Fruit Ninja is one of those games that’s often aped, even in VR. But the real deal is soon to arrive on the HTC Vive.
IGN is reporting that Australia-based Halfbrick Studios, the developer behind the hit mobile series (and the excellent Jetpack Joyride) will be launching Fruit Ninja VR later this month, though a final date hasn’t been locked down. As you might expect, you’ll use the Vive’s position-tracked controllers to slice pineapples, oranges, apples and more with swords. Judging by the trailer on the site, it looks like a much more elaborate version of the 2010 original in which you’d cut fruit in half by swiping a tablet screen.
The game has been impressively rebuilt in a sense to immerse players in a full virtual environment. Fruit Ninja was a great showcase of how accessible mobile gaming could be, and it looks like the same will be true of the VR version.
Three modes will feature, including Classic, Arcade and Zen. Each offers a twist on the challenge, be it putting you against a clock in Arcade or removing any threats like bombs and allowing you to have fun in the Zen mode. Halfbrick Studios is also planning to include PvP multiplayer. As for other platforms, Fruit Ninja VR will eventually come to Oculus Rift – presumably once the Oculus Touch controllers arrive – and PlayStation VR, but it’s also been confirmed for the Google Daydream platform.
We’re not quite sure on the price for the game yet, either. But Vive fans now have something to look forward to actually playing given that they’ll likely only get a glimpse of upcoming titles at E3 next week. Fruit Ninja VR is one of the first adaptations of a hit mobile game to arrive on a VR platform, having already amassed 1 billion downloads elsewhere. We’ve seen a tease of other titles like Angry Birds also making their way over but they’re yet to materialise yet.
We’d certainly welcome Jetpack Joyride VR, though.
