PS4 6 Minute Impression

Whilst at lunch, I so happen to stop by the Best Buy near my office (Union Square, in NYC), and they had a kiosk up with a PS4, ready and waiting for customers to try out. The Best Buy person dude was there, sort of explaining it to people that didn’t know, and a couple of dudes watching the videos that were playing. One of the dudes, grabs the controller and fired up the Knack Demo.

At first glance, the graphics, while very nice, and a bit more detailed that the current gen games, does not give off that ‘wow’ factor. I know, I know, these are just first generation titles, and the systems full capabilities aren’t even being tapped as of yet, but I think gone of the days now that you were just simply at awe when a new console launches. From the NES to the SNES, to the PSOne, to the PS2, each and every generation had you saying, ‘wow’, look at those visuals. Anyway, the dude finally got tired of playing Knack, and left, so that allowed me to try it out for myself.

The Menu, is now different. It’s no where near the current cross bar design of the PS3, and PSP. It may just be the demo mode, so who knows how the retail version will look. I fired up FIFA, and played a few minutes, and I was able to get a better idea of the improvements made on the Dual Shock 4. The controller is tight. It is more responsive, the analog sticks feel more precise and tighter, and overall, buttery. The triggers are also a joy of joys to use, a better sense of tactility (is that even a word?). FIFA in itself is gorgeous, but again, didn’t give me that ‘wow’ factor, unlike when I first saw NHL ’02 or something for the PS2, or NHL 11 for the PS3. Again, there may be things I am not seeing, little nuances, little animations, little improvements. I was only able to try it out for a few minutes. The one thing that sort of annoyed me, was when I quit the game, and it went back to the menu screen, it’s god awful slow. I sure do hope that’s just the demo mode, and not the final retail version of it. Otherwise, they better streamline it. It’s not as seamless as it is on the PS3, where it’s almost instantaneous.

The physical aspect of the PS4 itself is nice. I like the edged design. It’s subtle, yet it lets you know that it’s there. It seems to be just about the same size as the PS2 Slim. I wont know for sure until I pick up my own unit in 2 weeks time. They also had an XBox One on hand, but it was just looping video, and we were not able to play with it. The XBox looks dull in person too, just like in the pictures. A boring black brick, but then again, it was designed to meld into your current entertainment unit set up. Back to the PS4, I like how the light is in the middle, it sort of separates the glossy and matte sides of the system.

Anyway, see below for a few photos I shot while there, and a quick video of the dude playing Knack.