Fruit Ninja VR Review

After playing the mobile app Fruit Ninja, it’s been most people’s dream to do this crazy slicing in real life. However, if you go onto YouTube and type in “Fruit Ninja in real life”, you’ll get about a gazillion video full of fails and blooded body parts in the thumbnail. Well tell your fingers to fear not, now there’s a way to chop fruit midair like a ninja without the risk of losing limbs. Fruit Ninja VR gives you a way to have fun AND be safe, assuming you have a big enough room and tells your mates to not come near due to risk of a Move Controller to the head.

For those who aren’t familiar with the app, which you should download if you haven’t, you are given a blade (or in this case two) to wield along with the task to chop fruit that flies up from different angles. While in the app you swiped using your finger, Fruit Ninja VR gives you a sword to cut with; which can be irritating as you have to get every piece from the right angle. I had a few cases where I attempted to slice some fruit, only to end up hitting it out of the dojo with the side of my sword; and therefore get a strike and losing the game. In classic mode you have a limit of three fruit drops and its game over, so smacking a fruit away can be a big problem for your high score.

Another cause of a game over is the bombs that come up along with the fruit. In different modes they mean different things, but all of which are bad. In classic mode they stand as lives, and if you slice one it’s an instant game over; and in arcade mode hitting a bomb means you lose ten seconds of your minute given. Much like the problem with hitting a way the fruit, there is also an issue with attempting to bat away the bombs but end up cutting them in half and blowing yourself up. I also found trouble with the bombs falling on my right sword when I was focusing on another fruit with my left hand, so basically you just have to keep your hands by your sides if you aren’t cutting; although that does mean you can’t have a cool slicing stance.

The first thing you realise is how amazing the game looks, everything is so vibrant and colourful that it’s just a fun place to be; and once the fruit starts flying everywhere and the juices come out everything becomes so much more fun. There are also special bananas you can slice, which offer different bonuses; these often change the setting just to shake things up a bit. One type of banana offers a “Frenzy” which means fruit flies at you from both sides as you rack up points; another is a freeze banana which slows down time and puts snow all around the dojo, which is pretty damn cool to see. Then you have the less exciting bonuses of double points and a peach which gives you more time to slice in.

There are four modes to choose from in Fruit Ninja VR: Classic – Which is the version seen on the app where you have 3 lives and have to cut as much fruit as you can before you get game over; Zen mode – where you can relax without bombs and cut fruit at your leisure; Survival – where you see how long you can go slicing before you inevitably mess up; and my personal favourite, Arcade mode – where you are given 60 seconds to cut as much fruit as you can and get the highest score you can.

For a VR game Fruit Ninja is as fun as them come, and the move controllers never failed calibration wise; which is a major plus point compared to come other games I’ve reviewed.  While it may not have an unlimited way to be new and innovative, it doesn’t fail to be entertaining. You can always get your friends involved and compare your scores, or just play alone and master the art of slicing fruit. I’d say this is a must buy for any PSVR owner in need of something a little more light hearted that doesn’t make you sick.

REVIEW CODE: A complimentary Sony Playstation 4 code was provided to Bonus Stage for this review. Please send all review code enquiries to press@4gn.co.uk.