Gym Class VR Gets New Basketball and Baseball Modes

Gym Class VR has been around for a long time as one of the best VR basketball games out there.

Over time it has seen a lot of improvement with refining of its physics and mechanics, the addition of new game modes, AI opponents, courts, and cosmetics.

Though as you can see from the title of this article Gym Class is no longer just focused on the world of VR basketball, and now also includes game modes for Baseball and Football.

At the time of writing Gym Class’s Baseball and Football game modes are very rudimentary when compared to the long existing Basketball portion of the game, but they have also been very recently released and haven’t seen nearly as much development time and attention.

So let’s take a look at Gym Class VR Baseball and Gym Class VR Football to see what’s currently being offered by this VR sports game, and where future developments might hopefully take them.

Gym Class VR Football

Gym Class might not be a titan in the world of Virtual Reality Football yet, but it’s fantastic to see another VR football game out there, as there aren’t currently a whole lot to choose from.

Currently Gym Class Football is multiplayer only, with no Singleplayer bots, but a game is very easy to find by going to the multiplayer menu and joining a Football room.

Joining a Gym Class VR Football game

As for what you can do once you’ve entered a room… well as I’ve said previously it’s a bit limited at the moment.

Gym Class Football is less of an organized game of football with all of the rules enforced as in other VR football games.

It’s more of a loose practice arena, though if you really tried and got everybody to cooperate you could theoretically play a game of football.

Throwing the Football

Currently you can only really spawn Footballs and throw them around to other players.

So running some passes and drills is completely possible, and it is a lot of fun to go for a really deep pass that your buddy throws at you, but if you want a more organized football game you might want to go elsewhere, like NFL Pro Era 2.

Still, as far as arenas for messing around with a VR Football in multiplayer go, Gym Class’s Football mode gives a lot of freedom and it’s still a lot of fun to mess around and throw passes with others in Virtual Reality.

Another player failing to catch a deep pass

As for what would be nice to have in the future, the option to start a more formal game of football with some rules enforced, just as in Gym Class VR’s Basketball mode, would be fantastic, though maybe not as easy to create for the developers.

The physics could also possibly use a little improvement, though there are still some options for tweaking how your VR Football throws and handles. As always VR ball physics is sort of up to your opinion. What already exists is definitely serviceable for throwing passes and having fun.

It’s already enough to call Gym Class VR Football one of the best VR football games from the limited selection that we have, mostly because it’s Multiplayer, and the only other Multiplayer VR Football game option is NFL Pro Era 2.

Gym Class VR Baseball

Now for Gym Class’s Baseball game mode.

Just like with Football the Baseball mode is Multiplayer only and there are a ton of rooms available to join.

Joining a Gym Class VR Football game

Straight out of the gate it already has more options than the Football mode currently has. You can spawn baseballs at will and throw them for fun games of catch just like in the Football mode.

Now you can also pick up one of the baseball bats lying around and hit pitches.

Holding the bat and ball is a little janky

You don’t even need someone else to throw them to you, though that’s certainly an option. You just hit the ball spawning button while standing in one of the several batters boxes scattered around the field and a ball will come hurtling towards you.

This is great fun on its own, but does still need some work. The number one thing that would be nice to have in Gym Class VR Baseball would be adjustable strike zones. Hopefully there’s already a way to do this I couldn’t find, but looking everywhere and even asking other players didn’t reveal one.

As they are right now they’re extremely close to the ground and hitting the ball feels more like golf than baseball. The box that you see floating above the ground is where the ball will come towards, and they’re at about groin height for an adult.

Missing a swing when the ball is coming towards my knees

Not to mention that you can only hold the baseball bat with one hand, which is definitely the number two thing that would be nice to have in Gym Class Baseball.

It feels very awkward to swing the bat with one hand, though the bat does have some nice weight to it. Overall the physics feel even more rudimentary than the Football mode, and so the Baseball game mode does definitely need some work.

While it’s just as possible to get a game of Baseball together if the other players cooperate, it would also be nice to be able to start a game with scoring and rules enforced. Though the throwing physics are so difficult it’s hard to even throw a pitch from the mound to the batter’s box.

Another player throwing a patch from the mound, this took a lot of tries

Just like Gym Class Football, Gym Class VR Baseball is more of a sandbox than a way to play the game of Baseball, but it’s also a fun way to mess around with some VR Baseball.

