Bounce Arcade preview — Pinball for the new generation

Like many of us, I have fond memories of spending too much time and money in the arcades of yesteryear. Scattered like hidden treasures waiting to be found, arcades remain part of a bygone era with their neon color palettes, addictive soundtracks, and endless amounts of fun. An important part of that history is pinball. With new technology and a new generation of players, I’m overjoyed to see the reinvention of the beloved classic so many love in a new and futuristic way. Velan Studios recently invited me to preview their upcoming Bounce Arcade for the Meta Quest 3, and after completing the preview, I had a lot of fun, so let’s talk VR pinball!

I began my Bounce Arcade experience by playing the recommended tutorial to get my feet wet and see how the paddles work in this format. It goes as one would expect, with your left controller being the left paddle and your right controller being the right paddle. Paddles in Bounce Arcade don’t function like the classic side-to-side paddles. You’ll use a full range of motion and movement. Placed in the immersive room with your back to a wall, the goal is to play pinball but with the game-changing element of verticality.

Holding the right trigger charges the ball up to be released. Releasing the trigger launches the ball, which in turn starts the game. Hitting the ball with the paddles heavily relies on timing, as you have increased precision and speed depending on when and how you volley the ball back. My favorite feature is being able to hold the trigger when you smack the ball, which allows you to influence the direction and spin of how you want the ball to travel. Mastering that ability is necessary to hit specific spots in the arena to unlock hidden secrets and challenges, and achieve that high score everyone shoots for.

At launch, there will be four levels with varying degrees of difficulty. For this preview, I had access to two of the four: “Gunpowder Gulch” and “Asteroid Outpost”.
Gunpowder Gulch is themed after the Wild West and Asteroid Outpost is a vibrant and colorful space station theme, with both having futuristic aesthetics across the levels. While the basic goal is getting the highest score possible, each level has its own set of minigames and challenges that unlock surprises and reward a lot of points. The arena design was easily the most impressive feature for me. Both played extremely well and incorporated the arena atmosphere exceptionally well. I enjoyed being surprised by new targets, an extra ball being sent into play, and seeing a chain reaction lead to a big score multiplier.

With this being a preview, I anticipated the polish and accuracy of the paddles and shots to be less than 100 percent, but I was amazed at how well everything was put together. Spinning the ball to hit a specific target does have a learning curve, but that doesn’t stop it from being incredibly responsive and detailed. This is a significant sigh of relief, as the minigames and challenges available for each level are not easy tasks and require pinpoint accuracy in some instances.

Speaking of challenges, before each level, you can see what specific task needs to be hit for that set of mini-games. I wasn’t able to see those challenges once the level started. Hopefully, at launch, the ability to see that in level can be added so that I’m not constantly having to try to remember each one before booting up an arena.

Between the fresh take on pinball as a whole, the impressive level design, and the accuracy of striking the ball with the paddle, Bounce Arcade is well on its way to being a game that reaches old-school pinball fanatics as well as those who dislike the traditional way of playing. You can check out the full experience of Bounce Arcade from Velan Studios when it launches on November 21, 2024, for the Meta Quest 3.

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