Introduction
Update: PS4 might be entering the world of Ultra-HD gaming in 2016. Rumors of a PS4.5 (or PS4K if you like) have been circulating for a few months, but fresh hints suggest that Sony really will have a high-powered console refresh as soon as October 2016.
Original review below…
Thirty-six million gamers can’t be wrong: The PlayStation 4 is the future of gaming. And why wouldn’t it be? After all, the PS4 has a legacy of greatness.
The original PlayStation served as the launching pad for a generation of gamers, which was followed by the PlayStation 2, one of the longest-running consoles of all-time. The PS3 won the format wars and made blu-ray the standard HD video storage medium and the PlayStation 4, even though it’s just now turning a year old, may very well leave behind a legacy of its own – one built on the pillars of sharing, streaming and connecting.
The path to greatness wasn’t one without pitfalls and throughout it all its greatest contender, the Xbox One, has been hot on its heels, just waiting for Sony to slip-up. To paint a mental picture, the PS4 release date was November 15 2013 in North America and 29 November 2013 in Europe, and it’s been outselling the Xbox One ever since.
As of March 2016, Sony’s sold over 36 million consoles while Microsoft’s moved only about 20 million units from the factory to store shelves. With more graphical power than the Xbox One, 32 times more system memory than the PS3 and a firm focus on pure gaming experiences rather than media might, the PS4 has established itself as the console to beat of this generation.
It’s a games console built by gamers for gamers and won the hearts and minds of many from the word go, with lots of prospective next-genners left feeling alienated by some of Microsoft’s bizarre policies and choices for the Xbox One – many of which were reversed as a result of a backlash.
The one area that Sony was failing on, system-exclusive games, has recently taken a turn for the better thanks to the launch of Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End. What’s more encouraging are the sure system-sellers like No Man’s Sky, Final Fantasy VII Remake, Kingdom Hearts III and The Last Guardian are quickly approaching, with E3 2016 to hopefully provide a solid release date for each.
At least we’ve seen an attractive price point from day one. Sony started the PS4 at $399 and has held firm for two years while Microsoft has shifted every which way before settling at $349 without Kinect. Of course, Sony had to drop the price eventually and has finally decided to charge $349 going forward. Whatever Microsoft seems to do, it doesn’t seem to be enough to slow Sony’s roll.
Are you ready to join PlayStation Nation? Read on to get our full thoughts and opinions on Sony’s dream machine, one year in the making.
Design
One year out and Sony hasn’t made any tweaks, fixes, or modifications to the PS4’s initial design. That said, Nyko and Power A have come along to offer additional products like intercoolers, clip-on charging stations and even external hard drives, but Sony’s rock-solid design has stood the earliest test of time. Here’s what we said about the design one year ago:
One look at the PS4 and you know you’re seeing Sony hardware. It’s slim, sleek and jet black, roughly the size of a second generation PS3. The full measurements are 275 x 53 x 305 mm. It’s a bit more compact than an Xbox One, which is longer and taller at 274 x 79 x 333 mm.
What’s crucial here, though, is that Sony kept the PS4’s weight to a manageable 6.1 lbs and tucked the power supply inside the system, leaving no external power brick to trip over. Microsoft’s system has held onto its external power adapter – a feature inherited from the Xbox 360 – and weighs in at a slightly heftier 7 lbs.
The shape of the box is familiar, yet completely unique. Its slim, rectangular features brings to mind a PlayStation 2 in form and function, but its sloped, asymmetrical design helps us understand that nothing like this has ever existed before now. It’s meant to lay flat but, if your media center can only accommodate a vertical machine, Sony has a plastic stand it sells separately for $14/£16.99 that helps the system stand up straight.
On the front-facing side you’ll find a slot-loading Blu-ray disc drive and to its right two powered USB 3.0 ports, which can charge your DualShock 4 controllers even when the system is turned off and are used to sync controllers when taking gamepads from one place to another. Spin the system around and you’ll be met with an HDMI, Ethernet and a digital optical audio out port, as well as a proprietary auxiliary connection for the PlayStation Camera.
Sold separately from the system, the $29 PS4 Universal Remote syncs up to the system via Bluetooth and allows you to have a traditional way to control TV shows and movies from PlayStation Vue, HBO Go and Netflix. The remote can sync up to four devices, effectively reducing the amount of plastic pads you need to keep track of.
PS4 specifications
Inside, the PS4 is all business. It has a custom single-chip processor that combines an eight core x86-64 AMD “Jaguar” CPU with a 1.84 teraflop GPU based on AMD’s Radeon tech. That’s backed by 8GB of mega-fast GDDR5 RAM, and a 500GB mechanical hard drive.
You can also remove that 500GB drive and replace it with a larger drive, or an SSD for better performance. Sony says these do it yourself upgrades will not void the system’s warranty.
For a reference point, the PlayStation 3 packed 256MB of XDR Main RAM and 256MB of GDDR3 VRAM, and managed to support visual feasts like The Last of Us and God of War: Ascension during its final days. How does that stack up against the PS4? Overall, Sony claims that the PS4’s overall performance is ten times that of the PS3.
For wireless connections, the PS4 uses 802.11 b/g/n for WiFi and Bluetooth 2.1 for its wireless DualShock 4 controllers.
Features
If there’s a team that works harder than Sony’s internal development team, we’d like to meet them. As it is, they roll out monthly (sometimes bi-monthly) updates that drastically change the interface and feature set of the system.
The biggest changes of the past year? The Sony-exclusive rental streaming service called PlayStation Now, PlayStation Music powered by Spotify, Remote Play, Sharefactory and Share Play. Of course there have been myriad minor changes like the ability to turn off HDCP, play games while they’re downloading, upload clips to YouTube and set themes and background images for the home screen in that time as well. Oh, and mature programming lovers can get their fix anytime with the new HBO Go app that has been absent up until March 2015.
