PlayStation 5 makeover

I have owned a PS5 for 2 and a half years. Time has passed so quickly that I feel I have only scratched the surface of what the console has to offer and I have decided to focus on it at the expense of the Xbox Series X. I have indulged in a couple of Xbox exclusives such as Indiana Jones and the Great Circle and the Starfield DLC Shattered Space recently, but it is becoming clear that the PS5 is the superior machine.

So what better way celebrate the PlayStation and its 30th anniversary than to give it a bit of an upgrade? 

There is a rather brilliant "Holiday Sale" on at PlayStation where I bought a Midnight Black Controller and matching console covers. It's like reliving the days of the PlayStation 2. To complete the look I also decided to move the console to a horizontal position and have subscribed (again) to PlayStation Plus Premium so I can stream PS2 classics like Jak and Daxter and Ratchet and Clank. I only have an additional 1TB SSD and a USB HDD, but the prices of 4TB M.2 solid state drives still scare me, so that upgrade remains on the back burner.

I have also bought a Pulse Elite headset which is primarily for use with my Portal. However, to update the headset and PlayStation Link adaptor, you need to connect everything up to a console. The trouble with doing this is that the USB connection on the adaptor is so tight it is almost impossible to push it into the PS5. You end up ramming the thing in so hard you feel like you are going to damage the console. To avoid the potential for damage I decided to plug in a USB extender and push the adaptor into there. That way and damage would be to the extender and not the console. This seems to have worked but feels inelegant and is a workaround for a manufacturing defect.

Best of the Best: Part 2 (PlayStation 2)

So if the Xbox 360 is may favourite console, the PlayStation 2 has to occupy second place. I acquired my PlayStation 2 in December 2000 and it was a pivotal moment in my gaming life. I moved from an infrequent gamer with an outdated Nintendo 64 to someone who would spend hours in immersive first person experiences. Much to my shame, I never ventured online with the PlayStation 2 but I did play about one hundred different games on the platform. I can't pretend to have an exhaustive knowledge of niche titles, but the list below is a personal take on the best games for Sony's ubiquitous black brick.

10: Tomb Raider: Legend 

"Legend" was the first attempt to reboot the Tomb Raider franchise after the rather dismal "The Angel of Darkness". Whilst I played all the previous instalments of the series on the PlayStation or PC, this was my first game on the PlayStation2 and it was an eye opening experience.

I enjoyed this game as it struck the right balance between puzzling and action. The controls for "Legend" will feel very familiar to modern gamers and everything is much slicker than you might expect from a twenty year old title. My only gripe when I bought this game was that I had to play it on the PlayStation2 as I didn't have the funds to buy an Xbox 360. Thankfully there are no such issues today.

9: Medal of Honor: Rising Sun

Such was the expectation that I pre-ordered this game a full five months before it was released in 2003. If you can imagine it, this was a time before "Call of Duty" and the release of a game like this would be quite an event. Whilst this is a first person shooter, "Rising Sun" is very much 'on rails'. Ploughing through short set piece battles can feel limiting but it can also be comforting if you are in the mood for such an experience.

I remember seeing this game advertised on TV and thinking how great the graphics looked. The console does struggle to push out everything on screen at times, but the experience remains relatively slick nonetheless.

8: Tiger Woods PGA Tour '04

I don't like golf so I have absolutely no idea what drew me to this game. My first Tiger Woods experience was the 2003 release but this annual iteration added a bit of polish that made it stand out. 

I found the challenge here quite addictive and I enjoyed progressing through the different courses and opponents. There were some humorous elements that I enjoyed and the sound design is also very impressive. I could happily play it again today but this was the last version in the franchise I enjoyed as the developers changed the controls in the jump to the 7th gen consoles and nothing was quite the same again.

7: Jak and Daxter

One of the things I loved most about the early PlayStation consoles was their propensity towards family friendly action games such as this. I played this through right to the end and enjoyed it very much at the time. However, when I tried to play it again more recently I found it difficult and I seemed to get stuck quite quickly. Maybe I was better at games back in the day.

There's lots to like in this adventure with its stimulating setting and some interesting characters to encounter. As with most games of this era a play-through doesn't take too long and you might still have enough in the tank for one of the many sequels.