Well that’s all for Gym Class’s new Baseball and Football game modes. While they really could use some work at the time of writing, it’s doubtful that the developers of Gym Class will leave them the way they are.

Just as with their Basketball game mode I have no doubt that they’ll continue to change and develop the Football and Baseball portions of the game over time so that they’ll stand as very fun experiences of their own.

For right now though, Gym Class is still free, and if you want to throw some passes with a friend in VR it’s still a great way to do that. Whether you try out Gym Class’s new game modes now or later, enjoy!

13 Amazing Free Quest 2 Games

If you want to try a new Oculus Quest 2 game but don’t want to spend any money then you’ve come to the right place. Here are some Fantastic free Quest 2 Games that won’t cost you a single cent and are a ton of fun. With all the free Quest 2 Games on this list you could have countless hours of VR gaming fun all for free! You’ll see some games here you might have heard of before, and even some you probably haven’t, so make sure to keep reading until the end, because you might find a free Quest 2 game that surprises you.

Oh, and all of these games are available on the Oculus Quest store or app. Some are on the app lab, so make sure you can access the app lab to find those.

Rec Room

So you might have heard of Rec Room before, and it sits at the top of this list because Rec Room isn’t really a single game, it’s a lot of games tied up into one.

Rec Room has a ton of options, and as far as free VR games go it really covers a lot of bases all on its own. There’s paintball, basketball, and basically anything anyone can make with Rec Room’s maker tools. That’s right, Rec Room also lets you create your own levels and games inside of it.

Still, there’s more than just games to enjoy in Rec Room, it’s also a social space. You can just join rooms to hang out and meet people. Another fun part of Rec Room is unlocking more cosmetic items for your character over time. You can start out looking any way that you want to, but your outfits need to be unlocked. You can look like a knight, or a basketball player, really whatever you want to if you’ve collected enough tokens.

Rec Room is a great way to try a lot of free VR games and experiences in a single package. The one downside is that Rec Room is not the greatest at any of these experiences. It’s a great free social game that you can jump into with your friends, but any of the games inside are going to be far from the best. By having a little of everything Rec Room is the best at nothing.

Still, if you’re not sure exactly what you want to try and would like a big selection of experiences in a single package, or if you want to make some friends, then Rec Room is a great free Quest 2 game to try.

V-Speedway

Alright, now for one of the free Quest 2 games you probably haven’t heard of. V-Speedway is a racing game that runs on the Oculus Quest 2 entirely in VR.

V-Speedway is simple and straightforward. Accelerate, steer, and break. There are a few tracks to choose from and a range of AI opponent difficulties to race against. There aren’t many cars to choose from and there are few customization options. Still, V-Speedway is a fast and fun VR arcade racing game.

If you’re very into VR racing games in general and want more then a more advanced, but not free Meta Quest 2 game like GRID Legends may be more your speed. If not then V-Speedway is a fun and easy way to do a little racing. The only real downside is occasionally losing tracking during a turn, which is very annoying when it happens but preventable by keeping your steering wheel around chest height.

If you’re interested to try a VR racing game, but don’t want to put any money down quite yet, then V-Speedway is a fast, fun, and free way to give Quest 2 racing a try.

Population: One

Do you like Battle Royales? Well then you’ll like Population: One, as it’s the only Battle Royale available on the Quest 2. It’s a pretty great one though, and while each match doesn’t support as many people as a flat screen Battle Royale, there are still a lot of players for a free VR game. More than enough to make the game tense, and Population: One keeps the repositioning and equipment gathering between firefights fast paced.

You might not have heard that Population: One recently became a free Quest 2 game! Movement is quick and fun, with the ability to glide by stretching your arms out or climb up buildings with your bare hands. You have health as well as shields, meaning combat can be a protracted and very fun affair. There’s also building, but it’s not as widespread or as quick to do as in other games like Fortnite.

Population: One does have a bot mode for Singleplayer, but the heart of the game is playing with a squad of other people and trying to be the last ones to survive. If you love Battle Royales and want to see what one would be like in Virtual Reality then get your hands on Population: One.

Echo VR

Echo VR is basically a whole sport made for and purely played inside of Virtual Reality. If you’ve ever seen or watched Ender’s Game, Echo VR is basically that in Virtual Reality, but minus the guns. Instead you try to get a disc through your opponents’ goal, and you can punch your opponents in the head to stun them.

