As the PlayStation 4 hit store shelves only days ago, many gamers wondered what defines next-gen. Have the lifelike visuals they’ve dreamed of finally arrived? Or maybe next-gen is all about new technology and features.
When we first learned of the specs of the latest system, it was made clear that Sony learned a lot from its shortcomings with the PS3. The PS4 is touted as an exceptionally powerful device that hones in on gaming and social features, the two things that gamers crave. But has what it’s come up with enough to warrant cleaning the slate for a new platform?
Looking at the PS4, it’s easy to forget that Sony’s last launch quickly brought on comparisons to the George Foreman Grill. This time around we have a gorgeous black box with sharp angles that uses a wrapped inlet design to hide its disk drive and 2 front USB ports. The pulsing light that separates matte and glossy black finishes on the top allows the PS4 to communicate its current state (on, standby, booting, etc.). The only thing that looks to break up the hints of PlayStation ancestry is the back, which now only hosts an HDMI, auxiliary, optical, and Ethernet port, meaning AV cables are not welcome. This is a console that wants to display at 1080p, and demands an HDTV.
The console’s build quality is good, but not great. It’s light and flimsy, similar to the PS3 Super Slim, but not so much that it feels cheap. That said, what it lacks in sturdiness it makes up for in firepower. The PS4 is equipped with everything you need to experience the best-looking games on the market. Its GPU is theoretically capable of 1.84 of teraflops of computational power, and its 8GB of GDDR5 means it isn’t bottlenecked by insufficient memory. This is really the best hardware you can find at a $399 price point. Its x86 architecture also means that developers love the device—it’s much easier to code for than the PS3’s Cell processor. What this equates to is a lot of developer support and games that look downright gorgeous.
The PS3’s XMB never proved to be as efficient as it was pretty, and the PS4’s UI learns from some of its design mistakes. Two rows of icons grant you access to all of the system’s capabilities. The top row is dedicated to your settings, profile, and connectivity with others. Meanwhile, the bottom row houses your most recently used apps. There’s also a library where you can see everything you’ve installed, although it takes a few seconds to load. This design proves moderately successful in making sure what you’re looking for is never too far away. What’s here works well, it just wastes a lot of real estate. It could be a lot more optimized.
Sony’s focus on gaming has left the PS4 UI quite bare. It includes the essentials, but nothing more. Long gone are the abilities to use your own media, as external drives and media servers are no longer supported. Instead, we are left to use either Sony’s premium video and music service, Unlimited, or one of the other paid streaming services including Netflix. This is a move by Sony to start pushing an ecosystem of their own, but sadly has removed a great deal of the multimedia functionality that many consumers have come to expect with modern connected devices, leaving the PS4 feeling more like an accessory than the center of your living room.
Throughout the years, gamers have been saying that they ‘just want games’, and it appears Sony has listened. Among many other changes, the new PS4 user interface focuses on quickly accessing recently played media, chatting with friends, and being able to interact with streams, a core concept for the console. Party chat is instrumental in encouraging social interaction between players, and the included microphone removes the barrier of entry. Twitch and Ustream integration are both incredibly impressive at this point with each allowing you to share footage and chat as you play. Gamers are already taking a liking to it with tens of thousands actively participating in streams. This is only the beginning.
One of the features that seems to have been lost in translation is the ability to use wallpapers and themes, which isn’t necessary, but will be missed as the home screen feels generic and lacks personalization. If you want to change the color or background, you can’t do that. If you find some of the icons getting in your way, you can’t delete them. What you see is what you get.
Although a number of features have been removed from Sony’s latest console, the ability to play Blu-ray and DVD movies has remained. You can still use your PlayStation to play games during the day, and watch movies at night. Sadly, not all has made the move as audio CD playback is nowhere to be seen.
As many of the features above may or not be an issue for you depending on your media preferences, the one thing that matters most to many is the PS4’s ability to play games. In this regard, Sony has answered the call. The PS4 is very focused on getting you into games, and making it as effortless as possible. Your games are front and center on the home screen, and you can even download or install a game while playing. These conveniences along with the list of connectivity features make the PS4 a proper evolution of its predecessor.
One of the coolest features incorporated at launch is Remote Play. By simply connecting through Bluetooth or Wi-Fi, you are able to play a PS4 game off of the PS Vita. Games as technically demanding as Battlefield 4 will run perfectly fine, though, difficulty with the controls is still going to be an issue as L2/R2 and L3/R3 are accessed by using the rear touch pad.
There’s also some integration with the $59.99 PlayStation Eye, but what is here is limited. Voice commands have a low success rate and there aren’t very many options to use for navigation.
Sony preached about games being the focus for its PS4, and it achieves that with compromise. While that means you can play beautiful games, talk to your friends while playing them, and even stream your footage to millions of others, there is little else. Important things such as personalization and media functionality have been ignored.
The confusing part is that while the PS4 is all about games, its current library is underwhelming, with many months to go before it improves. If you do find that the gaming focus is enough reason to get a PS4, hopefully you are patient, because the current list isn’t impressive by any stretch of the imagination. The decent list of multiplatform titles are made less substantial since the law of diminishing returns has reared its ugly head. You won’t be as impressed by the graphical improvement as you were during previous generations.
Even with all its shortcomings, the PS4 shows moments of brilliance, particularly since it has extremely competent hardware packaged at a $399 price point. As of right now it’s a rough stone waiting to be polished. Patches and software support are certain to make this a recommendable product in the future. For now, you can live without one.
Review written by Dan Oravasaari, a Contributor for CraveOnline, with additions made by Jonathan Leack, CraveOnline’s Gaming Editor.
