WARNING: This is a long post, clocking in at over 3,700 words. I could break it into smaller posts and make it a mini series, but I won't because I'm too lazy for that. Test the limits of your literacy and willingness to exercise it at your own risk!
Despite some economic and personal setbacks lately, I decided to dip ever so slightly into my safety net and get myself a PS4 at launch. With it I somewhat begrudgingly forked over the $50 for PS+ and took advantage of Target's buy 2/get 1 free deal. So with my new console, I also had Killzone Shadow Fall, Call Of Duty: Ghosts, Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag, Resogun, Contrast, and the FTP beta for Blacklight: Retribution. Not a bad haul right out of the game. But there's even more: on top of that, Sony gave me $10 in PSN money for buying at launch, and GameStop gave me another $10 in PSN money for buying PS+ with them. So I have some funds on reserve right now for another DD game when I want to use it. Of course, the question on everyone's minds is: Was it worth it? Let's go piece by piece to find out.
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Setting It Up
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After I spent about an hour and a half rearranging my physical space to fit it in without having to unplug my other consoles (something I probably should have done earlier that day), I was all set to set the console up.
First off, it needed a system update, so I let that run. On the PS3, these things could take between five minutes for minor updates and up to an hour for hefty ones. My PS4 got its update finished and installed in about five or so minutes, but afterwards when it auto-restarted it took a minute before it would load up. It had a flashing blue light which I would find out later could indicate something very very bad, but after a couple of minutes of this it simply rebooted itself proper and hasn't had any similar issues since.
Next I established my WiFi connection and upgraded my PSN profile with the code I got for Plus. And after that, I was set to begin using my system freely. All in all it took about fifteen to twenty minutes for the full setup, but it wasn't difficult or frustrating aside from the one minor glitch rebooting.
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The User Interface
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The PS3's UI infamously was the plain XMB. Many people disliked the overly simplified look of it with its confusing and often changing arrangement of certain features and settings. The PS4 has a similar basic idea behind it, but on a tiered system that adds some flash to it. The top row includes the basic stuff for the system: your Profile, friends list, chat and messaging, settings, and access to the PSN store. Below that is the Apps line, where your most recently used games/apps are shown from left to right, ending with a kindle-esque library arrangement for your DD games (which also shows disc games with DLC, even if you can't launch from there without the disc in). So long as your internet connection is solid, below each app on the app line is additional information about that app, including an overview, available DLC, and your friends activities with this app. And by apps, I mean games too. The PS4 calls it all apps, and it's rubbing off on me.
Anyways, this UI is indeed going to make a lot of people happy when compared to the XMB, but I was extremely disappointed by the inability to further organize it or change the way it sorts things. I assume this will be patched in later, as more games and apps get released and the need grows. Right now, everything I have is on this line without exception, so it's not as inconvenient as it might seem. Still, I would like the ability to move the library app to the left permanently so I don't have to scroll through every other recent app to find a DD game I want to play.
My other problem with this UI is that the screenshots and videos we take with the new share function is kind of hidden, and I haven't found any more streamlined way to actually share or upload them manually at the moment. I haven't linked my Twitch account yet, but I don't see how that would make a difference on the UI. To find the screens and videos, you can either go into your profile and use one of the buttons there to see them, or else you have to go into your console's data management with all your save data and such and access it there. In fact, when you are not connected online the memory management route is the only one that works. This content feels hidden and difficult to access, especially since the Share button was such a big deal to Sony when they revealed it.
On a somewhat related note, I'm also upset that at the moment you cannot change the system's background. The background is a simple blue image with moving wave similar to the wave on the PS3's default background, but the PS3 allowed you to use any pictures you had on your HDD as a wallpaper. The PS4 does not give you the option to use screenshots as wallpapers, leaving you stuck with the blue. Given how crowded the UI is when you use it, this isn't really a huge deal because you'd rarely get to see a decent portion of the wallpaper anyways. But I would like the chance to at least go with a different color background.
