Everyday, here in the UK, we are used to being five hours ahead of our colonial cousins on the U.S.’s east coast. However, until this morning we have been two weeks behind them in one very important aspect. That changed at midnight, as we saw the PlayStation 4‘s European release, and balance was restored.
As a result I expect quite a few of you will be busy shooting Higs, peacefully tumbling on familiar wind currents or thinking that you’d like a little robot thing that could pick up all the bits of junk off your floor and walk it out to the bin for you in real life.
While twiddling his thumbs all week waiting for his PlayStation 4 to turn up Aran has been playing through inFamous 2 which he says is “brilliant” and has really got him looking forward to Second Son. “New Marais is a good setting to explore and I just like being a superhero. I couldn’t bring myself to be a villain because it goes against everything I am.”
While not quite done with the story he reckons he’ll go on to complete it even after his PlayStation 4 arrives. He is also playing through Rainbow Moon for review, so keep an eye out for that hitting the site in the not too distant future.
Blair is one of those whose PlayStation 4 was not last seen at a ‘carrier facility’ in Milton Keynes, not that I’m bitter or anything. You may have already read his Killzone: Shadow Fall review but in summary he “really quite enjoyed” the campaign and thought the multiplayer “excellent” despite “some strange choices in the design of the ranking and points system”.
Resogun is even better, a real visual powerhouse – the PS3 couldn’t come close to the amount of particle effects going on here.
The same can be said for Knack, though unfortunately for that the gameplay is fine but extremely repetitive and just so average.
Using your PlayStation Vita for Remote Play is reportedly working well when used locally, which is a good sign for its general responsiveness, and Blair’s “really surprised by the [PS4’s] sharing features” discovering that he loves streaming games.
Trying out Flower’s wind current on his PlayStation Vita has left Stefan “a little disappointed that there’s no analogue stick control”. He says the touch controls feel “odd” and “tilting means I’m moving my entire viewpoint, which is just horrible and awkward.”
Flower “still looks absolutely gorgeous” though, even running on Sony’s handheld. Taking up more of his playing time has been Stealth Inc. (née Bastard) also on his PS Vita and he’s been enjoying “its quite unique feeling stealthy platforming”.
Dom’s been playing catchup with PlayStation Plus content on his newly acquired PS Vita this week with Sonic All Stars Racing, Guacamelee, Lego LOTR, and Streetfighter X Tekken. His PS3’s last hurrah has been Transformers: Fall of Cybertron which turned out to be “brilliant, the best Transformers game since the PS2 one.”
Anarchy Reigns and GTA V has been giving Tuffcub’s PS3 a bit of exercise, while Oddworld: Stranger’s Wrath, Jak & Daxter and Flower have been doing the same job for his PS Vita. Marking the end of an era, he has probably played his last game of Killzone 3 as he expects his attention to shift entirely to Killzone: Shadow Fall.
So all you PS4 haves and have nots out there, what have you been playing this week?
Youles
I platinumed Killzone Mercenary, and started Tearaway which is awesome. My drawings are crap but that’s half the fun. Think I’m going to draw some guns or something to stick on the animals in future, make it more amusing.
On PS3 I’ve played a bit of GTA 5 online but since patch 1.06 earning RP is such a joke, doubt I’ll ever reach level 100. They’ve reduced the amount as people were boosting races etc, but it’s all the new people to online that are getting punished as the boosters are all on high levels already! Doing a 20-minute mission for 1,225 is ridiculous.
Other than that I finished 100%ing the Brigmore Witches DLC in Dishonored. Doing it without killing or alerting anyone is a nice challenge.
Come 5:30pm I will hopefully be playing PS4! If anyone wants games of CoD Ghosts or Killzone SF, hit me up…PSN is “Youles”.
doug
I’ll be on ghosts all weekend just for the double xp so I’ll psn you as soon as I get my ps4 if it’s ok
Youles
Of course, please do – I too will be playing CoD over Killzone for the initial weekend due to make the most of the double XP. I will be online from about 7pm until late! Then hopefully late morning tomorrow onwards, and again from 7pm Saturday. X-Factor has some uses!
Also need some people to play Extinction with too if you’re interested in trying that?
Dar-Kaus
if i can get ever get on PSN Youles I’ll be hitting you up on KZ buddy, you old trophy whore you. ;D
Youles
Haha, I shall look forward to it mate! ;)
R1MJAW
Although I mentioned it in Sunday’s community chronicle I’ll still put this in as it is technically part of this week. I got my 100th platinum, Lego Marvel Super Heroes on PS3.
I then delved way back into my backlog and played a fair bit of John Daly’s Prostroke Golf.
I’ve also been playing a fair bit of Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds, which is absolutely fantastic.
Currently waiting impatiently for my PS4 to arrive, it should be here about 2ish (according to the courier’s tracking site).
salvodaze
It’s been a special week for me, as I got my first platinum (Tearaway), hopefully getting another one in a couple of days. So basically I played Tearaway and not much else, being so busy with work and life.
