Fruit Ninja from Halfbrick Studios has been a hit on all platforms it has ever touched. iPhone 3G? Absolutely. Galaxy S10? No doubt. VR? Well, there is some speculation there. Fruit Ninja is one of the better games on your mobile device, but it didn’t translate well into virtual reality. This game was made popular early on, but the developers haven’t done a fantastic job of making this game stay relevant like Angry Birds has.
From the power-ups in this game to the best angles to slice the fruit, our in-depth game review is going to cover everything you need to know about before you go out and try or buy Fruit Ninja VR. This game had plenty of potential, but it didn’t translate well into a great virtual reality experience. Let’s dive right into the review and see where the devs and designers went wrong.
Getting Up and Running
Fruit Ninja is going to be one of smaller titles inside of VR, as it is only coming with a file size of 1 GB. If you have a faster internet connection, this is only going to take a minute or two to install. If you are connected to slower internet, this download and installation could be leaving you waiting for nearly ten minutes.
This game can be found across all platforms for virtual reality gaming and is only going to set you back $14.99. This price is usually not changing, but it is going to be a part of the Viveport Infinity subscription for some time. So if you are planning on buying this game from the Steam store, the Oculus Store, or the PSVR store, we highly suggest checking out the Infinity subscription options that Vive offers to PC virtual reality gamers.
Type of Game
This is an action slicing game. You are going to be challenged with slicing all sorts of different fruits while you try to stay away from the bombs. This game can be a casual one if you put the settings in the right way and choose the right game mode, but this game shines brightest when it is being played at a fast-paced action.
There are four new game modes you can play in this game mode, all featuring a new way to interact with the coolest fruits. The first is classic, the most popular of the bunch. This one will fling fruits out of the ground with only 3 available lives. Be careful, as missed fruit and bombs will each take a life. Arcade is a timed mode where you try to slice as much as possible before time runs out. Zen is a perfect area to practice your skills and perfect your ninja slicing. Lastly, survival mode is the newest and most interactive. You will be dodging the fruit as they are launched out of hovering robots.
Player Perspective
You will be playing this game from the first-person perspective. You will see your ninja hands wrapped in tape to prevent virtual blisters, and you will be seeing your swords. You won’t see your arms, legs, body, or helmet in this game, as that would only make it harder to see the fruit. We are not sure if that was on purpose or not, but it was an important touch to making the game a little more playable than it already was.
Theme and Story – Score: 3/10
The theme and story aren’t very clear here. There has never been a back story presented to the fans of this game, not even in a loading screen on the most basic mobile versions. The theme feels like an older China scene, but it very well could be mistaken for an older exhibit inside of New York City. There is nothing outstanding or even noteworthy about the theme, and the story is about as bland and non-existent as you can get.
Controls – Score: 7/10
The controls in this game are very simple. Grab onto your swords and start swinging. They are simple and make the game very easy to play. The swords often felt a little too long, but it didn’t change the way we felt about the game. The swords are angled perfectly to fit the controller you are using and they track and stick with the controller just as good as any. A solid score here for some solid controls inside of Fruit Ninja.
Music and Sound – Score: 6/10
The developers cared about the music and sound in this game, but not enough to receive an incredibly high score. The sounds were important from the mobile game, but that’s not a problem here. The problem that there was no spatial audio to give you an idea of where the fruit was coming from out of the ground. It was confusing enough with how it was set up, and this lack of audio didn’t help.
Player Movement – Score: 6/10
There wasn’t much payer movement in this game, and that was a problem. When the fruit was coming out of the ground, not all of it was inside of your view. This made you very frustrated, but encouraged your movement. When you would move, it was clunky. It didn’t feel like you were supposed to be moving but it forced you to. It could’ve easily been improved upon with an update from the developers, but they chose to go a different route here.
Kinetosis – Score: 8/10
The motion sickness inside of this game wasn’t bad at all. It was a bit rough during the survival mode, but it wasn’t anything that is going to keep you out of this game. There is enough movement for the game to get a high score here, but looking up in VR can often be a problem, and the survival mode made you do that often. Not a bad score at all here, but could still be improved upon.
Environment and Immersion – Score: 5/10
The environment could not have been more average inside of this game. It didn’t impress you in the slightest but it got the job done. Adding some detail in the only play area would’ve been a great addition to this game. The immersion in this game wasn’t the best ever, but it got the job done as well. A middle of the road score here for middle of the road work, comparative to other games in this industry.
Overall – Score: 5.8/10
This game is a part of the Viveport Infinity subscription so if you have that, you won’t need to spend any money it. We don’t suggest spending the $15 on this game right now. Unless there is an overhauling update on the way that no one has heard reports of, we are going to likely stay away from this. We won’t be coming back to it, but we can understand why fruity fans are so enamored with this game.
