Golden Gloves VR is available now in full release on Meta Quest after a lengthy early access period.
I jumped into Golden Gloves VR and, while it's still pretty spare graphically, there are some good ideas here about virtual fitness and boxing. I saw three gym maps to train alone or in multiplayer sessions. When you start, you teleport into a gym map where you can find access to Career Mode challenges, training bags and minigames.
Various moments in Golden Gloves VR's Career Mode.
The gym's training bags are realistically responsive to punching. Training stations range from speed bags to various hanging bags and other targets. There is also an arcade machine that gives access to a Space Invaders-style game where you practice boxing form, shooting glove-shaped bullets at enemies.
I spent my time in the game's Career Mode where I fought AI boxers increasing in difficulty every time I won a match. I initially found the fighting to be too easy, but was quickly surprised when the difficulty began to ramp up as the enemy got smarter. Smarter boxers timed their moves better to counter my swings. Their increased skill highlighted areas of my body I failed to defend in a fight, often dealing damage to my blind spots and revealing areas of improvement in reflexes and strategy.
Golden Gloves VR has an impressive set of training equipment in its gyms. Training bags can be used either within VR or with passthrough mode. In passthrough mode, equipment can be placed around your room to train while being able to see your physical surroundings.
Despite the good fighting experience, the graphics are extremely plain. Lighting overall isn't set up well and there's a lot that could be done to add more mood and immersion. Still, there's good equipment and plenty here to get good cardio.
Various training equipment in Golden Gloves VR
Golden Gloves VR is available now on Quest headsets with developers boasting that it is the "official esports platform for USA Boxing" built from "real input from boxers and coaches." The full official launch of Golden Gloves VR includes an optional Esports USA Boxing membership.
UploadVR will keep an eye on this project as it continues to develop past full release for further updates.