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The Dualshock 4
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Sony's new controller has a few big changes for PS gamers when compared to the DS3. First and foremost, it feels significantly more comfortable to hold. The added grips feel better to the touch and the thumbsticks now feel much more secure when you use them. Despite spending a generation of playing shooters with R1 as my primary firing button, I found no hesitation to use the DS4's new actual triggers. In fact, I'd say it was so comfortable that there was practically no adjustment; it felt like I had been doing this all along.
The controller also has a giant touchpad taking up a ton of room in the middle. At this point I have only used it with Killzone to change orders to the OWL (more on that later), and nothing has used it's press-down button function yet. Given such little exposure, it does feel very awkward to use and despite eventually getting used to sliding on it without pressing down, it never quite felt right to me.
The other two button changes on this controller are the Share and Options buttons. The share button allows you to instantly take screenshots or record videos in game, which I have been having some fun with. The button defaults with pressing it once to open the Share menu, holding it down to take a screen, and double pressing it to quickly start the video. You can change the settings on the menu to take a screen with a quick single press and hold for the menu, which I find more sensible.
On the other side it the Options button. In previous generations, Start and Select were used for differing menus. Start was a game function menu primarily, which is what the Options tends to be. You can exit the game, restart levels, load, etc. via this option. But in past generations, online shooters would use Select for quick views to a leaderboard or other games would use it for item management or maps. So far there hasn't been a replacement for this function, and games like COD and Blacklight have gone without it. Outside of games, the options button does on the UI what the triangle button did on the PS3, which takes some getting used to. Fortunately, the triangle button on the PS4's UI does nothing most of the time, and doesn't get you into trouble much when you make the mistake.
The main complaint I have about the Options and Share buttons are their small size and tucked in proximity to the larger touch pad. It feels difficult to locate the options button when you want to pause a game, and that can be a problem. Time may remedy this with repeated use, but for now it feels a little frustrating.
The last change with this controller is the speaker included below the touch pad. The PS4 defaults this speaker to be VERY loud, which at 2am playing Resogun the other members of my household did not appreciate. This can be adjusted both in game menus for that specific game and also in the system settings to lower the base volume. I found about 25% to be a healthy volume for it where it's not screaming at me but I hear it fine. The aforementioned Resogun uses the speaker to tell you to save the humans, which is also happening on screen and serves no purpose on the controller speaker. Killzone Shadow Fall on the other hand reserved the speaker for found audio logs, giving you a realistic foreground and background while listening to these logs that other games will likely use again. I felt that it did enhance these moments a great deal, so there's some potential to be had in gameplay.
The controller itself has an rechargeable battery and comes with a charge cable. Battery life has been good so far, not much different than the PS3's. I do feel as though the charge cable could have been a little longer, but I still have enough room to sit at a comfortable distance with is plugged in to keep playing. You can leave the console on standby to charge the controller while you're not using it, but this does use some power versus turning it all off. It only takes a few minutes to get a full charge on the thing, so I don't find the standby option to be too important for me on this front.
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The Games
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I have barely played any of Assassin's Creed IV, so I won't go into much depth about it. I still hate everything about the modern era in this franchise. I hope what I have seen so far is a very rare interruption because it's certainly an unwelcome one when the game begins in the historical era I came to play. I will have more to say about the game when I'm finished playing it; I'm about to really dive into it.
Call of Duty: Ghosts was not something I originally planned on purchasing, especially given my Activision boycott that lasted most of the 7th generation. On that front, I just don't care as much anymore. The last CoD game I actually played was Modern Warfare 2, and the heart of the game certainly hasn't changed in the time its had. Multiplayer has some new tweaks to it, but it's still the same gameplay. Which I don't mind because I enjoyed CoD4 and MW2 a lot, and the break I've had from the franchise helps it from feeling overdone. I thought the single player would make Michael Bay proud, with ridiculous firefights in space, oceans, and even a few moments that felt like throwbacks to the MW games. It was fun and all, but nothing to write home about.
