Play Station 4 review

 There are plenty of reasons to pick up either console depending on your personal preferences. PS4 tends to offer superior performance over Xbox One when it comes to third-party games. Xbox One owners have access to a library of IP not found anywhere else. Halo, Gears of War, Forza and more will forever be at home on Microsoft’s system.

This warble can be decreased somewhat by dimming the lights in your room, which also helps with tracking issues involving the PlayStation Camera. But this problem was present in most situations during my testing, even though you usually have to look for it to know it’s there.

One feature to make Xbox One owners jealous is “Remote Play”, through which you can play PS4 games on your handheld PlayStation Vita. Lag makes the streaming experience less than perfect, especially if you connect from afar, but being able to use the Vita as a second controller in games such as Knack and Lego Marvel Super Heroes is a blessing.

Jmac September 8, 2016, 2:52 pm Not necessarily true. It just needs to be able to read the higher density triple layer discs. There’s no magic to a “4K BR Player” beyond that. The reason standalone BR decks can’t be updated to 4K is (a) they don’t have the processing hardware to decode H.265 video streams; or (b) they can’t output 4K video with HDCP 2.2. Neither of these is a limitation of the PS4 Pro, so the only question is whether its BR drive is capable of reading 100GB triple layer discs. If it is (and there’s really no reason why it shouldn’t be), then 4K BR should be just a firmware update away.

Beyond fewer microtransactions, home screen navigation is the area most in need of an overhaul. In trying to simplify the user experience, the minimalist approach is instead confusing and oddly cluttered. Favourite apps can be pinned but otherwise get clumped together in a sub-menu, making it trickier to organise. Hopefully, better categorisation is only a software update away.

This is still a high price tag on its face — PSVR costs at least $100 more than the console it requires to play it. But if someone is even casually interested in VR, Sony’s ask is a dramatically easier-to-swallow proposition. PSVR games will not look as good as similar titles can on the Rift or Vive, and developers for the system will have to sacrifice details and polygons to hit the minimum frame rate necessary to keep players from becoming ill.

Looks aside, PlayStation VR is ridiculously comfortable. Your average virtual reality headset is strapped on like a ski mask, which ensures a snug fit but can also squeeze your face unpleasantly. PSVR, by contrast, has a padded plastic ring that rests on your head a bit like a hard hat. To put it on, you’ll push a button to loosen the sides, stretch it over your upper skull, and fine-tune the tightness with a dial on the back. The screen is anchored to the front of the ring, where it almost floats in front of your face. Another button lets you adjust the focus by sliding the screen in and out, which also means it fits easily over glasses.

Despite some minor annoyances — the system is a bit of a pain to set up, there are a lot of wires involved and the PlayStation Camera can sometimes lose tracking momentarily due to light pollution — this is virtual reality. This is good virtual reality. I felt like I went places. I shot scary clowns. I saw moving short films. I was in space. I was underwater. I grabbed objects and turned them around in front of my face to explore them. I was inside the game. It was everything I loved about VR, at a price that’s much lower than the competition, using extra hardware that makes sharing those experiences with those around you or watching a stream a seamless process.

The Xbox One’s interface is fairly intuitive, with large app icons, shortcuts for getting to your games quickly, and a guide menu that lets you see friends, track achievements and take screenshots with a quick button tap. It’s not quite as clean or responsive as the PS4’s interface, but it’s getting there.

It’s become even more confusing in the latest update, with the PS4 Pro boasting a faster CPU and a GPU that can process over twice as many TFLOPS. It can markedly improve games that have been optimized or launch with support for the extra power, adding new effects, higher resolution (up to 4K), and smoother frame rates (up to 60fps, which makes Rise of the Tomb Raider: 20 Year Celebration look amazing). The number of games that take advantage of that power is limited, though it will likely grow.

Follow User Flag Nov 24, 2014 alexb1 This is a great card to have if you use the Playstation store a lot. Good interest, amazing rewards, and terms to compete with any mainstream card.If you’re a PS gamer, this is the card for you. Comment 4 4

VR Luge is also controlled purely by moving your head and does exactly what it says on the tin (assuming you were expecting street luge, anyway). The controls are very responsive, although the sense of speed is never quite as fast you might hope. There are some nice gags along the way, such as trucks crashing in front of you and busy intersections, but it’s all hobbled by the incredibly low resolution and blurry visuals.

When you’re looking at the launch versions of both systems, the PS4 is the clear winner in the looks department. Sony’s console is slim and lightweight, whereas the Xbox One is chunky and relies on an annoying external power brick.

Which of these things you prioritise is entirely up to you. Or, if you prefer, you could wait until next year for the super-powerful Xbox Scorpio, whatever that ends up being.”

