch and Asteroid Outpost.
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Both maps are very fun and offer different types of experiences. Gunpowder Gulch is a Wild West themed level where your goal is to rob banks and commit various Wild West crimes. The progression is very similar to regular pinball. Use the paddle to hit the ball at the marked target to complete the objective and change the field in a mechanical way to start a new challenge.
One of the things that makes Bounce Arcade different from regular pinball is how much leverage you have on the ball. Each time you hit the ball, you can move the paddle to affect the direction the ball moves. It's like being able to move a floating float by pulling on a fishing rod. This is the table-tilting version of Bounce Arcade, and learning how to use this technique will make completing your objectives much easier. You also have the ability to pull the ball into your paddle, which is useful when the ball is moving too fast and you can't control it. You can think of this as a trapping version of Bounce Arcade.
Gunpowder Gulch and Asteroid Outpost, a sci-fi map where you're tasked with repairing a space station, both have a lot of cool features that only work in VR. Gunpowder Gulch has a number of mini-games where you swap out oars for six-shot shooters and score points by shooting cardboard cutouts of the town sheriff. One version is an old-fashioned duel where you have to shoot your target as soon as they turn around, being careful not to accidentally shoot a civilian, while the other version turns the entire map into a classic shooting gallery. The variety of gameplay keeps things fresh and interesting, and it's cool to see how the playfield changes as you complete objectives.
Asteroid Outpost has a more linear progression path. You start by hitting the ball against a charged object to electrify it, then use the ball to power a generator. As you complete each objective, some aspects of the space station will change, eventually causing the background to disappear and the vast expanses of outer space to become part of the playfield. At that point, you'll use the ball to destroy asteroids and collect the rare ball-shaped material that falls from them. The core gameplay mechanic will always be some version of hitting a ball with a paddle, but it's cool to see all the different ways that action can be complicated and reconfigured in one level.
Velan Studios is definitely developing Bounce Arcade. Unfortunately, like many VR games, there isn't much to see. The maps are very simple and visually uninteresting, and the lighting is bland. You can usually get past the visuals of VR if the gameplay is compelling enough, but when you're staring at the same dull backdrop for an entire play session, it's hard to ignore the fact that it all looks kind of bad. Pinball is a game that overloads the senses with light, color and sound. I don't think bounce arcade can effectively capture the feeling of activating a multi-ball and watching the table transform into a laser light show.
Bounce Arcade will be launching on Quest headsets on November 21st with four different tables, so I'm looking forward to seeing if the two tables I haven't seen are more visually interesting. It's a clever take on pinball, and I'm having a lot of fun with it so far, but I'm not sure if this is an experience I want to return to over and over again. Your favorite pinball table. On the other hand, if Velan manages to secure the license for an 80s hair metal band, I'm all in.
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