Sony PlayStation 5 Review: Enter The Next-Gen

OUR RATING – 10/10

After a long wait, and a whole lot of anticipation, the PlayStation 5 is finally available in the Indian subcontinent. We had to wait a little longer than the international counterpart, but it’s here, and we can’t help but be impressed by the next-gen console. So, was the hype and the wait worth it? Let’s find out!

The first thing that stands out about the PS5 is probably the sheer size of it. This is probably the biggest console we’ve seen and owned, and the departure from the traditional design doesn’t go unnoticed either. From the black colour, we jump to a full-blown white, and the entire look has been revamped, for the better. It’s more angular, with a futuristic touch, and will definitely be the centrepiece of attention in whichever room you choose to put it.

We can talk about looks all we want, but we’d be amiss if we didn’t focus on two things right away: The DualSense Controller and the SSD. Let’s look at the controller first.

The PlayStation 5 DualSense Controller

To keep it short and sweet, the DualSense controller is straight up the most impressive controller we’ve seen, both in terms of design and features. Seriously, we can’t believe how packed this little thing is.

Compared to any other controller, the Dualsense feels like something new. Well, aesthetically it very much looks like a PlayStation controller but it’s so much more – with the all new and improved haptic feedback, the textured grips and the familiar yet comfortable layout.

On the first try, the controller feels a bit bulkier than the Dualshock 4, but it doesn’t take too long to get used to it. The most impressive feature is perhaps the adaptive trigger buttons, whose sensitivity can be set to reflect what weapon you are using. It goes perfectly in tandem with the controllers haptic feedback, which now changes according to the surface you’re on, the activity you’re doing and so much more! Honestly, the Dualsense controller is a feat of technology, and once you get used to it, there’s no going back.

Another amazing touch is the little textures on the grip. On closer examination, you’ll find that these are actually the signature PlayStation icons, which not only is an amazing attention to detail but an impressive way to remind the players of the legacy of the console.

As for other changes – the controller is a touch bulkier and healthier than the DualShock, the light bar is more subtle around the centre of the controller and the option and control buttons feel better placed.

Say Goodbye to Load Times

Inside the PS5, is a super-fast SSD that makes sure your games load up without putting you to sleep. Long load times were a common complaint for people on the PS4 and the PS4 Pro, but the PS5 puts all those complaints to rest. There is a small caveat where you’re left with a little under 700GB of storage space, but there is an additional expansion slot in the console, and updates are on the way to enable more external storage options too.

In addition to the impressive storage, there are some beefy components powering the PS5 – a custom 10+ teraflop RDNA2 GPU along with a custom 8-core Zen2 AMD CPU with 16GB GDDR6 RAM. Sure, a lot of these are just numbers, but these numbers help the PS5 run the games without a sweat, and enable it to use modern-day tech like ray-tracing that makes the game look so amazing.

The changes to the UI in the PS5 are subtle but welcomed. Games and Media are now separated in two tabs. This makes a lot of sense and proves how much of a home ents powerhouse the PS5 has the potential to be. In the Media tabe there are a whole host of streaming services you can download and sign up to – including Netflix, Prime Video and Apple TV Plus. Couple this with the 4K Blu-ray UHD player and this is a power console for TV and movie fans.

Even at launch, there’s very little to complain about the PS5 – it screams next-gen both on the inside and outside, and it pretty much makes sure you can run whatever game you wanna play without issues for the entire console generation. The quick load times are simply out of this world and we can’t really go overboard talking about the sheer impressiveness of the new controller either. And the best part is, this is just the beginning, with updates the PS5 is only bound to get better and better.