6: Gran Turismo 3

One of the main reasons I wanted a PlayStation2 was to play this game. I had loved the first two instalments of the series on the original PlayStation and looked forward to this edition being yet another step up on the ladder. 

This was the first game I ever saw on the console and the first one I ever played. I would spend hours perfecting my technique and tinkering with upgrades to my cars. I even went as far as completing the endurance races where each one could take anywhere up to 3 hours to finish. The controls feel clunky and unrealistic by modern standards but if you can retune your brain there is still fun to be had here. The sounds of the game are incredibly evocative and bring on waves of nostalgia for me.

5: Gran Turismo 4

What driving game could possibly be better than Gran Turismo 3? Why Gran Turismo 4 of course! With over fifty tracks and seven hundred cars this game racked up mind blowing numbers for 2003. The car handling was also improved and a new photo mode was introduced.

What I admired about this game was that it built significantly upon the third instalment without losing the quintessential elements that made the series a success. There were lots of new bells and whistles here, but things like the wonderful sound design and music were retained to ensure this was still a familiar experience.

4: Grand Theft Auto III

I'd played a couple of Grand Theft Auto games on the original PlayStation but they didn't impress me much. This game however was a totally different ball game.

I bought GTA3 not long after it was released just because there was such a buzz about it. This game immediately throws you into the action and as you work through the missions you begin to appreciate the genius of what is happening. Yes, you can free roam and do lots of naughty things you wouldn't dream of doing in real life, but don't be fooled - there is a good story underpinning this game. The 3D graphics on this game felt revolutionary at the time and it took the power of the PlayStation2 to realise them.

3: Canis Canem Edit (Bully)

I bought a second hand copy of this game in 2007 as I desperately needed something to occupy my mind; and occupy my mind it did. In fact, it got to the point that I found myself thinking about solutions for the English lessons at Bullworth Academy whilst working a real job.

As this game utilised the power of the RenderWare engine, it bears some similarities to Grand Theft Auto III. You can free roam around the maps and generally cause trouble or work your way through the storyline - either is enjoyable. Something in this game whetted my appetite for gaming and as soon as I finished it, I went out and bought an Xbox 360.

2: Ratchet and Clank

A bit like Jak and Daxter I liked this game as it was an action adventure that carried a sense of fun. Initially I bought the game as it received good reviews but as soon as I started walking around and picking up nuts and bolts I knew it was a winner. I still play this game now and again either on original hardware or streamed over PS Plus.

The characters and the level design here show real ingenuity and give the game a unique flavour. The various weapons, traps and enemies are brilliantly realised and the voice acting was a step above anything I had heard before. Often imitated, never bettered: it's no wonder this franchise is still going on the latest PlayStation.

1: Grand Theft Auto: Vice City

Astonishingly this game came out just one year after Grand Theft Auto III. This new instalment featured a new character and storyline alongside much bigger maps and new abilities such as riding motorcycles. This game was so vast and impressive it almost felt unreal to me.

Whilst the gameplay and story were enjoyable, the main reason I love this game is the way it made me feel. There's a real atmosphere generated when playing this game and it has a very special air about it. The soundtrack is simply amazing and works perfectly with the setting. There's nothing better on the console. 

PlayStation 5 Portal: Cutting out the lag

I bought a PlayStation Portal in July 2024 and it solved a particular problem. You see I hardly ever get to use our main TV as someone else in the family always seems to be camped in front of it. This situation has severely limited the amount of time I get to spend using my PlayStation 5 and I have built up a large back catalogue of games as a result. 

To remedy this situation I bought a Portal so I could access the console from other areas of the house. Setting up the device was quite easy and once I established a wired connection from my router to the PlayStation 5, I could play games with only occasional connection issues. I managed to finish a couple of long RPG games and began to look forward to my PS5 having a new lease of life.

And then I upgraded my broadband connection to full fibre and everything went wrong.

You see the fitter placed the router for my new super-duper fibre connection a long way away from my console and I was forced to revert to a wireless connection for my PS5. The end result was that the Portal became completely unusable as the connection constantly dropped and the lag could be measured in minutes. 

