PS5 Review

By: Richie Mroz Layout Designer

REVIEW

On November 12, 2020, Sony released the PlayStation 5 and promised the best graphics and performance of any console before it. Production of the PS5 was hindered by COVID-19 and the consoles that are being produced are commonly bought by scalpers looking to make some money. Needless to say, the console is hard to find. I was lucky enough to find one in December. Since then, I have put in a little less than 50 hours on the machine and I have to say that the PS5 is Sony’s best console yet.

The design of the PS5 is the sleekest to date. The black main portion of the console is encapsulated by two white panels. Two LED light strips reflect off of the panels and give the machine some ambience. The panels themselves can easily slide off, which allows for easy access inside of the console. According to Prima Games, third party manufacturers are already selling custom panels to give users the option to customize their system the way they want. The system can be placed vertically or horizontally via the stand provided in the box. The PS5 also comes in two different versions: the PlayStation 5 Digital Edition and the PlayStation 5 Standard Edition. The PS5 Digital Edition is on sale for $399 but does not include a disc drive. This means the user can only play games by downloading them virtually via the PlayStation Store. The PS5 Standard Edition is on sale for $499 and does include a disc drive. I opted for the Standard Edition for reasons I will get into later. Both systems have an HDMI port, a power port and an ethernet port. The systems also have 4 USB ports- two in the back and two in the front. An HDMI 2.1 cable is provided and has the capability of transmitting 8K quality. One negative aspect is that there is no dedicated audio output port such as digital optical or coaxial for connecting to a receiver in a home theater system. The new DualSense controller is also provided with the system.

I thought the PlayStation 4’s Dualshock 4 was the best controller I had ever used until I held the DualSense for the first time. The overall build quality of the DualSense is beefier and of higher caliber. I could tell right away that there was more time and care taken with the design of this controller. The controller has the same black and white color palette as the system itself. Again, I think it is the sleekest controller to date. The motion sensing and touchpad technology is back as well as a slew of other new features such as haptic feedback, a builtin microphone and my personal favorite, adaptive triggers. According to Sony, the DualSense’s haptic feedback feature allows the player to “feel physically responsive feedback to their in-game actions with dual actuators which replace the traditional rumble motors. These dynamic vibrations can simulate the feeling of everything from walking in different environments to the recoil of different weapons.” The adaptive trigger feature provides resistance to the R2 and L2 trigger buttons, which allows the player to be physically connected to their actions. An example of this feature being used can be found in the first-person shooter game Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War. In this game, the player can fire different guns and the way each gun is fired is unique. The player must pull harder on the trigger when shooting an assault rifle or shotgun rather than shooting a handgun. When shooting an automatic weapon, the trigger bounces back and forth to simulate recoil when firing a real gun. Another game that makes good use of the DualSense’s features is Astro’s Playroom.

Astro’s Playroom is a platformer that comes pre-loaded onto the system and it is honestly my favorite PS5 launch title. In the game, you take control of Astro Bot, a cute little robot reminiscent of Wall-E. The game’s setting is inside an actual PS5 system. Astro Bot can explore four different levels that take place in different internal PS5 parts, such as “GPU Jungle” and “SSD Speedway.” Throughout the levels, players can find and collect PlayStation memorabilia. Ultimately, the game is one big tribute to PlayStation.

Another PS5 specific game I completed was Spider-Man: Miles Morales. This game is a spin-off to Spider-Man on PS4. In this title, the player takes control of Mile Morales, who is another SpiderMan. Players learn more about his backstory while experiencing a whole new story. This game takes advantage of the system’s new solid-state drive (SSD) by giving players extremely fast load times as well as raytracing technology. According to Tech Radar, raytracing is the technology that allows light to reflect and appear realistically on objects and through a given space.

One of the best features of the PlayStation 5 system is that it is backwards compatible with PS4 games, which is one of the many reasons why I bought the system so early. There is a library of games for the PS4 that I own as well as games I have not purchased yet that are still really good. I give major props to Sony for adding this feature. As previously stated, I have the Standard Edition with the disc drive. I consider myself old school because I actually enjoy collecting the physical case and disc of both games and movies. If I wanted to take advantage of the backwards compatibility feature, I needed to buy the disc version of the console. So far, I have tested The Last of Us Part II, God of War, Mafia: Definitive Edition, Spyro: Reignited Trilogy, and Resident Evil 7 via backwards compatibility and have had no issues. Some games, such as God of War, were even updated to take advantage of the technology of the PS5.

From the design of the console and the system’s new clean user interface to the DualSense controller, I truly feel Sony has knocked this new iteration of PlayStation out of the park. I am excited to experience what the PlayStation 5 has to offer in the years to come. I hope you are too!