All of these features can be found sporadically throughout the new PlayStation Dynamic Menu, the primary GUI of the PS4. It’s capable of delivering games, movies and TV shows into your home at lightning speeds as well as connecting you to your friends and other online gamers through the PlayStation Network (when it’s working). Remember to use the ability to post to Twitter and Facebook to share your best brag-worthy gaming moments and, if you’re feeling outgoing, you can stream to Twitch here too.
Wait … you mentioned PlayStation 4.5?
Right, well this is many gamers’ worst nightmares: The day after you drop $349 on a new system that you expect to last the next five years, Sony comes along and announces something new that’s faster and more powerful than the system you just bought.
Sony hasn’t quite said that the PlayStation 4.5 (what some are calling the PlayStation 4K) exists yet, several developers have gone on record saying that the system is in the works for a 2016 unveiling. If that turns out to be the case it’s doubtful that it would have its own set of games, but would rather take current PS4 Blu-ray discs and play them at 1080p proper or upscale them to an even higher resolution. New hardware might mean a major improvement to PlayStation VR performance, creating a smoother, crisper experience for those entering virtual reality for the first time.
Here’s what we know (and think) so far about the PS4.5:
What comes with the PS4?
Unless you’re buying one of the new holiday PS4 bundles, you can count on seeing the following items in addition to your stylish black box: a power cord (not a big power brick), an HDMI cable, an earbud microphone combo, one DualShock 4 controller and its charging cable (we charged our DualShock 4 pad using the Xbox One and the world did not end).
Extra controllers don’t come with another charging cable, so don’t lose that one. Also, note that we said earbud singular, not earbuds, as in just for one ear. It’s cheap but serviceable, but you can actually plug any old headset or pair of buds you already own into the controller’s headphone jack, so it’s not much of an issue.
Setup
Set-up largely remains unchanged from Day 1 and should look relatively familiar to anyone who’s owned a PS3. Once your system’s all plugged in and booted up, your new PS4 will ask to connect to internet. It wants that 300MB day-one patch, but it doesn’t need it for offline play. You are able to skip WiFi or ethernet altogether and just pop in a game. Unlike the Xbox One, you can get to the homescreen without initially connecting to the web and patching.
Once you do connect to the internet, you’ll need to let the PS4 update before you can make purchases from the store or play online. Just make sure you’re getting firmware 2.02, the latest software version from Sony.
PlayStation Store
The PlayStation Store is your portal to every shred of content Sony has available on its system. You’ll use it to shop for the latest games, movies and featured content that the Big Blue thinks you ought to know about.
Of course featured games have come and gone over the course of the past year, but one new feature that’s stuck around is the ability to buy a digital copy of a game and have it install days before its retail launch. You won’t be able to start it until the midnight of its launch-day, but just having a game the second the clock strikes 12 is convenient.
If you’re not buying a game the minute it comes out, you can even start playing part of the game before the download completes. When purchasing a game like Killzone: Shadow Fall, you’ll be asked which portion of the game should be prioritized, single or multiplayer, essentially letting you choose which part of the game you want to hop into first.
In a little less than an hour, you’ll be able to start playing a title. It may seem like something only the truly impatient would enjoy, but when you consider that many releases weigh in excess of 35GB, it’s real luxury feature, and another impressive bit of engineering.
Then there’s the PlayStation app for iOS and Android. With just the stroke of a touchscreen, you can remotely purchase games and get the download going on your PS4 so it’s ready and waiting when you get home (the console will turn on, download and switch off on its own).
PS Vita Remote Play
The one feature that hasn’t changed all that much was PS Vita Remote Play. Initially, we thought this was going to be the missing link between Sony’s shrugged-off handheld and all-new console. While it didn’t sell many Vitas (considering customers have already spent a lot on a PS4), it certainly got current owners to dust off the system.The biggest change to the feature’s functionality came earlier this year in PS Vita software 3.35 that allowed up to four PS Vitas to be logged into a single PS4 system.
Connect a PS4 to a PS Vita on the same WiFi network and use the Vita as a second, third or fourth controller in multiplayer games or transfer your game to your handheld and take it into another room with you while someone else is using the TV. Outside of the same WiFi network as your PS4, Remote Play is not an option. At the office we couldn’t get it to connect to our PS4 at home, and it simply isn’t an available over a 3G data connection. Not only you can use it as a controller, but as well as a second screen, Smartglass style. It’s a great way to avoid using the on screen keyboard, if nothing else.
Like platform-exclusive games, we’re still looking to Sony for that crucial reason to go out and buy a Vita and complete our Sony ecosystem. But, if you already own one, it’s an impressive novelty at the very least.
PlayStation Now
Of all the functionality the PS4 gained in the past year, PlayStation Now is our favorite. PS Now is essentially a digital rental service that allows you to rent games for anywhere from two hours to 90 days. Instead of downloading a copy of the game that will take up space on your hard drive and time to download, you’ll actually stream the game from Sony’s servers. It takes about 25-30 seconds to get a game going, but once you do it’s relatively smooth sailing.
Sony recently unveiled an all-you-can-play subscription plan that gives you access to every game on the network for $20 per month. Unfortunately, not every game on PlayStation Now is included in the subscription model, meaning you may have to pay an outlandish fee to stream your favorite game while others may not.
PlayStation Vue
Online TV will soon have a new home on PlayStation. A new service called PlayStation Vue hasn’t received much attention from the media, but it could be the final piece in the puzzle for PlayStation 4. Like Sling TV, Vue is a cable TV-alternative that gives you many of the same channels as the mainstream providers but with no contract or excess equipment.
