Remember the Kinect?
Back when it was known as ‘Project Natal’ I had some pretty lofty hopes for the tech. To be fair, those hopes were probably made a little more lofty by some tech demos that were, well, let’s just say… slightly economical with the truth.
Thrasher: The Spiritual Successor
And that leads me on to Thrasher, the spiritual successor to Thumper, which has just released on Meta Quest and Apple Vision Pro. As you’ll see in this week’s episode of VR Corner, Thrasher eschews Thumper’s industrially soundtracked uphill toboggan ride of doom and instead opts for a gameplay loop that is one part Fruit Ninja and one part Child of Eden. With a bit of Jeff Minter-y psychedelia thrown in for good measure too.
Simple Controls and Gameplay
Just like Thumper, the control scheme for Thrasher is fairly simple. Only one arm is needed to play the game, which you use to swipe a sci-fi stylised electric eel around the screen in order to smash a variety of shapes. The gameplay mechanics are drip-fed slowly over the course of the game, adding hazardous red shapes to avoid and power-ups like slow motion and charge abilities.
It’s a nice gameplay loop with an easy control scheme that’s accessible to all players, but it didn’t feel as compelling to me as Thumper did. The boss fights in Thrasher feel underwhelming and the music, while atmospheric, lacks the intensity of Thumper’s audio.
Final Thoughts
Please bear in mind that these are just first impressions based on the first hour of gameplay. It’s possible that my opinion may change with more time spent on the game. However, it seems like Thrasher may struggle to step out of Thumper’s shadow. If you’ve played Thrasher, share your thoughts in the comments below!
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