I’ve always been a bit wary of PlayStation hardware. Even being more of an Xbox player over the year, I don’t feel as uneasy, despite the 360’s long-storied past as the eye of Sauron. This wariness comes more from the PS2 and PS3 eras. The PS3’s ‘yellow light of death’, was nowhere near as prominent as the 360’s troubles, but it was certainly still a thing.
And then we come to the PS2, it might have just been the lack of a proper social media platform at the time, but when I worked in videogames retail, the PS2 was one of the faultiest consoles I ever encountered. At the peak, we would send tens of PS2s back faulty a week. Some of the OGs wouldn’t play the CDs (blue disc), then some of those wouldn’t play DVDs (silver discs), and then the earlier models couldn’t handle the higher capacity DVDs (gold discs). People would ask to avoid certain discs, like, my friend, that is a faulty console, it can’t play all the games on it! Thankfully the slim redesign helped abate most of the faults.
Now, don’t get me wrong, it’s inherent when buying a product, hell anything, you WILL encounter defects, faults, something a bit off (remember dead pixels on the DS?!). But why am I rambling on about this?
Well, the PS5 was a joyful launch for me, no faults and has been a steadfast console, giving me great gaming experiences from Sony’s powerhouse of studios. I was pleasantly surprised, particularly after my PS4 turned into a jet engine on the regular. I think, the earlier generations lessons have been well embedded. BUT, Sony’s recently revealed, and now released PS5 Pro was certainly met with derision and skepticism, particularly from me!
The cost, the lack of a disc tray, no stand!! It’s hard to focus on the benefits of something you’re absolutely slamming right out of the gate. Equally, videogames are notoriously hard to appreciate on a super compressed video on Twitter, so it’s hard to truly show off the power and nuances in the improvements afforded by the increase in power, regardless of how much Mark Cerny might tell us about it. You need to see it in practice, which is a tough ask. Either you find someone you know with one, happen upon a demo unit in the wild (with the increasingly small footprint of brick and mortar stores, this is more and more less likely), or just go out and buy one.
So with a wariness, and a hole in my wallet, I stepped aside from my scepticism and mockery to give you my thoughts on whether Sony’s PlayStation 5 Pro is worth your hard earned, and increasingly scarce monies.
Context
I thought it’d be useful to give you some information about where I’m coming from in my review. I’m a console gamer, although I’ve just upgraded my gaming PC, I prefer a console. The simplicity and plug and play of it all is very appealing. My main console is the Xbox Series X. I play on an LG C1 48″. I sit fairly close to the screen in my office / man cave.
I’m not the chaps over at Digital Foundry, you won’t be getting in-depth minutiae detail on the all of the bells and whistles, mainly because I don’t understand it and it would be disingenuous to try to make out like I do. I’ll just tell you if I liked something, and if it was pretty.
First impressions
It was very exciting to take out the new shiny from it’s box, but I felt the same disappointment I felt when unboxing the PS5. Sony just doesn’t want to invest in the packaging, particularly for a premium end console, I would have expected them to forego the egg carton packaging, it just detracts from the experience a little. I appreciate that you’ll be throwing the box away, or putting it in the attic, but it does make a different, particularly as that first impression. Compare that to when you unbox an Xbox Series X, it’s a different feel.
The console itself is nice to look at for sure. Modelled on the slim model, it was quite a different having it sat next to my OG PS5. I quite liked the the original one, but by ‘eck it’s a chunky boi! The Pro, with its go faster stripes does feel more dynamic and it’s nice that it takes up less space in my TV stand, although it feels a touch like there’s too much space there now!
Because I have my consoles under my TV, I need them horizontal, so I was less bothered by the lack of a vertical stand, though I absolutely think it should be included given the price of the thing. My biggest gripe with the OG PS5 is that absolutely terrible stand that’s so finicky that you had to reattach it if you even so much as knocked the console, or the stand it was in.
Thankfully the PS5 Pro has rectified that by providing a simple two plastic feet solution. I believe these are the same in the slim model, but they do feel a touch cheap, and not overly hardy. I appreciate that you’re unlikely to be moving the console very often, but it still would be nice to have a more reinforced stand. It does feel like they could easily be knocked out, not that I’m going to test.
Setup
I’m not going to lie, this was the worst experience I’ve had with the PS5 Pro so far, though one is more an issue with OG PS5 than the Pro.
Ok, let’s just get this out of the way, the original PS5’s faceplates are an absolute pain. They feel faffy, and not intuitive at all to remove, regardless of the instructions. I needed to take out the SSD in my OG and transfer it into my Pro, though with a 2TB storage drive now, I probably don’t need it. Which raises a bit of a gripe, I expect part of the cost associated with the Pro is the storage. It would have been nice to have a cheaper option as I expect quite a few folk will have that additional storage.
