At this year’s E3, virtual reality developer Survios is letting tons of new players get their hands on their upcoming adrenaline platformer, Sprint Vector. I got a chance to play the racing/sprinting/flying/parkouring VR game, and even go up against a stranger in a head-to-head race, and was thoroughly impressed overall (I won).
In Sprint Vector, the object is simple: you run, jump, climb, and fly your way through an obstacle course as fast as you can, picking up power-ups and traps along the way as you try to reach the finish before your opponent. All of the movements you make in the game are powered by your own bodily movement; you swing your arms forward and back at your sides to run, you thrust them down to jump, you lean and twist your body to turn, you climb hand-over-hand to scale walls, and you throw your arms out in front of yourself like superman to control your flight as you glide through the air.
All this physical involvement of my entire body meant that, for one, I was definitely out of breath by the time I reached the finish line. But it also meant that I experienced very little motion-sickness as I navigated through the virtual world, an experience that is not always guaranteed when strapping on a VR headset.
Sprint Vector producer Chris Thompson explained to me that this was a key intended aspect of the game – that finding a way to ward off “simulation sickness” was at the core of the development of the title from the beginning. By involving the player’s entire body, Sprint Vector really immerses you in the game world and allows you to experience virtual locomotion without your brain feeling like there’s a disconnect between what you’re seeing and what your body is feeling, almost completely erasing any trace of motion-sickness (and replacing it with some solid cardio).
Sprint Vector is expected to release in 2018.