Racket NX Review

Workout to songs you love and lose track of time

 Amanda BlainPosted:March 24, 2021
Updated: June 3, 2022

Let’s get started on this Racket NX Review.

What is Racket NX?

Racket NX is played inside a large dome. The walls light up with various targets and you need to destroy them with your ball and racket. If you hit the ball hard enough, it shoots across the dome-like a pinball, hitting various buffs and bumpers along the way. You pull the ball back to you with a kind of tractor beam.

Racketball meets a type of pinball, target hitting, game? What is Racket:Nx all about and can it be part of your fitness routine?

Who Makes Racket NX?

Racket NX is developed by One Hamsa. They are a developer from the Middle East. Racket NX is their main game property.

Racket: NX is not a new VR game. In fact, it has been out since 2019! That brings some polished gameplay to the table.

What Headset is Racket NX Available On?

Racket NX  is available on Steam VR, Viveport, Oculus Rift, and Oculus Quest 2.

Racket NX Review Gameplay

I was originally pretty skeptical of the idea of this game…How can hitting a ball at a wall over and over again be that fun? But RacketNX is some fast-paced fun.

The goal of the game is simple. Hit all the targets on the walls before time runs out.

You are transported to a huge, futuristic, space dome.  Planets loom in the background. Even how the dome forms around you is an experience of spacey high-techness.

The game itself has a detailed tutorial that walks you through the various things you can do and techniques. There is a little bit of a learning curve here, as the force ball “pinball-like” movement is not as simple as “hit ball against the wall”. The physics of the game is not as perfect as something like Eleven Table Tennis, but you can grasp them soon enough.

You don’t move around from your stationary spot in this game, but you DO spin 360 degrees around. Hit the ball north, then south, then east to try and get all the targets on the walls. This means you don’t need a large play area, but you WILL need an area that you can fully 360 spin around in.

There is a solo campaign mode that slowly increased in difficulty.  Targets will be farther apart, or they will add more bumpers to knock your ball away. There are lots of hazards and buffs that will be added like time increase and decrease spots.

The ability to press a button and the ball tracks back to your location is super handy and again takes use of this VR world.

There are leaderboards and a ton of information provided to you at the end of each game to let know you how you are doing against your friends or the world.

I really want to stress that this is just not another one of those ball-hitting games. Of all the games I’ve reviewed in VR lately, I found myself lost in time playing this one. Easily an hour can float by while you try and get those targets!

As I’ve reviewed many VR experiences, unfortunately, I have to say that many of them do not fully take advantage of the VR world. Racket NX does. This game has 360 degrees of doing things that are only possible in a VR world.

Racket NX Multiplayer Experience

This is really where the game shines. There are two multiplayer modes. Co-op or VS.  You select which style of multiplayer you want to play, and then are free to continue playing solo until the game finds you a match. This is great, as of course depending on your time zone, it may take a few moments to find someone to play with.

Once the match starts in VS mode, the game is the same, hit the ball into the targets. This is a lot more fast-paced as you take turns hitting the ball and pulling it towards you. You get one shot, if you miss your vs partner can get ahead. This keeps you actively engaged and your heart rate up! I also watched how others played, and my own game definitely improved.

I had a few moments of lag, but overall, I felt this multiplayer experience was great fun! Fully recommend.

There is no party mode in Racket NX but this isn’t exactly the kind of game you’d pass back and forth with players taking turns.

How to Add Custom Songs to Racket NX?

Yes, you can add custom songs to Racket NX! And it is SUPER easy.

Because it is just background music you simply need to copy the music in the mp3 format you like onto your VR headset. Some of the other VR Fitness games that have custom songs need workouts or dance files too which means it is much more complicated. Racket NX just needs the music. So if you have the mp3 you can listen to it in-game!

You simply need to create a folder under My Music on the headset called “RacketNX” and copy your .mp3 files to it. Then in the game go to settings and select the “mine” soundtrack instead of OST, when you do this you will get a prompt from the game to allow permissions, accept and that’s it. When you start your next game it will shuffle the music in that folder. A real game-changer to workout easily to songs you like!

The official soundtrack is not going to be songs you know, but the included techno songs match the game well if you prefer. It also has a pretty amazing 3d audio sound that tells you where the ball is and what it hit, because you will be spinning around.

Can you workout with Racket NX? Is Racket NX a Fitness Game?

YES! This is one of those games where you are working out and don’t realize you are working out.

You have to focus on hitting those targets a fair amount and you don’t feel like you are “attending a workout class”. You are simply playing a fun game and then when your headset comes off you realize you are sweating! Of course, you have been playing tennis basically this entire time.

The Virtual Reality Institute of Health and Exercise rate this game as equal to doing Ellipticals or 4-6 Kcal/Min. Yur.fit rates it 5.3Kcal/Min, but I would say these were of solo gameplay. My own experience is that multiplayer with rapid back and forth hitting and turning might be higher and closer to a true tennis game.

Does Racket NX cause motion sickness?

You play Racket NX in a stationary environment, there is no in-game movement. You do spin around in 360 motion, but the turns are made using your full body so it should minimize sick feelings.

Racket NX should not cause any motion sickness issues.

Final Thoughts On Racket NX Review