Biathlon Battle VR

"Just Because You Can Shoot, Doesn't Mean You Can Be A Biathlete"
A quote that I think can be right,
Real life cross-country skiing and VR shootouts are for me the closest experiences I can relate to Biathlon, unfortunately I haven't gotten closer than this, without counting 'Biathlon Battle VR', because Virtual Reality is again that solution to get 'just ' that little closer to the experience.
Watch my first gameplay here:
Biathlon, a sport in which every athlete can participate, but which not every athlete is intended for,
I can imagine how hard this sport can be, especially in bad weather.
Anyway, the sport didn't originate as a sport but was invented by Scandinavian hunters, and not just modern ones, but this literally goes way back in history, you have to point it out to them and especially in the old times, to get on this way through the vast deserts of forests and snow with their then weapons in hand, and even now this will not be an easy task, but alright, enough school time,
Biathlon is therefore a rough sport that we can appreciate, not at all like a touchy session of soccer.
We will never be able to experience the persistence of this sport through virtual reality,
we're never going to feel our muscles sour to the bitterness of overuse to keep going, nor would we feel the cold-blooded cold hurt our skin through VR, anything to be the best!
But via vr we can swing back and forth with our vr controllers to simulate this and pretend we can handle it ;)
The shooting part is of course not that difficult in VR compared to the real sport,
you have to realize that when you practice this sport that your arms can/will be very tired and the cold & energy consumption will also take its price on your concentration,
but in VR we can of course also simulate and pretend we are all the best at this.
Biathlon Battle VR is in my opinion a nice VR game that you can't find anyone else about,
what you get to see in the trailer is all you can expect from it, no more, no less, and that's how it should be.
The only thing that is missing in a game like this is an online multiplayer mode, but at this price we have no reason to complain.

EDIT: Review changed from not recommending to recommending!
So, I tried this game again today and I must say there has been a lot of development over a year! One thing that I complained about earlier, the steering, has been changed to work a lot better compared to the first time I tried the game. The game has gained significant performance boosts and the game mechanics are overall very nicely executed.
Also, the gun sounds in this game have more balls than any game I have ever played :D

Experienced on Windows Mixed Reality
Please note: I received a free Steam key through the Steam Curtator Connect program
You can view my gameplay & initial impressions review here:
I can recommend this game. It's definitely the best Biathlon simulator in VR and that's because it's the only one. However, do not expect a simulation. I think this game is more on the arcade side. The graphics aren't the best, but they are good enough to give you the immersion of actually being in a Biathlon competition and the game runs good enough (I was getting 60-70 fps on my 1060 GTX with video recording software also playing).
There are several tracks from different countries. While the backgrounds do not change dramatically, the shape of the course do. For example, Germany is a short and easy track while France has three different tracks that all have various twists and turns.
You ski by using your motion controllers to propel yourself forward. You race against AI competitors. At some point during the race, you will ski towards the target shooting and use your rifle to hit the targets. You have a scope and will need to hit all 5 targets or be penalized for each miss.
The skiing does feel more like arcade than realistic to me, especially with having to tilt your head side to side to navigate the curbs. It is unknown whether you need to crouch to gain momentum or not as that was not explained during the tutorial. I tried crouching but didn't notice a speed increase.
The rifle can be unwieldy to shoot quickly and accurately with. I would usually only hit 2 targets in my attempts and, as such, would not finish in the top 3 as required to get into the championship. The default rifle scope just bounces around too much. Even holding with two hands doesn't really steady your aim. The shooting was the least fun part of this game for me personally.
Lastly, the physics could use some work. While you can lose momentum if you bump into a competitor in front of you, you can usually clip by them on the sides. Conversely, they can pass right behind you, through your body, and they won't slow down at all. How fast you swing your ski poles also seems to not effect speed that much as long as you're consistently swinging them, you'll maintain maximum speed. Unfortunately, the ski shop indicates this was intended as you can upgrade your skis to go faster or your rifle to shoot more accurately.
Rate ?/10. I do recommend this game, but I haven't played it enough to give an accurate score. It'd good for what it is, but you can tell this is not made by a AAA developer or the funding that would go along with that to make a polished experience. I heard this is a solo dev, if so, then this is quite an impressive feat.

This game has gotten pretty good. It was decent at launch but with recent updates it has become a full fledged game with champinship, money, upgrades, voiced tutorial, polished UI. The skiing part is just ok. The shooting part is more fun for me.
Not a bad game.

I really like this game. I already completed some championships. Responsive controls, fun shooting. Try not to shoot at targets, but at a cupboard in the Shop.
PS Don't skip game tutorial. It's important 🙂