Should You Buy A PS5...? It's Complicated

Trouble Restocking Product

I've had my PS5 for a month, but like most people's experience, it was a hassle to buy. After 20 minutes of refreshing and clicking, my order went through on GameStop. The only links that worked were the bundle orders. I ended up ordering a PS5, with an extra controller and two PS5 games I already had, for $800! Not fun.

Eventually, I got my money's worth by selling my PS4, the extra controller, and trading in my two extra games. Thanks, Target!

I would recommend keeping an eye on the restock Twitter accounts... and patience. Retailers I trust are Walmart, Best Buy, GameStop, and Target restock.

History of the Playstation Hardware

With every jump in technology, the improvement seems to get smaller with each generation. Playstation got its popularity by taking the video game industry into the 3D world. Before PlayStation, there were only arcade games, Gameboy, Nintendo, all of which featured 2D games. 

Then the jump from PS1 to PS2 improved the mobility in their 3D player interface with Jak and Daxter and Maddened 2011. The PS2 gave more processing power, allowing developers to create open worlds without any loading time.

The jump from PS2 to PS3 was less dramatic. Smoother cutscenes in their games, but the main selling point for the PS3 was HD. Unfortunately, a fraction of the consumer, at the time, owned an HD 50" Plasma Screen TV. This led to many PS3 games looking the same as PS2 games. Consequently, the HD processing power in the PS3 went unnoticed.

The jump from PS3 to PS4 was even smaller, with the ability to process 4k resolution. However, ask most people, they won't be able to tell the difference between 1080p and 4k unless directly shown.

So why talk about the history of Playstation's hardware? Because, in this writer's opinion, hardware capabilities are not something gamers should be excited about anymore unless they experience it for themselves.

Relationship Between the Consoles and their Video Games

Let's take a look at the PS4 gaming roster:

Spider-Man (PS4), God of War, Bloodborne, Uncharted 4, The Last of Us Part II, Monster Hunter, Devil May Cry 5, and DOOM: Eternal; these are all games that actually need/use the PS4's processing power for them to run properly.

Other games like Dark Souls 3, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, Call of Duty Black Ops IV, Celeste, Cuphead, Dreams, Resident Evil 2, Hollow Knight, Undertale, Overwatch, ABZU, Sonic Mania; these games could easily run on the PS3 because they don't require the 4k resolution or high-end graphics to run properly, yet Sony only released them for the PS4.

The PS4 can run incredible-looking games like God of War, but how many games exist that look like God of War? They're very few and far between because the software needed to create cutting-edge graphics is not within reach for most gaming studios.

Even when it is within reach, management of how the software is used can also fail. Microsoft's Halo: Infinite is rumored to be the most expensive video game ever to exist. Then they showed gameplay footage of it and the internet started comparing it to older Halo games. The Xbox Series X has similar processing power to the PS5, yet one of their biggest launch titles looks like screenshots from the Xbox 360 Halo games.

Getting good graphics and raw computation to run well on all platforms, depends on a lot of factors that can easily go wrong. Cyberpunk 2077 for example, is one of the biggest failed titles of 2021 because the software in the game itself refused to work on Xbox One, PS4, and PC. Bioware's 2019 game, Anthem had similar issues.

This is why people look at God of War, Uncharted 4, and Last of Us like lightning in a bottle. Because video games that offer insane graphics, fun gameplay, and an overall satisfying experience that isn't interrupted by bugs and glitches, are rare.

The good news is you don't need cutting-edge graphics in your video game to give the player a satisfying experience. Celeste is a pixelated platformer and was one of the more successful games of 2019. 

PS5 Hardware, Should You Be Excited?

Here is a brief summary of the PS5 software.

CPU: AMD Zen 2-based CPU with 8 cores at 3.5GHz (variable frequency)
GPU: 10.28 TFLOPs, 36 CUs at 2.23GHz (variable frequency)
GPU architecture: Custom RDNA 2.
Memory interface: 16GB GDDR6 / 256-bit.
Memory bandwidth: 448GB/s.
Internal storage: Custom 825GB SSD.
Usable storage: 667.2GB.

