All in One Sports VR Game Review- Arcade Sports Action with Friends

Way back in the day, we had a little thing called the Nintendo Wii. This strange console from the original videogame masters introduced the world to motion controls in your home for the first time. One of the shining examples of the Wii was Wii Sports. It had a bunch of sports that were playable with friends in your living room and suddenly, it became one of the hottest party games around and it became a huge sensation. VR has always seemed the most logical progression from the Wii and yet, we haven’t seen a Wii Sports-Esque title to hit VR yet. That all changes now with All in One Sports VR. It gives us everything Wii Sports was in a slick VR package that isn’t getting nearly the amount of attention it deserves. Let’s dive into one of the most surprising titles of the year.

The Basics

All in One Sports VR gives you a ton of choices of sports to play right from the get-go. From the main menu, you can access baseball, basketball, bowling, ping pong, badminton, darts, and boxing. Each one of these games has different levels you can progress to in a sort of mini-campaign mode where each level gets progressively more difficult. Some of the game modes have online functionality, though I was unable to test this out properly because of the somewhat small playerbase available at the moment. Each mode gives you a small tutorial as it starts in case the mechanics aren’t as straightforward as they seem. The sports are reflected incredibly accurately for the most part and this feels like the building blocks of something special considering it’s still an Early Access Title

What it Feels Like to Play

While all the sports differ greatly in how they feel, overall, this is one of the most entertaining sports experiences in VR. Each sport is represented as faithfully as possible and although realism is left at the door for most of the experiences, they are all very easily accessible. Every sport available here is fun to play, though the actual practicality of some of them is lost in its translation to VR.

For example. Basketball just does not work that well in VR. I’ve seen multiple attempts and not one of them has managed to give the feeling of actually shooting the basketball. Elsewhere though, baseball is fantastic here and it feels like the most fleshed-out sport presented here by far. You’re able to choose from 4 different pitches, including a super pitch that’s basically unhittable and the throwing accuracy is incredibly on point, shaming pretty much every other baseball experience I’ve played. The batting is pretty ridiculous as you pretty much need to make contact to blast the ball out of the yard, but it’s actually tough at times to make that contact, and trying to time your swing with a wicked slider is something we haven’t seen in VR to this point. The only disappointing part is there is currently no online play available for baseball, which feels strange when it’s by far the best sports experience on offer. Boxing actually gives you an experience much like BOXVR rather than The Thrill of the Fight which is pretty disappointing because you would expect something more along the lines of The Thrill of the Fight. Bowling feels just like Wii Sports used to, which is to say it’s smooth, and twisting your hand while shooting actually adds spin as it would if you were actually playing. Ping Pong deserves a mention as well because it’s easily the most realistic feeling of all the sports, with some absolutely amazing ball physics at play to make it feel almost identical to playing ping pong in real life. Badminton is great as well and it feels like the best sports to translate to VR are the ones that don’t require a feeling of weight leaving your hand.

What Will Keep You Playing

The multiplayer aspect is easily the most intriguing part of All in One Sports. Being able to play against friends anywhere in the world right now is such an amazing thing and while you’re getting the direct translation in VR, especially with sports that involve teams, it’s still an awesome time. The attention to detail is huge here and developer Appnori. Inc shows that they aren’t just throwing the game together for a cash grab, it’s a legitimate experience that has hours of fun for you and some friends to experience. The only thing I wish it did differently was the difficulty levels, as there’s no way to go up if you’ve mastered the hardest difficulty level. All in One Sports VR delivers a ton of sports options though and it’s likely you’ll find something here to keep coming back to.

Preparation-

Depending on the sport you’re choosing to play, you may need to just stand in place while playing, or you may need around a 5×5 space to navigate. Pitching in baseball for instance, is incredibly hard to do if you’re not taking a full pitcher’s stride. It’s immersive, but also necessary which feels great to do.

Intensity- 8/10

I recorded my 30-minute workout using a Fitbit and played using an Oculus Quest 2 Headset.

Calories burned: 344
Calories burned per minute: 11
Average Heart Rate: 129
Max Heart Rate: 150
Active Minutes: 30

This was quite the experience in VR and depending on what sport you’re playing, you might have an easy-going experience like archery, or a fast-paced sweat fest like Boxing or Ping Pong are. I found sports like baseball to get very tiring after a while, especially if you’re failing to get an out as a pitcher and you’re just getting shelled all over the yard. Basketball can get tiresome too if you’re just chucking up shot after shot. Overall, the intensity in All in One Sports VR is pretty varied.

Arms- 9/10

All of the games available in All in One Sports VR come equipped with the ability to work out your arms to their limits, but only some truly excel in giving you a balanced burn on both arms. Boxing is one of the sports here that will you both sweating and sore as you navigate the BOX VR clone. Baseball will have you using actual strength to throw pitches at different speeds and will use both your hands too to swing the bat. Archery will have you steadying your aim with both hands which is tougher than it sounds too. All of the sports will have your arms sore if you put enough time into them, so it’s a very capable arm workout because of that.