What makes Echo VR so amazing in Virtual Reality is that everything is in Zero Gravity. You float around like you’re on a space station, and can vault yourself off of walls and objects by grabbing them and pulling or pushing on them. There’s no real life sport that’s like Echo VR, because real life has gravity.

When the round starts you and your team are launched into the arena and immediately have to scrabble to get the disc and try to bring it closer to your opponent’s goal so you can throw it and get it into the goal. It’s basically 3D Football/Soccer.

This free Meta Quest 2 game is a ton of fun. Launching yourself at an opponent and punching them in the head is thrilling every time, whether you’re on offense or defense. Unlike conventional sports you need to be fully aware in all directions, and think in 3D rather than 2D.

Unfortunately Echo VR is offline as of August 1, 2023, but it will remain on this list to a testament to what it once was, and in the hopes that one day it will be back.

Gym Class - Basketball VR

Are you a basketball fan? Maybe so, maybe not, but either way it’s a ton of fun to get on the court to take a few shots and make a few plays in VR with Gym Class - Basketball VR. While it’s not the only Basketball game on the Quest 2, it is the only free Quest 2 Basketball game.

Gym Class VR aims to be as accurate a simulation of Basketball in VR as possible. Unlike the other Quest 2 basketball games there is no dribbling mode to make dribbling easy, and no button you just press to jump. You have to actually dribble manually if you want to, though you’ll find in matches that most people won’t even bother to, it’s that hard. The shooting feels very natural and true to life, though you might have to adjust some of the shooting settings like your power and wrist angle to get it feeling just right. It’s great that those settings are there to adjust the game for all sorts of players, and Gym Class VR has the best shooting once you adjust your settings and get used to it.

Dunking is hard too, though not as hard as in real life. You actually have to physically jump up a little for your jump button to even work. It takes some timing that is hard to learn but very satisfying to master. Though if you play Gym Class VR you should make sure you have a high ceiling so you don’t break your hand trying to land a dunk.

Gym Class VR is great if you’re looking for VR Basketball Training, because it doesn’t just hand you the tools to be fantastic right from the start. You have to learn them and apply some actual skill to make some amazing plays.

The primary focus of this game is Multiplayer, that’s where most of the fun is, and you’ll find players at a variety of skill levels. Only the general absence of dribbling makes this not feel like a real game of basketball (though some players will still insist on it). There are some bots for Singleplayer as well, but they have limited AI and are used mostly for warm up challenges and tutorials.

Gym Class VR is a great free VR Basketball Game. While the combination of realism and VR might not be for everyone, at the price of nothing it’s at least worth a try.

Gods Of Gravity

In Gods of Gravity you and your opponent are both gods with a grand view of a celestial battlefield containing multiple planets. These planets produce ships, and your job is to conquer your way across the little solar system and capture your enemy’s home planet to destroy it.

While this is a pretty simple premise, and a very old style of arcade RTS game based off of sending ships from spawn points to capture new resources and spawn points, Gods Of Gravity is still a very interesting and free example of this sort of gameplay in Virtual Reality.

You can play Gods of Gravity in campaign missions, or skirmish against bots. Best of all you can play it against other live players. The strategy is pretty simple at first, but gains a lot of depth over time as you get new godly abilities, new ship types, and a number of gods to choose from with different strengths and weaknesses.

Gods of Gravity is definitely the best free VR RTS for the Oculus Quest 2, and playing a strategy game in Virtual Reality is definitely a lot of fun. If you want a strategy game experience in VR that is simple to start and hard to master then Gods of Gravity might just be the free Oculus Quest 2 game for you.

Poker VR | PokerStars VR

Feeling the itch to put it all on the line and see how good your VR poker face is? Well then Poker VR is the free Quest 2 game for you! If you are interested you might want to try PokerStars VR as well.

If you’re a fan of Texas Hold’em Poker then these two Poker VR games are just what you’re looking for. There are a variety of game modes. There is currently a lot of debate between which of these two games is the better one. They are both slightly different, and your preference will likely come down to what you naturally prefer. There are different environments to play Poker in in both, and different characters to represent you in the game.

The two games share a lot of similarities, but either way these are two great free Quest 2 poker games.

Gorilla Tag

Out of all free VR games, none is as popular or widespread as Gorilla Tag. That’s because it’s a concept that is totally unique to Virtual Reality and out of all the free Quest 2 games listed here is one of the most creative and unlike any real life experience you might have.

