Reviewing a console is a difficult thing. What you think of it at launch and what you think of it by the end of its life cycle can be two completely different things. Basically in these early days, we are reviewing the new features, the performance, the promise and the launch lineup. A few of the pre-release reviews I saw were like a dissertation, but I’ll do my best not to keep you that long. There will also uncharacteristically be no review score, as numbering a console that will change so much over time feels silly.
DESIGN
This is probably the most contentious part of the system. Sony has definitely taken a chance with the design of the console and most people seem to have very strong opinions on it. Personally, I like the look of it. Sure, it reminds me of an exceptionally large router or a luxury seafront hotel, but the bold design works for me. I would have liked it to be a little bit smaller, but the most important thing to me was that it was properly ventilated and I am happy to report that not only does it stay cool even during lengthy play sessions, but it remains almost silent.
The console does come in two models. One with a disk drive and the other digital only. I decided to go digital only this generation and so I have what I consider to be the better looking of the two devices. My digital model is also almost silent, while I have heard reports that in the disk version there is some noise coming from the Blu-Ray drive, even when playing digital only titles.
PERFORMANCE
As I stated above, the console is borderline inaudible whether you are sitting on the main screen or traversing New York in Miles Morales. As someone coming from a PS4 Pro that was so loud I had to both turn on subtitles and wear headphones to hear what was going on in games, this is a real breath of fresh air (literally). Then there’s the speed. From navigating menus to loading into games, the PlayStation 5 is lightning quick. The longest loading time I have seen yet was in Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, which was still less than five seconds.
USER INTERFACE
I love pretty much everything about the new UI. In many ways, it is an evolution of what we became used to on PS4, only ultra-responsive and with a bunch of nice new features. Game help identifies what you may be stuck at based on your game progression and location and offers you video-guided assistance.
There is also now a section that shows you how many hours you have played of each game – and better yet, it has data going back to all of your PlayStation 4 games as well. This is a feature that has been requested for years and so it is great to see it finally implemented. The PlayStation Store is also now built into the system, making the store a much better experience.
I haven’t messed around with rest mode as of this writing because I had heard from a few different sources that it was causing a small number of units to crash, sometimes resulting in a factory reset. An energy-saving feature I have made good use of though is the option to turn your controller off after a certain amount of inactivity. I have it set to 10 minutes and so when I often get distracted while gaming I don’t need to worry about coming back to a drained battery.
One negative I have been hearing on th PS5 UI is the lack of themes. I enjoyed themes on the PS4 as much as everyone else, but the design of the new UI doesn’t leave any screen real estate for a theme to be worthwhile. The game launcher tiles have been made smaller so that when you hover over a game you get a full size splash screen of said game. I like this approach and think it makes for a better aesthetic, giving the games centre stage.
DUALSENSE
The load times are great. The fact that I can have a conversation with my fiancée in the same room as the console without shouting is a welcome addition too. But what really blew my mind about PlayStation 5 is the Dualsense controller. It isn’t easy to sell haptic feedback and adaptive triggers in adverts or marketing, but once you get this thing into your hands you will realise just how much of a game changer it can be.
The one potential downside here is will developers still be making the effort with it in 12-18 months time. At the moment we just don’t know. I expect first-party titles to continue ultilising it, but it didn’t go unnoticed that Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, who had a marketing deal with Sony did use the features to great effect while Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, which alligned their launch with Xbox, didn’t use it at all.
GAMES
Speaking of games… the PlayStation 5 has new games in abundance. We already have a review of Assassin’s Creed Valhalla on the site, written by the super talented S.J. Hollis, but I wanted to add to that here by just delivering a quick one-paragraph review of both Astro’s Playroom and Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales. I can’t yet comment on Demon’s Souls, but by all accounts, it is one of the best remakes ever made, one of the best looking games ever and one of the best launch titles ever.
Astro’s Playroom: This may be the ultimate pack-in game. It comes pre-installed on every PS5 and is a love letter to PlayStation fans. The amount of Easter eggs and nods to iconic PlayStation moments and games is truly a joy to behold. Even aside from that, it’s an excellent platformer that showcases the potential of the Dualsense controller. This should be your first port of call when booting up the console for the first time. 9/10
Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales: Having a Spider-Man game at launch is crazy. Forget all the “It’s only DLC” nonsense – this is a full game! Yes, the story is about half the length of the 2018 game, but it still clocks in around 7-8 hours and close to 15 if you want to do all the side activities (which you will because it’s great). In my opinion, this Miles Morales spin-off eclipses Insomniac Games first effort as the best Spider-Man game ever made and it would be in the conversation for best launch game ever. 9/10
SHARING & MEDIA
Sharing images and video clips is easier and more efficient than ever. Exporting to Twitter, which is my main go-to, is now much less of a chore and finally, we also get 280 characters. Media apps are now a tab over from games in the PlayStation’s home screen which is a huge improvement. Here in the UK most of the biggest media apps are included like Netflix, YouTube, Disney+, Amazon Prime, Now TV and more. BBC iPlayer has yet to make the jump over but we are told it is currently being worked on.
BRIGHT FUTURE
So above I talked about how strongly PlayStation 5 has started with the likes of Astro’s Playroom, Miles Morales, Demon’s Souls and more. Now let’s briefly talk about its future. We already have Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart set for early 2021 and Horizon Forbidden West joining it later in the year. Then there is God of War: Ragnarok, which while currently slated for 2021 will likely slip in Q1 or Q2 2022 and a heavily rumoured, but still unannounced Uncharted game in development at a new studio.
When you look at just that paragraph, it’s clear to see how bright the future is for PlayStation. That’s not even taking into account that Sucker Punch is hiring for a sequel to Ghost of Tsushima (a game I just labelled the best of the last generation) and possibly the most talented studio in the world, Naughty Dog, haven’t even hinted at what they are planning next. Sony seems to be putting an emphasis on third-party partnerships and if they can secure some big deals in that space to compliment the amazing exclusives, I could see the PS5 being every bit the juggernaut the PS4 was.
KNOWN ISSUES
As with all tech launches, there are bound to be hiccups and the PlayStation 5 is not the exception to that rule. Rest mode is causing various issues, so I disabled it until we hear more. There are also issues with games crashing more frequently if you have an external HDD plugged in with PS4 games on it. My advice would be until Sony iron out these issues, avoid these two touted features.
VERDICT
A box that is well ventilated, quiet, lightning quick and brimming with good to great new experiences. All this is brought even more to life by the best video game controller I have ever used. The PlayStation 5 makes a strong first impression and promises great things for the future. We are in for an exceptional generation of gaming.
-VDZE 🧐
*Console purchased by the website for use.