I never actually played MudRunner, but I did put a good few hours into its successor, SnowRunner. A game I never would have imagined I would like but an addictive gameplay loop made me a fan. MudRunner VR marks the franchise’s first entry into the VR space and the results are what I was expecting.

A lot of work has been put into making MudRunner feel like a Quest native game, rather than a game simply ported to VR. It is an entirely new entry based on the original MudRunner game, built in VR to give one hell of an immersive trucker’s experience.

The story mode isn’t phenomenal, in fact I’m not entirely sure there was even a story there to delve into, but that’s fine. This is a game about MudRunner and that’s all it tries to be; no need to do anything fancy. Instead, what the story mode does is introduce you to all the gameplay mechanics and gives you plenty of challenges to get through. If you are already familiar with the challenges in the Runner franchise, then you could possibly get around without dealing with this mode.

If you were expecting the full MudRunner experience, you will most likely be disappointed. MudRunner VR is very much a trimmed-down version of a MudRunner game. There’s much less vehicle variety, the maps are smaller, and there’s a lot less content overall. Regardless of this, what MudRunner VR strives to do and does so well is deliver a more bite-sized and manageable experience for the standalone VR headset.

However, MudRunner VR does manage to deliver the same immersive truck driving gameplay and challenges. You will still be driving over and across difficult terrain, using winches to get vehicles unstuck and making deliveries in the process. You’d be a fooled to think this is a simple and relaxed experience, as you will often be dealing with incredible difficult terrain and obstacles to get around. It’s a familiar experience that has been recaptured in VR very well, with a few compromises to get there. If this is just Saber testing the waters for a full on SnowRunner experience in VR, then I am all for it and would love to see more.

As for the controls, they are wonderfully done. In fact, I don’t think the game’s initial tutorial was even needed. It all felt intuitive. You also have two different ways to really get around. You can either push the analogue sticks forward or use triggers to accelerate, then you can turn the analogue sticks or grab hold of the steering wheel to steer. All of these are enabled at the same time, so there’s no need to go into settings to switch it up. Personally, I did use a combination of the two, switching seamlessly at any given moment.

On top of this, going into VR makes the interiors much more immersive as well. Getting into the truck you will need to turn the ignition, put the car into gear, and grab onto the wheel physically if you want to use that approach. The cabin is full of dials and buttons that show your speed, fuel, and allows you to activate your wipers. Also, each cabin is fitted with a tablet that allows you to activate or deactivate various actions on your truck, including diff-lock to make it across particularly difficult terrain. The tablet also functions as a map that allows you to plot your route. 

The biggest downside to this version is the fact that once your out of the truck you can’t walk around. Instead, the game relies entirely on teleport movement, which just ends up feeling awkward and clunky. It’s also one of the few times when the game really takes me out of the experience.

Whilst this is running on Quest 2, I was expecting a pretty significant downgrade in visuals to get it running well on what is at this point ancient mobile hardware. This is clear with some low resolution, muddy textures, and dull visual effects. However, I was still impressed with what’s on display here. Mirrors are surprisingly fully functional, albeit at a reduced framerate, but unfortunately, it doesn’t seem like you can lean out of the window to get a better view.

MudRunner VR sees a fairly successful conversion to the VR space. The Meta/Oculus Quest 2 hardware is really starting to show its age, though. It’s incapable of larger scale maps or high fidelity visuals. What MudRunner VR does exceptionally well is recapture the core into a more bite-sized look into the MudRunner gameplay. Hopefully, this is the stepping stone to a more feature-rich VR title.

 

Graphics: 5.0 A lot of work had to be done to get this running on aging mobile hardware, but it looks passable enough and runs fine.	Gameplay: 6.0 A lack of variety lets down what could have been a truly great VR experience.
Sound: 7.0 Nothing too notable with the sound design. The engine rumbles and other vehicle sounds are about what you’d expect.	Fun Factor: 7.0 There’s a lot of sacrifices made to the core of the franchise, but it’s all necessary to give us a VR version.
Final Verdict: 6.5

MudRunner VR is available now on Meta Quest 2 and 3.

Reviewed on Meta Quest 2.

A copy of MudRunner VR was provided by the publisher.