This Quest 3 mixed reality drone game brings frantic fun to your living room
Bomber Drone lets you wreak havoc with a drone in your own living room. I played the mixed reality game on Meta Quest 3.
I've been playing virtual reality games for many years, but these days it's often mixed reality that puts a smile on my face. The latest example is Bomber Drone, which turned my living room into a chaotic battlefield.
You control a drone that is pinned down by stationary missile launchers, turrets, and air mines. At the touch of a button, you can drop bombs and fire a machine gun. Once the enemy forces are destroyed, you must rescue a scientist trapped in a tower and bring him to safety.
Surprisingly real and fun to play
Bomber Drone would be nothing special in virtual reality, but the action game really shines in mixed reality.
The action feels eerily real as the drone bounces off and is occluded by furniture and walls. The miniature missile launchers, turrets, and air mines are where you expect them to be: on the floor, on the walls, and in the air, filling the room with projectiles and explosions. Projectiles leave decals and rockets tear through walls.
The most astonishing mixed reality feature is a handheld virtual FPV screen that shows the room in real time from the drone's perspective and uses a crosshair to target enemy forces. A rough 3D model of your room is displayed, created using Quest 3's room scanning feature. In the heat of battle, you won't even know it's a digital duplicate of the real room.
In early stages of development
Bomber Drone requires Quest 3's room scan and will only run on that headset. Be sure to do a thorough scan of your environment before you begin, as the quality of the experience depends on it.
Flying the drone took some getting used to, but that's because I've never flown a drone in real life. After a few rounds, muscle memory kicks in, and if you're still having trouble, you can change the key bindings.
In terms of scope, Bomber Drone leaves something to be desired at this early stage of development. It offers 5 levels and is currently more of a (admittedly great!) mixed reality demo than a full and polished game. I have contacted the developer to find out what content is planned for the future and will update this article as soon as I receive a response.
Update: "The game will include 5 more arcade levels with a boss level after every 5th level, a multiplayer mode where players can dog fight and destroy each other's bases, and drone customizations", the developer writes.
You can buy Bomber Drone for $9 on the App Lab.
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