Killzone: Shadow Fall was a nice change of pace game for the franchise. There was a lot to love in gameplay with some obvious influences from Crysis and a distinct decision to not be a cookie cutter sequel to the last three games. But as much as I enjoyed the variety of methods available in the single player, the story was a bit of a letdown. It centered around a Berlin Wall situation that made no sense. Helghan got nuked, so Vektans hauled survivors to Vekta and evicted its own citizens without securing their safety to give the Helghast a place to live, where they proceed to murder Vektans in their given territory with no consequence. I'm sorry, but at what point of having your sorry ass rescued from a planet lying in nuclear waste and GIVEN a safe place to life is that oppressive. The ISA could have simply left the Helghast to die out on Helghan. It made no sense at all for the Helghast to be put in a position of such power when they were supposed to be so helpless and oppressed, and it made no sense at all that the racism between Helghast and ISA was more toned down than in any other game in this franchise.
One thing I did love about the story was how it ended. Not so much for the ending itself, but the door it opens for the future which could grant us a game from the Helghast perspective. That's something I have been wanting since I played the first. Helghast are presented with Nazi-eqsue propaganda and brutal tactics, but the actual story behind them is a struggle for independence from the ISA who left them to rot when their people faced epidemics and disasters. There's a lot of relate-able material to be explored from their side of the wall that the franchise has been afraid to embrace until the latter portion of this game. So despite their mishandling of their own lore and motivations this time, I do have some hoe that the next game will be the payoff.
Resogun is good, hectic, retro fun. if you like the classic Defender, then this is basically a spiritual sequel to it. You can only shoot left or right, but you can move vertically and horizontally. There's lots of enemies and upgrades and all the goodness that made Super Stardust so good on the PS3. It's just flat out classic fun, albeit more challenging than its PS3 counterpart.
Contrast is an interesting experience. I think it'll be my first PS4 platinum, but only because of how easy it is to platinum. Without any guides or help I've found every collectible in the first two acts, and I don't expect the third act to be any more difficult on that front. At its heart, the game is a platformer with a dark story and a unique gameplay twist. Didi's broken home family provides a really sad, albeit predictable background for the game. You play as Didi's imaginary friend who is oddly dressed overly sexy. It seems less odd as you see her family life unfold, and it just adds to the sad aspect of it a little. The cross-dimensional gameplay of entering and exiting shadows provides some good puzzles at times and it's certainly had some challenging moments, but overall it's pretty straightforward and basic. To put it simply, I'm glad this was a freebie. I don't think I'd have been happy spending $15 for it because there just doesn't feel like there's enough meat in it, but it's certainly an interesting little experience.
Blacklight: Retribution has actually surprised me. I've enjoyed its multiplayer more than KZ or CoD so far, though I honestly haven't played as much of the other two either. Blacklight has tight mechanics, good maps, and starts you off with capable weapons to ensure that free or new players won't be underpowered. It almost feels more like Counter-Strike than Call of Duty, though really it's not quite aligned with either. it's a great quality game for its free nature, and it's been a blast to play so far.
None of the six games I have gave me a feeling like this couldn't have been done on PS3 mechanically. Graphics don't mean enough to me to even mention. I have noticed a few scenes here or there with more moving pieces in one way or another, but nothing that really means too much for the gameplay. Even so, I'm glad that this forced me to get PS+ at least. I never did before, even during the free period on PS3, because I felt like there wasn't much point to getting these free games only to lose them when your subscription ends. But after spending $50 on it today, I got $10 back from the store and $30 worth of games for free already. With a full year to go to make up for that last $10, I feel much better about it now.
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Other Features
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I personally haven't tried my headset yet, but I did do a text chat on the system (it was very late at night and others were already pissed about the Resogun loudness), which I would say is quite improved over the text messages on PS3. Where PS3 made every response separate unless you were in a text chat room, the PS4 works more like a smartphone keeps track of your texts. Each speaker in the conversation is kept to a different color and alignment so its easier to keep track of, and it all flows like a chat room rather than individual messages. Given the shared profile, I did log into my PS3 to see how it handled the conversation and it showed each message as individual unread messages.
