When House Flipper was released on Steam, we were always thinking this would be great in VR. The VR version of the game is now available on the Oculus Quest, so we have pulled up our virtual sleeves and headed into game, so, does it work in VR?
Gameplay
The games name really threw me at first, as my idea of a house flipper is you buy a house that needs work, do it up and sell it on for a profit – however, as you complete the base jobs in the game, you seem to be a handyman for hire.
This will see you going into different houses completing a range of jobs, for different reasons – be it someone has made a mess of their kitchen to someone playing a prank on a friend to name a few. As you progress you will unlock new tools that will allow you to do more jobs. The tasks you will find yourself carrying out over the games sixteen jobs are cleaning, tidying up the rooms, removing base coats of wall, plastering and painting walls. As well as these jobs you might be selling some of their items and replacing them with newer better items, buying them items or even fitting sinks, baths and radiators around the house. Once you have completed the jobs you can tidy up the house, like placing the plates in the cupboards and so on, but you can just ignore these if it is not a requirement of your contract.
As you are completing the jobs, you will be rewarded with money and also some points for the games small progression tree. With these points you can upgrade your equipment and your abilities of doing the tasks. The way the game plays out, if you one-hundred percent each job you will have completed your skill tree before you are at the last job. The money is used for the jobs if need to buy paint or items likes baths, TV’s, units or sofas for the updating of houses in your jobs. However, your monetary gain from completing the job more than covers the cost of your items.
Outside of the core jobs in the game, this is where the house flipper element comes in. You can buy set houses and do them up using all the skills you have learnt in the jobs in the game. Once these are complete you can then flip them for a profit and move onto bigger better things.
Presentation
Visually the team have gone for a simple style with the Oculus Quest build of the game, using more flat and simple textures on the buildings and items. Although they have gone with this style, if the game looks like something you would enjoy don’t let this put you off. We found that the game still felt immersive when playing it and you really don’t mind the simplistic design choice.
With the audio you are going to get some relaxing and happy music as you complete to work required, be it within the jobs you take on or when working on your houses to flip. To go with this you are going to get realistic noises to go with the jobs you are carrying out; be it the thud of the hammer removing the base coats, the spray of the paint gun or the scrubbing of the brush. This use of sound will keep you immersed in the tasks you are carrying out, and is all the game really needed.
Comfort/Controls
The game comes with a high number of comfort settings, making it available to play for anyone. The team have included room-scale, standing and seated options. For movement it offers teleport, and since it’s launch they have also added smooth locomotion after feedback.
With the controls, the main buttons you are going to be using are the grips and triggers to carry out your jobs. Once you have had some time learning to load and navigate the menu system for your jobs and buying items it becomes second nature. The only real issue we found with the controls is sometimes it’s very easy to pick up items around the house, for example; removing cupboards of the walls by accident – and this is something we still manage to do now, luckily it’s easy to put back.
Longevity
The sixteen base jobs that are in the game, are going to take you around four to five hours to complete, as you learn everything you need to know to allow you to clean, decorate and update the houses. However, if you enjoy these base mechanics, you can then move into the decorating the houses and flipping them, which could add hours to the game for you. As you now have free-roam to do what you want with the houses, before selling them.
reviewed using oculus quest
For the purposes of transparency, this review was created using a sample provided by the company or their respective PR company. The use of a press sample does not affect my judgement of the product.
Review Overview
House Flipper VR brings something different to the Quest, all while offering and enjoyable experience. The sixteen jobs will get you used to your skills and navigating the menus, and then if you are enjoying the games mechanics you can move on and buy and flip houses for a profit – decorating them how you like. However, although the game brings with it a number of skills that all feel different, it still feels a little lacking in this area. But, if you are looking for something that’s a little different in VR, and want to buy and flip some virtual houses, this is certainly a title that is worth it.