So, anyway, in my zeal to transfer the SSD, I was attempting to remove the faceplate on my desk, next to my monitor, where I work. On successful removal of the faceplate, due to the nonsense that it is, my hand slipped as I had to be quite forceful to get it off, and the end of the faceplate cracked into my monitor (and I’d just paid it off too, no Simpson’s joke here). Suffice it to say, the PS5 Pro might be the most expensive console I ever buy…
After that trauma, I went to setting the actual console up. All fine and as expected, and easy enough. It offered me the option to transfer the data from my OG PS5, which includes installed games, save games, and video and screenshot captures. I thought I’d go ahead and do that. The two consoles were both wired into my home broadband (1GB download speed), and it took 40 hours before it failed and I had to try again. I tried it one more time, reducing what I was transferring over (I had no idea how long it would take as the estimate kept moving up and down), after an overnight attempt, it had failed again. Still don’t know why it didn’t work but I obviously gave up and used an external HDD to transfer my captures so I didn’t lose them.
You’re then greeted with a lovely intro animation, which I thought was a special one for the PS5 Pro, but I learned it’s just a newer one, and it appeared after I’d factory reset my OG PS5.
Trying It Out
I thought it made sense to try run a few games to have a test of what impact the PS5’s machinations has on certain games. With that in mind, I tested a straight PS4 game, and a couple of PS5 games that have PS5 Pro enhancements. I tested all the games on both the OG PS5 and the PS5 Pro.
It occurred to me that you may not see much in the way of a difference with these videos, and your display is very much a key part to these conversations, so do keep that in mind.
I played both the games on both systems, one after another, starting with the original PS5.
I’m still new to the video capturing game so bear with me on that one.
PS4 Game – Bloodborne
You can decide for yourself of course, but I definitely noticed an improved smoothness on the PS5 Pro. Now I’m not running stats and metrics, just using my eyes, and it did seem to perform smoother. Admittedly this was just the opening of the game, and more hectic moments would need to be tested, but I’m liking what I’m seeing.
PS5 Game Pro Enhanced Game – Spider-Man Remastered
Spider-Man Remastered looks great on both systems, of course, but I noticed improved performance on the Pro. Again, just smoother performance, nothing major but it still seemed to get a lift from the new tools in the Pro’s shed. Perhaps a touch disappointing as it did reportedly receive a PS5 Pro update on launch. Admittedly, I didn’t spend a great deal of time with it, but still a notable performance boost, though I found it hard to distinguish too closely anything notable.
PS5 Pro Enhanced Game – Horizon: Zero Dawn Remastered
Of course, given this felt like a flagship title for the PS5 Pro, I spent the most time with it, and wanted to show you the first 60 minutes of game. I felt like there’d be more to see over the other two games featured in this review.
Of the games I’ve played so far, this, this was amazing to look at. The original PS5 remastered game looks amazing, but the Pro version does look incredible. The detail, the lighting, the way every moves and reacts in the world. It is is even more brimming and bustling than it was in 2017 and you can really see the potential with a game like this.
I was very much in two minds as to whether an already beautiful game like Horizon needed a remaster, but they’ve certainly not phoned it in, just look at it!!! Despite platinum-ing it already, I do plan to go through it again with my Pro (and then on to Forbidden West, as I am yet to play).
The other photos are from the PS5 Pro version:
Performance
You’ll be pleased to hear that the PS5 Pro is whisper quiet, not making a sound during my time with it (except for the expected beeps and such). I haven’t encountered any bugs or issues (outside of the ones mentioned above with the data transfer).
Conclusion
This is going to sound like a massive copout, but I can’t tell you if I think you should get a PS5 Pro. I would certainly suggest an Xbox Series X, an OG PS5, a Nintendo Switch, I feel confident in recommending all of those. The PS5 Pro is trickier recommendation, which I guess in itself, is telling (and no I’m not bitter about my broken monitor).
While there is no denying that a game that has received a PS5 Pro enhancement (and it’s been implemented effectively, noting some of the issues some games have reportedly had), is a feast for the the eyes (just look at Horizon: Zero Dawn Remastered), how much value there is in it is totally subjective.
The cost to entry is high, with some key components missing for a ‘premium’ console (and price) (how expensive is a stand, really?!). It does feel like a disc version, and a lower memory option should have been offered too, which would make the console more palatable too from a barrier to entry point of view. Plus even the general packaging feels a bit of a missed opportunity (and we know they can do it, look at the PS5 Pro 30th Anniversary stuff).
All of that coupled with the fact that graphics aren’t the be all and end all with games (gameplay is still king for me) but with the undeniable evidence that showing off a beautiful screenshot or capture is a lovely thing to do too, I’m a bit mixed on it all. If Sony and third-parties continue to support the Pro then I can see this increasingly becoming an attractive opportunity for those who like the best tech.
If this is your first PS5, and you’ve got cash to burn, then hell yeah, dive on in (dive on in). Equally, if you are a graphics head, and don’t mind the cost, or are trading stuff in, dive on in (dive on in). And finally, if you’re someone like me, who abhors the faffiness of PC gaming and endless upgrading and tweakery, but want top level graphics, then I also invite you to dive on in (dive on in).
From what I’ve seen, it’s just about abated my wariness as a prospect (as well as a general Sony hardware purchase), and I don’t feel regretful that I’ve bought it, but I do feel Sony could have done better with some elements of the PS5 Pro as a whole.
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