I also wanted to mention that the Internet browser used on PS4 is significantly better than the PS3. Pages load significantly faster than before, making it much less frustrating to use. It's also cool that the system will allow you to jump out of any game and pull up the browser, which will make using guides for collectibles or simple help smooth. So far, the PS4 always has picked upon the page I last visited, even after I powered off the system completely, which is also convenient. I've also discovered that MyIGN is actually compatible with the PS4 browser, so I can blog, comment, and update statuses on my PS4 rather than fighting with the people I share a computer with for time. Disappointingly, YouTube videos are hit and miss as to whether they'll play or not, and SouthParkStudios.com is not compatible. I also attempted to use Google Drive to manage an Excel document, but the browser would not allow me to edit anything; I could only view the document. Which means I can't manage ULG stuff directly from my PS4 as I had hoped (when it returns), but I can post match results this way for everyone to view on their systems if they so choose.
And also because I'm dorky like this, I was happy to discover that logic-puzzles.org is compatible in full, so when I want to do some brain-teasing on my PS4 I can use that. For most people, the fact that you can jump between a game and GameFAQs for help is probably the most exciting part.
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The Biggest Issue
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Ok, so this is going to mean different things to different people, but my biggest problem with my PS3 right now is memory. The system comes with 500GB of space, but it is upgradable if you want to spend more on a hard drive. What I did not realize going into this purchase was that just like on the Xbox One, every retail game you get will have to fully install to the hard drive. Which means that size-wise, there is no difference between playing from disc or hard drive. My three retail games alone take up 100GB of storage because of this, a full fifth of my console. How much will a game like Fallout 4 take up? How many games will really fit, and what can honestly be done about it? The most you can hope to get hard drive-wise is 4x the capacity at 2TB, but if games average about 50GB each, plus room for screens, vids, and DD games, how much can you actually use? I have 40+ PS3 games on my 160GB HDD, and I don't think the PS4 will be able to hold that many games even if I upgrade it.
Sony's way to counter this is with its install method. If you wait a minute after launching a game before you start playing it, the game will install as you play it. The hard drive will reserve the full amount of space needed up front, but this allows you to delete old installs freely because it won't take forever to re-install them. In fact, you'll hardly notice any difference at all aside from having to micro-manage the space up front. The problem with this is that as far as I can tell, game saves are tied in to the same files as the installs as far as management options go, so deleting your install means deleting your save progress as well. This probably can be negated with the PS+'s cloud memory storage, but I have no hands-on to know how well that honestly works.
This is obviously a long-term sort of problem and one that both the PS4 and Xbox One are going to have to deal with at some point. I just hope that better solutions are available before it becomes a real problem.
Related to this issue, I find it almost pointless to have disc games on PS4 because of the full installs needed. Sure that would give up my ability to delete and reinstall at will, but it's kind of annoying to see disc games on my recent apps list and not be able to launch right into them when I know the full install happened and is finished already. This disc vs digital issue is only going to grow louder with this generation, and I am feeling very torn about it right now. If there was a good enough memory option to support it, I think I would be going all digital right now. Especially since game cases aren't including booklets anymore. But without the memory issue assuredly handled, I can't help but feel it's better to have the security net of the disc for now in case I have to reinstall stuff later.
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Overall
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Overall I am happy with my purchase, and I am enjoying my console greatly. I see lots of exciting potential for this generation, but future issues are already clear as well. Whatever comes along, I feel like it's going to be a great ride though. So long as you can avoid the dreaded wobble.
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“Men with facial hair are beautiful fairies that should be crowned with an infinite amount of manliness points.”
-indie11
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On This Day In Music (November 19th)
Nosferatu by Helstar released on November 19th, 1989. Also released on this day:
- Audioslave by Audioslave (2002)
- Coda by Led Zeppelin (1982)
- The End of All Things To Come by Mudvayne (2002)