November 21, 2013
Feedback submitted!Unable to submit feedback! So I've had this PS4 for about a week now, and have been using it almost every day in some way. I've kind of held back from a review because I believe the console is too new to say "GO BUY IT NOW IT'S THE BEST THING THERE EVER WAS", but a few people have asked my thoughts on it so I figured I would put some things down. What I have done:Played gamesUsed available appsDownloaded and played games while they were downloadingInstantly uploaded game footage to facebookBrowsed through the menus and features of the consoleWhat I haven't done:Used the PS4 cameraStreamed a game liveI don't have any of the console exclusive games yet, but I have the big 3 cross gen titles. In saying that, they don't play much different (if at all) than the previous generation, but they do look absolutely stunning. The graphics are clean and incredibly smooth with lots of detail. The console exclusives seem to be just as clean looking, with the exception of Killzone, as it truly is the console pusher, astonishing graphics across the board. That being said, none of these games take advantage of the "new" or exclusive features of the new console. I haven't used the touch pad for anything yet. You can't use it to navigate the menus, you can't use it to click on anything, you can't use it as a mouse for the browser. So far it's a feature that is there, and seems really cool to have, but has zero use, even within the console menus. The speaker that is built into the controller is also something of question as it doesn't quite provide anything useful, I've only heard it being used on the arcade title "resogun" and in it, it simply repeats what the voice is saying on the screen. What would have been useful, was a built in microphone. Sharing is clever and incredibly easy. With one button press you have a screenshot, from there you can decide if you'd like to upload that screenshot, upload video (of the last 15 minutes you've played, which you can then edit to any length within 10 seconds), or start streaming to twitch or ustream. I mean it is one thing to say how easy it is, but once you try it you will have a smile put on your face. It's literally that fast, and that easy to do. No holding a pattern of buttons, no calling out actions, no double presses of anything. One click done. Once you've picked out what you're uploading, you instantly go back to your game. It uploads while you continue playing. Wondering about the web browser? Well its just as good? bad? as it was before for the ps3. Not much has changed for functionality or usefulness. It could be that the console over-all is faster, but I did find everything in the browser loaded a lot faster in comparison to the PS3. Other than the speed, everything is about the same didn't notice any differences. I guess its a case of "if it ain't broke don't fix it" kind of deal. Which I'm not upset about, because really if I really wanted to use a internet browser I would use either my laptop or my phone. The UI aka XMB2, is very fast. From anywhere at all, be it the web browser, a game, a movie, or even an app, simply press the PlayStation button and you're back to the full main menu. Programs run in the background unless they take priority, for example if I was playing a game and wanted to launch netflix, netflix would take priority and suspend my game while I watched netflix. Other then that, the XMB is fully functional, you're not forced to close apps to get into something else, you can browse other things with ease, as well as fix your settings on the fly. It is seamless, and how it should have always been. Simple and extremely fast. A double tap of the PlayStation button brings you back to your last used app (should that be a game, app, or menu). Now, as brilliant and beautiful as it is, it does lack customization. By lack, I mean there isn't. You can't change a background, you can't change the colour, you can't change the font, everything the way you see it is the way it stays. Something that I am slightly bothered by the PS4 is the fact that it has USB 3.0, but the only thing you can really do with it, is use a flash drive as an external memory card for game saves. Even that is quite particular. You can't use a flash drive or hard drive and add your media to the PS4, as the PS4 doesn't have a media player, it only has it's two music and video apps (which I will talk about in a minute) that only play music and video that is purchased. So you're left with a very fast media hub that you can't use. Speaking of music and video, Video Unlimited and Music Unlimited are a huge money grab. Music unlimited works throughout the console no matter what you're using (minus videos of course), and you're able to control it by holding down the PlayStation button, or double tapping to go back to the main app. But, you will come into disappoint when you notice every time you switch back to look for a new song you will be hit with a loading screen. Music playback throughout the console experience is convienient and amusing, but gets dry once you realize you're spending $10/month for that shotty (but legal!) source of music. Video Unlimited is something I can't really complain about as it is simply the place where all your purchased videos go. It doesn't work in the same where you pay so much per month to get unlimited videos. In saying that, I suppose it does what it is supposed to and there isn't much else to critique on that. Another quick feature to mention is that the PlayStation Store no longer sucks. It isn't a seperate app that takes 5 minutes to load.. it isn't an unorganized mess of content at your face.. it's what it should be, and I am perfectly fine with that. Content is perfectly laid out, extremely similar to the PS3, but with categories that make sense and you are going to want to look for. There is virtually no load times between menus, and the experience is just as you want it. It's a store, and it brings you to the content you want to buy without trouble. Friends and notifications are perfect. Some people have complained about downloads being in notifications but I believe that completely makes sense. You are notified when games that are being downloaded are ready to play, when they are ready to be fully installed, when you get a message, a friend request, or when you get a trophy. It's easy to navigate and very useful. Friends integration feels a lot more personal with full names, having a wall of things you and your friends have done straight from the home screen seems interesting, social and natural. Think of it as your Facebook newsfeed for only PlayStation stuff. Overall I think the PlayStation 4 is a next-gen console worthy of calling itself "next-gen". While the gap may not seem too drastic, it is adding everything you need to make things easier down the road, while adding social integration that seems to fit our current trend in life. The graphics are great, the console is fast, and what is available is fun and easy to use. Sharing is incredibly easy and really useful. The advice I would tell someone right now who was looking to buy a PlayStation 4, is to hold off and wait for a bit. If I didn't have a pre-order for mine I would have. Right now the console is fun, but it's lacking in a lot of ways that you can tell are going to be getting better soon. I can't really call this as bad, as this is the consoles first week of launch it shouldn't be expected to have hundreds of things available from the get go. I believe as a launch console it performs well with no major hickups. There are things to be improved on, but these are things that will definitely be patched in the comings months. Game selection isn't great but A LOT more games are coming very soon. It performs well for what it is now, and most importantly, it's ready for the future.I give it a final score of 8/10, as there are still things to be improved on.