GAMES WORTH PLAYING
For every good game playable in VR, there are about 7,000 bad ones, based on our expert (not exactly accurate) calculations. Those good games do exist, though. Right off the bat, we’ve got to recommend BeatSaber, a high-octane, neon-tinted rush of adrenaline— GuitarHero by way of StarWars. Your two controllers become lightsabers as colored blocks race toward you, demanding that you destroy them in time to the music. Similarly fast-paced is bonkers extreme sports game Sprint Vector, which sees up to eight players race through all manner of futuristic locales at blistering speeds.
Those interested in a more cerebral experience might enjoy BudgetCuts, a tongue-in-cheek stealth title that puts you in the shoes of a human employee in a workplace full of robots. Armed with a portal gun and office supplies, you sneak around, hiding from camera-headed bots. It’s got a brilliant, dark sense of humor that reminds us of the original Portal.
Black comedy seems to work well in VR, for some reason. DuckSeason takes you back to a childhood in 1988, where you’re eager to play the newest hit game—a thinly veiled DuckHunt rip-off. However, it quickly becomes clear that something is awry inside the DuckSeason cartridge, with strings of horror, action, and stealth gameplay complementing the opening arcade shooter elements.
ArizonaSunshine and SpacePirate Trainer are both enjoyable bouts of zombie- and robot-blasting respectively, while the fantastic SUPERHOT is even better in VR. It brings a glorious sense of mastery when you Matrix- dodge out of the way of a bullet, throw a bottle at your assailant, and snatch their dropped gun from the air to finish the job. It’s as much a puzzle game as it is a shooter, and it feels as good as it looks.