Vive Report

May 19th 2017 Update: Multiplayer!

Hover Skate just went on sale 30% off so you can grab it at discount for $8.39 for a limited time.

Update Patch notes from Steam:

Hey everyone, sorry for the long wait but Multiplayer is here! It is just the basics for right now, but it’s still really fun skating with others. Once I get all the kinks all sorted out I’ll start to add a S.K.A.T.E. game mode. Along with that I will be adding more features like Friends only servers and better server sorting. Let me know what features you would like to see!

There has also been a good amount of updates to the Board Handling so let me know what you think.

• Added Multiplayer Basics

  – You can either Join or Create a server by going to the Multiplayer menu from the HUB.
  – Up to 4 players can skate together on any map in the game
  – Voice Chat: This is on by default you can mute players from the multiplayer screen once you’ve joined a game.
  – Gif Capture other players: you can switch to GIF capture mode while in a MP game by pressing the left start button.
  – Item Syncing

• Levels Updated

  – Overall Increase size of most of the maps. All maps are still a WIP
  – School : Tweaks to current layout: made top levels skateable
  – Church: Size increase
  – Bank: Size increase
  – Rooftops

• Controls Updated

  – Overall the physics and handling should be much smoother and have less hicups.
  – Max Left and right movement has been increased
  – Gravity code update and max gravity increased.

• Added Mentality Skateboarding Realms Trailer: now playing in shop – Itunes[itunes.apple.com]
• Added Flip Level to Settings menu: This will flip the level so you can skate any obstacle FS or BS (does not work on test levels)

Thanks everyone I hope you enjoy the MP and please leave a review if you can!

ORIGINAL REVIEW:

I have been waiting for some sort of skateboarding VR game.  Now, how and in what form this would come, I had no idea, or that it was even possible/logical. Then I found Hover Skate by Hyperlight Studios, so, nevermind skateboarding, let’s talk hoverboarding!

I must say, when I first tried it, it felt awkward and I couldn’t really wrap my head around using my hands as feet on a hoverboard. But after spending a good 20-30 minutes messing around with the board physics and figuring things out, it eventually started to click and just make sense. Once things click, you’ll be impressing yourself with how quickly you can perform tricks and build combos, or even entire sets of tricks.

This is the main idea behind the game, it basically allows you to be your own skate crew, you can engineer which tricks you want to use and work out where to execute, which gap, which rail. Then you can practice the tricks and full set a few times. And once you finally land it, you can take on the role of the cameraman and get awesome videos of your tricks. The included playback system is really impressive and thorough, and allows you to save full runs or record 5-second gifs giving this title a bit of an artistic side to it. I personally was having the most fun finding cool angles to film the action from, even laying down so I could get a shot of the board as it kick-flipped over me, all to get the perfect shot of the perfect trick.

Hover Skate VR is described as a physics-based hoverboard simulator for VR with over 250 skateboard tricks to learn and master. There are currently 3 skate locations, each with their own leaderboards, available to choose from in-game, Terminal, Church and High School, with more to come.

School

Church

Terminal

Fortunately, there is a comprehensive training mode included, in the form of visualizations of the trick being performed, to help you work out your tricks and build up more advanced tricks/combos.

Along with the training mode, there is a Trick List included in game, that provides a replay video for every one of the 250+ tricks you can execute in-game, which is a huge help, especially if you’re not familiar with skateboard tricks and their names in general. The trick list is accessible from the menu and also handily keeps count of the times you’ve executed a specific trick.

Hover Skate takes conventional skate boarding and flips it upside down, literally. Instead of riding a board with wheels that roll across the ground, you are hovering on a hoverboard that hovers over the ground. With this comes a slew of new obstacles in executing sick tricks. But firstly, wrap your head around the physics of it all. There is added magnetism between your shoes (which are your hands represented in the game as a sweet pair of skate shoes, though no DC branding yet 😉 ). This magnetism is a key piece of what helps make this game work and feel right. To perform a trick, you have to push down, manipulate either side of the board for various flip or spin tricks. You can set which foot is your grip foot (the foot that is more of the always on board foot) with the grip button on the Vive wand. So if my left hand is my grip foot, my right hand will be the one that pushes harder to perform flip tricks.

For the actual gameplay, there are a few different locations already available to choose from. From a train terminal, to a school, or church, basically your typical skate spots which all include plenty of ledges and gaps for you to work out your perfect run. Once you select your location, you’re teleported there and will see a blue outline of a skateboard. Simply line up your skate shoes to be flat and on top of the board, and the hoverboard will click in and materialize once your footing is aligned properly. This is what will happen every time you wipe out or lose the board: you’re brought back to the start of the map and have to line up your feet on the blue outline of the board again to get ready for your run.

There is a skill system implemented, which enables you to up your ranking by landing tricks and performing more advanced tricks and longer combos. Rank 1 being accurately named “Awkward”. Anytime you actually land a trick, the name of the trick and score are cleverly displayed on the skateboard itself, so it’s mostly always in your line of sight. One of my favorite subtle nuances of the game comes in the form of a cool guitar chord/riff that that you’ll hear when you’ve leveled up, it’s a very rewarding sound to hear in game and helps give you some motivation to keep trying new and more difficult tricks.

Locomotion was an aspect I had no idea how the dev would handle, but pleased to see the locomotion works great for the purposes of the game. You basically have a starting and end point for your run, clicking the touchpad will play your run, basically moving for you sort of like on-rail locomotion. This frees you up to focus on executing radical tricks, as the locomotion handles itself. The dev thoughtfully included the ability to control the speed of your locomotion, so you are free to bring your speed to a crawl and really work out your trick run, then, once you feel comfortable with your set you can up the speed, still nail your trick and feel like a hoverboarding bad ass. This can also help in terms of comfort options. There is also a comfort mode included which simplifies the locations to make it a bit easier to handle.

The game is very much an indie production, but still manages to impress and exude a full game vibe with the inclusion of 20+ specific challenges to beat, and even a skate shop! You earn money via landing tricks and completing challenges and can then head over to the skate shop where there’s an assortment of different hover decks and shoes to pick from. Clearly, the developer has covered a lot of ground with this release and had a clear vision of the experience they wanted to deliver in Hover Skate, and it shows.

Once you learn the core mechanics, get comfortable using your hands as feet and practice your tricks, hover skate truly begins to shine, further allowing for a uniquely immersive and rewarding hands-on VR experience.

Check it out for yourself! Hover Skate VR is Early Access on Steam currently on sale for $9.59 (regular $11.99).

-dgtlhrt