VR Pigeons Review

Videogames are often a form of escapism for me, so I quite enjoy games that allow me to do things that I otherwise couldn’t. I’m sure with enough practice and training it would be possible for me to do some of the things that I do in games eventually. If I put the effort in, I could feasibly play football as well as I can in FIFA eventually, or ransack archaeological sites like in Tomb Raider or Uncharted. The sad fact however is that no matter how many feathers I glue to myself, I will never truly be a pigeon. I also can’t go back to Aldi now for semi-related reasons. 

This is where VR can provide an experience that’s a bit different from traditional games. In VR Pigeons, you don’t just control a pigeon, you become one. The game uses a superbly simple control method, eschewing the use of any kind of controller at all. You control your pigeon simply by bobbing your head in that way that pigeons do as they strut, and you can also peck by bringing your neck down sharply. It’s very intuitive, and I’m reliably informed that it’s hilarious for onlookers too!

VR Pigeons is one of the last games to be released for the now-discontinued Oculus Go platform. It’s not yet available on other platforms, but as one of the last few remaining Go owners, I was happy to see this charming little swansong (or maybe pigeonsong) come to Oculus’ budget device. It’s fair to say that due to the lower powered nature of the intended device and the low asking price this isn’t a huge game; nonetheless, I found it to be a case of doing exactly what it says on the tin with little faff.

You play as an unnamed pigeon whose only goal in life is to eat bread thrown by the kind human nearby. Just like in real life, the throwing of bread leads to a crowding of other pigeons, but you can use your pecking action to knock them around, or even out of the level entirely! There are shortcuts across the maps that you can use to reach the bread before other birds, but strangely no option to fly. This may well have made the game too easy and that’s why it’s omitted, but it still feels odd to play as a bird and not do the main thing that birds are known for doing (aside from making newly-cleaned cars dirty again).

It’s a strangely immersive experience, with your constantly visible beak making you feel very much in the game, even despite the Go’s notoriously large nose gap being present. The cartoon-style 3D graphics are perfectly serviceable, and whilst they’re not exceptionally high fidelity, I don’t feel that they need to be for this kind of game. In fact, a realistic pigeon simulator would probably reach the uncanny valley quite quickly. 

For your £3.99 (at the time of writing) you get just four levels of bread consumption, but with the game tracking your high score, you get a decent amount of replay value. It’s likely that this is one of those games that will be used to show your friends the world of VR too, and it’s likely that the developer knows this, so is well aware that an epic adventure just isn’t necessary.

The audio is lovely and chaotic as you would expect, with excited pigeon noises at the forefront, but also a quite nice soundtrack too. Not that you’ll have time to listen that hard, because the pace is fast as you try to outmanoeuvre the other birds to that tasty bread. 

There’s not a huge amount to say about VR Pigeons as it’s really not a massive title, but if you want a quirky little fun game for your Go then it’s worth picking this up. You get enough bang for your buck, and who doesn’t want to be a pigeon?