Four notable games for Sony VR

Sony’s new virtual-reality system, PlayStation VR, is more focused on games than its competitors. The company says there will be 30 titles at launch and 50 by year’s end.

Here’s a glimpse at a few of them:

▪ “Batman: Arkham VR” (Warner Bros.) is the marquee title in the PlayStation VR lineup, and it’s dazzling. From Batman’s rooftop perspective, the decadent glamor of Gotham City has never looked more vivid; just don’t look down, or you might get vertigo. The gameplay isn’t as satisfying as in Warner Bros.’ non-VR Batman titles, but fans of the Caped Crusader will relish the chance to try on the Batsuit.

▪ “Battlezone” (Rebellion) harks back to the early days of video arcades, reviving Atari’s classic monochrome, pseudo-3-D tank battle in full-color, 360-degree glory. Like the old game, “Battlezone” is fairly simple – shoot everything that moves – but it gets frantic when you find yourself dodging incoming fire from every direction.

▪ “Until Dawn: Rush of Blood” (Sony) has nothing to do with last year’s horror gem “Until Dawn” other than the twisted imaginations of its developers. It’s a roller-coaster ride through a demented theme park in which you’re allowed to shoot at the monsters, zombies and (oh no) clowns that burst through the scenery. It’s a sick little Halloween treat.

▪ “SuperHyperCube” (Polytron) and “Tumble VR” (Sony) are elegant brainteasers. “Cube” asks you to rotate geometric shapes to fit into holes; “Tumble” is a Jenga-like tower-building exercise. Both are so hypnotic that they caused me to lose track of time and forget about the heavy helmet on my head.

This story was originally published October 5, 2016 at 2:27 PM with the headline "Four notable games for Sony VR."