In Gorilla Tag you are a gorilla (or as most players say, monke) and you can’t walk. Why? Because you have no legs, that’s why. Your legless Monke can only move when you swing your arms and hit them against surfaces around you. That’s the essence of why Gorilla Tag is so much fun and also can only be done in VR. The movement is what makes the game, and while it’s not too hard to get a basic handle on how to push yourself forward and bounce off of a wall, becoming a real expert Monke that bounces around the map wherever and whenever you want to is really hard.

Gorilla Tag has a number of game modes, but the most common and popular is Infection. In Infection one player starts as a lava Monke that has to touch another player to turn them into a lava Monke. It’s basically an old school game of tag in VR, but trying to run away or tag another player is so much fun because of how you have to move. Jumping from wall to wall and obstacle to obstacle with Gorilla Tag’s movement is difficult by so rewarding when you do it right.

Oh, and Gorilla Tag even has mods in the PCVR version (it’s free on PCVR too through Steam or Oculus).

Gladiatus

Gladiatus is probably the most unknown of all of these free Oculus Quest 2 games. It’s also probably the lowest budget one too. You can tell immediately when you start the game from the models used by the characters. These low poly characters are often the exact ones that you might have seen in other low budget indie titles. Still, Gladiatus wouldn’t be on this list if it wasn’t fun.

That’s because in Gladiatus you are a gladiator in a future where aliens have taken over and zombies roam the planet. You fight waves of mostly zombies that get harder and harder over time. Meanwhile you spend what money you have on weapons and upgrades to overcome the hordes. Eventually aliens will attack you as well, and the chaos that can happen in the arena as you struggle to survive is a strange mix of heart pounding and silly.

Despite its basic visuals and low budget, Gladiatus runs more smoothly than you might expect on an Oculus Quest 2. It’s the basic wave based arena combat formula done well with a variety of enemy types and tools to defeat those enemies to choose from.

The big downside to Gladiatus is that you can’t save how far you’ve gotten in a run. You’ll need to finish all the battles you’re capable of surviving in a single sitting. This can be a huge problem if you play for so long that your headset runs out of battery. Also, repeating the earlier waves can be a little tedious. It takes a very long time to get to the late game of Gladiatus, and the time spent getting there once you’ve already done it can feel repetitive.

Still if you want to try some zombie killing arena combat in VR, Gladiatus is still free, so it’s worth giving a try.

Bait!

Want a free Quest 2 game to just sit back, relax, and have a nice fish? Maybe sip a drink, watch the line, and wait for the fish to bite? Well then Bait! might be the free VR game you’re looking for.

In Bait! you fish. That’s about it, fishing is this game. You cast your line and wait for one of the fish wandering around to bite your hook. Luckily the fish don’t take nearly as long to bite as they do in real life, and there’s quite a lot of different kinds of fish to catch. There’s also a lot of different places to fish that you unlock as the game goes on by completing missions to catch specific kinds of fish.

The more fish you catch and the more money you collect then the more better equipment you can afford. Better equipment means you can catch bigger fish. Bait! is a satisfying Virtual Reality fishing game, and it’s pretty straightforward. If you want a free VR fishing game then definitely give Bait! a try.

Blaston

Blaston is another idea that’s pretty unique to Virtual Reality, and now it’s one of these many free Quest 2 games. Blaston is a PvP VR Bullet Hell Shooter. That description is a mouthful, and doesn’t really do this game justice, so let’s walk through it.

Each game of Blaston is between you and one other person. Both of you face each other on opposite platforms, and as soon as the match starts your weapons spawn to your left and right. You need to dodge your opponent’s bullets while trying to take them out by hitting them with your own. Whoever hits zero health first loses the round, or whoever has the lowest health when the round timer runs out.

The bullets are slow enough to dodge, though some are faster than others. The tricky part of Blaston is how you have to constantly move your entire body to avoid projectiles while also trying to hit the enemy with your own. There are a ton of different weapons that you can equip in your loadout, and there is a lot of strategizing to do with weapon combinations. This free Quest 2 game is kind of a workout really. You might want to stretch beforehand.

Blaston is really a one of a kind PvP experience that only works in Virtual Reality. Just like Gorilla Tag, Blaston is one of these free Quest 2 games that you should try at least once, because you’ll never experience anything else like it.

Elixir!

Elixir! is the shortest of the free Quest 2 games listed here, but what makes it a great free Quest 2 game is its extensive use of hand tracking. That’s right, the hand tracking natively supported by Meta Quest devices is actually good enough to base an entire game off of. So no touch controllers, everything is done using your real live hands.

