Blacktop Hoops (2024), the popular VR basketball game, is out of early access on Quest, now serving up multiplayer and single player streetball on standalone platforms and PC VR headsets too.
Developed by Vinci Games and first released in April 2022 in alpha, the full version of Blacktop Hoops is now available, bringing with it a new GOAT campaign mode, revamped online parks for up to 4v4 matches, new maps and environments, a new Court Cam mode, training modes and more.
The studio says the game’s first official season will take place over the next four months, which will let you rank up by doing challenges and earn exclusive rewards. Users in the top 100 on the Field Goals, Threes, Dunks, Finishers, Tricks, Layups, Steals, Blocks, or Wins leaderboard at the end of the season will earn an exclusive Season One Hat and Jersey, the studio says.
As the second most-rated basketball game on the Quest platform, following the wildly successful free-to-play Gym Class (2022),Blacktop Hoops has managed to rack up over 15,000 user reviews on Quest, putting it at [4.9/5] stars.
Vinci Games, the studio behind popular VR basketball game Blacktop Hoops, has raised $5.1 million in a seed funding round.
The round was led by Makers Fund, with participation from Y Combinator, Soma Capital, Pioneer Fund, Anorak Ventures, BonAngels, and Twitch co-founder Kevin Lin. Vinci Games was previously supported by Y Combinator, and also successfully completed a Kickstarter campaign in September 2022 to the tune of $60,000.
The studio says the new funds will be used to develop Blacktop Hoops, which is currently available through Quest’s App Lab distribution channel for Quest 2, and on Steam for PC VR headsets.
First released in April 2022 in alpha, Blacktop Hoops now includes a number of online multiplayer modes, including 1v1, 2v2, 3v3, and 4v4 matches.
The streetball-inspired game, which has kicked off its open beta today, currently has a [4.9/5] star rating from around 9,000 users on App Lab, and a ‘Very Positive’ overall user rating from around 500 on Steam.
The open beta introduces to the game its first set of DLC, called the ‘Rising Legends Pack’, bringing five new AI bosses inspired by real-world streetball legends.
Founded by Oculus veteran Nathaniel Ventura and Maciej Szcześnik, former lead game designer of The Witcher series at CD Projekt Red, Blacktop Hoops is said to feature intuitive dribbling, dunking, and shooting basketball mechanics designed for VR.
“We’re excited to build the next generation of competitive sports in virtual reality,” said Ventura, Vinci Games CEO. “This round of funding helps us grow our team and build new groundbreaking features and content pushing the boundaries of VR. Blacktop Hoops has been designed from the ground up to be easily accessible for casual players with a high skill cap for competitive players; it’s extremely easy to pick up but difficult to master.”
During its time in Y Combinator, Vinci Games says it hope to build “Electronic Arts for VR sports games,” and that starting with Blacktop Hoops, it’s focusing on the “next-generation of arcade sports games for all platforms.”
It’s easy to forget what VR gaming is all about. The hunt for deeper, longer experiences often leaves us chasing well-worn cliches: multi-hour epics with character progression, cinematic action sequences, stat buffs and complex systems.
These are all well and good and can lead to rich, moreish games, but too often we see them taking precedent over the features that are truly unique to the platform. Zenith is a fine MMO and certainly benefits from additional VR features, but in its current state you could hash out a fairly comparable flatscreen version of most of the game. Cities: VR has the joy of realizing the Skylines experience in 3D, but the original offers a deeper, more technically proficient game. Only rarely are we seeing titles that could truly only be done in VR.
Two promising new games reminded me of that this week.
They were Kayak VR: Mirage and Blacktop Hoops respectively. Kayak is a visually-arresting tour of the world by water with smart, authentic controls, whereas Blacktop has the beginnings of VR’s most physical and enjoyable take on basketball yet.
If you’ve played Phantom: Covert Ops then you’ll have a headstart with Kayak VR. Developed by Better Than Life, the game uses your VR motion controllers as paddles to realistically navigate crystal-clear waters. This isn’t just about holding forwards on a gamepad and watching the camera glide past; every stroke is accurately calculated to mirror real-world movements. Dip your paddle deeper into the water and make a wider stroke and you’ll move quicker than you would if you made a fast, shallow movement. Hold it still on one side and you’ll steer yourself in the given direction.
Even navigating the straight segments of a river is an achievement here, and your reward is some of the most stunning sights you’ll find in VR. Similar to when you finish a gruelling hike or bike ride, stumbling upon these places comes with a sense of pride and accomplishment and you can feel yourself slowly start to improve your technique the more you play. That’s a very rare, and meaningful thing in any game, letalone VR.
Currently the Kayak VR’s planned for an early access release on Steam in June with a handful of maps, race modes and free roam options.
Blacktop Hoops, meanwhile, is Vinci Games’ effort to bring at least a bit of the playful culture and exhausting intensity of street basketball to headsets. It needs a bit of polishing, but there’s something special at the core.
