Pinball is equal parts a genre and almost a medium of play unto itself. High-end cabinets are regarded with the sort of reverence, let alone cost, of some automobiles. It's an instantly comprehensible experience for most - just keep the ball from falling past two paddles you can smack it back with. So how do you expand such a universally beloved experience to VR in a way that isn't just playing virtual cabinets?
It's not that the old-school method is bad, but this is VR we're talking about! That's where Bounce Arcade by Velan Studios comes in. I was given a glimpse of what's in store, exploring the tutorial and first two stages - one themed around a Wild West heist, while the second was a deep-space repair mission to get a ship up and running. I definitely enjoyed myself, but I also see some room for improvement on the way to Bounce Arcade's launch.
Bounce Arcade is a relatively stationary (sitting or standing) VR game with solid mechanics and boundless potential. You can move around roomscale, but I don't recommend it since you're more likely to miss the ball as it comes hurtling back at you. It's a fun learning experience, as Bounce Arcade truly nails the kinetic nature of its core gameplay.
Swatting the ball with either of your controller-bound paddles is great, with added abilities that let you more directly manipulate the ball. You can use a drag function to alter its current trajectory, and after charging your paddles with enough smacks to the ball, you can trigger a fifteen-second window where you can summon the ball back to either hand to directly aim it at a target. It's superbly responsive, with your paddles even stretching further forward with a subtle lean forward. So at its core, Bounce Arcade nails the core fundamentals. That's the trick, though.
While Bounce Arcade nails the fundamentals, the stages those mechanics are thrust into are a bit more inconsistent. Of the two, I vastly prefer the spaceship stage, Asteroid, which despite being indicated as harder, was actually much easier to navigate. Two primary lanes for charging the ball curve around the circular space, turrets and slides are clear to see, and there's no excess detail distracting you. That holds true even when the stage transforms with a homage to Breakout with you plunking your ball into incoming asteroids.
Asteroid makes great use of the truly 3D space, and it's hard to call any aspect unforgiving. It'll challenge you, but it's a solid introduction that only grows more complex once you've demonstrated a grasp of all the stage's nuances. I can't say that about the Wild West stage, Gunpowder. Despite Gunpowder featuring heavily in the game's trailer, I kept fighting to get my ball to go where I wanted it to.
The environment is significantly flatter, there are several distracting elements that add visual clutter. Even the initial explanation text was a bit dense at the start of a pinball game. Bounce Arcade throws a lot at the player out of the gate, made all the more confusing when some elements leave you wondering what role they play. Since this is the first stage you're brought to in level selection after the tutorial, some players may be intimidated by the sheer noise of it all.
I believe it would benefit from streamlining the early phases of the stage's story. Fewer variables out of the gate would help, as would only lighting up the various elements with every subsequent completed step. Given Bounce Arcade is meant for all ages, it would be prudent to include an infinite ball mode. Give it a separate leaderboard or no leaderboard at all, and that will help both younger and differently-abled players have fun without stressing.
Fortunately, these are only two of the four initial stages planned, and things could always be adjusted to ensure the West is won. The stages themselves are as replayable as any traditional pinball cabinet, which is helped by the leaderboard system for score-chasing enthusiasts. Someone is finally giving pinball the VR twist it's been waiting for, and I'm curious to see how the full game plays out.
Bounce Arcade arrives on November 21 for $20 on the Meta Quest platform.
