So I got lucky as hell and got my hands on a Playstation 5, got my Demon's souls fix, got my Spider-Man fix, collected some....bugfoods, and dabbled in a playroom. Now I feel pretty comfortable giving a review of the Next Generation of Playstation consoles.
To be perfectly clear, I've been a Sony fanboy since the Ps1. I've gotten every single console at launch. And I love Playstation in general. So fair warning that I can't be completely unbias in this review, but it is what it is and I like what i like.
I love this system.....or rather. I love the Controller for this system. Because honestly, the system itself feels mostly like a faster Playstation 4. The UI isn't terribly different though it offers a few new features, the only real difference between the PS5 and a PS4 is the speed in which this system can do everything. Games themselves admittedly don't really look that much better. Though honestly I have vision issues so I can't really tell the difference between 4k and 1440p and above. Details and such in games like Demon's Souls I can tell are going to be a step above where we are now, and that seems to be the key different with next gen is the level of detail will only continue to improve, textures on rocks, foilage on the ground, clutter, fine details on doors, weapons and characters, etc.
But the real gem here is the speed. The system loads fast, the games load fast, it offers very little downtime beyond the initial download and install of a game. Demon's Souls for example took about 20 minutes to install, download whatever extra shit it needed and was ready to play. But once it was ready....holy shit it was READY. Even from first boot up, that splash screen at the games first load is only like 5 seconds and you're going. Every load screen in game was too fast for me to even take a drink of water before the game was going. And every game is like this. Spider-mans loads from the start menu in 3 seconds. Fucking three!
On top of the nearly instant loading, the games run flawlessly in performance modes. The high graphical settings are still a bit too much for the console and frame rates stutter and struggle when playing with ray tracing and all the fancy shit. Which makes sense, these aren't PC's yet despite trying their damn hardest. However the performance modes look just as good, and the beauty of them is that promise of 60fps is finally true on consoles. Demon's Souls didn't falter once in my entire playthrough, at least not that i could tell. Spider-Man I'm not done with yet, but it too feels perfect.
So yeah performance wise and speed wise, the Playstation does exactly what they promised. Fast as fuck loading, and buttery smooth fps in performance modes. Those people who were hoping for ULTRA graphics settings 8k, 120fps, from a console....well they're gonna have to wait another generation or two. Maybe never as the console tech will just never be able to catch up to the latest and greatest PC capability. But unless you are a graphics snob you aren't going to be able to notice much, if any, difference between the modes and performance mode will almost always be the way to go.
All that is nice and all, but none of that is really all that special.
What makes the Playstation 5 special is this insane controller. The tech in this thing makes me wonder why Microsoft didn't even bother to try to do anything new, because the Duel Sense PS5 controller makes gaming feel new all over again.
The haptic feedback has officially blown my mind. The level of detail that the controller can convey through simple vibrations is crazy. Spider-Man Mile Morales, for example, starts with Miles on the subway, and the controller vibrates with the Thub-thub, of the train passing over the tracks. Not only that but the vibration moves from one side of the controller to the other as if you can FEEL the direction fucking tracks are moving under Mile's feet. This is further expanded through the resistance of the triggers that changed dynamically. As you webswing around the city, the triggers will increase and ease tensions as if you feel the difference in the web tension as Miles swings through the air. It's fucking crazy.
In Astro's Playroom (the tech demo pack in title) you walk around the beach in the first area. The controller....it's hard to describe...but you feel like you are walking on the sand. When you use your water jetpack, you can feel the pressure of the water strong at first and gradually weaken as you run out of juice. The sensations that this controller provides is unlike anything i would have every thought possible from a controller.
In Demon's Souls you don't really use the triggers much so the experience is a little different, but there are lots of sensations that the controller provides that add to the emersion of the world in a very unexpected way. You can feel when an arrow just zips past your head, you can feel the impact of your weapon into an enemy shield, you can feel the flutter of nearby fire when things explode or even just the torches on the wall.
As active as the controller seems, none of it is distracting from what you are playing. Because the controller never abuses its features. Every rumble, every trigger adaptation, all fits with what's going on in game. It never brings you out of it and never provides a bunch of vibration for no reason.
The PS5 controller is, I believe, a fucking game changer. It adds so much more to the games than I ever thought it would or could.
