I’ve said it before but rhythm games are often the titles you see popping up most frequently in the VR space, but that’s not a bad thing. Unlike games of other genres, most rhythm titles encourage you to get up off your couch and get active. Fortunately, if you just can’t get enough of the titles within this subgenre, a new offering has now become available.
Coming from developer NiVision, X-Booster is the newest music and rhythm game that has released for PC virtual reality headset. The game was previously available via early access, but NiVision has now pushed out the official 1.0 iteration of the game this week.
Compared to other games within the genre though, X-Booster has been developed with fitness in mind. Unlike other games where burning calories might simply be a byproduct of playing the game itself, X-Booster looks to provide potential players with a work out that will put your whole body through its paces.
As for how it plays, well, it’s similar to many other titles that you may have seen before. Your two controllers will serve as in-game items that will allow you to “punch, cut, block, and dodge your way to a slimmer you.” And while moving about your arms is the primary means by which you’ll be advancing through levels and building up your score, you’ll have to weave your body quite a bit as well, all while sticking to the beat of the music.
You can get a look at X-Booster’s gameplay in action in the video right here:
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKLihP8pohg]
Far and away the coolest component of X-Booster though, and the manner in which it has a leg up on the competition within the rhythm space, comes with how the game implements music. Instead of having a tracklist that is locked to a certain number of songs, X-Booster allows you to flat-out use any MP3 files that might already be on your computer in-game. This means that the tracklist found in the game is basically endless and is only capped by the number of MP3 files that you may own.
As for X-Booster’s usage as a fitness game, it definitely lives up to the standard that developer NiVision claims. We actually reviewed X-Booster here at VR Fitness Insider earlier this year when it was available in early access and found that it’s one of the better rhythm games on the market when it comes to its application as a tool to stay in shape. Scoring it as an 8.5/10 overall, our reviewer Adam Braunstein said that X-Booster is “an amazing combo of all the VR workout games that you’ve been playing for years.” You can read the full review right here.
X-Booster is available right now exclusively on the Steam platform. If you’re looking to pick the game up now that it has entered its 1.0 version, NiVision actually marked down the title’s price by 20% and it’s now priced at $15.99 for a limited time. In addition, X-Booster is compatible with Valve Index, Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, and Windows Mixed Reality headsets.