The service has launched in seven US cities – New York City, Chicago, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Dallas and Miami – but should roll out quickly to other major metropolitan areas. The key differences between it and the competition are its ability to recommend content and store any number of shows in the cloud for a 30-day period.
Project Morpheus
Project Morpheus is a virtual reality headset made in-house by Sony’s hardware team exclusively for the PS4 and coming sometime in 2016. It will have its own set of games, both downloadable titles and full retail releases, and is expected to cost somewhere in the range of $200-400 (about £130-250 or AU$270-550).
From everything we’ve seen so far, it’s sleek, fast and powerful. It has a 5.7-inch OLED screen with 1920 x RGB x 1080 resolution, and can hold about 120 fps refresh rate.
Sharing gameplay videos
If the PlayStation 4 will be remembered for one thing, it will be its integration into this decade’s “share everything” culture. Sharing in-game photos and videos have been a feature since console launch and the size and scope of its abilities have only grown in time.
One year ago, sharing videos and screens was limited to social networks and the PSN. Now, if you want to upload your video to YouTube or edit it in the PS4’s basic video editor, Share Play, that’s no problem. In a perfect world we’d be able to plug in a thumb drive and grab the raw video but, in the meantime at least, that’s not allowed. But perhaps that will change in year two.
Streaming to Twitch and UStream is just as simple as saving locally. Just tap the share button and select “Broadcast gameplay” and away you go on the path to internet stardom. It’s quite painless to set up, especially compared to the third-party mechanics needed to employ this on a last-gen system.
Share Play
Share Play is Sony’s novel concept to bring back local multiplayer to its games. When you load up a particularly tough section in a game, you can invite a more experienced buddy from your friends list to take control of your console remotely and do the dirty work for you. If the game supports local multiplayer, they take over the second controller and play your game with you without ever owning a copy of it themselves.
The downside, however, is that both players will need to be PlayStation Plus subscribers and sessions are limited to an hour each. That doesn’t mean that you’re limited to one session a day, but it does mean that you’ll need to send an invitation to your friend every hour. Your friend – assuming you’re the one hosting – will only see the game in 720p and if you’re the host, you’re the only one who’ll get trophies.
Share Play’s still a bit too new to really judge how well it works. Initial tests suggest that it could add a new level of social interactivity, but until everyone “gets it,” it probably won’t see the same amount of prestige that some of the other new features have gotten.
Gamepad + PS Camera
The PlayStation 4 is one hot combination of industrial design and gaming hardware, but what about those accessories? How are they for interacting with the system?
Out of the box you’ve got one DualShock 4 controller and its charging cable. Sold separately, a spare will run you $59.99/£49.00, and it comes without a charging cable.
Then there’s the PlayStation Camera. It’s $59.99/£54.99, and while it lacks the robust feature set of its new Kinect rival, the fact that it’s sold separately is likely why the PS4 was able to undercut the Xbox One by $100/£80. So thank it for that, at the very least.
DualShock 4 controller
The PlayStation and its DualShock controller have been peas in the proverbial pod since the brand’s inception. Ever since the introduction of the twin analog stick design in 1997, Sony has changed little about its signature gamepad.
The DualShock 4, the current controller model that ships with the PlayStation 4, is the most refined iteration yet. DualShock fans will find it immediately familiar, and those that disliked Sony’s design will find that some, but not all, of their gripes have been addressed.
At face value, it might look an awful lot like a DualShock 3, but it’s far from the same old controller from the past seven years. It’s built on a series of tweaks, rather than an overhaul, of the last Sony controller. And even though the new DualShock is even PS3 compatible, a lot has changed from one generation to the next, and mostly for better.
Most alterations made to the DualShock seem based on user feedback, targeting a specific annoyance gamers had with last gen’s model.
For example, the twin analog sticks are now spaced a little bit further apart, so it’s no longer possible to smack your thumbs together when pulling both sticks towards each other.
The tops of the sticks are now dimpled. They also have an extra grippy rubber texture, making them very easy to manipulate. Shooter fans especially should appreciate these tweaks.
Over long gaming sessions we still found its symmetrical stick layout to be more fatiguing than Xbox’s asymmetrical design. The DualShock 4 is the best DualShock yet, but die hard fans of Microsoft’s gamepad, or long time DualShock haters, won’t be won over.
The L2 and R2 shoulder buttons, which commonly function as triggers, have been extended. They’re a lot easier to catch and grip, and it’s more comfortable to rest a finger on one, ready for that quick reaction shot.
Sony has also stepped away from the classic DualShock design by shifting from Start and Select buttons to Share and Options. Not only are they labeled in a way that better fits their functions, they’re no longer rubber. They’re very flush, making them hard to hit by accident, and they feel closer to a mouse click then the spongy button we were used to.
Speaking of a mouse, the DualShock 4 also sports a touchpad. It’s metal construction feels great to the touch. Fingers glide smoothly and it can be clicked, just like on a laptop. In fact, it feels a lot like what you’d find on a MacBook; the overall construction is excellent.
While it’s underused by the current crop of games, the touchpad is a smart addition. It’s relatively intuitive, and will certainly be a boon for both menu navigation and casual gaming.
Borrowing a feature from the Wii Remote, the DualShock 4 has a little speaker. It leaves us to wonder if Sony will best Nintendo here by figuring out something useful to do with it. Right now the best we’ve encountered is the way Resogun pipes important bits of narration through it, leaving us free to mute the game and blast our own music.
There’s a 3.5mm headphone jack too, so you can plug any old headphones or headset right into the controller. It’s extremely convenient, and a great money saver since you can use earbuds or whatever else you already own. The sound outputs in stereo, so it’s a bit of a waste to use a fancy 5.1 cans this way, but the sound options in settings let you choose between piping chat or game audio into your ears.
