Unplugged Oculus Quest 2 VR Review

Probably most of you have always wanted to play guitar. And I am sure that nearly everyone has played air guitar during there favourite songs, well now with a Oculus Quest 2 VR headset you get to play some guitar while listening to some great songs. Unplugged is a guitar rhythm game like the classic Guitar Hero, but you have no plastic guitar just your hands as you shred like a rock legend. Let us take a closer look below.

Developer: Anotherway
Publisher: Vertigo Studios
Release Date: October 21, 2021

Thanks to the publisher for the review code.

Dont’t Fret

Unplugged VR guitar game that lets you unlock your inner rock god. Implemented is hand tracking on the Quest 2 which means that you can keep your hands free while the headset cameras track your hand movement to give a true air guitar feel. When you begin the game, you go through a tutorial that is lead by the voice of Steel Panther’s Satchel, who is on a poster that comes to life and gives you the low down on the game and how to hold the guitar.

It seems complicated at first, but really it is not that bad. You have four places that make up the virtual guitar that you must hold with your virtual hands. You put your thumb behind the neck and then using your remaining fingers you play the frets. This is all you need to learn. You can adjust your stance and find your own style, which is fun but once you start playing adjustments are no longer available. So, when you find your stance for a song then you must follow through with that style.

There are different difficulty modes and on easy while it is fun to get into and play it does have a few issues. You are required to strum a same note a few times to get different sounds. Move up to harder setting and this is a non-issue and you get a amazing rock feel jamming to the song. Another issue which is a little annoying is the new hand tracking. While for the most part it works well, there are a few times where I found it does fail to track accurately, but this could be partly due to lighting or even could be a slightly dirty camera. Mileage may vary and over 90% of the time it is perfectly playable.

Usually, games like this don’t always have the best line-up of songs and Guitar Hero was guilty of this in later titles. But I am happy to say that unplugged has a great selection of 23 songs and has something for everyone. Stand out songs are Should I stay or Should I Go Now – The Clash, Spirit in The sky – Norman Greenbaum, Children Of The Revolution – T-Rex, and Flying High Again – Ozzy Osbourne.

Final Thoughts

Seeing a air guitar simulator on the Quest 2 was something that excited me. Having the freedom to move around and have a feeling of rocking out like a legend made me feel good. Probably anyone looking at me in the real world probably would think I look silly and uncool, but in my head, I was shredding it like a rock legend. A fun game if you look past the minor flaws and a worthy purchase on the Quest 2.