For $500 you are getting a powerful console. However, it's hard for consumers to get excited over computer chips now because they won't know if any games featured on the console are going to push its processing power to its full potential. 

Right now I can say from experience, the Demon's Souls PS5 Remake, while it looks phenomenal, could've easily run on a PS4. The only reason Sony decided to make Demon's Souls a PS5 exclusive was to position it as the "system selling" game for now. The PS5 exclusive, Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart, set to release on June 11th, definitely looks great with smooth platforming gameplay, but only time will tell whether it will actually test the limits of its software. 

So far, what has stood out to me about the hardware are the shorter loading times. When playing Demon's Souls I only had to wait for it to load when it was connecting to the game's server, which took all but 5 seconds. When I died and re-spawned there was no loading time. I had the same experience when playing Spider-Man: Miles Morales.

Games made for the PS5 are set to have little to no loading times anymore, whether it's booting up the game itself, or re-spawning your character. This is incredible when you consider the graphics the console is processing.

I am concerned about the memory drive. 16 GB is not a lot of space given that video games in the future will become bigger with more content and monthly updates. Sony is in the process of trying to solve that problem with external hard drives.

While the PS5 does have backward compatibility for PS4 games, it won't be able to process games from PS3 and older generations. I find this disappointing mainly because Nintendo solved this problem years ago. If you own a Nintendo Switch you can go into the Nintendo's archive section and play all of the classic Mario and Donkey Kong games. There's no reason why Sony (and Microsoft) can't do the same thing. 

The Controller is Awesome

I believe the PS5's greatest leap forward was the controller. With its dual-sense, haptic feedback, adaptive triggers, and sensory rumbles, developers can now program the controller to do very interesting things.

When playing Call of Duty: Cold War, the triggers have adjustable resistance so now it actually feels like you're pulling a trigger.

The vibrations in the controller are much more specific to whatever is happening in the game. When shooting a gun the trigger itself will vibrate instead of the whole controller. While playing Spider-Man: Miles Morales, I felt a vibration move across the controller whenever a car or bus drove by me.

The vibrations are well balanced. They're not so loud that they're obnoxious, but they're not too quiet either. You can place the controller on a hard surface and it won't suddenly be the loudest thing in the room when it vibrates. It's obvious Sony really put work into making sure that the rumbles in this controller are felt instead of heard. 

There is also a microphone built into the controller itself. So if your headset runs out of battery and you're in a party with friends, you'll still be able to talk with them through the controller itself. If you're worried about Sony or anyone listening in on your privacy, there's a button on the controller that mutes the mic. 

The one downside I found with the new controller was the color. In contrast with the black PS4 controllers, grim and dirt from your hands will stand out on white. If you don't mind cleaning the controller every few weeks then this won't be an issue for you. I think the look itself is great. The white and black, with the blue/orange lighting blends well with the futuristic look of the PS5.

Conclusion: Games Define a Console's Success

In conclusion, the PS5 is definitely an incredible console, one that will hopefully be supported by Sony for the next 7-10 years. However, the hype to get it is a little unfounded right now. If you're a gamer and you only play games because of your community of gamer friends, then I say there's no rush to buying this console. If you're like me, who sees gaming as a passionate hobby, then I would definitely recommend it, just don't spend $800 on a bundle you don't need!

Above all, what defines whether a console is successful or not is the games that develop for it. Right now, the PS5 doesn't have much of a record to speak of when it comes to video games. I have confidence the PS5 will eventually find its footing. It's possible the games that are set to come out later this year and in 2022 will be incredible experiences. We'll just have to wait and see.

What makes me err on the side of caution are the stories of unfinished and unplayable games being released. However, I believe Sony learned its lesson. Seeing them take down Cyberpunk 2077 from their store gives me hope that they won't accept unfinished/unplayable games on their consoles anymore.