On paper, BlazeRush: Star Track looked really appealing, the idea of Micro Machines in VR would be almost like childhood toys brought to life and a sure fire winner.
However in reality it's a bit if a miss...
The original Blaze Rush was released way back in 2014 by Russian developers Targem games (founded in 2002).
In fact you can still buy it on Steam for $2.49 (it's on sale at the time of writing this).
Blaze Rush also had a PCVR mode that Oculus players could enjoy via Rift, airlink or virtual desktop, that is, until it was intentionally removed by the developers in order to have VR exclusivity via the Oculus store. Quite rightly a lot of users were unhappy with this, as it's a pretty scummy move.
So now we come to BlazeRush: Star Track. This version is listed as being from "developer and publisher Gaijin Entertainment" which, despite it's Japanese influenced name, is also a Russian company founded in 2002.
Not entirely sure what the back and forth is between these two companies, initially it seemed Targem were the dev side and Gaijin handled the publishing. Now however they seem pretty much one and the same but separate legal entities for whatever mysterious reasons.
But I digress... BlazeRush: Star Track from 'Gaijin Entertainment', is basically a port of the original from 'Targem games' with a few extras tacked on.
There's a "campaign" consisting of 30 missions, the addition of some extra space ship themed vehicles and a new map. While there is the inclusion of a 120hz mode the graphics seem otherwise untouched and do seem extremely dated and rough up close in VR. Everything has that PS3 era muddy texture/colour quality to it.
However at $14.99 this is still decent value, well it would be if it were playable...
The controls, or rather the camera and the lack of control options.
You follow your vehicle around the track but not directly from behind. The camera just follows your vehicle to the top of the track and then pans back.
The difficulty arises when you vehicle turns the apex of the course and starts to come back toward you. Suddenly the left and right controls are switched.
In effect you are always steering the sides of the screen and not relative to the vehicle you are driving. (Unless you're currently driving 'up'the screen.
While this might be easier to acclimatize to on a TV, it is mind bogglingly disorienting in VR.
Three people with me tried this game and two just could play it when steering shifted, and simply couldn't get used to it.
While different people may have different experiences, without any controller options I'd estimate at least half the people buying it will be unable to play it comfortably and therefore very disappointed.
Overall, if you have the chance to try this before you buy and you're ok with the controls it's well worth the money.
But if not, it's just not worth the gamble and should be avoided.
You can find Blaze Rush on the Oculus store.
I did reach out to Gaijin and Targem for information regarding any future plans to implement additional controller or camera options and also for comment/clarification on the disabling of the PCVR version.
So far we've received no response, I'll update this article if that .
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