BoxVR Review

Reading Time: 3 minutes

Fast Facts

BoxVR

Developer: FitXR
Publisher: FitXR
Website: https://fitxr.com/
Genre: Action, Casual, Sports
Platform: Oculus Quest
Age Rating: Everyone
Release Date: 21/05/2019
Price: £22.99

A code was provided for review purposes.

Sweat, Blood, Tears

There is no denying that fitness gaming has gained a lot of steam when it comes to the Oculus Quest. Already the standalone VR headset has had the likes of Beat Saber, Audica, Pistol Whip, and OhShape. BoxVR has been around for a year now, coming out shortly after the Oculus Quest’s launch, although the team at Rapid Reviews UK have only recently been able to play it; we wanted to share our initial thoughts and review of the experience.

Fitness Gaming

BoxVR brings together the rhythm of music and movement into a fitness gaming package that is one part color coordinated jabs, hooks, uppercuts, and blocks, along with leaning left, right, and squatting down. If you haven’t tried a fitness VR game or think that gaming and fitness shouldn’t be in the same sentence together, then you need to try BoxVR.

When you load up BoxVR you can see a listing of routines based on time intensity, as well as ones that contain or omit some aspects of the boxing regiment like whether or not you will be doing squats, for instance. The routines are time based and switch things up throughout by increasing tempo, switching your stance, and mixing in various squats, blocks, and punches to the beat of the music.

Box Saber

It’s easy to compare BoxVR to games like Beat Saber, due to its color-based approach to the spheres you will be jabbing at, uppercutting, and giving a right or left hook to. But that’s about where the comparison ends. While it may be appropriate to lump Beat Saber and BoxVR into the music rhythm category, Box VR is on a whole other level when it comes to its focus on fitness. 

In Beat Saber, I can play through most five and six minute songs without so much as a sweat or loss of breath, but within a minute of BoxVR I will be exasperated and starting to sweat. Now some of that is in part because I am an overweight, middle-aged gamer that spends his work day in a chair staring at a computer, the other part to this is that BoxVR is a true workout.

With each hook, jab, and uppercut you will need to focus on the timing of your punches, as well as the velocity in which you execute them if you want to also get a high score. Completing your routine will net you a score based on accuracy percentage of each time of hit, as well as the strength in which you punch.

Routine Exercise

This year, more specifically during quarantine, I have taken it upon myself to incorporate BoxVR, along with a few other VR fitness games, into my weekly routine. With BoxVR I feel the burn, the sweat, and the melting away of my ‘gamer-dad bod’ and it feels great. I haven’t lost a lot of weight to say for sure that BoxVR has changed my life, but I also wouldn’t suggest getting in a street fight with me; just kidding, you’d probably whoop my butt. That being said, BoxVR is a great game which helps to enforce a good workout routine while also being ‘game’ enough to be fun while you sweat and punch your way to victory.

Rapid Reviews Rating

You can purchase BoxVR for the Oculus Quest at the following link: Oculus Store