Anshar Wars 2

Anshar Wars 2 is the sequel to a space action shooter from Norwegian studio Campfire Union, and it was one of the more technically ambitious titles in the early Cardboard library, following on from the first installment, which had originally been made for Gear VR. The player sits in the cockpit of a fighter ship and battles enemy fleets across a series of missions, aiming by turning their head and firing with the headset's single button, similar to other on-rails space shooters of the time.

The game relied on impressive space visuals, explosions, various types of enemy ships, and fast-paced firefights meant to demonstrate that even a mobile chip could deliver a visually striking sci-fi experience comparable to more powerful platforms. The controls were simplified to work without a physical controller, with an emphasis on the ship moving automatically along predetermined trajectories while the player's role was reduced purely to shooting and dodging enemy fire.

Within the Cardboard era, Anshar Wars 2 followed a similar path to Vanguard V or InMind VR, namely offering an action genre without requiring free movement through space, which was essentially the only workable recipe for an action game without controllers or hand tracking. The music and sound effects lent it an epic feel that contrasted with the simplicity of the mechanics itself, and the game remains an example of how the space rail-shooter genre adapted to the limits of early mobile virtual reality and its single input button. The fact that this was a sequel rather than an entirely new concept also showed that Campfire Union had built enough trust with its first installment to invest in improved graphics and expanded content for the second entry, made for a platform that was still a full generation younger than Gear VR. Fans of space shooters thus got a full-fledged sequel to a beloved concept even on the cheapest possible entry point into virtual reality, which only confirmed that developers of the time didn't associate Cardboard purely with short technology demos, but also with seriously designed games with their own identity and sequels.

Why play: For fans of space shooting arcade games who will appreciate the epic music and sound despite the simple on-rails mechanics limited by early Cardboard's single button.