Friday 29th November 2013. A day which saw more of your TSA team at home than usual, twitching at the sound of every diesel engine and car door, and filled with giddy excitement whenever someone chanced to knock on our doors.
I was one of the lucky ones and was dissecting the packaging to get at my PlayStation 4 just after 11AM, having expected to wait most of the day. I quickly set up, upgraded, etc., the first dilemma of the day in what to play first.
As I’d gone for the Player Edition, the one with Killzone: Shadow Fall, that was the obvious choice. It’s certainly very pretty and remarkably colourful compared to Killzone 2, the last game in the series that I played. And it’s that lack of practice with FPS’, all my gun-toting since Battlefield 3 having been in third person titles, that led to Shadow Fall making a fairly early exit from my PS4 after only about 45 minutes.
My marksmanship was staggeringly and frustratingly poor, so while I had other games to play, I did just that. I will go back to it, maybe restarting on easy while I get my eye in. I’m certainly interested to see how the use of the tactical scan and OWL drone change the gameplay dynamics, as the game seems to be moving away from being squad based.
Super Stardust HD remains one of my favourite PS3 games and thanks to PlayStation Plus its spiritual successor, Resogun, was a free download on my PS4. Of course SSHD running in 2D could already hit 1080p at 60FPS on the PS3 so there was never any doubt that Resogun would do the same, just the question of how Housemarque would use all the extra FLOPs.
Clearly their choice was to go for particles and lots of them, increase the surface of the playing area and remove the planet that was blocking your view of what is going on over the other side. It looks great, plays great and has that SSHD feel.
And that’s my only problem with it; it feels like I’m playing SSHD again. Okay, so the time bonuses have gone and been replaced by a “save the last humans” mechanic (announced by your DS4’s speaker at the start of each level), which is confusing me somewhat as I can’t always work out why some of them are dying, and you no longer have to switch between weapons for maximum effect. But it is SSHD 2 in all but name. I will still be playing it excessively though.
The only other game I played on launch day was Flower, another one that was free to download thanks to Sony’s generous Cross-Buy system. For me it is still thatgamecompany’s finest game to date, sorry Journey fans. It’s not without reason that Flower was the first (and so far only) game I’ve used to try out the new Share button.
I’d forgotten just how magical Flower is. It’s great to have a reason to play it again! #PS4share pic.twitter.com/LFIXwaXLQ2
— Watchful (@KnightOfSwords) November 29, 2013
Peter spent some of his time on Friday, while waiting for his PS4, playing FIFA 14 on his Xbox One! When his PS4 finally turned up, instead of gaming he set about swapping the HDD over and by the time he was ready to roll again, the PSN had gone down. Since then he’s sadly had quite a busy weekend, and not had all that much time to spend with his new machine.
You may have noticed that Stefan’s PS4 suffered from a broken Blu-ray drive which left Killzone: Shadow Fall off of his launch day gaming menu. Like me his other two experiences came courtesy of Resogun and Flower:
Resogun is an absolutely astonishing game to look at. It’s actually really easy to miss out on a lot of the graphical prowess and particle physics effects in the heat of the action, so it was only really when I was playing with Davs in co-op, where I ran out of lives and was watching him play, that I was able to take in just how much is being chucked around on screen, with the shockwaves of explosions kicking up and dislodging thousands of tiny cubes.
It was also really lovely to revisit Flower, with that game’s revamp. While I didn’t really get on with the controls on Vita, the DS4’s motion and tilt sensors are really responsive. I was able to turn on a dime, it felt like, and just do exactly what I wanted to. I think it’s even better than the PS3 version in that regard, and it looks so lovely in 1080p, as well!
When I finally did get to play games on disc, Killzone: Shadow Fall and Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag were what I dabbled with, both looking incredibly good. I’ve not really tried much Killzone single player just yet, but I played a few games online with people from TSA and twitter, and had a great time, tearing through the enemy and not losing a single match.
Aran didn’t manage to get online with his PS4 until around 9pm and his initial thought was that none of the trailers prepared him for how good everything looked.
Killzone: Shadow Fall is a decent shooter, though I did find myself getting a bit lost on some of the more open levels. It isn’t a forgiving game but I am enjoying it.
Resogun will be the first PS4 game I will try and platinum. It’s amazing, looks gorgeous and is such a good challenge. If DLC is announced for it, I’ll probably get it.
9pm would be considered quite early to Dom, who got his machine and then played far into Saturday morning following a long day at work:
I’ve spent most of my time on Resogun and Killzone: Shadow Fall, Resogun being a classic arcade game which epitomises the ‘just one more go’ feeling, and Killzone just a high quality FPS that I’m only just getting to grips with the multiplayer on (after some embarrassing early rounds).
How did your own PS4 launch days go? Did you too spend most of your time with Killzone and Resogun?
KittDJW
I played a little Resogun and was quite impressed with the amount of things happening on screen.. Couldn’t properly understand what I was doing or why the humans were dying but a nice little game.
Most of my time though has been spent playing War Thunder as far as free to play games go it’s extremely detailed and very smooth. I had some awesome moments and crashes.. I highly recommend it.
I brought Battlefield 4 but so far have barely played it so far controls on helicopters and planes are awful now. Maybe I just need to put more time into it.
billsgymsock
There is a “training” mode on BF4’s Multiplayer which will allow you to fly choppers & help you pick the best controls for you. Barely played War Thunder & found it rather difficult.
