DECEMBER 2020 T3 53PlayStation 5
Battery capacity
has been raised, it
charges faster and
haptic feedback is
brilliantly complexare vastly superior to anything that
was possible on PS4 hardware.
Unlike the competing Xbox Series
X, the PS5 does actually have new,
exclusive games available at launch,
including Astro’s Playroom that
comes pre-installed on the SSD.
While exclusive new-gen PS5
games are a little thin on the ground,
the PS5 is backwardly compatible
with the entire PS4 library, and
games you already own can be
downloaded from the PS Store or
installed from disc if your console has
a disc drive. And you can of course
buy new ones. It doesn’t quite trump
the new Xbox’s three generations of
backwards compatibility, however.
While a lot of upcoming games are
remakes or remasters of existing
titles, anyone who skipped the last
console generation can sign up for the
PlayStation Plus subscriber service - a
bundle is available that adds last-gen
games such as Bloodborne, The Last
Guardian and God of War to your
account, for free.
Rad pad
The DualSense controller, with its
built-in gyroscopes and accelerometer,
is a mighty fine gamepad. It easily
beats the PS4’s pad, with a slightly
rounder, filled out chassis sitting in the
hands much more easily. It feels like a
hybrid of the PS4’s controller and the
Xbox One Wireless Controller.
The rear of the body is finished
with the same micro cross, circle,
square, triangle pattern that appears
on the inside of the console wings,
which looks classy and also provides
that slightly rough texture the best
pads have to stop things getting
slippery when the in-game heat is
really on.
You also get some complex haptic
feedback – far from just one-note
rumble, context-sensitive and with
varying degrees of sensation. It blends
into your gaming session, enhancing
the experience. This haptic feedback
tech is streets ahead of the Xbox
Wireless Controller’s and Sony should
be commended for it.
Triggers are also adaptive,
meaning they resist your finger
pressure for enhanced immersion,
and the battery capacity has been
raised to 1,560mAh, up from
1,000mAh in the DualShock 4, and it
charges faster over USB-C.
The PS5 is also a strong multimedia
hub, the 4K Blu-ray player in the
drive-equipped version leading the
charge and with apps for all leading
streaming services. There’s a
comprehensive options menu that
lets you, for example, set custom
button assignments to controllers, as
well as tweak and control every
aspect of any accessory, including the
PlayStation 5’s HD camera.
Storage, both internal and external
via USB, can be analysed in detail,
and data shifted around to make
space for something new, and you can
specify myriad display settings.WE’RE IMPRESSED
Bold console design; powerful hardware;
excellent controller.WE’D IMPROVE
Console is very big; limited storage with no
way to expand at launch.VERDICT
The way the gaming industry is going,
this may be the last traditional console
generation we ever see, and if it is then
the PS5 will be a fitting swan song.
Console generation wins aren’t decided
on paper – they’re decided with real-world
performance and, even more importantly,
the gaming ecosystem itself.
Without games and gamers, it doesn’t
matter how strong your console is.
The PS5, while not blowing anyone
away with its launch game offering, does
have a few more exclusive new titles at
launch, including the showpiece cross-gen
PlayStation exclusive Marvel’s Spider-Man:
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For confirmed PlayStation gamers there
can be only one choice in the next-gen
of consoles, and that is the PlayStation 5.
It’s a great system today and, when a few
of its minor annoyances, like low storage
space, are rectified in the coming months,
it is a console that is going to deliver epic
experiences for both hardcore gamers and
the merely game-curious for years to come.