Vive Report

Pitch-Hit, developed by Viewer Ready, is not surprisingly, a baseball game; though it’s not your average, run-of-the-mill baseball game by any means. It consists of eight different game modes, very much like an old Nintendo game in that you must beat the challenge set by the first game mode, in order to unlock the next. Thankfully, Pitch-Hit does have online leaderboards so your hard work practicing can pay off with a seat on the boards and all the associated glory. There are simple controls, as you merely squeeze the right grip control at any time to call forth the baseball bat. There is a “Lefty” option included which can be enabled by pressing the “Lefty” button on the last locker, while still in the locker room.

One of the best features is that they have included 3 pitch options: T-ball, Pitcher, and Self Pitch. T-ball places a height adjustable T-ball in the center of your playspace and you press the trackpad to spawn a baseball on top of it. Pitcher places a cardboard cutout of a baseball pitcher about 20 virtual feet from where you’re standing, which will throw the ball towards you. Self Pitch gives you a bucket of balls where you can just reach in and pull the trigger to hold, then just toss it up and hit it yourself. Personally, I tend to switch between these options depending on which game mode I’m currently playing, but this will really be more of a personal preference.

When you first launch Pitch-Hit, you will find yourself standing in a locker room. Thankfully, there’s no one else in the locker room so there’s no potential for awkward voyeuristic mishaps. The different game options are cleverly displayed in a row of lockers, each locker containing a button to start its associated game mode.

The first available game mode is “Hoops”. Hoops places you in the batter’s box of a generic baseball field that has giant spinning hoops with your goal being to hit as many baseballs through as many hoops as possible. You are rewarded with 5 points for getting a ball through a hoop, but are detracted 1 point if you hit the hoop itself. You must attain a score of at least 15 points, in order to unlock the next game mode.

“Catch”, one of my favorite modes to relax with. It allows you to both hit, and then catch the ball you just hit. It’s as simple as it gets. But there’s something incredible about hitting a ball deep into outfield, then instantly being in the outfield, glove raised, ready to catch the ball you just hit. What a world we live in!

“Ducks!” – in the game mode, “Ducks,” you are placed standing before an ocean that has a bunch giant rubber ducks floating atop it. You are given points for hitting the ducks with the baseball, the farther the duck, the higher the points awarded.

“Distance” is probably my favorite in regard to a solid, enjoyable challenge. Distance, which has the best music of all game modes in my opinion, is somewhat Tron-like visually (which always scores points in my book). You are placed in a long arena and given a range which you must hit the ball between. For instance, it may say 22 meters to 56 meters; you have to hit the ball to land in between that distance range. You have a set amount of time to hit as many ranges as possible. Every range met earns you 1 point.

“Rampage” is exactly that – you smash as many objects as humanly possible in the time given. The ball field gets covered in shells full of glassware, dishes, statues, windows. Pretty much anything fragile/breakable is there. You hit the balls at the destructibles and get points for breaking them, more destruction = more points. There are also 2 odd, flying light bulbs which are incredibly pleasing to smash to pieces.

“Space” is a unique interesting take on what it’d be like to be on the moon (I think it’s the moon, or just a generic planet) fighting UFOs using only a baseball bat and baseballs. The UFOs will shoot glowing blue orbs at you which you can bat away. There is very little gravity, so just tapping a ball flings it off in the direction you hit it, so aim for the dastardly UFOs and hope for contact. The more UFOs you hit down with your baseballs and the longer you last scores you more points.

Pitch-Hit does have a demo available which is always greatly appreciated, so please feel free to download the demo from Steam and try it out yourself before making the leap of purchase. The devs have been reliable and consistent thus far, listening to users’ suggestions and implementing fixes/features based off user input. Just the other day on October 11 2016, Viewer Ready added in the option to toggle the way you equip the bat. Often I, and other players, would have issues with having to constantly hold the grip to equip the bat, either having a detrimental effect on trying to hit or just being annoying. The new update added in the option to switch the bat to always be equipped, instead of having to constantly squeeze the grip to keep it equipped. It’s one update in particular that I was hoping for and the devs delivered so kudos to them.

Check it out for yourself on Steam: Pitch-Hit $10.99

-dgtlhrt