By staff writer Brenden Dalipe

So the PlayStation VR (virtual reality) was just released. Is it better to just sit (or stand) there in your living room with those controllers in your hand and the headset on your face forever instead of taking the headset off and experiencing reality, though? Today, we’ll find out…

First off, the price of the PS VR (PlayStation VR) seems reasonable. If you want to really feel like Batman, a stormtrooper, or a professional racer for $399, it’s a pretty good bargain. The worlds created for PS VR are extremely immersive, and beautiful to look at.

Obviously, you can’t have a PS VR without the right equipment, like a PS4 (the most essential), a PS4 Camera and a controller – the DualShock controllers will work fine if you don’t have any of those Move controllers from the PS3 days. Anything else you’ll just find in the box you order. Adding all the equipment together, the total cost is… $857.99, not including tax. Er… you know, the PS VR on its own was pretty reasonable, but this… this is as much as the average American was expected to spend on holiday presents last year! Unless all you want is a decked-out PS4, you should probably wait until next Black Friday.

Want some action in your immersive world? Sony’s got that covered! Sold separately, the PS VR Aim controller is available for you to shoot zombies, Han Solo, or security guards at a museum as you make your way to steal treasures in London! These accessories control extremely well in all of the games (at least the ones released so far). Emilio Cuell, a 7th grader at Bay Farm School, believes this too, saying, “It’s highly responsive, but [the PS VR] doesn’t have that many games and you can’t interact with everything [in the games]”. Indeed. While huge, the worlds in the PS VR don’t really let you explore your area or interact with all of the objects nearby.

Although the PS VR itself is pretty cool, what about what you can actually play on there? Well, for starters, what about Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes? It’s a party game where one player has instructions on how to defuse a bomb and must communicate with the other player to make sure they don’t explode, all in VR. The ways to decode the bomb are almost endless, so there’s tons of hours of gameplay you could put in with your friends.

Meanwhile, we have Batman: Arkham VR. While visually stunning, there’s not much you can do. The story is about an hour long, while there’s another hour and a half of extra gameplay. Pretty short, right? The story is well-made and the items you can interact with are pretty awesome. So Batman: Arkham VR is a pretty cool way to experience the life of Batman.

PS VR games seem like you should give them a try, right? Jaeden Patterson-Golay, another 7th grader here at Bay Farm, disagrees. He believes that “the graphics are great, but the games you can play on there are not that [interesting]”. I say you should try them out if you’ve got the money, and see what you think. Give me your opinion below. Until then, we’ll just have to see if holograms make me this star-struck.