Ultrawings was one of the first virtual reality games to get popular with flying-themed gameplay. Not only does Ultrawings put the virtual reality users in the pilot seat of the plane, but it presents an open world for you to go explore and complete missions at. This game will give you a wide variety of planes to fly a lot of different ways to complete missions. If you are interested in being a virtual (or real) pilot, this game is for you.
In our in-depth game reviews, we look to cover everything you might want to know before you go out onto the virtual market and buy or try a virtual title. From the flying mechanics to the steps that are presented to finish a mission, this game review will have everything you need to know about Ultrawings. We think this a fun game that might have been before its time, so we are excited to review it for you today.
Getting Up and Running
Getting up and running with Ultrawings is as easy as any other virtual reality game. This game can be found on the Steam Store, the Oculus Store, the Viveport Store, and even on the PSN Store. This game is going to work on all virtual reliant headsets except for the Oculus Quest. The price of this game is constant through the stores, as it comes in at $14.99 for the file download. This game rarely goes on sale, but it is important to note that Ultrawings is on the Viveport Infinity subscription and will be there for a while.
The file size of this game is a little smaller than your average. You will only need 3 GB of free storage on this computer and it is going to download pretty quick if you have a solid internet connection. If you are connected to the internet that is a bit slower, this download could take up to 20 minutes to complete. Getting setup before you put the headset on is as easy as any other VR game, and won’t take any external setup to jump right in.
Type of Game
This is a puzzle game as much as a first-person flying game inside of virtual reality. You won’t be hands-on with any puzzles, but the game itself is very puzzling. If you are looking for a game that will literally put you in the pilot’s seat of completing missions, this is going to be a hit for you. In an open-world environment, you are going to have the world at your fingertips. It isn’t the first time you have flown in VR, but this game will make it feel that way.
If you are wanting to experience this action with a joystick, the developers were very mindful of that and put incompatibility with that into this game. The following are the current joysticks supported in this game terrific game.
- Saitek X52
- Saitek X56
- Thrustmaster HOTAS Warthog
- Thrustmaster HOTASX
- Thrustmaster HOTAS4
- Thrustmaster T16000M
This makes the game much immersive and playable for all people who are wanting to jump into this flight action.
Player Perspective
Ultrawings is a game that is going to throw you into the first-person perspective. Because your visibility is already low and you are inside of plane in VR, your hands will be clear in this game. It doesn’t take away from the immersion and it only helps with what your end goals are. This is a nice and accepted touch by the developer.
Theme and Story – Score: 7/10
The theme and story in this game did exactly what we expect it to do. This game wasn’t going to toss you into the third world war in the air, but it wasn’t going to let you feel like you were playing toy planes with your son. The theme was strong as a fun flight simulator, but the story was lacking in aspects that could easily be improved upon. This could improve here, but what we got well good enough.
Controls – Score: 7/10
We weren’t wanting to learn to fly a real airplane, as that is why we downloaded a cartoon VR game and not one that is being boasted as one of the most realistic flight simulators in the world. We wanted the controls to be simple in this game but still let us interact with the virtual world in front of us. The controls did exactly that. If you are interested in the simple flight mechanics that this game offers, you are going to blown away by this game. If you don’t want that, you’ll understand why we gave this game a 7 out of 10 in this department.
Music and Sound – Score: 7/10
The music in this game was engaging, but lacking at some points. It was still good, but could’ve been used a little more. As for the sound, we got everything we were expecting in an arcade VR flight game. The sounds aren’t going to blow you away at any point in this game, but you are going to notice them at some opportune times. The developers paid attention here, but not enough to let it take away from the rest of the game.
Player Movement – Score: 7/10
The player movement mirrored the controls. Simple, to the point, and wasn’t enough to make you think about it throughout the game. It was enough though to make you want to thank the developers for the simplicity they brought to the game with the controls. You will be using the joystick to steer and the controllers to act as if you need to pull up. It is simple and gets the job done, nothing more than that.
Kinetosis – Score: 6/10
When developers make a game that would have motion sickness even if it wasn’t a game, we have trouble trying to separate the real and the fake. Were we motion sick in this game because of the lack of effort by the developers? Or are we getting motion sick because we are trying to learn to fly a plane? Both would make sense, but we think flying inside of VR is already a bad idea. A 6 here, and none is falling on the shoulders of the devs.
Environment and Immersion – Score: 6/10
Both the environment in this game and the immersion it gave you could be improved upon greatly. It is still getting an above-average score, but not by a lot. The overall immersion failed to be there a few times, but that didn’t kill the environment. A little more detail on that end would have gone a long way.
Overall – Score: 6.8/10
Overall, we feel like the score here properly represents how we feel about this game inside of VR. It was a fun game to review, but we likely won’t be jumping in just for fun anytime soon. With games like Pistol Whip and Beat Saber still being played, it’s hard to justify more than a few moments inside of this game. For free though, this is a steal on the Viveport Infinity subscription.