In Elixir! you are a sorceress’s apprentice, and your job is to mess around with the various magical gadgets and gizmos in her lab. It’s a short game, lasting probably all of twenty minutes, but it is a very fun and whimsical quick experience. The Sorceress is funnily evil, and there are a lot of cute fantasy creatures and gadgets to play around with. All without having to use a hand controller.

Your hands even change as you combine them with magical experiments and elixirs. What’s great about Elixir! is the fact that you do everything with just your actual hands. If that’s an experience you haven’t had before then it is a truly amazing one, and showcases how far VR interactions could come in the future. Watching your physical hands change in the virtual world into demon claws and tentacles is a unique feeling that you’re not going to regret having at least once.

While it’s short and hardly a game at all, try Elixir! if you want to see just how great free Oculus Quest 2 games that use hand tracking could be.

Hyper Dash

Hyper Dash is a fun and free VR Shooter game from the folks over at Triangle Factory, the same studio that made Breachers.

Unlike Breachers, Hyper Dash is all about lightning fast movement and quick gunplay. This free VR game uses slide movement as usual, but slide movement with your joystick is slow. To move quickly you can sprint, or Hyper Dash. A Hyper Dash is a teleport, basically the same teleporting as you might see in any other VR game.

However, in Hyper Dash, teleporting is a key component to the game. You can use it to quickly dodge enemy fire or hop from cover to cover. You can also teleport on to a rail and grind it forward for free fast movement. Combining your Hyper Dash teleport with your spring gives you a huge variety of movement options that feels reminiscent of the arena shooters of the late 90s like the Quake series.

There are a ton of game modes in Hyper Dash like Payload, Team Deathmatch, and Capture the Ball. Hyper Dash is a fast paced and very well polished free Quest 2 shooter that gives you fast arena shooter gameplay totally for free. If you want to add another competitive Quest 2 shooter to your library for the price of zero dollars, gives Hyper Dash a try.

Well there you have it. A bunch of great free Quest 2 games. These great free VR games are also available on other platforms than the Oculus Quest 2 such as Steam, or on PCVR through the Oculus PC App. So any way you want to enjoy these free VR games, have fun!

3 Best VR Basketball Games on the Oculus Quest 2

Love Basketball, but still want to get some shots in when it’s too cold or there’s nobody else to play with? Well you don’t have to wait anymore, because VR Basketball Games are great on the Oculus Quest 2! Whether you want to do some VR Basketball Training or just have a little fun you’ll find the best VR Basketball Game for you here.

Blacktop Hoops VR

Want a fast paced and easy to pick up game of Basketball? Then Blacktop Hoops is exactly what you want. Its creators at Vinci Games say that it’s like NBA Street in VR. That’s pretty apt, because Blacktop Hoops is all about fast streetball, with all the beautiful city courts and funky hip hop beats you could want. It’s a colorful and beautiful game, and most importantly it’s got a fast pace and a very easy to learn control scheme.

In Blacktop Hoops VR you can be smashing the hoop with VR Dunks in five minutes. Dribbling is easy, the ball is practically chained to your hands, and you can quickly do a lot of sweet crosses to confuse and outplay your opponent. Speaking of opponents, Blacktop Hoops currently has the best bots in any VR Basketball Game. They have a variety of difficulty settings that are suitable for novices or pros. Playing against bots almost feels like playing against a real person. This is also a Multiplayer VR Basketball Game too, with open courts and games up to 3v3.

With more arcadey controls, hilarious announcers, and bright colors, Blacktop Hoops is the ultimate VR Basketball Game to do crazy court tricks and smash buckets home. It’s the greatest way to feel like a VR Streetball champ in an afternoon.

This game is now fully released with a fun singleplayer campaign against a variety of bot opponents on various difficulty levels. You can even play 2v2s, and Multiplayer is fully added as well. Check it out on the Meta Store.

Gym Class VR

Gym Class VR aims to be as accurate a simulation of Basketball in VR as possible. Unlike the other games you’ll see on this list there is no dribbling mode to make dribbling easy, and no button you just press to jump. You have to actually dribble manually if you want to, though you’ll find in matches that most people won’t even bother to, it’s that hard. The shooting feels very natural and true to life, though you might have to adjust some of the shooting settings like your power and wrist angle to get it feeling just right. It’s great that those settings are there to adjust the game for all sorts of players, and Gym Class VR has the best shooting once you adjust your settings and get used to it.

