Sprint Vector – Review (PSVR)

By Phil Neyman Last updated Mar 4, 2018

VR was made with games like Sprint Vector in mind. Right off the bat before you even start a race, you feel like you are in an arena competing in front of an Olympic sized crowd. This is a feeling that most people never get to experience in their lives and it can be yours right from the comfort of your own living room.

Sprint Vector is a parkour racing game where you skate around avoiding obstacles and climbing walls. If it sounds kind of crazy… that’s because it is.

First and foremost make sure that you complete all of the tutorials before jumping into the races on or offline. Sprint Vector is an easy game to play yet a hard one to master. Until you have a firm grasp on the controls you will find yourself coasting along and suddenly miss a turn and have one heck of a time trying to right your ship.

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After completing the tutorial it’s time to jump into the races. Surveys, the developers of the game, call it an “adrenaline platformer” and this description is pretty spot on. Your adrenaline and heart rate will be so high at times you’ll swear you’re actually exercising. You control your racer by using the move controls and pumping your arms up and down as if you are running a race in real life. By moving your head, holding down and releasing the trigger and using hand motions all controlled by the Move controllers you navigate your racer to the finish line while avoiding all sorts of obstacles along the way. Once you get a handle on the controls they work pretty well. Any issue you have with the controls seem to be due to the limitations of the Move controller and not the game itself.

There are nine solo challenge maps with three modes per map. There are also twelve competitive maps that can be played alone or competitively online.

When playing through the solo challenge if you start to lag behind, the AI will basically stop and let you catch up. This can be helpful at times when you find yourself turned around or stuck behind a wall, but it can also make your wins feel hollow and unearned at times. Other games may do this, but it’s not done incredibly well here. It’s very noticeable and even in the VR space it can break the experience to some degree. With no difficulty settings it appears as though this will just be the status quo and as you get better at the controls this will happen less.

Online multiplayer right now feels fairly similar to the solo challenges only you are playing with humans instead of AI. As people get more familiar with the controls and begin to master them you could see online multiplayer become a lot harder for casual players and those who may have just picked up the game.

Sprint Vector does a great job of sucking you into its world and keeping you entertained for hours at a time. Every time that I thought I was going to stop playing I kept having that “one more race” feeling. Especially if I finished any less than first in my “final race.” Throughout my time with the game I never once felt nausea. Similar games like Rigs had me queasy within minutes and limited my playing time to one or two matches per sitting. Sprint Vector can be played for hours comfortably and for such a fast paced game that is a huge win.

If you have a PSVR and are looking for something to play during the quiet first few months of the year, Sprint Vector will be about as much fun as you will have. Make sure you take the time to learn the controls through the tutorials and you’ll be guaranteed a fun time. It is also a blast to watch someone else play.