PS4: One Year Later (Bryan Boshart)

It’s been a full year since the PlayStation 4 came into stores just in time for Black Friday last year, but how has the first year been?

System:

When I first saw the PS4, the design looked like a reject VHS player, though over time, the design has grown on me. Unlike early in the PlayStation 3’s life, Sony has given us multiple color choices for the PS4, and the Destiny white version looks particularly nice. The early form of the system software was competent, but sadly lacked any sort of customization. Luckily, in the past month or two, the ability to add custom themes was added so that my PS4 home screen doesn’t look the same as every other PS4 home screen in the world. Uploading video via the Share button was a bit of a hassle due to being a little tricky to properly cut video. When the full Share Factory was released, it became a lot smoother and I have no issues properly cutting video now. The recent addition of being able to upload straight to YouTube is another positive move for the Share movement.

The PS4 controller’s got a share button and a touch pad, but arguably it’s biggest additions are triggers

Another one of the small things added that have helped me enjoy my PS4 more is the ability to dim the PS4 controller sensor bar. Since I game mostly in low-light, that blinding blue light was quite annoying, but on the dimmest setting it’s not a problem to me. Additionally, I was glad that the ability to pause downloads was added, as often a DNS error(with my terrible connection) would cause me to have to start the download anew.

There are a few complaints that have yet to be rectified on the system. The PS4 was famously lauded for not having to connect to the internet all the time; however, I am unable to check my trophies unless I’m connected to the network. I know the library runs in order of most recently played, but the option to pin favorite titles to spots would be nice, as would Video Unlimited and Music Unlimited not constantly pushing their way into the front five items. Finally, with this generation’s focus on downloading titles, I would love to see Sony take a note from Steam and let you set up a title wishlist and get notifications when those items go on sale.

Overall, I’m pleased with the changes that have been made to the system over the past year, and while there is still some work to do, the PS4 is a pretty solidly made system.

Grade: B

Game Library

The PS4’s launch lineup was relatively weak. A couple sports games, Call of Duty, Lego Marvel were the general sellers. Injustice was a quality game, but the install base for the PS4 was still quite small, so you were better off getting that on a PS3 or Xbox 360. Killzone: Shadow Fall and Knack were both moderately fun exclusives, but weren’t worth buying the system for. The one launch title that I did fall in love with was Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag. On the next-gen system, the graphics were incredible, you could feel the blustery winds of the high seas. AC4 also is the game that helped me feel like the touch pad would be an integral part of the system, as pulling up the map and setting destinations with it became almost second nature.

In the early months after the system’s release, the game releases were slow and uneventful. Through tax season when Sony could have capitalized on it’s early system lead and put Microsoft in a major hole they had nothing. Until the end of March the only games that came out were Thief, Lego Movie, and MGS: Ground Zeroes.

One game helped turn around what was a lackluster first six months for game releases, and that was Infamous: Second Son. Great gameplay, fantastic graphics, well written side-characters, and a cool villain. Finally, the Sony had something to hang its hat on as the first experience worth buying the PS4 for. Late Spring also saw the surprisingly excellent Wolfenstein and much ballyhooed Watch Dogs release and helped solidify the PS4 as the now “current gen” system. Finally the PS4 was starting to have major games released on an almost weekly basis. The Last of Us, Diablo 3 Ultimate, and The Evil Within are just a smattering of the major titles that have come out in the past few months.

Infamous: Second Son saved the early life of the PS4 for me.

In the late spring, Sony also began to sure up their downloadable game library. Transistor and Child of Light were both quality RPG’s that came at a pretty reasonable price. Re-releases of Guacamelee and Don’t Starve are quality titles, and Don’t Starve in particular felt surprisingly comfortable on the new system. Indie games have been at the forefront of PlayStation online strategy, and recent releases like Binding of Isaac: Rebirth, Rouge Legacy, and Nidhogg helped make the statement that the PS4 was nearly as indie friendly as the PC.

If this were a six month review instead of a year review, the game crop would have been sub-par at best, but thankfully the releases eventually turned up and have made me a proud owner of the PS4.

Grade: A-

Despite a slow start to the PS4’s first year, a powerful last six months make its OVERALL GRADE: B+