It's finally happened, I got a PS5 slim bundle last week! I had a ~$380 gift card from returning an HP Printer to Best Buy and I figured instead of buying another printer that was likely to break like each of the three printers before it, I was going to invest it in something much better...a PS5!
Below are my initial thoughts. Keep in mind, everything below is simply my opinion of the PS5 based on my experience from having a gaming PC (3080Ti) and a Series X.
What I LOVED:
- The games...of course! Being a primarily PC/Xbox Gamer, I fully acknowledge that nobody does incredible Single Player experiences like Sony. I can't wait to play:
- GOW Ragnarök (already played the first reboot on the PS4 I had a few years back).
- Demon's Soul Remake.
- Horizon Zero Dawn 1 and 2. (I started the first one years ago but never got far before selling my PS4).
- Spiderman 1 & 2 and Miles Morale.
- FF XVI.
- FF VII Rebirth (Played the first one on the PC...what a mistake that was, buying PlayStation Games on the PC is almost always a terrible experience, so I gave up on that).
- The Last of Us Part I and Part II.
- Erika looks pretty cool.
- A bunch of others in my backlog (Beyond Two Souls, Last Guardian, a few others I can't remember the name of).
- The interface. It's a lot better than it used to be from when I had a PS4 (PS4 wasn't terrible by any means, just wasn't impressed with it). I like the sparkly bits when you log in (very premium feeling), the music that plays when you go to a game you have in your library, the overall intuitive and beautiful layout of everything.
- The Controller. They finally did it and made a quality feeling and comfortable controller! It's finally almost as good as Xbox Controllers (all they need to do is fix the thumb stick layout!) and even has some features that are really nice that I wish the Xbox Controllers had. Love the Refined Touch Pad, the iPhone feeling-like haptic feedback, the RGB, the adaptive triggers (at first, I thought something was wrong with the controller LOL). Love that it is easily rechargeable from the get-go and that the battery life lasts longer than an ants arse compared to the PS4 controller. Just overall a really great controller.
- Graphics. The games just simply look better in most cases compared to the Series X. I was starting to play Horizon Zero Dawn (PS4 version since there isn't a PS5 version) and couldn't believe how good it looked. A PS4 game still looks as good and sometimes better than many of the Series X games I've played. I don't know how Sony does it, but I applaud them for such a great experience!
What I HATED:
- The scam that is PS+. It is truly an awful service when compared to GamePass. You can only buy a year-long subscription from the PS5 so I did that for the top tier thinking I would be able to play most of the games in the first part of my post. I couldn't have been more wrong; it only had a handful of them, and I ended up having to buy multiple games in order to play. What a complete waste of money that was. It is, of course, my fault for not researching that better before buying but still, made me pretty unhappy! I acknowledge if you don't have access to getting GamePass, it is probably a worthwhile subscription to get though.
Other Observations / Annoyances:
- Download speeds are pitiful. Every PlayStation I've ever owned has slow downloading of games and the PS5 is no exception. My Xbox and PC download games incredibly quick in comparison.
- Quick Resume...or Lack of it. For some reason, I thought the PS5 had a quick resume feature like the Series X where you can switch between games at a whim and just pick it right back up with no loading screens (a great thing when both you and your wife play on the same account). Maybe I'm doing something wrong but as far as I can tell, there is only quick resume for the single game you are currently playing. Not the biggest deal in the world, but definitely noticeable after playing on the Series X.
- Those annoying beeps/sounds that every PlayStation I've ever owned has when you turn on, off, and navigating menus. Again, not a big deal, but it is kind of annoying (I'm sure there is a way to turn them off, just haven't looked yet).
- I'm glad I got a PS5 Slim...because even that is not very small, I can't imagine how big the original one would have been! It looks pretty good, but I don't like that I can't lay it down...has to be upright which didn't work with my setup very well.
Overall, I am really happy with this purchase!
