The music game genre has seen a bit of a revitalization with the advent of modern VR technology. The audiophiles out there that may have thought the VR revolution wouldn’t have anything of interest for them were sorely mistaken. With solid entries like Audioshield already establishing the genre, the upcoming Guitar Hero VR, and evolving standouts like Audio Arena now gaining even more traction, VR headsets are slowly becoming the most diverse game platform on the market.
For longtime fans of VR, Audio Arena isn’t new. It was one of the Bronze Winners at the 2015 Oculus Mobile Jam and released on both Gear VR and Oculus Rift via Oculus Home earlier this year. But today, it’s finally releasing on Steam for both the HTC Vive and Oculus Rift.
In Audio Arena you’ll be tasked with guiding a cursor around a large 360-degree dome as you avoid enemies and activate nodes to the beat of the music that’s playing. The end product feels like a cross between something like a space shoot ’em up in the vein of Galaga mixed with a rhythm game such as Audioshield. Spinning around in circles as you dexterously slide between enemies and erupt bombs and other powers around the dome is an intense experience – especially if you crank the volume up a bit.
This newest release brings with it the inclusion of tracked motion controller support on the HTC Vive, which I found to be a much better way of playing the game compared to past iterations. Previously you could either play via head tracking to guide your cursor, or a keyboard/gamepad. The head tracking was nice, but it was difficult to anticipate and inspect the area around me because my head also guided the cursor itself. Decoupling my head from the cursor itself by using a keyboard or gamepad was nice, but it still made me feel restricted. The motion controller feels like the most agile and accurate way to play, so I’d recommend it in that format over the others if possible.
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Audio Arena is available for download on Steam for $6.99 (currently discounted at 20% off) with support for both the HTC Vive and Oculus Rift.