Sony has also streamlined the whole “who’s player one?” question. Each controller has a light bar that glows one of four colors: blue, red, green or purple. Players are now identified by color, rather than a number.
It’s now much easier to know who’s who at a glance, but these glowing controllers can get obnoxious when you’re trying watch a movie in a darkened room. There’s really no reason why they should be lit up when you’re using Netflix, or when there’s only one controller turned on, for that matter. The only solution is to turn the controller off, which means having to wake it when you want to pause your movie.
The DualShock 4 also has less battery life than the previous model. A day of moderate gaming, or leaving the controller on when you watch a film, puts a serious drain on its charge. Our controller frequently ran dry before the end of the day, to the point where we seriously suggest owning at least two, especially if your TV is too far from the couch to play while plugged in.
Basically, you need to remember to keep a controller plugged into the PS4 whenever it’s not in use. Thankfully the system can charge a DualShock when it’s off or on standby, something the PS3 shockingly could not do, so at least Sony has addressed that major last-gen oversight.
It is a pity that a sold seperately DualShock 4 doesn’t include a charging cable. GIven that, Sony really ought to be selling the system with two of these cables, one for each USB port. However, we’ll still take this over the Xbox One’s reliance on AAs any day.
PlayStation Camera
Nothing says next-gen like voice and face recognition technology, hence the PlayStation Camera. While it’s a shadow of its rival the new Xbox One Kinect, it’s a massive step up from the PlayStation Eye Camera, thanks to controller tracking and a built-in microphone.
It’s still a rather unnecessary accessory, at least at this point in the system’s life. There are hardly any games that use it and the interface doesn’t depend on it in any meaningful ways.
At login, the PS4 can use the camera to recognize your face. It actually needs you to hold up a DualShock, where it uses the light bar’s color to figure out who’s player one and so forth. It’s amusing and futuristic, but doesn’t really speed up the sign in process, which is already as simple as clicking on your name.
The PlayStation Camera has a microphone, which can pick up simple spoken commands. The PS4’s voice controls are limited, especially compared to the Xbox One. It can be used to launch games, put the system in standby or capture a screenshot. However, voice functions can also work through a microphone, either by plugging the ear bud that comes with the system into your controller or through a fancy third-party headset.
As far as games go, only one title truly requires it: Just Dance 2014. For gamers, this should be the deciding factor: do you want to spend an extra $59.99/£54.99 to play just one game? Personally, we’d recommend waiting until there’s another title or two.
There’s also the Playroom, a sort of tech demo that comes with the PS4. It’s a showroom feature, the kind of thing that gets otherwise uninterested people engaging with the console.
The closest thing it has to a game is air hockey, but the most engaging feature is AR Robots. Here, AR stands for augmented reality.
The camera puts you and your living room on the screen, surrounding you with little squealing robots. You can interact with them in limited ways, knocking them around or vacuuming them up with the controller.
Since there’s no goal and limited gameplay it’s a really just a tech demo. It’s amusing and terribly cute, until you run out of friends to show it to. After that, you’ll quickly stop visiting the Playroom.
Basically, the PlayStation Camera works well and has some amusing features, but it’s entirely inessential. While these camera probably won’t fly off the shelves, we’re happy that Sony chose not make it essential.
Performance
The PlayStation 4 has some serious guts. Sony has been bragging about its 8GB of GDDR5 RAM since it was announced, and frankly, the system needs it.
While 8GB is a lot of memory right now, how much will it be a few years down the road? The PlayStation 3, with its with its 256MB of XDR Main RAM and 256MB of GDDR3 VRAM made it seven years, and managed to support visual feasts like The Last of Us and God of War: Ascension during its final days.
The PlayStation 4 needs to go the distance. So how is it performing now, one year into its life?
Interface
The PlayStation 3’s interface was dense, and plagued by pop in. While it got you to the homescreen quick enough, all the icons needed a little more time to appear.
The PlayStation 4’s interface has been streamlined considerably. Now known as the Dynamic Menu, it’s composed of two horizontal feeds. The primary menu serves up games and apps, while the one above it hosts your trophies, friends list, your PSN profile and system settings. All of this lays on top of a customizable theme.
Coming out of a cold boot, you’re on the homescreen in less than thirty seconds. The same goes for coming out of standby. There’s still some icon pop in, meaning the menu needs a few extra second to populate.
As far as responding to player inputs goes, it’s very fast. You can drill through menus almost immediately, and everything moves in the blink of an eye.
This homescreen is never far away, just pressing the PlayStation button summons it and pauses your current game. Also, if you get lost in an avalanche of menus, the PS button will bring back to the primary feed, a simple alternative to spamming the back button.
Switching from one game to another will end your current session; the PlayStation warns you of this and asks you to confirm the shutdown of whatever title you have paused in the background. Better make sure you’ve reached a checkpoint, as the title will boot fresh the next time you play it; it does not pick up right where you left off.
We said the interface is streamlined and it is, practically to a fault. That primary feed constantly reorders itself, putting the recently accessed applications first. That’s fine if you’re only playing a game or two, but getting at something on your back burner means scrolling to the end of an ever growing list. Icons towards the back also need a second or two to appear.
The Dynamic Menu also lumps all your streaming apps into one icon. Everything from Netflix to Amazon to whatever else is found under TV & Video. Only Sony’s Music Unlimited and Video Unlimited are allowed to hang out on the homescreen.
The only icon that never moves is What’s New, basically the PSN’s news feed. It’s always at the front of the line and clicking into is to enter a jumbled nightmare that would make Mark Zuckerberg cry or laugh, we can’t decide which.