Gaming AgeOct 25, 2016 100 I’m absolutely impressed by every aspect of Battlefield 1. While it’s easy to think that the weapons and machines available to a game based on the first World War might feel like a step back for military shooters, I think you’ll be surprised by how exciting and modern Battlefield 1 still manages to feel.

SuperkenGaming Sep 2, 2016 5 One Way Trip A bit of a mess One Way Trip is a choose your own adventure visual novel… I personally wouldn’t really call this a game… butOne Way Trip A bit of a mess One Way Trip is a choose your own adventure visual novel… I personally wouldn’t really call this a game… but in 2016 this is kind of subjective… This visual novel is 6 hours long, and all you do is read and choose how to respond to dialog… And before we get too deep, if you watch my videos regularly, youll know im probably one of the worst readers of all time… The only reading I do these days is with audio books… One Way Trip is an interesting concept.. the water supply has been poisoned and everyone who has drank any has 6 hours to live.. and during these 6 hours all of these people will experience hallucinations.. Unfortunately as potentially thought provoking as this concept is… Nothing of that sort is ever accomplished…. This is more of a stoners movie style adventure than it is a heart wrenching story with seemingly impossible decisions like the telltale walking dead series… And for that reason this story just couldn’t keep my attention… As stated already im a horrible reader… Its hard enough to pay attention to something im emotionally interested in… Here theres so much weird going on to try and keep up with as well as music in the background that doesn’t go with the game at all… Not saying overall it doesn’t fit.. it just doesn’t fit with the scenes 99% of the time… The music in this game is great and its almost worth buying the game for just the music alone.. but it’s the only sound the game makes.. theres no voice acting… no sounds to bring life to the images displayed on your screen as you read.. just a mixtape in the background seemingly on shuffle… and again while the music is great, its very distracting, especially for someone like me… And for some reason to jumble it up even more theres another story going on at the same time within the game… it is thankfully optional… but its so hard keeping track of whats going on in your world, that it doesn’t really make sense to follow another story of a game developer who lives with a roommate that seemingly does nothing but get high… and that’s all he wants to do with you… I did enjoy the strange things going on here though actually more than the main game itself… and you get to play this game within the game in short bursts as the main characters chase after the cure to save humanity One Way Trip is a strange game… I just wish it went for something more than just being a 6 hour long adult swim short… I give one way trip a 5/10… Expand

This is somewhat complicated by Sony’s introduction of the PlayStation 4 Pro later this year, which is being released in part as a means of running VR titles better than the base system can. But even that system will start at $399. PlayStation VR is the least expensive VR platform by a good margin, while offering more control options at launch than the Rift.

And Core Design did not disappoint. The developer learned a lot from creating the first game, and in turn gave us a bigger, cleaner, more exciting world in which to maneuver. TR2 felt like a big step up from its predecessor – something we can’t really say about the slightly tweaked cash-in that Tomb Raider 3 turned out to be.

PS4 Pro is a little more pricey, currently sitting at £349 with a 1TB hard drive. The console itself is twice as powerful, so a £100 premium isn’t bad at all. Unfortunately, stock at most retailers has been intermittent at best since launch, so you might need to shop around.

The Xbox used to be quite weak when it came to exclusive games, but that’s all changed as the Xbox name has established itself. In 2017 you can pick up great exclusive games such as Gears of War 4, Forza Horizon 3, Halo and even Sunset Overdrive on the Xbox One S, and many of those also take advantage of the console’s HDR capability.

scrappy_1 2 months ago False.i had a 4 that I traded for an xbox.why? Gears,halo,halo wars2,forza,sunset all multi-player online first party titles which Sony lacks. Single player is amazing on ps4 with nioh and horizon but no multi-player support,including God of War 4 a days gone. They both have 3rd party multi-player games but not first party. 0

Follow User Flag Aug 08, 2013 shortstain The Playstation Credit Card is a fairly limited card, in my opinion. Offering APR rates that are fairly high, the card reminds me of my Nordstrom Credit Card, which has no annual fee like this one, and a fairly high rate as well. However, for a shopper who likes Sony products, this card offers a 3 points per dollar reward at Sony/Playstation, and 10 points on Network purchases. That’s much better than my 2 points per dollar reward from Nordstrom Credit Card. And there’s a 5,000 point bonus. I would say that this card is better than most store credit cards, by offering a better bonus program and rewards program, but also comes highly specific. How many video games and PSPs can you buy in a year?… read more Comment 1 3

The PS4 Slim is very similar, but (unsurprisingly) runs a little smaller. It also loses the gloss finish and rounds off the corners, though there is one small sacrifice for the size: there’s no optical audio output.