Whilst the console said it had a downstream connection of 55 Mbps and upstream of abut 10 Mbps this didn't seem to be nearly enough bandwidth. Having tried unsuccessfully to make few tweaks to my set up I became resigned to not being able to use the Portal ever again.

Then one day I was idly flicking through the network set up of my PS5 and I noted it was connected to my 2.4 GHz wi-fi band. A flash of inspiration suddenly stuck me and I swapped to the 5 GHz band. I tentatively fired up the Portal and to my joy I discovered everything worked perfectly again. So if your Portal is giving you some hassle and you cant make a wired connection to the console make sure you try the 5 GHz band - it might just save your Portal from the scrapheap.

PlayStation 5: Randomly powering on "by itself"

A few weeks ago my PlayStation 5 began turning on without intervention. I would be watching TV and there would be a sudden beep as it powered up all by itself or I would walk next to the TV and the PS5 would light up unexpectedly. Even when I left the house I would return to find my PS5 powered on and ready to play.

If you perform an internet search for "PlayStation 5 turns on by itself", you will find a string of websites trying to help you. Some pages are less than helpful (it could be ghosts! Oooohhh) and some are actually quite alarming. One theory suggests your PS5 is going to gradually deteriorate or even brick itself unless you intervene. The conclusion of these articles is that rest mode is faulty or badly implemented and they advocate that you shut down your console when finished with it. Some suggest that connected devices are turning on your PS5 and instruct you to disable HDMI device link to fix the problem.

But I was sure the sleep mode on my unit was just fine as it had been working without issue for 6 months. I also reasoned that my console was turning itself on when all other linked devices were turned off, so the HDMI link couldn't be to blame. 

So what has changed or been introduced in the last few weeks that could be causing the issue? The culprit was soon identified (the sharper ones amongst you may have noticed the picture -->). 

Yes, it seems that after a couple of months, the official Sony media remote will start to randomly turn on your console two to three times per day. The unit ships with two Sony branded AA batteries that deplete very quickly and a fresh set of higher quality batteries will fix the issue. It remains to be seen if the remote will chew through a set of batteries every few months or if it is merely an issue with the ones that have been included. Either way, I'm pleased there isn't a ghost.

Dishonored: a suprise discovery

Occasionally I will come across a game that I have never heard of that turns out to be quite good. I only discovered Dark Souls, Dragon Age and Prince of Persia many years after they had been released. Sometimes these discoveries turn out to be exceptional like Rage, The Last of Us or Uncharted. 

This week I am adding Doshonored to the list of exceptional games. The first I had ever heard of this game was when I Googled "Best games for PlayStation 3" a couple of weeks ago. Initially I assumed this game must have been a PlayStation exclusive and that is why I hadn't played it in 2012. However, I now see it was available across all platforms.

Therefore my working theory is that the only thing I saw of this game ten years ago was the cover. Based on a cursory review of the image I must have assumed this was some sort of horror game and spent my £40 on Halo 4 or Borderlands 2 instead. In 2022 I was able to buy the game for a couple of pounds and add it to my 'must play some time' pile. This week I decided to pull the game out and have a look at what I had bought.

I don't know why I like this game so much as, on paper, it shouldn't work. The design is far from original and it looks like a cross between Fable II and Bioshock Infinite. Some of the voice acting is a bit hammy and I'm not a massive fan of stealth gameplay (I have never got over the scars left by the brutal gameplay of Hitman 2 on the PS2). The storyline is highly derivative and lots of the mechanics seem to be directly lifted from Fallout. 

Yet this is a great game. The story is familiar, but it is familiar like a pair of old comfy slippers: it is enjoyable but doesn't work your brain into a jumble like it was with Halo 2 or Destiny. The graphics may borrow on the same Steampunk aesthetics as other games, but it does look very nice. Some of the voice acting is a little hit and miss but I recognised the tones of Lena Headley immediately (even with an American accent).

Things progress at a steady pace and make sense in the context of the story. We aren't just shooting cockroaches with a BB gun one minute and wearing Brotherhood of Steel armour the next. I also realised that developers Arkane created Prey (the good one not the Xbox 360 one) and Deathloop - so they have a good track record.

