Grid Busters

Grid Busters was an arcade action title on the Virtuality system that put players in the cockpit of a fast craft in the middle of an abstract networked arena and had them face waves of enemies as well as other players connected to the same match. The goal was to survive in an open space made of geometric structures and platforms while shooting down opponents before they shot you down — a principle close to the space shooter arcade games of the era, just experienced in first person inside the headset, with the ability to turn in literally any direction. The player could also move freely between the individual geometric platforms, which set the game apart from the strictly rail-based space shooters of the time.

Technically, the game used the same simple polygonal rendering system as the other Virtuality titles, meaning crude, fully shaded, untextured shapes, but combined with the moving platform and joystick they created a convincing sense of flying through space. The visual style leaned on neon-toned geometry reminiscent of a digital grid, which nicely masked the hardware's technical limitations and gave the game a distinctive, futuristic atmosphere without needing detailed graphics or elaborate music. The audio was limited to gunfire, explosions, and engine noise, in keeping with the minimalist approach typical of Virtuality titles.

In the arcades of the time, Grid Busters was among the titles meant to demonstrate that Virtuality could also deliver fast action in the style of classic arcade shooters, transposed into fully three-dimensional space. Today it is seen as a lesser-known but typical representative of the early era of location-based VR, interesting mainly as part of the broader picture of what the Virtuality system was in the nineties and how varied an offering it tried to present to its visitors right from its market launch.

Why play it: Anyone interested in the variety of Virtuality's arcade lineup will find in Grid Busters a typical, if today little-known, representative of the early era of location-based VR, bringing classic arcade action into 3D space.