Ninja Warrior VR [IMPRESSIONS] – I Tried to Review This (And Failed Badly)

If you’ve ever watched Ninja Warrior on TV and thought, ‘I could do that’, Ninja Warrior VR is here to humbly remind you that, actually, no, you probably can’t. Or at least I definitely can’t. But fortunately, it’s also one of those rare gems where failing miserably is half of the entertainment.

Check out some screenshots down below:

When I first strapped on my trusty Meta Quest 3 headset, I was expecting something a bit more traditional – maybe using the thumbsticks to run and just pressing a button to jump, that kind of thing. Ninja Warrior VR has other plans, with it instead going for a full-motion, hand-based control scheme that feels a lot like Gorilla Tag (another game I’m really bad at). You run with your HANDS, meaning you have to reach out, essentially grab the air, and pull yourself forward. And to jump? You physically push off the ground with your hands. It sounds bizarre in words, and honestly? It absolutely is, with the whole thing feeling completely alien for the first twenty minutes or so of playing… and longer, but I DID slowly figure things out a little bit.

And this is where the ‘me issue’ comes in… I am spectacularly bad at this game. There is a rhythm to the movement – a specific cadence of pulling and pushing to build momentum – that I just could NOT get to grips with, and whilst I was flailing my arms around like a windmill trying to get up the Warped Wall, I was surrounded by a lobby of other players who were flying through the course like digital acrobats.

The multiplayer aspect is where Ninja Warrior VR really shines, even if it massively bruised my ego. The lobbies support up to 12 people, and it is pure chaos. I found myself in a match with a bunch of younger players who were, frankly, terrifyingly good – one minute I’m struggling to grip the sliding bars (the only time you really use a button), and the next, a kid who sounds about nine years old is circling me, trying to teach me the ropes. Half of them were helpful, offering tips on how to ‘flick’ my wrists to move faster, while the other half were just giggling and abusing as I fell into the water for the fiftieth time. It was embarrassing and, for the first time in a long time, I felt really, really old.

Despite this humiliation, I couldn’t stop playing. There is something undeniably infectious about the energy of Ninja Warrior VR – you’ve got people cheering each other on from the sidelines, players messing around with swords in the lobby, and that one player who just wants to be your best friend, with it all coming together nicely to make for something quite heart-warming. I didn’t come across anything hateful when playing, and given the age-range of others, it brought a smile to my face.

Check out some screenshots down below:

It is worth noting that Ninja Warrior VR is also a serious workout. I expected a casual gaming session, but I ended up sweating more than I do at the gym. Maybe it’s because I was so bad, who knows, but it definitely pushes you physically. You need a deceptive amount of space too, and I definitely punched my table while trying to make a desperate leap. But hey, that’s all part of the fun of VR, right?

To review Ninja Warrior VR properly, you probably need the coordination to actually finish the first stage, which I barely managed. But I can tell you this: if you have friends to play with, or if you don’t mind being schooled by a bunch of energetic kids, it is chaotically fun. It’s tough, it’s tiring, and it’s a blast… or at least it seems to be when you get good at it, because everyone else was having a ton of fun. And for me… well… sometimes it’s the taking part that counts, right?

Developer: MyDearest Inc.
Publisher: MyDearest Inc.
Platform(s): Meta Quest 3 (Played), Meta Quest 2
Website: https://www.meta.com/en-gb/experiences/ninja-warrior-vr/25231809936413826/

What are our ‘Impressions’ features?
As a small part-time team with busy lives, we can’t always play every title to completion for a full review. Instead, our ‘Impressions’ features serve as a snapshot of our early experience with the full release of a game. We dive in for roughly 1 to 2 hours to get a feel for the mechanics, the presentation, the atmosphere, and the vibe of the game, all whilst offering our initial thoughts to answer the question: has it hooked us enough to want to keep playing?