I’ve done a lot of things in VR. I’ve killed countless zombies, flown spaceships, climbed Mt. Everest, floated in space, and even wrecked an entire city as a giant monster. What I hadn’t considered doing in VR before, at least not until very recently, is using my hands as feet to control a floating skateboard, but here we are. That’s exactly what you do in Hover Skate VR.
As a child of the 90s and early 2000s, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater used to be a pretty big part of my life. I never got too into the sport itself outside of video games, but have a lot of memories playing the first three games and even going into the Underground sub-series after that. Eventually, Skate 2 and Skate 3 became some of my favorite PS3 titles and I’ve been longing for a new outlet ever since. In fact, I was even that kid that used to play with Tech Deck fingerboards. I had entire miniature skate parks in my bedroom with dozens of the little skateboards. It was a whole thing for a while.
Naturally, when I heard about Hover Skate VR it caught my attention. I can’t do an ollie or kickflip in person to save my life, but I can grind rails with the best of them in digital skateparks. However, none of that prior skill or knowledge mattered in this game. Flicking thumbsticks and tapping face buttons has about as much to do with Hover Skate VR as they do with actual skateboards.
Instead, you have to pretend like your hands are feet. It sounds weird, but it works. Your hovering skate board glides along levels and you can press on it, flip it, and grind with it by placing each of your hands at opposite sides of the board just like they’re feet. Once you get that feeling down and start to pull off tricks it’s incredibly satisfying.
Right now there are supposedly over 200 tricks, 3 different locations (that all look similar but have different layouts), easy replay and GIF capture functionality, rankings, challenges, and unlockable boards and shoes to further your customization. The game is still in Early Access so there is more to come but there’s plenty to do and see as it stands.
What do you think of Hover Skate VR? Are you still waiting on Tony Hawk to make a VR adaptation of his series? Let us know in the comments below!