To make that hard sell easier, Sony is bringing along one of the better software lineups of any peripheral, and even some consoles, with a suite of titles that juggle name recognition and credibility. Batman is right here next to Battlezone. There is Rez and an included Resident Evil 7 demo. Very few people saw Thumper coming, and it’s already one of my favorite games of the year. Combine PlayStation VR’s lower-than-its-competitors price point and a stuffed launch lineup, and one major question remains: Is the PlayStation 4 itself up to the task of powering good VR experiences? And is PlayStation VR user-friendly enough in practice to hold on to the attention of the mainstream?

Most games are from the PS3 era, but you can find a handful of PlayStation Vita titles there in the mix, as well as a few PS4 games. We recently caught wind of a PlayStation 2 emulator on the PS4, which could mean that games from that generation could arrive some time in 2016.

Xbox will continue to be the home of Halo, Gears of War and Forza, just as PlayStation will host Uncharted, God of War and Infamous, so your choice might come down to your favorite exclusives. Your decision also might be as simple as which platform your friends are already playing on, because, let’s face it — nobody wants to play Destiny alone.

The PlayStation VR display looks like nothing so much as a retro Daft Punk helmet. It’s a charmingly goofy-looking device. There’s a high contrast in materials between the white plastic, the black face, accents and cushions, and the blue lights that allow the PlayStation Camera to track the headset.

PS4 is the only one of the two to offer Spotify, which can play seamlessly in the background of your games. The Xbox One supports background music playback, but you’ll have to rely on apps such as Pandora and Groove Music.

Even more problematic is Scavengers Odyssey, or as we’ve come to know it, ‘The Migraine Generator’. The longest and most complex game of the bunch, you play as some sort of alien scavenger trying to steal an artefact from a mysterious monolith. You’re sitting in a giant mech suit which, unlike all the other games, allows full freedom of movement using normal third person controls on the DualShock 4. That might sound good in theory but it illustrates why fast action games just aren’t suited to virtual reality.

Instead, we have questions—the myriad questions about what you expect and prefer and want from your entertainment and VR, about how comfortable you are with the whole venture, about whether or not your inner ear is constitutionally capable of handling the cruel prank you are about to subject it to. If you are curious about PS VR, or VR in general, it may seem frustrating to be told to ask yourself so many questions—and in that case, if you’re frustrated by these questions, than it’s probably safe to say you’d be frustrated by PS VR. Because contemplating a PS VR comes with a lot of questions. Maybe too many.

The new version of Kinect will offer a wider field of view than its predecessor, better tracking of individuals (limited finger tracking is now included), and the ability to track more overall bodies. And (frighteningly!) also determine your current heart rate. Yes tinfoil hat people, Kinect can be deactivated, but on the other hand it promises to be integral to the Xbox experience.

But for as much as I like Arkham VR, it’s also a game that highlights all the shortcomings of PS VR. It’s not so much a complete experience as it is a slice of one. It’s a game where you’re not so much being Batman as you are just doing a couple things that Batman does on a typical night out, which is mostly looking for clues in a murder mystery with a high-tech flashlight. It lasts about an hour, which is just long enough to keep the game from wearing thin, and about the maximum time any VR title should expect you to spend with it in one sitting.

In terms of children, my older kids had little trouble save my 7-year-old, who found it a bit large, although he was ultimately still able to play comfortably. Sony itself warns against letting children under the age of 12 use PlayStation VR, and I both supervise and limit the time my younger kids spend in VR.

The new Xbox One S tackles every criticism of the older model, with a white, vastly slimmed-down design that ditches the external brick. It also features 4K Blu-ray/streaming video support as well as up to 2TB of internal storage.

Nongaming entertainment: Advantage Xbox Ever since the first Xbox One event in May, Microsoft has clearly focused on communicating that the Xbox One would be much more than simply a box with which to play video games. In contrast, most of Sony’s demos have focused on gaming and little else.

That’s a lot of weight to carry. If Sony successfully attracts the attention of an entirely new audience to VR and those players have a bad experience with the platform, they may reject the technology as a whole. And PlayStation VR finds itself in the odd position of being a more affordable VR platform than its competitors as well as a very expensive peripheral — or rather, a series of very expensive peripherals, working together to create the VR experience.

Controllers: B. When designing the original Playstation controller, it was clear that Sony had learned from the mistakes of its predecessors. It featured a whopping ten buttons, but spaced them out into a manageable configuration. While the top button layout mirrored the SNES controller, it also offered four shoulder buttons instead of two, and “handlebar” grips to give gamers something to grasp. In the ensuing years, the Playstation controller has been altered only slightly, with the major changes being the addition of analog sticks and “force feedback” functions in 1997 and 1998, respectively. This updated design was basically the same used for the Playstation 2 controller.

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