Mark Zuckerberg reached out to TheGamer personally and gave two of its brightest sparks a test to ring in the New Year. Myself and tabletop editor Joe Parlock are diving deep intoMeta Quest 3and its array of fitness and exercise applications to complete a series of challenges.
Over the next couple of weeks, we’ll be diving into a handful of games available on Meta’s newest headset and seeing if we have what it takes to cut the mustard. In other words, we’ll flail around helplessly until our sweaty states resemble some form of progress. Jokes aside, after just a week with the headset and certain applications, I’m already finding myself sinking into a neat routine, one where gamified exercise holds an appeal I haven’t felt since the first days of Ring Fit Adventure. Without further delay though, strap in and let’s get started.
Tripp
This subscription apparently began life as an experience geared more towards recreational drug users, before pivoting to meditation and wellness after it turned out getting high didn’t sit well with most distributors. You’ll need to pay a monthly, annual, or lifetime fee to progress past the impressive demo, but otherwise, Tripp is a surprisingly relaxing form of meditation in which you feel transported briefly to another plane to melt your worries away. Here’s what we both thought.
Jade:I really liked this one! The fact I took an edible beforehand really helped, but learning to make stones float inBreatheor influencing the environment with my breath was a strange sensual experience at first, but the more I embraced it, the more I got out of it. I will note that some of the videos and other elements available in the app are streamed, so it can result in immersion breaking artifacts appearing in certain parts of the image. That aside, I think it’s worthwhile balancing this with more intensive workout apps. As someone with anxiety, there was a sobering amount of reflection going on as I floated through weird mushroom fields.
Joe:Unlike Jade, I was totally sober going into it. I was also absolutely knackered, so I decided to make liberal use of the ‘recline’ option and lay on my bed while doing our mindfulness sessions in Tripp for possibly the easiest workout ever devised.
Sometimes it made me feel a bit barfy, especially when playing through the video-based travel sessions that had no depth of field to them. But when it works, Tripp is a fantastically relaxing experience. Soaring through fractals and kaleidoscopes, and having someone walk you through circular breathing and centering yourself actually did help me feel calmer at the end of a very, very long day.
Cleansheet
Joe:Cleansheet is a goalkeeping training tool, throwing you into various challenges involving people kicking balls directly at your face. At first, I was really impressed by how well mo-capped the training dummies were as they dribbled and passed their way down the pitch to try and get a goal past me, and then I realised my room is woefully too small for this as I careened into my air conditioning unit.
I’ve got Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome which means I need to be a bit more careful with my joints. The ducking and diving of goalkeeping put my knees in some precarious positions at times, but I certainly worked up a sweat. It’s a bit simple, but if you want to improve a specific thing like goalkeeping, this feels like a fantastic way to do it.
Jade:I also encountered trouble with both the size of my play space and exactly how big the goal should be to best accommodate the sort of exercise you’d want to gain in Cleansheet. It doesn’t merely ask you to reach into the air or to the side to occasionally stop a ball. You are expected to dive across the living room or bend your body in unexpectedly creative ways to prevent the athletic ghosts before you from scoring. I can see this being a great practice tool in a larger space if you’re willing to dig into specific leaderboards and modes or if it’s way too windy outside to touch grass and play footie the old-fashioned way.
Gym Class
Jade:From one form of ballin to another, Gym Class is yet another service-based game that allows you to play different ball sports, namely Baseball, Basketball, and Football. I joined up with a few randoms at first to test my skills online and get a feel for the controls, only to learn that a lot more effort is required to excel at virtual sports than expected. Gym Class takes the strength of your arm movements and body positioning into account all the time, stressing the necessity of form instead of allowing you to Wii Sports your way to victory from the sofa. It is immediately engrossing as a consequence of the physics of both bats and balls feeling lifelike, despite the fact you never hold onto anything.
There’s an emphasis on communal spaces too, allowing you to jump into populated lobbies and practise your skills with real - and surprisingly friendly - people. I was sharing my spoils with everyone as Joe and I hit off a few rounds and figuring out the targeting system. With a solid group of friends and willingness to learn in your possession, this could be a winner.
Meta has asked us to complete a variety of challenges assigned to each game, such as making rocks float in the ‘Breathe’ mode of Tripp or hitting a 400ft home run in Gym Class. So far, we have ticked a fair few off our list!
Joe:This was definitely my favourite game in the first week of our challenge. The shared space full of kids which was slightly off-putting, but before long we got into theswingof things and were playing catch, batting balls, and generally messing around and having a great time. It’s as much a sandbox as it is a bona-fide workout tool, and after a while or just mucking about, I was already feeling pretty warm.
Like Cleansheet, I had to be cautious of my joints when throwing the ball because of just how much force you need to put into your throws. But once I’d got the hang of it, I found there is a surprisingly complex sim here for improving your baseball, basketball, and American football games. I kind of wish golf was an option, because it would be a perfect fit for Gym Class.
