Omega Pilot Evolution offers thrills, but falls short in two key areas.

There are more than a few racing games available in VR, but few have the speed of Omega Pilot Evolution, mainly because it’s challenging to make a game with such intensity in VR without causing motion sickness. At its peak, the game can feel like a chaotic blend of Wipeout and F-Zero as you rush through futuristic tracks in speedy machines across environments that blend futuristic cityscapes with oversized Greek statues. At other times it can feel confusing to follow and frustrating, as design decisions sap some of the fun from the overall package.

The game is developed by XOCUS, taking on the challenge of bringing such high-speed racing to VR. No matter how attuned you are to the medium or immune to motion sickness wearing a headset, more intense games will cause wooziness if not properly calibrated, and the more intense the game, the more work has to be done in order to make it a comfortable experience. And few experiences are more intense than sitting in a virtual cockpit to race around hairpin turns at 300 miles per hour.

Though there’s a rather significant difficulty curve and admitted lack of guidance in learning the controls and coming to terms with everything the game expects, it’s rewarding when it all clicks into place. Jumping into the game for the first time, you’re presented with a menu from which to select between four gameplay modes: a career mode that essentially serves as time trials for all the tracks in the game, a series mode where you compete in various grands prix, playing numerous consecutive races against bots to claim first place, a mode called Bot Races that includes both standard races and arena battles, as well as a multiplayer mode.

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