Ubisoft told us it would have two new VR titles for E3 2016 and it’s delivered. Sort of.
While Star Trek: Bridge Crew is a completely new experience, the publisher still has another two big VR titles to show off this year. The first is a VR version of its ever-popular Just Dance franchise, which sounds as if it could be launching next year. Details are scarce right now, but our own Joe Durbin has gone hands-on with it so expect a full report soon.
The other title is Trackmania Turbo from Nadeo. The gravity defying racer was first released back in March but will be updated with full support for VR systems. The game features over 200 different tracks that twist and turn unlike anything else out there. There’s also an extensive track editor to help you build your own levels complete with loops and jumps. Hopefully all of this content is intact for the VR version, even if we wonder just how comfortable it is in an HMD.
This isn’t actually the first time that Trackmania Turbo has been seen in VR; a PlayStation VR demo debuted at last year’s E3, although it wasn’t then clear if full support would ever arrive. It received a positive reaction from both critics and fans when it first launch, so it looks like this will be a good one to add to VR’s growing content library. The demo also appeared at other events throughout the year, and was clearly good enough to warrant a full version.
The game joins Ubisoft’s already impressive VR line-up, which includes the beautiful Eagle Flight, in which you fly over the city of Paris, completing races and competing with friends, and a crazy party game named Werewolves Within, in which players must decide which among them in a werewolf.
Ubisoft is easily pulling ahead when it comes to large third-party publishers working in VR, though Bethesda’s recently announced Fallout 4 VR port puts it in a close second. Will EA and Activision be able to catch up with their respective VR experiences.
