Vive Report

Halfbrick Studios have been consistently adding new features and general tweaks to Fruit Ninja since it was first launched in Early Access on Steam back in July. While the title is still in early access, as there are still more features to come, we’ve summed up the handful of updates that have rolled out since our original post.

Possessed Pumpkin Tournament

This update is hot off the presses and right on time for Halloween. But of course, pumpkins fit swimmingly (flyingly?) into the Fruit Ninja world! You know what else fits? A super rare Bat Blade!

Fruit Ninja VR just rolled out a Halloween update and companion tournament which will run for the next week or so (Oct. 26 to Nov. 2). During this time, the dojo gets a spooky, ghouly makeover with matching blood-curling sound effects from the underworld. The Bat Blade is also the first rare blade featured for the game’s VR version. It’s so rare that only the first 400 “soul releasers” will be able to keep it in their blade stand post-tournament. As to whether we can actually use it after the tournament ends, we have yet to confirm. Regardless, we can’t wait to see more cool blades in the future! If you haven’t checked out Fruit Ninja VR yet, now is the perfect time. Happy slicing!

Survival Mode

The fourth mode, released exclusively for VR, is best described as excitingly tense. Instead of stationary fruit pillars shooting up targets from either side in other modes, survival mode ups the ante with mobile cannons. These are not your ordinary mobile cannons, they are like a mash up of ancient China mixed with a little dash of some steam punk for good measure. Survival mode is a bit slower paced at the beginning, but as your score goes up, additional mobile cannons make their way to bombard you with even more flying fruit. The furthest I’ve made so far has been 4 mobile cannons, and it gets quite challenging as the timing is random. So, you can end up with 2 different cannons shooting at you simultaneously, but that’s the challenge and fun of it!

12 Additional Languages Added

Halfbrick have gone all out and added support for 12 additional languages:

Check out Fruit Ninja VR early access here, still at $14.99!

Halfbrick’s Fruit Ninja, the well-loved and one of the most highly downloaded in the history of touch-screen games, finally joined the VR world on July 7 this year.

You’ve either tried the game or know someone who at some point frantically sliced and diced flying fruit with an index finger. Satisfying as that is, playing it with a Wii or Kinect controller was an even closer step to wielding a virtual katana. So it only makes sense that Fruit Ninja would be one of the first games to cross over to VR.

Vive’s game-changing controllers pretty much made our ninja dreams come true. As you would have guessed, both controllers become swords, with the blades jutting out virtually from the handles — double the fun!

You get the same three modes in VR: Arcade, Classic and Zen. Arcade is the most fun, of course. The game elements are rendered with the same cartoony look as the touch-screen predecessor, which I personally prefer over realistic 3D. Peachy time, in which slicing a peach adds two more seconds of game time, was also just added as an update. I can’t wait for sword upgrades and festival modes!

I have religiously played Fruit Ninja VR since it came out. It’s just as addicting as the original game, only with the added benefit of shoulder and arm muscle exercise.

Get Fruit Ninja VR from Steam.

-shurl