I think Ps5 is the console to get, simply because of the controller......and also the exclusives.....but mostly the controller. It's the feature of the system that not only sets it apart from the Xbox Series X, but also sets it apart from any gaming system ever before.
To be perfectly clear, I've been a Sony fanboy since the Ps1. I've gotten every single console at launch. And I love Playstation in general. So fair warning that I can't be completely unbias in this review, but it is what it is and I like what i like.
I love this system.....or rather. I love the Controller for this system. Because honestly, the system itself feels mostly like a faster Playstation 4. The UI isn't terribly different though it offers a few new features, the only real difference between the PS5 and a PS4 is the speed in which this system can do everything. Games themselves admittedly don't really look that much better. Though honestly I have vision issues so I can't really tell the difference between 4k and 1440p and above. Details and such in games like Demon's Souls I can tell are going to be a step above where we are now, and that seems to be the key different with next gen is the level of detail will only continue to improve, textures on rocks, foilage on the ground, clutter, fine details on doors, weapons and characters, etc.
But the real gem here is the speed. The system loads fast, the games load fast, it offers very little downtime beyond the initial download and install of a game. Demon's Souls for example took about 20 minutes to install, download whatever extra shit it needed and was ready to play. But once it was ready....holy shit it was READY. Even from first boot up, that splash screen at the games first load is only like 5 seconds and you're going. Every load screen in game was too fast for me to even take a drink of water before the game was going. And every game is like this. Spider-mans loads from the start menu in 3 seconds. Fucking three!
On top of the nearly instant loading, the games run flawlessly in performance modes. The high graphical settings are still a bit too much for the console and frame rates stutter and struggle when playing with ray tracing and all the fancy shit. Which makes sense, these aren't PC's yet despite trying their damn hardest. However the performance modes look just as good, and the beauty of them is that promise of 60fps is finally true on consoles. Demon's Souls didn't falter once in my entire playthrough, at least not that i could tell. Spider-Man I'm not done with yet, but it too feels perfect.
So yeah performance wise and speed wise, the Playstation does exactly what they promised. Fast as fuck loading, and buttery smooth fps in performance modes. Those people who were hoping for ULTRA graphics settings 8k, 120fps, from a console....well they're gonna have to wait another generation or two. Maybe never as the console tech will just never be able to catch up to the latest and greatest PC capability. But unless you are a graphics snob you aren't going to be able to notice much, if any, difference between the modes and performance mode will almost always be the way to go.
All that is nice and all, but none of that is really all that special.
What makes the Playstation 5 special is this insane controller. The tech in this thing makes me wonder why Microsoft didn't even bother to try to do anything new, because the Duel Sense PS5 controller makes gaming feel new all over again.
The haptic feedback has officially blown my mind. The level of detail that the controller can convey through simple vibrations is crazy. Spider-Man Mile Morales, for example, starts with Miles on the subway, and the controller vibrates with the Thub-thub, of the train passing over the tracks. Not only that but the vibration moves from one side of the controller to the other as if you can FEEL the direction fucking tracks are moving under Mile's feet. This is further expanded through the resistance of the triggers that changed dynamically. As you webswing around the city, the triggers will increase and ease tensions as if you feel the difference in the web tension as Miles swings through the air. It's fucking crazy.
In Astro's Playroom (the tech demo pack in title) you walk around the beach in the first area. The controller....it's hard to describe...but you feel like you are walking on the sand. When you use your water jetpack, you can feel the pressure of the water strong at first and gradually weaken as you run out of juice. The sensations that this controller provides is unlike anything i would have every thought possible from a controller.
In Demon's Souls you don't really use the triggers much so the experience is a little different, but there are lots of sensations that the controller provides that add to the emersion of the world in a very unexpected way. You can feel when an arrow just zips past your head, you can feel the impact of your weapon into an enemy shield, you can feel the flutter of nearby fire when things explode or even just the torches on the wall.
As active as the controller seems, none of it is distracting from what you are playing. Because the controller never abuses its features. Every rumble, every trigger adaptation, all fits with what's going on in game. It never brings you out of it and never provides a bunch of vibration for no reason.
The PS5 controller is, I believe, a fucking game changer. It adds so much more to the games than I ever thought it would or could.
I think Ps5 is the console to get, simply because of the controller......and also the exclusives.....but mostly the controller. It's the feature of the system that not only sets it apart from the Xbox Series X, but also sets it apart from any gaming system ever before.