It’s an asymmetrical mishmash of icons representing everything your PSN friends have done, from play games to earn achievements to share gameplay videos and screenshots. It’s a total mess, especially compared to the neatly laid out Dynamic Menu.
The biggest problem with What’s New is not the eye gouging layout, but the fact that there’s not much to be done with 80% of the information there.
Suppose there’s an icon saying Joe played Battlefield 4 for three hours last night. Clicking on the icon just provides a description from the PSN Store and a link to buy the game. And you can “like” the activity, adding yet another icon to everyone’s jumbled feed.
What’s New is in desperate need of a filtration system. There needs to be a way to reduce the trophy spam and see just the things you can actually interact with. Being able to see gameplay videos posted by friends is cool, but not so cool that that you’ll dig through this feed to find them.
Games
Alright, the stuff that truly matters. The PlayStation 4 is indeed a graphical step up from the PlayStation 3 and the Xbox 360. The games look very good, and everything loads quite quickly. Beyond the speedy, one time install when you first pop in a new game, it’s hard to even notice the loading times. There’s nothing that even comes close to the disconcertingly long load up of the PS3’s The Last of Us.
The graphics are good, but not mind blowing. If you’ve played on a PC built within the past few years, you’ve likely seen as good, if not slightly better. It’s the fact that you’re getting it for so much cheaper, and on your HDTV, that’s worth something. Just don’t expect your head to explode and your eyes to melt like it’s the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark.
There’s an impressive level of detail on display in Knack’s character models. Killzone shows off some vistas with a draw distance that would have melted a last-gen system. The most muscle being flexed on the PS4 comes in subtle ways from the performance side. The fact that Battlefield 4 can manage 64 players with just a brief load before a match is the kind of stuff worth noting.
The third-party titles on the PlayStation 4 have one foot in next generation and the other in the last. Games Call of Duty: Ghosts and Madden 25 look better than their last-gen counterparts, and they certainly perform better, but they’re not on par with Sony’s private stable of titles.
The one exception to that is NBA 2K14, which is truly striking. The animations, the renderings of famous players, the detail of the crowd and the accuracy of its animations make it something to write home about. It stands among the first-party titles as one of the best looking games on the system.
We’re being harsh but only because we know that better games will come. If you rush out and buy a PS4 now, you’ll be wanting for titles to show you what this system can truly do. There’s a reason Sony made such a big deal out of confirming a new Uncharted game, the best is truly yet to come.
Must-Own Games
The PlayStation 4 looks slick and it’s chocked full of gigabytes, but what exactly can you play on it? That’s the question gamers should be asking before lining up at the local electronics store.
The PS4’s library isn’t large, some standouts have already emerged. For more, we turn to our sister site GamesRadar. If you still need something to play after reading this, check out their list of the best PS4 games.
Bloodborne
Right out of the gate, Japanese RPG developer FromSoftware was on Sony’s side. The original button-breaking-out-of-sheer-frustration game Demon’s Souls was a PS3 exclusive. The company’s latest title, Bloodborne is going to return that soul-crushingly difficult gameplay back where it belongs, exclusively on Sony’s PS4.
From GamesRadar’s Bloodborne review:
“From Software’s upcoming PS4 exclusive delivers the same kind of giddy thrills as the [Dark] Souls series, with a few new twists and a spooky Victorian-era setting. But the delight of playing still comes from the same places. The suspense before each fight; the intensity of the combat; the desperate clinging to hope when things look dire; the euphoric relief that comes with finally downing your enemy. It’s all here, and it’s incredible.”
LittleBigPlanet 3
There was a time when the terms “children’s game” and “destined for the discount bin” were synonymous. The original LittleBigPlanet changed that. An easy-to-understand platformer similar in spirit to the original Super Mario Bros., LittleBigPlanet is a cute, fun, ephemeral adventure that will make you smile time and time again. The third game in the main series will have Sackboy – the game’s crochet protagonist – teaming up with three friends to save Craftverse.
From GamesRadar’s LittleBigPlanet 3 review:
“Being welcomed back to the world of LittleBigPlanet 3 by the dulcet tones of Stephen Fry is a little bit like sinking into a warm bath of – probably Earl Grey scented – PlayStation charm. And there it is already. The offensive ‘c’ word. Well at least now it’s out of the way, I can get on with more important words. Ones that explain why LittleBigPlanet 3 might look sweet on the surface but hides a fiendish depth of collectables and the frankly terrifying prospect that, thanks to its Create options, you might never need to buy another platforming game ever again.”
Infamous: Second Son
The new Infamous is the first game that looks like it’s actually putting all that fancy hardware to work. An open world game with an incredible amount of detail, it boasts excellent production values and a dark, comic book-style story.
From GamesRadar’s review:
“If you’re looking for a next-gen showpiece to demonstrate the power of PlayStation 4, inFamous: Second Son will definitely do the trick–it looks great, plays well, and gives you a dozen or so hours of city to explore. The gameplay itself isn’t all that revolutionary, but the stellar presentation and enjoyable characters assure you’ll enjoy your trip to Seattle–even if you’ll wish there was more to do there.”
The Last of Us Remastered
Hands down, The Last of Us was the best game on the PS3. It shocked us with a heartfelt plot wrapped around a brutal world full of creeps, weirdos, and one genuinely nice guy. With fully remastered graphics and updated soundtrack, The Last of Us Remastered finally gives next-gen adopters a chance to play the game we’ve been raving about for the past eight months.
From GamesRadar’s review:
“The Last of Us remains a must-play, genre-defining action survival game, and the Remastered version brings with it plentiful tweaks and additional content that make it well worth the asking price.”
Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor
Monolith Games, Shadow of Mordor’s developer, could’ve made the title “Lord of the Rings: Shadow of Mordor.” There was nothing stopping them from a legal stand point. But that would’ve led people to think that SoM is nothing more than a movie knock-off looking to capitalize of The Hobbit’s success. Instead, this turned out to be one of the most well-received games of 2014, leaving its movie-based peers in the dust. Return of the King may have been the king of the movie theater, but SoM has claimed the throne in videogames.
From GamesRadar’s review:
“Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor is an outstanding action game, offering a satisfying mix of stealth and melee combat that series like Assassin’s Creed or Batman: Arkham have perfected. But the Nemesis system, which cleverly makes enemies grow and evolve along with the player, is what elevates Shadow of Mordor into the upper echelons of open-world excellence. Every time you die, it’s personal.”
Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare
Advanced Warfare may be the biggest change for the franchise since the seminal launch of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. Multiplayer is fast and fierce thanks to the addition of the Exo suit, and the single-player campaign resonates with everyone scared of another international meltdown. Call of Duty has had its foibles, but Advanced Warfare isn’t one of them.
From GamesRadar’s review:
“Franchise fatigue be damned. Sometimes a game comes into a series and does things a little bit differently. Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare aims to change the formula for the better with a new setting and futuristic tech, and it succeeds with several game-changing features.”
Resogun
Resogun is a fast-paced, addictive 2D-ish shooter. Beyond the simple fun of a neon gun show, it’s a major selling point for PS Plus. Subscribe and you’ll get it with your monthly payment. If Plus keeps stacking up games like this, it’ll really have Xbox Live Gold looking bad.
From GamesRadar’s review:
“Resogun looks incredible and provides plenty of arcade fun. It’s only held back by sudden difficulty spikes and some frustrating point-scoring mechanics.”
Destiny
Calling Destiny ambitious is a disservice to the game. It’s an ambient world (er, galaxy) that operates in real time. It combines single- and multiplayer into a single campaign, seamlessly transitioning between the two. It’s from the team that made Halo, so while Destiny may not have the iconic face of Master Chief plastered on the box, it will have the same creative minds doing what they do best: sci-fi.
From GamesRadar’s Destiny preview:
“Bungie had a lot to do with what the first person shooter has become today. Now that the developer’s time with the landmark Halo series is over, the developer is setting out with a brand new IP. With the company’s next project–an open, shared-world shooter called Destiny–it looks like the creators of Master Chief are aiming to change the face of the shooter once again.”
Games Coming Soon
It’s not enough to have four or five stand-out games available on your console; what you really need are great games waiting in the wings, ready to launch this holiday season.
The PS4 may not have had the better of the two launch line-ups (sorry Knack!), but it’s making up for lost time with some huge, triple-A games exclusively available on the PlayStation 4. A mix of late 2014 and early 2015 release dates, there’s a lot to look forward to on Sony’s system – not the least of which is the recently unveiled Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End.
Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End
Release date: March 18, 2016
One of the biggest surprise appearances at E3 2014 was Uncharted 4. It’s too bad we know as little about Nathan Drake’s final adventure into the wild green yonder as we do about the lost city of Atlantis. What we can expect, however, is another edge-of-your-seat adventure steeped in some loose world history and a quite possibly heart-breaking ending. Hey, no one said the life of an adventurer would be easy.
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From GamesRadar’s Uncharted 4 preview:
“Whether it’s the end of Uncharted too is hard to say, especially since you wouldn’t expect the final game in a franchise to be the big, shiny iteration for new gen consoles. There’s still the potential for prequels, or Drake sidestepping his end, or maybe Naughty Dog’s getting sneaky on us and ‘thief’ refers to someone else entirely. It’s hard to say just yet, and we might not know until we play through it ourselves.”
The Last Guardian
Release date: TBA
The Last Guardian’s announcement was met with uproarious applause, and with good reason, as the game was first shown at E3 over six years ago. As the spiritual successor to Shadow of the Colossus and Ico, The Last Guardian has some giant-sized shoes to fill, but we have every reason to believe it can do it … as soon as Sony decides the time is right.
Final Fantasy VII: Remake
Release date: TBA
Yes way. Sony actually pulled the trigger on updating the 1997 classic that inspired a generation of gamers (and taught them how painful loving someone can be). There’s no release date set or even a timeframe to go off of, but money’s good that the game will probably come out in 2017, exactly 20 years after the game’s initial release date.
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From GamesRadar’s Final Fantasy VII preview:
“Do you hear that? That rumbling sound, rolling in on a westward wind? That’s the sound of thousands of ecstatic fans crying to the heavens because the Final Fantasy 7 remake is happening. Despite all the denials, the misdirections, the heart-breaking trollery of the PS4 port, it’s finally real!
But aside from the fact that it exists in some nebulous form, the single trailer premiered at E3 2015 hasn’t provided much solid info on what the game is actually going to be like. Not much, but some. You’ll find every bit of it here, and everything else we learn until the day it’s finally real enough to land in your hands.”
For more insight into this year’s biggest releases check out GamesRadar’s list of Upcoming PS4 Games.
Media
The PlayStation 3 was beloved among AV enthusiasts and home theater techies as a simple, relatively inexpensive DLNA media server. Without breaking too much of a sweat you could have it streaming music and videos from your PC, playing them back over your stereo and HDTV.
And thanks to the addition of Plex in early 2015, the functionality is finally on par with its predecessor. The Sony’s media box supports MP3, MP4, M4A, and 3GP file types and plays host to a plethora of media streaming functionality, third-party movie apps as well Sony’s own music and movie storefronts.
Streaming video apps
Like a good little console, the PS4 is playing host to a plethora of third-party apps for streaming movies and television. While it’s neck and neck with the Xbox One in terms of library size, Xbox Live keeps all these apps behind a $60/£32.49 paywall.
