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Most of the time that I invest in exploring virtual reality spaces and applications is concerned with researching, reporting on, and engaging virtual reality spaces and applications for business and professional use.
When I turn my focus to VR for entertainment purposes, I'm very selective about what I choose to experience and engage with, on an ongoing basis.
The VR entertainment experiences that I seek out and engage in, have one or more of the following attributes:
Recently, a Meta Quest 2 VR entertainment application available via the Meta Quest Store, met one or more of my VR experience selection criteria. This music themed game was entertaining and fun to play.
I enjoy listening to a diverse range of music. As a young adult, I dabbled with learning to play acoustic and electric guitar.
My son, Dakotah, embraced music many years ago as a child. He graduated from the University of Northern Colorado with a bachelor's degree in Performance Arts. It'll be interesting to get his take on this game, once he's had an opportunity to play it.
Smash Drums - Quest store launch trailer
Given that history, along with positive reviews that Smash Drums received from music lovers, professional musicians, and prospective drummers, I purchased this game with high expectations.
Gameplay
After the first few minutes playing this game, I was impressed with the game's user interface, the getting started tutorial, gameplay, and rock music tracks.
Key features of this game include:
Multiplayer mode places you in a virtual room with several other drummers, all ready to play the game in real time.
Any of the drummers in the room can vote on the group's next game play, including competitive or cooperative mode, and song play. Once the votes are in, game play begins, with each player drumming to the song that was selected by one of the group members.
When the song completes, you are shown how your drumming performance ranked among the group's members. You are then returned to the virtual space where all members of the group meet, to choose the next session parameters.
If playing in co-operative mode, you share points based on the group's overall performance. This helped boost my overall points and performance scores, which is important as certain scores unlock more songs and special bonus features provided by the game.
To achieve a high score, strike the virtual drums and cymbals at the right time in the targeted virtual space.
To recenter the game at any time, long-press the Oculus button on the handset controller. This will reposition the virtual positioning footprints to your current position in your defined real-world Quest2 play space.
Back in July 2021, Substatica provided a gameplay video that will give you an idea of what it's like to get started playing Smash Drums.
Smash Drums VR - Oculus Quest - Gameplay, Song List, First Impressions
Music Tracks
Here’s a listing of the Indie Bands that provide the music tracks for Smash Drums.
Source: Reddit > Oculus Quest.
PotamWorks SAS, developer of Smash Drums, was awarded VR Game of the Year by the Academy of International Extended Reality (AIXR). Version 2 was released on 12/2/2021; Version 1 was released on 6/17/2021 via the Quest App Lab.
Cost
The game currently retails for $19.99. The Meta Store periodically provides a discount and other offers, this is one I'd recommend adding to your wish list if you are a music lover.
A Smash Drums demo is available via the Smash Drums website, featuring three songs, two environments with 360 degree or forward-facing gameplay for coach potato gamers.
Conclusion
I'm looking forward to the possibility of a stationary drum set and additional songs from my favorite rock bands (Rush, Aerosmith, etc.) in future version releases.
Join the Smash Drums Discord Channel to learn more about future updates and engage with the user community.