Dunking is hard too, not as hard as in real life, but you actually have to physically jump up a little for your jump button to work. It takes some timing that is hard to learn but very satisfying to master. Though if you play Gym Class VR you should make sure you have a high ceiling so you don’t break your hand trying to land a dunk. Gym Class VR is great if you’re looking for VR Basketball Training, because it doesn’t just hand you the tools to be fantastic right from the start. You have to learn them and apply some actual skill to make some amazing plays.

The primary focus of this game is Multiplayer, that’s where most of the fun is, and you’ll find players at a variety of skill levels. Only the general absence of dribbling makes this not feel like a real game of basketball (though some players will still insist on it). There are some bots for Singleplayer as well, but they have limited AI and are used mostly for warm up challenges and tutorials. Gym Class VR is also a free VR Basketball Game! While the combination of realism and VR might not be for everyone, at the price of nothing it’s at least worth a try.

Big Ballers Basketball VR

Big Ballers Basketball is a faster paced game than Gym Class VR, with controls that are less easy to get used to than Blacktop Hoops VR. It occupies a space between these two games. While it does have a fairly good dribbling system it isn’t as easy and intuitive as Blacktop Hoops. While it gives you some ability to change your shot power, there aren’t as many options for dialing your shooting in as there are in Gym Class.

Big Ballers Basketball also lacks bots or any sort of Singleplayer component other than an empty court for you to practice on. This makes it even harder to get acclimated, and it would be nice if they include a tutorial as well at some point. Due to the Big Ballers Basketball is the hardest to get the hang of overall, but offers a happy medium between easy to grasp and arcadey, and as realistic a VR experience as possible.

What Big Ballers Basketball has that those games lack is an element of wackiness. There’s all sorts of funny skins that you can set your player to. Businessman with a hard hat on? Go crazy. Zombie with a captain’s hat on? Feel free. This is a game that doesn’t take itself as seriously as other VR Basketball Games do. Though it has some janky feel to it and this VR Basketball Game isn’t free, a lot of Oculus Quest 2 gamers say that it’s the best. This is definitely a game that has gotten better, and will continue to get better over time.

Gym Class VR vs Blacktop Hoops VR - Free Basketball on the Meta Quest 2

First off it’s just great to see basketball games coming not only to Virtual Reality, but to the Meta Quest 2. It would be hard to imagine playing a half decent game of VR Basketball with a wire hanging from your face, so a standalone headset is really vital to bringing the Basketball experience to VR. That being said, let’s see if any of the available options are a good basketball experience for you. To find out let’s look at the two new players on the court of the Meta Quest 2. Blacktop Hoops and Gym Class.

In this article you will find what each of these games has to offer in several major categories as free VR Basketball experiences, starting with their presentation.

Presentation

Blacktop Hoops blows Gym Class out of the water in terms of presentation. I mean, just listen to the intros of both games. Blacktop comes in strong with an energetic hip hop jam and a New York City streetball aesthetic. Gym Class is… well it’s less exciting. It has a more futuristic synthetic look that overall is less interesting. Just watch the intros side by side and guess which one you’ll be more excited to start playing.

The menus are kind of the same way. Blacktop lessens the energy a bit, but still has an interesting menu track, while having that menu be set on the same street-side court that the Basketball games themselves take place on. Gym Class has sort of bland menus, though it does have a bit of an interesting 80s Synthetic look to it. Still it is generic, the menu could work just as well for any other type of game.

As for the Basketball arenas themselves, Blacktop’s is a colorful street-side court with a variety of interesting characters lining the benches. Announcers insert fun Basketball slang laced phrases over the action of the game. The same hip hop soundscape accompanies the action. When the ball hits the rim, or is smacked out of your hands there is a cartoonish splash of color. The people look cartoonishly proportioned, and the colors of the city are surreally bright.

Gym Class has a slightly more down to earth look to it. Instead of a public court you get a closed in Gym, as the name of the game implies. A big sign says “Welcome To Miami” above one of the walls. The walls are painted bright teal and pink. There is no music to accompany the Gym, just the bouncing of balls and squeaking sneakered footsteps.

While the walls are a teal color, the court looks a lot like an actual basketball court, drier and crisper than the court in Blacktop Hoops. There are no splashes of color accompanying a near miss, just the clank of the hoop. Though the satisfying swish of the net when you sink a basket is just like in real Basketball.