Even if you’re paying for Netflix, you won’t be watching it on your Xbox unless pony up for Gold. Not so on the PSN. You need a subscription for online multiplayer but not for media streaming.
Right now, the PS4 has apps for most of the major players in the streaming video market. Netflix, Hulu Plus, Amazon Instant Video, NBA Game Time, NHL GameCenter Live, Redbox Instant, Twitch and Crackle are all present and accounted for.
Music Unlimited
Editor’s note: Music Unlimited will no longer exist after March 29, 2015. It will be replaced by PlayStation Music, powered by Spotify. We will update this review after the new service launches.
There are no third-party music streaming apps on the PlayStation 4. Same goes for Xbox One. Microsoft has its Xbox Music, and Sony has Music Unlimited, a proprietary app very similar in execution to Spotify. It requires a subscription fee of $5 a month, $10 if you want playback from mobile devices. It lets you stream whole albums or create stations, or channels, as it refers to them, from a massive library of artists. There are enough genres here to cater to cover the majority of mainstream music, some obscure stuff as well, and a strong showing of comedy albums.
The best part of Music Unlimited is how it’s been gloriously well integrated into the console’s interface. Music can be streamed over gameplay, with playback controls just a long press of the PS button away. You can also access the Music Unlimited app without closing your current game.
Unfortunately, Music Unlimited needs work. The app is slow, you’ll see a loading screen each time you open it, even if it was just recently accessed. That’s far more loading than you’ll ever see in a game.
Channel song matching is poor. When you first create a channel you’ll always hear a track from the artist you’ve chosen. What comes up next is a crapshoot, often a track entirely outside the genre you’re expecting.
Music Unlimited doesn’t seem to learn from your skips either. Blow past an undesirable track and the next song is often in that same genre you’re not interested in, or even by the same artist. There’s no way to give a track a thumbs down either.
We also had music playback drop out frequently times during our testing. Hopefully this is all just a server issue, something that Sony can sort out sooner rather than later.
All in all it’s a real missed opportunity. The strong interface integration on the PS4 really got our hopes up, and since there’s no Spotify, Rdio or Pandora here, Music Unlimited really is the only game in town.
Also, since there are apps for Android and iOS, as well as an in-browser player, this could conceivably become your all around source for music, and therefore a worthy investment. As it stands now, it’s hard to recommend. We suggest saving the free trial that comes with your PS4 for a month or so and to see if things improve. We’ll be back again to check it out and update this review.
Video Unlimited
If Music Unlimited is Sony’s Spotify, then Video Unlimited is its iTunes or Amazon Instant for movies and TV. It works much the same way as those services, offering streaming playback of movies and TV in standard or high definition.
It’s a bit of a change from the PS3, which allowed you to download movies for local playback. If you have an unreliable connection for streaming, this probably isn’t the best option for you, but to be fair, Netflix and others won’t fare much better. Those services are streaming only as well.
Price-wise, it’s on par with the competition. An HD rental of Man of Steel goes for $4.99, the same price as on Amazon and iTunes. Episodes of Walking Dead, Breaking Bad and Game of Thrones are present and priced competitively.
The selection is pretty close to its rivals as well. We did our best to stump it, but found a wide library of new and classic movies and television. The only gap we could find was Portlandia, and other shows from the cable channel IFC. Other cable comedies like Chappelle’s Show and Childrens Hospital were available.
The roadblock here is that your playback devices are severely limited, namely to Sony devices. Only Xperia Android devices will be able stream your purchases, with no support for any other flavor of Android, iOS or even Mac computers. There is an app for playback on Windows PCs, and it did not appear to be limited to Sony Vaio machines.
Amazon uses a similar tactic with its Prime Instant Video, only providing streaming video service for its Kindle Fire devices. It does offer playback on iOS over WiFi though, while Video Unlimited does not.
Basically, while Video Unlimited has competitive selection and pricing, we can’t recommend buying anything more than a rental from it, something that you’ll watch in one sitting on your PS4 or PS Vita. Unless you own a few more Sony devices, you won’t have a lot places to enjoy your library.
Original programming
Sony is venturing into uncharted territory in 2015 with the introduction of its own original programming. It’s a move that will put it in direct competition with other anti-cable competitors Netflix and Amazon.
The first show on the docket for Sony is called Powers and is based on a comic book written by legendary Spider-Man writer Brian Michael Bendis. Check out the seven-minute preview below:
Network
In the last generation, Sony’s PlayStation Network, or PSN, was always number two to Xbox Live.
PSN was by no means poor, but it was a get what you pay for situation. Xbox Live Gold was around $60/£30 for a year, got you access to online multiplayer and streaming services (even ones you might already be paying for, like Netflix) and had a robust list of features that made it easy to communicate with friends and join their games.
Sony gave away online multiplayer for free with the PlayStation 3, but you could opt for PlayStation Plus status for digital store discounts and other perks. The PSN on the PlayStation 4 has gotten a major renovation. It has new features and benefits, and compelling reasons to spend $60/£40 for a year of PlayStation Plus: it’s now required for online multiplayer.
PlayStation Network
Unlike Xbox One, Sony’s console does not need to be connected to the internet for its initial setup. There is a sizeable patch to install when you first set up, but if you live in a lead-lined bunker without a trace of WiFi, you’ll still be able to pop in a disc and enjoy some single player without downloading it.
During the initial setup, the PS4 will ask to be connected to internet, like any PC, phone or tablet would do. As we said, you can deny it, and still get some gaming and DVD watching done. However, you’d be missing out on a lot of the fun.
