As some of you know, in addition to being a professional historian and running a museum, I park cars at an uber exclusive country club a few nights a month for extra cash. Well 3 of the other valets have quit for "real jobs" so until they hire more, its become basically a second job. Now since my wife doesn't mind me working an extra 25-30 hours per week, and since the pay is ludicrously disproportionate to the amount of actual work we do (if you can call getting paid to drive 911s, Bentleys, 458 Italias, AMG Mercs, etc "work") I've jumped in head first. This has left me with quite a bit (comparatively) of disposable income lately. And since racing season for me is over, I did the only responsible thing, and bought a PS4.
REALLY LONG REVEIW POST WARNING!!!
The system itself is small. Its only about 40% of the size of a PS3 (I have an original "fat" PS3) and looks fine, although I am annoyed that the bundle only came in white. When I plugged in my usb port to use my headset (never went to Bluetooth) it recognized the keyboard and mouse still plugged into it from my desktop, so I can at least use the internet browser like a proper computer. And with a hard drive as big as my laptops, and as much RAM as my work desktop, I honestly wondered why I needed a PC anymore. Then I hated myself for thinking that, as that's what Sony WANTS you to think. Bastards
The controller is taking some getting used to however. Now I must preface this by saying, I've had every Playstation there is. So I've used every DualShock controller ever made. Hell, I had a PS1 before they had the DualShocks (really showing my age here I know), and in damn nearly 20 years (1996 was the first DualShock, I believe?) it hasn't changed, at all. So its quite a departure to feel it now. The handles are fatter, longer, and have grips on them. Its very ergonomic. The control sticks are up higher, and are otherwise unchanged. R2 and L2 and lower and fatter, and feel better. The four buttons are the same. However the center is a mess now. A giant touchpad replaces the Start/Select buttons. This is useless. Admittedly, I only have Destiny and Driveclub, but neither game uses the touch pad as a feature. Both use it as a button, both for a third tier function you won't use. So aside from swiping across menus in the systems OS, I can't understand this one. And the Start button has been replaced by "Options" which does exactly what the Start button did for years. Why rename it? Finally in the center mess is the "Share" button which posts videos of you playing to Facebook, Twitter, and Twich (whatever that is) if you use this, you are a sad empty person. The problem is muscle memory. Everytime you need the (now much smaller and for reasons unknown, vertical) start button, er, I'm sorry "Options" Button, you end up pressing this giant touchpad. Ditto if you try to press the PS4 button, which is now smaller and below where it was. The useless touchpad takes up half the damn controller. Overall though the controller is fine, touchpad aside, and the way the giant LED changes colors to reflect gameplay is pretty cool.
However, there is the online issue. Unlike the X1 which requires it, the PS4 doesn't have to be online, however, it really wants to be, all the damn time. Destiny has no offline mode at all, it merely kicks you back to the menu. Which I cannot figure out as it has a single player story. Why you have to be online to play it makes as much sense as an arsehole on your, nevermind. Driveclub won't let you even look at the club you created/joined without being online, which gets fun in that particular instance. Hell the bloody bluray player wouldn't play unless you go online to activate it, once only thank God. Now my apartment does not have internet. I use my phones hotspot for occasional gaming with friends. I have 14GB a month, but that also has to be used for all my work stuff. Data is a resource I need to closely husband. Why do I need to waste it on playing Destiny by myself? And everytime you do bother to link up to the internet, here come the updates. Wave after wave after wave. And of course PS+ is required now, which means you have to pay to play your own games, although to be fair, you get a lot of free games with it too.
The visuals though, oh my god. I have need seen such beauty. Destiny looks like a Michael Bay wet dream. And Driveclub is the most gorgeous racing game ever made. Which is good, since its lacking in a lot of other bits. Sound is ludicrous as well, especially through a soundbar and sub, when the wife will let me use it. One thing I cannot figure out though is the price. The PS3 as a bundle cost $699.99 back in 2006 when our money was still worth something. It only had the system, one game (Wing Commander? Lair?) and two controllers. And Sony lost money on that! The Destiny bundle has the system, game, HDMI cable, cheap headset, two DLCs, and one month of PS+ all included for $449.99! How is that possible? Are Blurays that much cheaper now? Really? I'm not complaining, but something isn't right here.
As for the games, Destiny is stupid fun. I play with my old college buddies back in Boston, and even with 5 of us slaughtering alien hordes, there's no lag, framerate drop, nothing. Just pure fun. And why there is the single player mode I mentioned, the game really should be played with friends, as the hilarity that ensues when you put a bunch of drunks on the moon with guns, is well, epic. Bungie has also thrown in a ton of callbacks to other games as well, which is nice (power-ups are skulls for example). And with a whole years of DLC planned, its not gonna be stale. Overall, a must buy.
Driveclub is less clear cut. It looks and sounds as pretty as any game I've played, but the physics are pretty meh. Think Grid 2, with less drifting. And while half the game is online, the servers blew on launch and haven't been fixed yet. And if you so much as want to change your club's colors, you have to be online, fun when the servers don't work. The main gripe of the game is the small, car list, with no Japanese and only 1 American car. Despite my 'MURICAN! attitudes I don't mind this, as I find Japan's offerings overrated and the one American car is the Hennessy, so all good there. And more importantly, the Euro cars are ones you actually WANT to drive, like the BAC Mono, Ariel Atom V8, AMG GT, etc. The inability to turn on driver aids like AB or ideal line doesn't bother me either, I actually prefer that, but I wish the cars didn't all pull hard right when you lock the front wheels. And why are there buttons for DRS and KERS, when only one car in the game, the P1, which is the LAST car you unlock has it? I get it that there's going to be DLC, but how many more road cars have them? Dumb. I would buy it though. Its a nice hold until Project CARS comes out in three weeks.
So I'd give the PS4 an 8/10. If they ditched the "always online please" aspect and gave it the old DualShock 3 controller, it'd be perfect. But I'm a cranky old man.
Rant Over.