I’m so glad to be getting the PS4 at/close to launch because I won’t have so much to catch up on this time, unlike when I got the PS3 about a year ago. Still so many great games on the 3 waiting for my attention, the guilt is there. I’ll definitely keep my PS3 for a long time, I still have Ni no Kuni and Heavy Rain to play for cyring out loud. But I already ordered AC IV and LEGO Marvel for PS4 so no looking back for a while when I get the system.
Eldaveo
This week was Xbox One week, which coincided with my Wife giving birth to our son so I’ve been off on paternity leave :)
Personally I’m not really sold on the Xbox One thus far. Like the PS4 it has clearly been rushed to market in time for Christmas so a lot of basic features are either broken or missing all together.
Party chat now includes some “auto invite” feature, which is actually really annoying and creates more issues than it solves.
The Kinect brings nothing useful to the table aside from some voice commands, so doesn’t really justify its £80 price tag.
Useful utils like data management have been removed/hidden, while things like friends lists and achievements are now considered “apps”, meaning you cannot quickly switch to them mid-game.
Its all a bit of a mess so far, though I remain hopeful a lot of these issues will be fixed via patching at a later date.
As for the games, Killer Instinct is amazing and is easily the game I’ve played the most so far. It looks nice, has a decent mix of fighters, a thorough tutorial and plenty of unlocks to work towards. Playing local MP on this with my Mrs and mates has been a lot of fun.
Fifa 14 is standard Fifa really. It certainly looks much nicer than the 360/PS3 versions, with proper crowds and some extra animations. I’ll no doubt play it off and on all year but its hardly a “next gen” game.
Finally we have Forza 5, which I have pretty mixed feelings towards. It looks great, features amazing gameplay and is loaded with content, however the new Drivatar stuff means you typically end up in races with a bunch of idiots who want to play bumper cars rather than race properly. Over time I will hopefully be paired up with people who want to play Forza as it is intended, but at the moment its just annoying and I’ve been left wishing you could turn all that stuff off.
Overall, as expected, the console is fine just not amazing. The launch titles are acceptable, the hardware is nice and the system OS is flawed but has potential. Probably not worth £429.99 but I would definitely buy one in March for Titanfall anyway and I cannot see the console getting a price drop before then so no harm done I suppose.
Youles
Wow that’s come around quick – huge congrats mate. Hope mother and boy are doing well! Great timing with the X1 release, especially as they sleep a lot initially. Hopefully any visitors won’t overstay their welcome so you can play ;)
Eldaveo
Thanks! :) Haha, fortunately we live out in the middle of nowhere so weren’t bothered by too many visitors ;) Mum and baby are doing well, fortunately he loves sleep (like his Dad)
tactical20
Congratulations mate! :-)
Vallon
Defo no price drop in the near future; I agree with you.
And many congratulations on your new arrival :)
ron_mcphatty
Congratulations!
I’ve been playing Sleeping Dogs and will continue to do so, no next gen for me, booo.
On the very big plus side, and also being with new today, me and my girlfriend got engaged!
Youles
Woohoo, great news! Congrats mate!
I hear PS Vitas make excellent engagement presents – tell Mrs McPhatty (to be)! ;)
ron_mcphatty
Haha, actually I’m treating myself to one. We have a friend visiting from Tokyo in December and he’s bringing me a new 2000! Can’t wait. And thanks dude :)
Eldaveo
Congrats matey! :)
Vallon
I sat and completed New Super Mario Bros Wii U this week, and am about 50% of the way through Tearaway. Both great games, though while I have a permanent smile playing Tearaway, some of the levels on Mario made me want to throw the Wii U’s rather expensive controller at the TV… :o
Hopefully CityLink won’t do their usual job of failing, so I might actually be playing some Resogun and Killzone tonight.
Vallon
Sigh, ordered Need for Speed Rivals now too! Tesco have a deal on for anyone interested… spend over £50 and get £10 off, so I got NFS rivals and a £3 DVD for £41 delivered – cheapest i’ve seen it and always enjoyed the NFS games.
doug
My baby’s here updating as I type
Just out of curiosity does anyone know if using the power adapter from a ps3 on a ps4 will do any harm
Greg Aldridge
The cables are identical, you can literally just swap the consoles over and use the same cables.
RudeAwakening
Got my PS4 this morning but not the game that I wanted. Killzone was completely sold out, I never thought of pre ordering it, big mistake. Had to settle for COD ghosts but hoping that smyths gets more stock tomorrow, so I can make a straight swap.
Been playing Resogun, I never really got on with side scroller shooters but Resogun is just sensational, an amazing beautiful game. The PS4 is fantastic, but you can see that it was slightly rushed out, but im not bothered, still can’t believe its sitting under the television.
On a side note has anyone noticed that the Driveclub demo is not on the store? Did Sony announce it wont be on the store for launch?