It’s also important to note that Gym Class does not have a tutorial at all, just a control layout in the pause menu. Blacktop Hoops has a phenomenal tutorial that you play through the first time you start the game.

Dribbling

The core of everything in Basketball is Dribbling. If you can’t dribble you can’t move, and if you can’t move you can’t play anything other than a game of HORSE or a Free Throw Contest.

Blacktop Hoops makes dribbling even easier than it is in real life. The ball is attached to your hand like it’s on a yo-yo string. Unless you throw the ball or it is knocked out of your hand by an opponent, it will stay in your hand. Still, unless you move your hand up and down to dribble the ball, you can’t walk or run no matter how much you move the joystick on your left hand. Just like in real basketball you have to dribble to walk, and it’s pretty easy too.

Accompanying the dribbles is the ability to crossover. That’s dribbling the ball from one hand to another. Crossing is a great way to bamboozle your opponent and quickly change directions so you can get around them and closer to the hoop. In Blacktop crossing is done by dribbling the ball in the direction of the non-ball holding hand. It takes a little getting used to, and sometimes doesn’t seem to work when it should. Like a lot of actions in Virtual Reality it takes some practice to get consistently right, but when you do it feels great to execute a perfect cross and then sprint past your opponent. Kind of like real Basketball.

As for Gym Class there is no dribbling system as there is in Blacktop to keep the ball in your hand. Attempting to simulate a dribble by slapping a loose ball with your hand into the floor of the Gym will give you mixed results. Often the ball won’t rise back up far enough to keep a dribble going, and dribbling the ball in this way while moving is next to impossible.

You can kind of dribble by using the grip button to hold and throw the ball at the floor and grab it when it comes back up. This method is much easier but still falls apart when moving. Sometimes the ball will not bounce forward with you. With practice this is easier than just trying to slap the ball, but is still really tough.

Due to this most players don’t dribble at all in Gym Class. Instead in games they will just hold the ball and walk as they try to get it into the basket. This makes these games technically not basketball, as every player is always travelling.

That all being said there are people who dribble in Gym Class it just takes a lot of skill.

Shooting

Okay so that might be a little disappointing for some, but what about Shooting? Even without Dribbling, the ability to shoot a ball is one of the core parts of, and possibly the most fun to be had, in Basketball. Seeing the ball arc through the air over the defense, and the anticipation of seeing if it will go in or not is just as good in VR as in real life.

To the credit of both games, they both have excellent shooting. Starting with Blacktop Hoops the shooting is just as intuitive as all other aspects of the game. Just hold down trigger to go into shooting mode, and then hold up your other hand to support the ball during the shot. You can hit a button to make your character jump a little while you release the ball, or physically jump along with the shot to make it a jump shot (watch for ceiling fans).

What differentiates both games is how shooting can be modified in the settings. In Blacktop Hoops there is a setting that changes how hard shooting is. There’s Casual, Pro, and Manual. You originally set this option during the game’s phenomenal tutorial, but can change it from the menu at any time.

The thing is… there doesn’t seem to be a whole lot of difference between these difficulty settings. Each of them from Casual to Manual seems basically the same when shooting. No matter which one you choose it’s pretty tough to make shots as a beginner, so you’re best off going with Casual or Pro, just in case it helps more than is obvious. No need to make shooting unnecessarily hard at the beginning, or you’ll be doing nothing but dunking.

Gym Class doesn’t have a shooting mode for your hands like Blacktop does. Instead you just hold down the grip button and let go of it to release the ball. Gym Class does have a more refined approach to shooting settings. Instead of a general setting that affects all shooting, Gym Class lets you select the angle of your wrist and the strength of your shots with sliders.

Increasing the angle of your wrist makes your shots tend to arc higher into the air, while increasing shot strength makes them go further and faster. You can also enable or disable physical jumping. With it enabled you can jump with a button, or you can jump yourself in the real world. (Again watch out for ceiling fans). Overall Gym Class is fantastic for letting you tailor the experience to how you shoot naturally.

Dunking

Dunking is not as vital a part of the game of Basketball as movies and the NBA would have you believe. Mostly because in real life a lot of people just can’t dunk. It requires a really high jump and a lot of precision to do correctly. Though VR is a place to live out new worlds and great fantasies, like being a newcomer to Basketball that is somehow able to dunk.