Legs- 7/10

Some of the sports on offer here will utilize your legs a lot, while others don’t have them factor in at all. Baseball pretty much requires you to stride into a pitch while you’re on the mound and also step into swings when you’re at the plate. Boxing will have you ducking and dodging in between punches, though it doesn’t compare to what you’ll have to do in badminton or ping pong. During those sports, you can stride back and forth across the court to your liking and at the higher levels, you will feel a serious burn in your legs as the volleys get more and more intense. During golf, you’ll be keeping your legs bent for a proper stance and this will give your legs a decent workout after a while too.

Core/ Balance- 8/10

Your core is engaged a lot in just about any sport you play in the real world, but in VR that’s not always the case. While archery and bowling won’t engage your core much, golf, baseball, and boxing all engage the core a lot here and it’s among one of the best core workouts you can get in VR. While you won’t be doing any direct core work, anyone that plays golf or baseball or has boxed before knows that in order to be effective, that core needs to be strong and involved at all times. Swinging your club, swinging the bat, and connecting with proper form punches all involve a ton of core work and although you’ll be doing these without actual weighted gloves, bats and clubs, it’s still a nice way to get a core workout while having a whole lot of fun.

Time Perception- 9/10

All in One Sports is one of the easiest games I’ve experienced in VR in terms of hopping into and out of it. Each sport gives you a small requirement time-wise to play it. For example, baseball-only has you playing the final inning of a 0-0 game which both amps up the pressure as well as shortening the amount of time needed to complete the game. Ping Pong only has you playing to 11 instead of the customary 21-point limit and the rest of the games follow suit in their brevity. This is a good thing because it’s one of those games that, while you can become immersed in it for hours just shifting through different sports, it’s also very easy to just play for 10-20 minutes to warm up for a possibly more intense experience.

Replayability- 8/10

I wanted to rate this higher because it really has the ability to be a 10/10 but due to either Early Access or just game design, the experiences are just far too brief for my tastes. I want the choice to play a full 9 innings of baseball and considering they give you a full inning to play, it seems pretty easy to get the option for the full 9 in there. The same goes for the other sports too. I want the full game of ping pong, basketball against AI players in a legit game, not just a shooting contest. All this may be on the way and more, so for right now, it’s still a very addicting experience that you can keep coming back to aplenty.

Fitness Scalability- 8/10

Your fitness experience heavily depends on the sport because certain sports require more fitness output than others. Ping Pong was an exhaustive experience surprisingly, but if you don’t have the space required to hop from one end of the table to the other during a volley, you’re definitely not going to get the same kind of physical experience. The same goes for badminton too. That’s not to say the experiences aren’t just as fun while standing in place, but workout-wise, they definitely take a hit in this regard. The harder the levels get, the harder your experience gets as well, so in baseball, you might find yourself giving up bomb after bomb as you struggle to get the batters out on the highest challenge level and your arm will feel it accordingly.

Dizziness/ Nausea- 9/10

I felt very little VR sickness when playing All in One VR and that’s a testament to the quality of both the graphics and complete lack of latency even as I played using an Oculus Quest 2 with the Oculus Link. The experiences don’t really involve any type of teleporting or natural locomotion, so unless you’re physically moving around your playspace during your time with the game, you won’t have any strange movements happening that could give you motion sickness. The boxing might be a bit of a tough one for some people though as the rush of the icons flying you can be a bit disorienting if you’re not used to the flow of rhythm games. Online latency is always a hurdle as well, though I have not been able to test that just yet.

Social Competition- TBD/10

I was unable to get any games to connect during my time with the game, so I’m unable to truly give my take on how it is. Assuming the setup is the same as the normal game and plays out something similar to the way Sports Scramble does though, there’s a ton of potential for this to be one of the best sports games to try with friends out there. The quick pace gives a good idea of what the games could be online and those little bursts of fun seem like they would translate perfectly for an online experience.

VR Fit Score- 8.2/10

Game Score- 8/10

The Good

All in One Sports VR is just that, it’s all the sports you could want in a game in one extremely cheap package. The quality doesn’t reflect the price though and you’ll be treated to some excellent sports physics here. Some of the more untapped VR games are available here as well and players will get to experience things like badminton for the first time in VR here. The graphics are cartoony but totally fine for the vibe here and there are some nice effects and haptic feedback at play here. The possibility for online play is vast and considering it’s just in Early Access, there is a ton of potential here. The physical input in the game is great as well and can result in some very satisfying workouts.

The Bad

The games are just too short. Baseball, ping pong, and more are abbreviated for seemingly no reason, and for sports aficionados, this might not be satisfactory for what they’re looking for. The player base is also pretty sparse right now, making it very tough to find anyone to play online with. Not much bad to say here, this is a fun time if you’re looking for some VR sports games.

All in One Sports VR is available on Steam for $29.99 and playable on Oculus Rift, Oculus Quest via Oculus Link, HTC Vive, Valve Index, and Windows Mixed Reality Headsets.

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