Developer: Beat Games
Publisher: Beat Games
Release Date: November 20, 2018
ESRB: Everyone / PEGI 3
MSRP: $29,99
Available Platforms: PlayStation VR, HTC Vive, Oculus Rift, Windows Mixed Reality
Genre: Music
In Beat Saber you are equipped with two lightsabers, one in each hand. Blocks that are colored red and blue will fly towards you. The concept is as simple as it gets: slice them with your lightsabers. While some blocks can be sliced in any direction, most of them have arrows to indicate in which direction they must be sliced. There are also obstacles to avoid by either ducking or taking a sidestep. In essence, you are constantly slicing blocks with your lightsabers and dodging obstacles. In the background there’s music playing. The beat matches the timing of when the blocks must be sliced. It creates a fluid rhythm and you’re constantly moving — a music game with a sporty element to it.
Beat Saber is hands-down the most fun I’ve had with a game in years and it’s easily one of the best VR games to date. You feel like a total Ninja God and get a workout while having fun. Heck, it’s therapeutical even. I showed this game to family and friends and everyone loved it and got into it very easily, even those who never used VR before. You don’t need to know any controls – YOU are the controls. All you have to do is swing your arms and dodge the obstacles.
This concept is so simple yet so much fun. It surprises me nobody had thought of it before (oh and lightsabers, how cool is that?). The PSVR port is also well optimized. I played 2 hour sessions in one go and never had any motion sickness or inaccurate controls. You just have to be careful that the VR camera can see your floor as well as your head. This is because you must duck under obstacles a lot and if the camera can’t see your floor it won’t recognize the move controllers when they go out of frame. I’d recommend 3 meters distance from the camera. This game also makes you feel muscles in your body that you never felt before. It doesn’t just train your arms but your entire body because you suddenly have to crouch under obstacles so leg work is needed too. Combining fitness with gameplay and music is a smart use of VR.
For $29,99 you can’t go wrong here. It’s a must-have if you own a PSVR and will steal the show at any party or family gathering.
| Gameplay *Overall Enjoyment Factor, Fascination with Game World, Level Design, Variety, Playability, User-Friendliness (Ease of Use / Readability / Controls / in-game Tutorials / Menus) |
| 10/10 Makes you feel like a Ninja God and you get a good workout too! The most fun I’ve had with a game in many years and it remains fun after a hundred replays. |
| Singleplayer/Multiplayer *Quality of the Singleplayer Story, Cutscenes and/or Multiplayer Modes (whichever is available). If a game has no Story or no Multiplayer it won’t be rated (thus no negative effect on score). |
| 8.5/10 Singleplayer: 9/10: A good mix of modifiers and there is a campaign with varying objectives for each song. My only complaint is that there could’ve been a few more songs at launch. Multiplayer 8/10: There is Local Versus mode where you play one match and then your friend plays another –> you then get placed on a local leaderboard and enter your name to compare scores (like an arcade). The player with the higher score “wins” but this is only local versus, NOT online multiplayer. There’s online leaderboards for each song though. I think that’s totally fine and acceptable as is. There’s nothing new or special here but it befits this type of game. |
| Technical Aspects *Graphics, Texture Quality, Character Details, Lighting, Weather Effects, Animations, Loading Times, Number of Loading Screens, does it run smoothly |
| 10/10 The best use of VR yet. Dead simple but well thought-out and it just works. Didn’t give me any motion sickness and the controls are accurate. |
| Value *Amount of Content, Production Quality, Replay Value, is there enough content to justify a purchase |
| 10/10 $29.99 is an absolutely fair price for what you get. I’d also have paid more for it given the longevity of replay value and fun factor. |
| Trophies/Achievements *Rates how much fun the Platinum / 1000 Gamerscore is to achieve: Are trophies fun to do? Do trophies restrict freedom of gameplay? Missable trophies? Multiple playthroughs required? Luck-based trophies? Pointless farming/grinding? Glitched Trophies? Are stats/trophies tracked correctly? |
| 7.5/10 The trophies are a bit too much to ask of the average person. At launch, you can make the expert difficulty trophies easier by slowing down the song in the options, but trying it legit is near impossible. Just play this one for fun and try to get as many trophies as you can without worrying about the platinum. |
| Extraordinary Score Increase or Deduction *Reserved for extraordinarily good or bad features that the other categories don’t cover (such as game-breaking bugs). This score is directly added/subtracted from the final score. |
| Nothing |
VERDICT:
Beat Saber is the best use of PSVR to date. It’s the most fun I’ve had with a game in years.
FINAL SCORE:
9.2/10
Played on PS4 Pro. Finished every song on every difficulty (including Expert, but didn’t get S-Rank on all of them), played most of the campaign, now my arms need a break.
For more on how reviews are scored, check out the Review Policy.