The Best Playstation VR Games So Far
When my Playstation VR headset arrived a few weeks ago it came with codes for over a dozen different games, basically everything that came out at launch last week. That line-up included glorified tech demoes, overwhelming dreamscapes, an adorable animated movie with little interactivity, a simulator that dredged up horrible memories of a decade spent working in cubicles, a few different takes on horror, and a variety of other examples of how virtual reality can be harnessed for the modern entertainment tastes of today. Not all of this software is worth experiencing—much of it might kill your interest in virtual reality right out of the gate, and if you’re especially susceptible to motion sickness, you might just make a huge mess all over your floor. What works does work pretty well, though, and although I’m still skeptical about virtual reality’s long-term viability, the following eight games hint that VR might possibly have a legitimate future. Here are the best things available on Playstation VR today.
1. Thumper
Thumper’s the best reason to own a PSVR right now, even though the game might be better when you just play it regularly on the TV like some pre-2015 relic. Playing it in VR is basically like sticking your head inside the game’s frightening hellscape, and as discombobulating as that sounds, at least you don’t have to move your head around or look behind you to see what’s happening. Your vehicle rockets ever forward, and all you have to do is stare straight and tap buttons at the right moment, meaning this is a VR game that nails the all-encompassing nature of the gimmick with a greatly reduced risk of motion sickness. The change in perspective created by the VR POV doesn’t just change how you see the game but how you play it—when I switched to the TV after only playing in VR for the first few levels, my reaction times were completely off for several attempts, and I basically had to relearn how to play it again without the headset on. So hey, it’s almost like two games in one. If you only play Thumper in VR, you’d never guess that it wasn’t built with VR in mind, but updated with the functionality well into development.
2. Rez Infinite
Tetsuya Mizuguchi’s synesthetic classic gets reborn as one of the closest things PSVR has to a killer app. When first released in 2001, it was an early combo of rhythmic action and electronic music, with a stark graphical style that was already charmingly nostalgic. That Tron aesthetic fits well with VR—it’s basically what virtual reality looked like during its first fad phase in the early 1990s, and that promise of living in a computer is totally what Tron is about, of course. I felt a few minor motion sickness pangs while scanning around me for enemies to lock on to, but otherwise Rez, like Thumper, benefits from essentially being on rails and having graphics that never attempt to recreate a realistic space.
3. Headmaster
The absurd soccer-adjacent game Headmaster is the only PSVR title that really seems to focus on the hardware’s headtracking abilities. Other games might let you gaze around 360 degree environments, but Headmaster is played entirely with your head—as soccer balls are shot at you from various angles, you have to lean forward and head them into the goal, sometimes while avoiding obstacles or trying to hit special targets. It might sound dull and limited but it’s actually a legitimately funny game—its dry sense of humor and the clinical nature of the rounds reminded me of the great British show Look Around You, and videogame fans will recognize some of Portal’s spirit here, too.
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