The PSN now supports a party chat function, which lets you group with friends outside of a game for open mic chat. If you do enter a game, you’ll be able to communicate privately with each other. The mic quality is clear, but we do suggest investing in something beyond the tinny earbud that comes with your system.
Your PSN profile can now be linked to your Facebook account. It’s relatively well executed, but take your time going through the setup menus or you’ll end up spamming your friend’s news feeds every time you play a game or earn a trophy.
There’s an option to make your real name public to everyone yahoo you encounter online. We opted to make it private, meaning that after your friend someone, there’s a can send a second request to make your real names visible to each other.
This is a smart, well executed feature. This second request can be sent at any time, allowing for a “getting to know you” period with the people you meet online. Of course, if you’re dealing with someone you know in real life, you can go ahead and send the request. Using real names makes it easier to keep track of who exactly HeadShot9999 is, and makes for a much nicer looking friends list.
While the PSN did have some hiccups during the first 24 hours of the system’s North American launch, it’s smooth sailing now. We’ve been able to maintain a steady connection with a fast ping on our home internet connection, in both first and third-party games.
PlayStation Plus
On the PlayStation 4, Sony has followed the Xbox Live Gold example and put online multiplayer behind a paywall.
While it’s easy to find that disappointing, it was an inevitability. If you have an active PS Plus account from your PS3 or PS Vita it’ll carry over and apply to all your Sony systems. Benefits like digital store discounts, monthly free games and early DLC access are still part of the package.
You now get multiplayer access and game patches that download and install automatically while in the PS4 is in standby. Firmware and overall system updates will download automatically even if you’re not a Plus member.
Plus also gets you 1GB of cloud storage for your saved games. While any PSN member can sign into a friend’s PS4 and access their digitally purchased games, only Plus subscribers will be able to yank their progress out of the cloud.
While it is sad to see free PSN multiplayer go the way of the dodo, Sony has done a lot to sweeten the Plus deal. We think it’s an essential part of the PS4 experience, and totally worth the price.
Verdict
The PS4 has come a long way since launch day. Small changes over the year, along with a few huge additions like firmware 2.5, PlayStation Now, PlayStation Music and Share Play, have added up to make the system a better value now than it was 12 months ago. It’s faster, more vibrant and has more content available than ever before.
The PlayStation 4 isn’t perfect, though. While it’s made several improvements to its interface, the PlayStation 4 is still lacking in the one area that counts: games. Out of everything else, though, this may be the hardest to fix. There’s hope on the horizon that games like Uncharted 4 will give gamers a reason to call the system “the best Sony system ever” but, until we get more quality first-party games in our hands, there will still be a distinct lack of content there to win us over.
So, you ask yourself, is it worth jumping in now at $399 or wait just another six months to see if I can get a cheaper bundle down the road? Let’s break it down.
We liked
The system is cleanly designed, functional and a downright joy to putter around its interface. Everything is speedy and responsive right from minute one, and the interface is full of clever design choices that speed things up. Games begin to install the second you pop in the disc, and firmware updates download while the system is on standby.
Games themselves look loads better here than they did just one year ago at the peak of the PlayStation 3. The graphics aren’t mind-blowing if you’re used to high-end gaming rigs but, when compared to the Xbox One, there’s a small, but notable improvement on Sony’s system.
Even the controller is better than last generation’s. The DualShock 4 controller is a significant upgrade over the DualShock 3. The most bothersome aspects of the DS3 have been addressed, resulting in a comfortable controller that’s more functional for games of all genres.
PS Plus (and the PlayStation Network in general) are more enjoyable now than they’ve ever been and, while it’s a bit disheartening to see online multiplayer go behind a $50/£40 paywall, Sony has tossed in a lot of stuff to sweeten the deal. You get improved standby functionality, discounts on games in the digital store and freebie downloadables that are actually quite good.
The PlayStation 4 did all this without losing any shred of its Sony DNA. It’s hands-down the best media-streaming system on the market, capable of playing lag-free blu-rays and creating a minimalistic interface for Netflix, Hulu Plus and Amazon Instant Video.
It’s also very apparent that Sony is concerned about growing the console and its feature-set for the long-term. It’s refusing to let its console grow stagnant by providing monthly patches and forecasting interesting features down the road.
We disliked
Sony has made it clear that it’s branch out or die. To add a new feature every six months or pack it up and call it quits. This amiable drive to create something from nothing every six months has given gamers a reason to pick the PS4 over the Xbox One.
The downside, however, is that Sony often forgets to improve what features the PS4 already has. Remote Play has been given PS4 owners four-player functionality but little reason to actually go out and buy a PS Vita – there are few games built with cross-over play in mind and even fewer that make for a compelling case to drop an extra $200.
And the list of innovative-but-forgotten features continues with everything from the touchpad on the controller to the unwieldy “What’s New” section of the home screen. The speed at which new features come out seems like it has outpaced Sony’s ability to refine and hone them. The potential for real change is buried inside the hardware of the system but, as it stands, the PlayStation 4 feels more like a PlayStation 3.5 than a real evolution of the platform.
And, yes, it’s still missing those coveted first-party exclusives, too.
Verdict
We’ll say it again: the PlayStation 4 is a great piece of hardware. It’s fast, nicely built and has a streamlined philosophy that puts games front and center. And let’s not forget the price tag. It was the first console to be priced at $399 and continues to offer great value for the money.
What’s more impressive was that it had a fantastic first year jam-packed with new features and firmware updates that improved the stability and speed of the system. These may end up hurting if Sony doesn’t take some time to really work and refine the feature-set it’s already put out. But, for the time-being, seeing monthly updates has only reinforced gamers’ decisions to buy Sony.
You’ve had a good first year, Sony, but don’t let up now.
First reviewed November 2013
Source: techradar.com