I'm only entering my first few missions on the game but can tell I am going to enjoy it as I haven't been instantly intimidated by its size (The Witcher 3), it is engaging and doesn't have me wandering around with nothing to do (No Man's Sky) and the controls aren't ridiculously clunky (Mass Effect: Andromeda). Let's hope it remains as engaging to the end.

Spider-Man: Miles Morales - PlayStation 4 vs. Playstation 5

When I bought a PlayStation 5 one of the first games I bough was Spider-Man: Miles Morales. Not only was it cheaper to buy this game digitally, but I could also download the PlayStation 4 version for the same price.

Having button mashed my way through about 60% of the game on both consoles, I have noted some differences in the gaming experience. 

Whilst the graphics are obviously less detailed on the  PS4 version, it still looks good and plays very well. The biggest difference I notice moving between platforms is actually the load times. Fast travelling across the map on the PS5 happens almost instantly; there are no loading screens or scenes of Spidey entertaining people on the subway. Similarly, if you restart a mission the game resets without any interruption. It's amazing how quickly you become accustomed to not waiting for a game to load and how frustrating it feels moving back just one generation of consoles.

The other big difference is the controller. The PS5 controller feels substantial and the adaptive triggers are much more engaging than the flaccid buttons on the PS4. I'm not sure if it is my imagination or not, but the speaker and the rumble in the PS5 controller also feel much more pronounced.

I'm going back to button mash my way through the same enemies for the hundredth time to try and get this game finished. I'll certainly get it done on the PS5 but the PS4 may have to wait.

Killzone 2: Gear of War Clone

Having enjoyed "Killzone" on the PlayStation 2 "back in the day", I was keen to finally see what its sequel on the PlayStation 3 was like 12 years after it was released (I have actually played "Killlzone: Shadow Fall" in the interim but we'll skim over that). 

"Killzone 2" sees us pitted against the Helghast once again but introduces the concept of taking cover and reviving downed comrades. These new gameplay mechanics are borrowed from other titles of the period such as "Gears of War". Much like "Gears of War", one of the initial selling points of this game was the multiplayer, but alas we can't test this experience as the servers were turned off in 2018. 

As you progress through the campaign you begin realise the graphics look a lot like "Gears of War" too (even down to the vehicles having blue tail lights). A bit further on it dawns on you that the font used for the subtitles is similar to the one used by "Gears of War". Maybe I'm showing my Xbox 360 bias here, but I have to state my opinion that this is a "Gears of War" clone that is just utilising an old Sony IP to give it some legitimacy. 

But does that matter? Who wouldn't try to copy a game that sold almost 6 million copies? Anyway, isn't imitation the most sincere form of flattery? I guess you can't afford to be bashful when money of this magnitude is involved and your biggest rival has stolen a march on you. As it turned out, "Killzone 2" didn't even come close to the sales of "Gears of War" and its easy to see why. 

"Gears" took an innovative approach to reloading weapons that became a satisfying and strategic component of gameplay.  In comparison, reloading in "Killzone 2" takes an inordinately long time and each magazine feels like it holds 5 rounds. In a fast paced first person shooter this becomes quite tiresome. Similarly, the need to manipulate and tilt the SixAxis controller to arm explosives feels like it was included as a contractual obligation and really doesn't work all that well. Unlike "Gears of War" the characters here are generic and the story inconsequential. The loading of new areas is hardly seamless and long pauses are often triggered as you transition between areas on the map. But maybe my expectations have grown too high and this should be expected given the limitations of the hardware - I'm already dissatisfied with the load times on PS4 games since the PS5 came on the scene.

On the plus side the game is easy to navigate and thanks to its copy cat design, it looks pretty good too. There is a nice variety of weaponry, and whilst the enemies are a bit generic and their AI almost non-existent, they just about pass the bar as cannon fodder. The music on the game is good and the voice acting competent (in the hokey way that seemed de rigueur when the game was released anyway). As a distraction to idle away a few hours this game is competent. But nobody can pretend it rivals the visceral excitement and innovative gameplay of "Gears of War".