Today, Funktronic Labs has released its next virtual reality (VR) title in the form of Starbear: Taxi a quick and simple arcade experience where players have to whizz around a sci-fi world picking up fares. VRFocus spent some time getting to grips with the title, recording a gameplay video to showcase the playful cartoon videogame.
Taking the role of a cuddly bear it’s up to players to collect as many fares as possible in an allotted time. With an RC style control scheme the taxi can be controlled via slight twisting and leaning movements to move around the virtual world.
Much like Craxy Taxi time is always critical with each pickup helping to add further time to the main clock, whilst at the same time increasing the leaderboard score. Different fares will offer various scoring opportunities, with a standard point to point pickup offering the lowest, while going for one where you have to grab honey pots on route will give a bigger bonus.
Then there are the hazards to consider, with heat seeking missiles to avoid, giant spiked balls floating around and enemies with magnets that try to slow you down. Get hit whilst transporting a fare and that’s an instant fail, losing time and the points.
As you’ll see from the gameplay video below this can be a tricky process as each time you successfully complete a fare the city gets larger, becoming busier in the process. So more fares and scoring opportunities appear but also the chance to get taken out by an enemy.
There are also several modes to try out. Apart from the main campaign there’s the challenge mode which only gives you one life and Bullet Hell which dispenses with fare collecting in exchange for dodging enemy projectiles. As always, VRFocus will continue its coverage of Funktronic Labs, reporting back with any new announcements.
via Mint VR