Oculus Rift Version Of "Gimbal Cop" Gets Its Snake On
A year ago at Boston FIG I stumbled upon a game from Defective Studios called Gimbal Cop, which had two players chase one another through a tentacled road. One player creates the road, while another player had to follow it in order to catch up to it. While the iOS/Android version is still being worked on the folks over at Defective Studios had one other plan for Gimbal Cop: bring it to the Oculus Rift.
At a special Oculus Rift in Cambridge, MA I was able to try out one of the single-player modes that were currently being developed for the game. In it I was tasked to collect as many barrels as I could in a two-minute period. The more barrels I grabbed, the faster I went, and as the level progressed I created an infinite tentacled tail that made the level more difficult to fly through as I traveled about. Crash into my own tail, and the game is over.
This mode was very reminiscent of the old game Snake, where you had to avoid both walls and your own body as you ate apples and grew longer. The big difference between Snake and this mode in Gimbal Cop, though, is while Snake has an endpoint on your body, your tentacled self in Gimbal Cop does not. With the immersion of the Oculus Rift not only does it add a new challenge to an old premise, but also a unique perception of the game.
What's great about the Oculus Rift version of Gimbal Cop is that while one player uses the peripheral during co-op mode another player can use the iOS or Android version to either be the follower or the road creator. Thanks to its Unity build this makes it easy for Defective Studios to develop and adapt the game to the different devices. Defective Studios hopes to have Gimbal Cop out sometime soon (late 2013/early 2014) on mobile devices, PC, and for Oculus Rift compatibility. While the game does have a weird vibe it doesn't take away from the fact that it's a lot of fun.
Originally posted on the ESH EGMNOW Page
