Beat Saber makes you feel like a Jedi. that Jedi was the conductor of an orchestra. And that orchestra only played hardcore dance music. And also if it had that chap from Mad Max in it who plays the flame-throwing guitar on top of the car. And no, I’m not over exaggerating; it really is that cool.
Beat Saber has been out for a while now on PC, but this week it finally launched on the Playstation VR and I’ve been getting very sweaty with it in this week’s Ian’s VR Corner, which you can watch below. I’ve even put myself in vision for this episode so you can witness me swinging my laser swords around like they were glow sticks at a rave.
Let’s Play Beat Saber – Ians VR Corner Watch on YouTube
For those unfamiliar, the workings of Beat Saber are brilliantly basic and basically brilliant. Red and blue blocks advance towards you on a track, Guitar Hero style, and you have to slice those blocks in half with your twin laser swords (aka two Move controllers). The difficulty comes in making sure you match the colour of the block to the colour of your sword, and the direction of your swing the to direction of the arrows on the blocks.
It’s a simple premise but it’s one that works so well in VR because of the way the physicality of swinging the Move controllers immediately grounds you in the virtual world. Seeing a laser sword buzz past your field of view as you wave your arm around brings your Jedi fantasies to life, but the gentle buzz of the force feedback in the controllers as you slice though each block boosts the sense of realism tenfold by creating a sense of impact.