That is the approach that Blacktop Hoops takes. There are not one but two jump buttons. One brings you up a couple of feet and is good for jump shots. If you press down the left joystick instead you get sent really high up into the air up to the level of the basket, an insanely high jump for most people. You can not only slap an opponents shot out of the air from this high, but you can easily dunk the ball if you are next to the basket.

It’s really easy. If you manage to get next to the basket you practically get a free point by pressing down the joystick and doing a dunking motion with your ball holding arm. They’re not hard to land. Though higher difficulty opponents give you a really hard time getting that close to the basket, and can even smack the ball from your hands before you land the dunk if they’re close enough to you when you try. That only happens on very high difficulties though.

Dunking is also the easiest way to score in Gym Class. By holding down the jump button you can jump as high as the hoop in this game as well. You just need to hold it down for a while before letting go, which is still more difficult than in Blacktop, where the jump is instant. Other than that slamming the ball home is largely the same between the two games.

Opponents

The biggest difference between the two games is who your opponents are. Blacktop Hoops is an entirely Single Player experience, while Gym Class is entirely Multi Player. Both games have practice modes where you have the court and an infinite supply of Basketballs to yourself. As far as opponents go though Blacktop Hoops has AI opponents for you to play against, while Gym Class relies on playing against other players in public lobbies.

Let’s start with Blacktop Hoops’ AI. There are five difficulty modes to choose from. The first two are incredibly easy, and if you want easy victories just immediately run for the hoop and dunk the ball before the AI catches up with you. The next three difficulty modes are much harder, because the AI can not only keep up with you, it is faster than you. If you can’t accurately shoot over its head then you need to figure out how to get around it with fakeouts, crosses, and quick hands.

The less fun part is defending against the AI. It clearly has predefined animations that it goes through depending on your position relative to it. If you are not between the AI and the hoop, it will go in for an easy dunk just like you would. If you are guarding it closely it will try and crossover and skirt around you with a twirl. If you are guarding it loosely it will take a shot. That seems to be the idea at least. The AI seems to act a little randomly sometimes, or will dribble the ball in place for a few seconds for no apparent reason but to give you a chance to steal.

What makes this annoying is not only the apparent loose logic in the AI’s responses to your guarding, but also how it will sometimes basically ignore your presence. It can just jump right through you, if that’s what it’s animation dictates, as though you aren’t there. The AI can phase through you easily, so you can’t really guard it nearly as effectively as it guards you. It’s like defending against a ghost. Your best bet is to just wave your hands around as quickly as possible so hopefully one will touch the ball and send it flying out of the AI’s hands for a steal.

So if the AI in Blacktop Hoops still needs work, how about playing against other people in Gym Class? Well, there are generally a few games open that you can join, though none of them might need new players. You can always warm up on the free half court while the game is running its course.

Since the opponents are human the games are as varied as humans are. It generally plays out like a game of pickup basketball, minus the dribbling. Some people hog the ball, others pass it generously. Some sink almost every shot, and some can’t make a basket to save their lives. The game is hard and other human opponents also have the annoying ability to walk right through you sometimes. Still, it changes constantly as the people you play against change, and so it has a much more dynamic range of competition than Blacktop Hoops does.

In Conclusion

You might be noticing a trend here. Blacktop Hoops tends to be a much more arcadey experience. You can do great crosses, dunk the ball, and have amazing plays right out of the tutorial. A lot of the tools of Basketball that take a lot of practice to acquire are just given to you. You don’t need to accumulate a lot of practice and skill in order to be pretty good at the game.

The backdrop to the game itself is the same way. You’re on a bright, clean court with a crowd watching you. Announcers comment on every play while music plays in the background. It’s all a little larger than life, and definitely larger than the average basketball player. It’s a bright fantasy, and Virtual Reality is a great place to deliver that fantasy.

Gym Class, despite it’s lack of reliable dribbling, is a more grounded experience overall. It’s duller and more constrained to reality in a good way. A Basketball experience for those who want to work for their baskets like they would in real life, or practice in Virtual Reality when they can’t for real. Getting to the point where you can make great plays is more challenging, but also can be more rewarding for it.

Both games are great at what they are trying to be. They’re really just different types of games trying to do different things with the same sport. Whichever you prefer is up to what you’re looking for. Arcadey fun that’s fast and easy to get into, Blacktop Hoops. A grounded and competitive experience, Gym Class.

Both of these games are free on the Oculus store App Lab right now. They are both great games for the Meta Quest 2. Blacktop Hoops is also available on Steam, for free. There are paid addons to Gym Class, which have not been covered here.