Why the Playstation 5 is the Best Playstation Yet

 

The Playstation 2 will always be my favorite version of the Playstation, as it is deeply rooted in personal nostalgia. After waiting over a year to get my hands on a Playstation 5, and after owning one for only a few months, I am ready to proclaim that this is the best version of the Playstation to date. It has nothing to do with the graphics or performance of the games. Advancements in these categories are expected with each new version of a console. In the past, huge jumps in graphics and gameplay came with each console upgrade. I'm thinking about the differences between the SNES and Nintendo 64, or the Playstation 1 and Playstation 2, for instance. Newer consoles have less advancement in graphics and gameplay compared to the previous version, though I will say the Playstation 5's ability to feature background and lighting details clearly outshine the PS 4. Most of what I think makes the Playstation 5 so great isn't even new or unique to the PS5. But the sum of these features is higher than the expected outcome when put together. Let me explain, and the below topics are in no particular order.

• Backwards compatibility. I have always found this to be a much discussed console feature that was completely overrated. Why would I want to play games that were SNES quality when I can now play games in 3D on my 64? As I said above, graphics and gameplay change less and less with each new console version. This means that games from the PS4 era still have meaning, even on the PS5. Case in point. I was in the middle of my career mode on F1 2020 when I got my PS5. I didn't want to quit, but I also didn't want to delay playing the PS5. I was able to load the game onto the PS5 and continue playing without missing a beat. This backwards compatibility also means the PS5 has a huge gaming library out of the box. Additionally, some games from the PS4 era have been remade for the PS5. When I put the disc for Jedi: Fallen Order into my PS5, it asked if I wanted to upgrade to the PS5 version of the game for free. That is pretty awesome.
• Digital downloads. This is a feature on both the PS4 and Switch, but I admittedly was a late adopter to digital games. Up until 2020 I still bought the discs. What makes digital games so great is that you can jump between games very quickly without having to get up and swap discs. The PS5 is powerful enough that most games have no or minimal load times. I frequently pop into Gran Turismo 7 after playing another game just to check my wishlist to see what car is next for my time trials. It would be much more cumbersome with discs and load times. Of course, to do this you need a big hard drive. The PS5 comes with a decent sized drive, but I was able to add an internal 2 TB SSD to allow for more games to be stored on the system.
• Playstation Plus isn't new, but it is newly released. I've already posted on my thoughts on the new Playstation Plus, but in summary, I like it a lot. It gives you access to 100s of games. Of course, I will download and play games that I am really interested in. But bigger than that, it allows for game experimentation. For instance, I am currently playing Horizon Zero Dawn, a game that I have heard of and knew it got good ratings, but likely would have never played it otherwise. Since it comes with Playstation Plus, however, there is no risk at all to download the game and try it out. This opens an entire realm of possibilities, as the system seems to overflow with gaming options. I don't know how to adequately explain this in words, but when I turn the system on I literally get the sense that I am entering the world of Playstation, where one minute I am racing cars, the next I am swinging on buildings through New York City as Spider-Man, and the next I am hunting machines in the fantastic open-world environment that is Horizon. It is fantastic how quickly you can jump from game to game.
• Playing games with surround sound is awesome. I recently became interested in surround sound when I started watching all of these Marvel movies. Previously I wasn't as interested because I don't think it adds much to the experience with TV. I never thought about using it for video games. Now that I use it for the PS5, however, it adds a lot to the experience. Cars in your blind spot on Gran Turismo are heard in the appropriate speaker. Crowd conversation in games can be heard behind you and off to the side based on their location. I will have a dedicated post on Horizon Zero Dawn, but the sound in that game is downright eerie, and it adds a lot to the experience. I never used surround for the PS4, so it could be a similar experience, but on the PS5, it definitely adds to the Playstation experience I was describing above.