KittDJW
Thanks for the tip. Will take a look, if you’ve played Borderlands the flying is a little like the controls for driving. Sounds odd but kind of works ;-)
Moonpie
What impressed me most was that me and kittdjw were in party chat, me playing AC4 him playing resogun. I heard how much fun it sounded so paused my game popped into the store, started it downloading, went back to AC4. A few minutes later I got a notice to say it was downloaded
salvodaze
That’s almost what happened in the PS4 ad :) Cross-game party chat sounds great, I do hope the sound quality isn’t as awful as people say.
KittDJW
No the voice chat was excellent. I always had issues with the 360s chat either being poor or you having to make a noise before speaking as it would miss the first word or so. PS4 party chat has been perfect and very clear.
doug
I tried killzone as the psn was down it’s a beautiful looking game and look forward to getting into it more. as soon as I got signed in I downloaded resogun and had a couple of hours on that then it was cod ghosts.
I think with resogun if your losing humans and don’t know why when it says “keepers detected” there should be ships with a green haze round them destroy all these and you’ll see a green ball fly to the human that is released from their box
BerackyWack
Havent had a chance to play Resogun yet. I got my PS4 at 3pm on friday and spent the next 3-4hrs waiting for the PSN to sort itself out so I could get my digital copy of ghosts and FIFA. Havent had a chance to try Killzone properly yet either. but what I have seen it looks lovely.
Youles
Mainly been playing CoD Ghosts multiplayer due to it being Double XP. As that will finish tomorrow I intend to give Killzone Shadow Fall some of my attention. I briefly played it (about the first two levels) and think it looks great, far more impressive than Ghosts but I guess that’s expected from PS4 exclusive. I also tried Killzone via remote play and I was blown away / to be able to play that quality of game on a handheld is amazing! I’m yet to play Lego Marvel.
I briefly played Contrast which has some interesting mechanics but I can see it getting a bit boring, and the setting/story doesn’t really seem my cup of tea.
I also didn’t really enjoy Resogun, but that’s mainly due to the genre, not the game itself. If I’m honest I’d even say it’s been a bit overhyped – it’s occasionally impressive visually when there are large explosions etc.
I tried the FIFA 14 demo which seems good actually but I may pick this up later on in the season, perhaps when I start getting excited about the World Cup and need my football fix.
Escape Plan actually seems good, much less awkward than the awfully unresponsive Vita touch screen controls.
I also redeemed my free Sound Shapes platinum :)
tactical20
Someone who agrees with me about Resogun!!!!
Youles
Haha – yeah, even though it’s not my cup of tea, I really don’t see why it’s so good (apart from the enormous amount of pixels on-screen) or that different from similar PS3 arcade shooters.
tactical20
My PS4 is still in it’s box! Had a busy weekend and haven’t got any games or PS+ yet anyway. Hopefully get some games sometime this week.
ron_mcphatty
You, sir, are a shining example of self retraint! Short of being in a coma or having to give birth I don’t think anything could stop me playing with a new console, I’m very weak willed. I’m also stuck in the last generation now, am I even allowed to use this site?
Stefan L
No. Get out. :P
tactical20
Ha ha! The joys of being a daddy to an 8 month old! Also, I got my wife an iPad Air for xmas that she keeps asking if she can have early, so would be a bit of a pisstake to buss open my new toy right in front of her and leave all the shitty nappies to mummy!
ron_mcphatty
Dude, your wife is a lucky lady, she will definitely understand your need for a few hours alone with the telly while she’s on solo baby duty! Especially since that’ll be what you do when she cracks open the iPad, haha.
Stefan, I’m going, you bastard :'(
(I’m so last-gen that I’m still spelling out my emoticons and avoiding the words ‘totes’ and ‘amazables’)
element666
I’ve been playing killzone and resogun also. Loving resogun,I find it difficult but still go back for more. I’m enjoying killzone,and I am awful online.
I’ve been toying with the idea of buying putty squad,I just can’t make up my mind :-/
DividSmythe
Friday was a drama which I’ve commented on earlier. On Saturday in the daytime I’ve got young kids around so we played Mario 3d, which is a blast in co-op, and just dance. In the evening I War thunder which I loved and I had an online game which went smoothly apart from me not being able to stop music unlimited.
I still have been able to play assassin’s creed yet.
DividSmythe
I’ve just played assassin’s creed for a hour. I’m quite impressed. There is some problem with mechanics and the halo when camera pulls out is still there but seems less boring compared to a few previous iterations.
TSBonyman
I’ve been dipping into everything, mostly Resogun so far, but also some Killzone, SoundShapes, Contrast and today i was playing Trine 2 for a few hours.
Resogun is simple but challenging and i can see myself dipping into it time and time again long after i’ve completed it.
Trine 2 is gorgeous, even better looking than the PS3 version which i had free on plus, and there are some extra levels in this version which i’m looking forward to.
I didn’t get on too well with Contrast, finding the mechanic of ‘shifting’ cumbersome and inconsistent. I can see that game being deleted to make room long before i ever complete it.
Killzone is of course stunning looking but i’m trying to make the campaign last so i’m biding my time with it.
Also i’ve been watching some of the live streams and discovering things i don’t like about the browser, but i’ll save that for the forums when they return… soon hopefully. :)
colmshan1990
You’re all bastards.
Glorious console owning bastards. :P
I’m waiting until Christmas to join your ranks.
Lyts1985
I’ve played Resogun through on Rookie and had a short dabble with Killzone (talk about unforgiving!) but I’m afraid the double XP on COD Ghosts has sucked me in, thus the majority of my first weekend as a PS4 owner has been spent on that. To be fair though the PS3-PS4 upgrade of Ghosts is definitely noticeable and worth doing if just to use the better DS4. My only issue with it is most of my COD owning friends are sticking with PS3 for the moment :-(