The presentation sure is great, but that alone cannot save this experience for me as the core gameplay loop left me unsatisfied most of the time
C-Smash VRS is a virtual reality sports game that harkens back to a Dreamcast classic from over 20 years ago. While the original game saw you controlling a character from a third-person perspective as you hit a ball and destroyed blocks, C-Smash VRS puts you right in the action with a first-person view.
Developed by Wolf & Wood Interactive and released for Meta Quest 3, C-Smash VRS drops you into a minimalistic sci-fi world where you compete to clear levels as fast as possible. With racket in hand, you'll feel like you're in a zero-G arena as you smash the ball around, breaking panels and outfitted with power-ups to help you along.
The core gameplay is intuitive as you just have to hit blocks to break them Arkanoid style, however I kinda didn't like it. Your dominant hand grips the racket while the other controls your position. With a swing of the wrist, you'll send the ball rocketing off to ricochet around the arena.
Usually, when playing a tennis-like game in VR, it takes some practice to get a feel for the angles and speed. But after many hours, I never really managed to get the hang of it. The ball physics feel kinda off and that's a massive deal as it is the main thing you do in the game. I would hit the ball expecting it to hit the block that I was aiming for but the ball would completely miss it and go some other way. Then, when the ball was flying back to me, it would pickup up speed out of nowhere on the last bounce either flying way left or right or way up over my head.
The ball also doesn't react like you expect it would or should depending on how hard you hit it. You know a fast arm swing should equal a fast ball, but that doesn't really happen here. For example in Racket Club, a fantastic game that I have previously reviewed, has quite realistic ball physics so if you swing hard, the ball will react accordingly and that makes the game really fun, engaging and satisfying to play and master. That's not the case with C-Smash VRS. Another weird and annoying thing that happened to me quite a few times was that the ball would get stuck between an unbreakable barrier and the wall at the end of the arena just bouncing back and forth forcing me to restart the whole stage.
The single-player includes two types modes, Zen and Challenge, the only difference being that Zen mode is way more chill as there's no time limit so you can take as much time as you want to beat each stage. I tried the Challenge mode for a couple of stages, but I quickly switched back to Zen as I didn't really see any benefit to try and beat each stage quickly when the core gameplay is not satisfying and kinda sucks. In addition to the single player campaign where you orbit planets selecting stages, C-Smash VRS enables fast-paced competitive play. Unfortunately since I played the game early, the multiplayer servers weren't active so I can't really comment on the net code, if it works or not or even how bad the lag is if there's any to begin with. Having said that, the game lets you experience these multiplayer modes against AI. In Head to Head, for example, each person will have a wall of blocks behind them, with the aim or clearing the opposite players blocks first.
Firewall also seems interesting, think like a tug of war type game, but instead of tugging you are pushing a wall towards your opponent by hitting and coloring specific block. The other mode is Quick Shot, where a small block will appear in the stage, and the first person to hit it will receive a bunch of points. Do that a couple of times and you win. These are really cool and creative competitive modes that might keep you busy for some time playing against friends or random players. But, again, that all depends if you find the core gameplay fun and satisfying, which I did not find.
One redeeming part of C-Smash VRS is its aesthetic style and polished presentation. Vibrant colors pop throughout each level, combining with a pulsing electronica soundtrack to immerse you in the experience. Subtle haptics feedback and a darkened periphery help mitigate any queasiness too. It's difficult to not get completely absorbed in the hypnotic flow.
Overall, I didn't like C-Smash VRS as much as I was hoping I would. The presentation sure is great, but that alone cannot save this experience for me as the core gameplay loop left me unsatisfied most of the time. This, however, is just my experience. Maybe if you play it, you will love it so go ahead and give it a go. Thanks for reading!
The game was reviewed on a Quest 3 via a promo code provided by the publisher. C-Smash VRS is available on Meta Quest, Pico and PSVR2.
