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 Okay, so the time bonuses have gone and been replaced by a “save the last humans” mechanic (announced by your DS4’s speaker at the start of each level), which is confusing me somewhat as I can’t always work out why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?
gaffers101
Contrast is great little game and I completed that Friday evening. Resogun looks amazing and I’ve played it on remote play too – most impressive. Today I managed to get into town and pick up Assassins: Black Flag, I’ve only been on it for a little while and I’m hooked.
salvodaze
Finally someone mentions AC IV :) Already got it, waiting for the PS4 launch over here. What do you like about the game and how does it look on the PS4?
gaffers101
It plays very much like AC 3. It’s not the big step forward I’d have liked but I’m still very early in in the game. It does look very pretty though.
salvodaze
Thanks, the Far Cry 3-like aspects look promising. And the sea battles are supposed to be great fun, we’ll see I guess. Have fun!
mrfodder
Got setup and played a little millstone and bf4 before heading to bed at 3am Friday night. Weekend has been mostly the same with resogun and contrast thrown in while kids around.
64 player battlefield is glorious and the campaign is much better than last time out. What I’ve really noticed over last gen is the lighting, through fires and storms.
RudeAwakening
I have been playing Resogun, Contrast and Killzone. I never thought i would say this for a side scrolling shooter but I absolutely love it, what a game its so beautiful to look at and so addictive but its also very hard, not unfairly, its usually my lack of cat-like reflex that has me exploding into a billion particles. I’d recommend everyone to try Resogun even if your not into side scrolling shooters, you never know it just might convert you.
Contrast I enjoyed but it does have its faults, there are a few bugs lurking about in the game. The game mechanics of using the shadow world was quite brilliant but the story wrapped around the mechanics was quite hollow.
Only started Killzone Saturday evening and i’m only on the second level. The graphical prowess of this game is astonishing, i had to pick up my jaw from the floor countless times during just two levels so im quite excited to get stuck in later. It’s also, as a few people mentioned, very unforgiving but i enjoy a challenge.
homerjnick
Picked up mine on Thursday night at 1am…bought a 1TB harddrive on Friday but was too tired to even unpack it on Friday after 4 month twins and my 3 year old keeping me busy!
Saturday afternoon…twins sleeping…I unpacked it, upgraded the harddrive and installed firmware 1.51
Set up the PS4 in about 10 mins to the way I wanted it (can’t believe you cant have dynamic themes) and then downloaded SSHD2 sorry Resogun…it was ok f my but I was confused…save the humans…throw a human? Where? Why? Finders Keepers I beg your pardon?
Got the fright of my life when my DS4 spoke to me! Didn’t realise it had speakers!
Loaded up Killzone…played it for 30 mins…very polished…will play it later…
Assains Creed IV I loaded up and patched but never played…onto Knack and it was pretty good…I will be completing it for sure…
But then for 2 hours I played Need for Speed Rivals…very very good racer and utterly gorgeous!!!!
But that’s it…not many games out for it and you can’t do much with your PS4…had to fire up the PS3 to watch a film off my NAS…look forward to the development of the PS4 through many firmware updates.
Got to say though the OS, the GUI or XMB or whatever it is called is so snappy and fast…it’s what the PS3 should have had…
ron_mcphatty
Rivals looks superb! From the trailers it seems like a spiritual Hot Pursuit sequel, does that sound right?
homerjnick
Yeah…I never platted HP but did Most Wanted…but this is indeed HP2 really…but the graphics are amazing and with 8 players online there is no slowdown…you get a real feel of speed in this game on the PS4…
DeadlyChipmunk
I don’t mind Contrast, easy game for trophies but it wouldn’t be that different on the ps3. Resogun is a cracking blast when you just want to jump into a game. Lovely visuals for certain. Killzone is going to be a long investment and having never played one from this franchise will be interesting to get to grips with. I’ve yet to try Warthunder, but I like world of tanks so could be fun. Was scared off DC online after seeing the 28gb download :-)
ArrebatoTarugo
Like others I’ve been playing lots Resogun. Love it. I’m finding it very challenging. Only managed to finish it in Rookie so far.
I’ve started contrast. Not bad for the price.
Loving PS4. Loving seeing lots of you around as PSN friends.
LillieSmith1
my mom got Volvo C30 by working part time from a macbook… have a peek at this web-site AÂlÂlÂ2Â9Â.ÂcÂoÂm
TSBonyman
I think i saw her – was she flashing her headlights?
lambchop
And doing her lippy in the rear view mirror..
Vallon
Like many I think Resogun has been the game that’s grabbed me most. Stunning gfx, sound and gameplay. Would have happily paid for it, but the fact its free on psplus is great.
Killzone is a funny one. I really didn’t enjoy the early chapters, getting lost easy and finding silly issues, like when running out of an area the going back to find all the enemies had respawned :\ but I stuck with it and I’m on chapter 6 I think now, enjoying it a lot more. Tried online briefly just to see and it was fun – point to note the dual shock 4 is great. I’m a mouse and keyboard kinda guy, but I’ve found the controller responsive and accurate.
Also been playing DCUO a bit. Got up to level 11 almost and done a duty/dungeon. All came flooding back to me as I’d not played this since the PC version launched a few years back. I’ll doubt I’ll really get deep into it (MMOs are devil spawn time sinks….) But its fun to pass the time.
The cross buy meant I got sound shapes free, done a few levels.
Not tried contrast yet, but have got it downloaded.
Other than that, I’ve got NFS rivals arriving tomorrow and played a bit of Mario 3D. Very pleased with the PS4 so far, does need that epic title though, but I’m glad I’ve come back to Sony over Microsoft for this gen :)
Broonba
Got my PS4 around lunchtime on Friday and had a new 1tb drive inserted in a few minutes. Onto the games….I’ve been switching between playing FIFA and Resogun, which is excellent btw. Still got Need for Speed, War Thunder, Warframe, Contrast and Escape Plan to try. Getting Battlefield 4 at Christmas, so looking forward to that.
Lyts1985
Just to add, if anyone needs\wants a PS4 friend, feel free to add me… I don’t know anyone with a PS4 yet :-( same PSN ID as my username here: Lyts1985
Don’t ask, don’t get, haha :-)
salvodaze
I’ll add you in a few minutes. I don’t have a PS4 yet but will be getting one as soon as it’s available here, probably in a month.
Lyts1985
Cool cheers :-)