I found myself bored on a rainy Saturday and as I was browsing through the Steam VR store one particular game caught my eye – Happy Penguin VR. The game is similar to Angry Birds in the sense that you have to fling a penguin in the air and then navigate it to hit certain bases and rings. The game is meant for the casual VR gamer as there are no levels in particular and the content is pretty limited.
Happy Penguin VR takes only a few minutes to download and install. Released on March 31st 2017, and with a price tag of $5.99 I didn’t expect much when I started the game. You find yourself standing at the side of a small pool with a jumping platform where penguins line up for and jump in the water. At first you may be confused as to what you must do in the game but when looking around you find a wooden baseball bat.
The game doesn’t require much room to play as all movement is done by pointing and using the touchpad on your controllers. After you equip your weapon of choice (Wooden Club, Steel Pip, or a Huge Hammer) and position yourself at a good spot to hit the Penguins you are ready to set new records.
When the penguin jumps in the air you must hit it with your weapon right as it is about to dive, depending on the timing of your hit the game will display Bad, Good, Perfect, or Excellent. If you use the big hammer the game will switch to the point of view of the flying penguin which can disorient some players at first.
Personally I felt some nausea when i took the POV of the flying penguin as the scenery and the high sensitivity of the headset made me a bit dizzy. However, I definitely didn’t experience the simulation sickness for long as after playing the game for a few minutes I got used to it.
You control the flying penguin in the air by looking in the direction you want to go, that type of movement along with pointing and using the touchpad is seemingly becoming an industry standard these days.
The goal is to have the penguin reach the longest distance possible, hitting bases and flying into the rings in the air gives your penguin an extra boost. Furthermore, you can purchase special abilities like rockets or a snowboard which can give even more boost to your character. My personal highest score was around 2400 meters, see if you can beat that!
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