Unlike other VR basketball games, for example, Blacktop dares to be about more than simply shooting hoops. There’s a dribbling system that is smartly somewhat magnatized; the ball tends to snap back to your hand and will even stay there for a second or two before you throw it back down. It’s a little sticky and takes some getting used to — especially if you want to pull off tricks — but it feels like Vinci is really onto something here.
It’s even better being on the attack; trying to swipe the ball out of your opponent’s hand is a concentrated moment of focus, the exact same type you’d apply to real life, and you have a real sense of your physical presence in the world as you try and block the ball.
Perhaps my favorite part, though, is the experience. Allow your opponent to score and they’ll get up in your face to brag, conjuring a genuine rivalry between you and an AI opponent. It helps, too, that the game is absolutely gorgeous in its own right, which a wonderfully realized street-side court and diverse crowds of onlookers.
The controls definitely need a little work; jumping with the click of a stick isn’t the best button layout, as I’d normally press it in expecting to sprint and unexpectedly leaping into the air. Similarly, the grip button is an odd place to toggle running. Overall there’s just a little too much finger-knotting going on. The more Blacktop can remove its dependency on button inputs and hone in on intuitive gestures like the dribbling, the better it’ll be. But even in its current state it’s the best expression of basketball in VR I’ve seen.
You can try the game’s first phase of early access right now for free on Steam and App Lab, with future updates introducing a price tag.
Two very different games, then, and two very compelling reminders of where the real magic of VR lies. If both Kayak VR and Blacktop Hops can make it to full release with robust offerings and refined controls then they could join the ranks of Walkabout, Golf+ and Eleven Table Tennis; games that get damn real close to the real thing. It’s nice to be reminded that contemporary VR is capable of that, every once in a while.
Each week we will be taking a look at some of the upcoming videogames, demos and unique experiences available through Oculus App Lab for the Meta Quest headsets. Many of these videogames come in varying states of completion, so each title is subject to change.
This week we’re shooting some hoops, untangling wires and… running away from babies?!
Blacktop Hoops
I feel like basketball games, or games which have a basketball mini-game, are a dime a dozen. It’s an easy sport to replicate in VR, although it’s difficult to get it right. So, those that feel like playing the sport for real are more of a rarity. Enter Blacktop Hoops, probably the best basketball game I’ve played in VR, hands down.
In order to get a sports game right, everything needs to feel natural – you need to forget you’re in VR, holding motion controls. With just a few buttons, Blacktop Hoops transports you into a pick-up game in a one on one game. The ball feels intuitive; pretend to dribble the ball and it bounces to the ground and back to your hand; bounce it on a diagonal towards your off-hand and you’ll perform a crossover dribble.
When you want to shoot, simply pull the trigger and use your off-hand to steady the shot. Once you let go, the ball soars cleanly, there’s no awkward physics, it makes you feel like you can shoot threes all day. There’s even a jump button to dunk or set up a fadeaway throw. My only issue is with movement. Using the thumbstick to move feels like wading through jelly at times, which often gives the AI an advantage. Even on the easiest setting, I was finding myself turned around looking for the ball while my opponent was swishing the hoop.
It’s only in alpha at the moment and it’s completely free, so it’s worth downloading to stay in the practice mode and feel like Steph Curry for a while.
Cable Salad
Weird name, right? It’s easily explained if you’ve ever seen film footage of old telephone centres, where receptionists would pull out random wires and shove them into random holes in order to connect a call. That’s Cable Salad in an elevator pitch. You stand in front of a socket and must plug in the right cable to send a message to a person on the screen. The only issue is, the cables trail over, under and roundabout, so it’s like solving a maze.
You get points for connecting the right person and the mazes get harder and harder. It’s a pretty simple concept, really. Oddly, in between rounds of playing telephone, you get to grab a toy dart gun and shoot some holographic floating targets. I’m not sure why, but it’s still good fun to be had.
It might all be very simple – though the cable mazes can get deceptively tough – but the game takes place in a kind of workshop which is wonderfully animated and realised. There are sparking robot arms, junk cluttering the shelving and a general sense of mild chaos. I’d love to see this fleshed out with a story.
Baby Tag
Okay, stick with me on this one. Remember that scene in Trainspotting where Renton is desperately trying to kick heroin and he sees the scary baby crawling across the ceiling? Yeah, well, someone put that into a game. Kind of.
Baby Tag does exactly what it says in the name; you play as a baby in a nursery and have to avoid being tagged by other babies. You use the motion controls to crawl or slide across the floor, but weirdly, you can also climb sheer surfaces by tapping the grip buttons. Personally, I began to treat this game like a survival horror, instead of the cute mini-game it’s meant to be.
Dashing away from rampaging babies covered in green slime, which I believe represents the germs that most kids carry, is frankly terrifying. Looking around the room, as the babies charge towards you is worse than staring down hordes of zombies in Left 4 Dead! It certainly spurred me on to avoid being tagged.
Sadly, there’s not much game here, but if you want a laugh, or to be frightened like a 1990’s drug addict, give it a shot.
