Soon after managing to get my hands on the new games consoles from Microsoft and Sony, my family and I purchased, renovated and moved into a new house. Without any time to spend on this blog, I ended up with a big backlog of reviews to write, so I haven’t had a chance to get down my thoughts on this new generation of consoles. But perhaps that is a good thing, as I have played quite a few games on each now that we are settled in our new place, and have thus had more time to reflect on the new hardware.
Hardware: consoles and controllers
The new Xbox Series X is really taking the ‘box’ part of it’s name very seriously! It’s a fairly simple design, just a basic cuboid shape, and isn’t too big – although the shape might make it not fit too well in some TV units. The Playstation 5 on the other hand is a fairly wild design, at least compared to the consoles of recent generations. The PS5 is both massive – I made no attempt to fully fit it in photo above, to demonstrate that – and complex. It’s all large swooping lines and pointy bits. I happen to think both are great in their different ways, although now the PS5 is tucked away under the TV, the novel design is wasted on me. On the controller side, you may have read my post back in the day saying that the Xbox One controller was the best. Well, the new Xbox controllers don’t try to change too much – its evolution, not revolution here. The changes they have made – grippier triggers and a share button being the most obvious – are all improvements. With the new Xbox controller, it’s a case of the best getting better. The PS5 controller, or ‘DualSense‘ however, is a bit nearer to revolution over the old Dualshock 4. The whole thing is molded a bit more and the shape is, if anything, slightly nearer to the Xbox controller. The real differences here though are the adaptive triggers and haptic feedback. Both are intended to enhance the immersion into the game you are playing and these features are remarkable when you first experience them. Time will tell if they are anything more than just a gimmick though – so far I’ve found them interesting rather than game-changing.
So, XSX or PS5? Let’s call things a tie in terms of hardware – both are excellent in their own ways, despite the different directions Microsoft and Sony have taken.
Software: operating systems
Much like the controllers, the new Xbox has taken a ‘keep it simple’ approach to the new software. In fact, the exact same operating system is present on the Xbox One. I wouldn’t say it’s totally intuitive – there are plenty of different menus – but it’s all clear so you can usually dig up what you need. The main new software feature on the Series consoles is ‘Quick Resume‘. With this you can switch almost instantly between games that have it enabled (which all the first party Xbox games do, and many more besides). For sure, it’s nice to have the option to finish playing, for example, an online shooter and jump straight back into your single player adventure at the exact place you left off. For me though, the real key with this feature is that it lasts for ages and ages: if you don’t play that adventure game for a couple days when you load it up: bang – you are ready to go almost instantly. That’s a great feature. Sony have taken the opposite route with the operating software for the PS5 and changed it significantly from the PS4. This is a general disappointment, as I thought the PS4‘s operating system was the best since the Xbox 360‘s original blades. However, what it has been replaced with isn’t great at all. Just simple things like what happens when you hit the Playstation button on the controller don’t make sense and take longer than they did before. New features like cards, that give you quick access to guides and links to things you might be interested in, have yet to prove they are anything but a nice to have to me. You can still get to your games easily but otherwise this is a real missed opportunity on the new Playstation.
So, XSX or PS5? Despite it not being fresh, or indeed perfect, the Xbox takes this hands down. Sony really need to look at this on PS5 for a future update.
Software: games
Of course, everything above doesn’t mean anything if there’s nothing to play on your new console. This is the area where we seen an even bigger difference in the approach from Microsoft and Sony. Microsoft releases all it’s big games for PC at the same time as the Xbox anyway, but even just looking at the two consoles it is lacking exclusives so far. They are coming – Forza Horizon 5 and Halo Infinite by the end of the year – but the first game I could only play on the Series X was a timed exclusive in The Medium. But Microsoft doesn’t really mind this, as it’s real exclusive isn’t a game, it’s many games: Xbox Game Pass. For a reasonable monthly subscription you get a never-ending stream of new games to play, including all the first party games like those mentioned above that are coming imminently. The Series X may not strictly be the only place to play them but it is the best place for a console gamer. Sony’s approach with Playstation exclusives is quite the opposite. There is a steady stream of games that are 100% only playable on PS5: Destruction Allstars, Returnal, the new Ratchet & Clank. That’s great and these games are worth playing (reviews of all these coming soon!) but the price of a new game has shot up now to £70 in the UK. That’s a big whack on top of the cost of the new console just to play a single game.
So, XSX or PS5? This is much harder to call. I’d have to give it to the PS5 because it has genuine exclusives but the XSX is the best place to play a wide range of games, if you don’t want to play those specific Playstation games.
Conclusions
So which should you purchase? Funnily enough, my overall conclusion is much the same as in the last generation of XB1 vs PS4. If you mainly want to play some amazing single-player adventure games, then you should go with PS5. Sony hardly ever seems to fail with it’s big franchises and we already have the new Ratchet & Clank Rift Apart only playable on PS5. On the other hand if you enjoy a wider range of games, or discovering new ones, the pull of Xbox Game Pass is really the best thing going on in the industry right now. The XSX may not have any games that you cannot get anywhere else yet but it’s the best gaming experience out there and the best place to play all of the other games that aren’t PS5 exclusive. And it’s only going to get better with new Forza and Halo games coming before the end of the year.
The Gamer Boys 