The new PlayStation Plus: A disappointment on an okay level
who mean read the last column on the subject, who knows: I was very much hoping that Sony would use the last few weeks before the switch from PlayStation Plus to build up a games library across all PlayStation generations, which would also not include the coming Day 1 new additions in the coming months can compete with Microsoft’s Game Pass. The conversion has now been completed and I am now a PS Plus premium customer instead of PS Plus (and was able to test all the advantages of the service). In the following I will tell you why I am disappointed at an okay level.
The variety of games at Extra
The promise of the new extra tariff was a simple one: there should be up to 400 of the most entertaining PS4 and PS5 games. In addition, of course, there are all the advantages of Essential, which corresponds to the old PlayStation Plus service, i.e. the monthly available games, exclusive discounts or the online multiplayer functions. This tariff probably corresponds most closely to the Xbox Game Pass Ultimate offer, which is also priced at a comparable level (13.99 euros versus 12.99 euros per month).
Which of the two game libraries suits you best is of course highly subjective. I, for example, am a frequent player thanks to my job and private passion. Away from phases where I’m bogged down in an online role-playing game for weeks and months, I feel comfortable in a variety of genres. Year after year I even try to play at least the most important new releases (even if I don’t always succeed).
Accordingly, I already know many games from the Game Pass and the PlayStation Plus extra tariff. Still, Extra is probably the flavor I’m happiest with on the new PlayStation Plus (though certainly not super happy). With Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, Returnal and Spider-Man: Miles Morales there are at least a few blockbuster titles that I still want to catch up on. There are also a whole series of smaller games like the MediEvil new edition or Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night, for which I haven’t had the time so far.
But I stick by the fact that important PlayStation pillars like Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart or Gran Turismo 7 would have given the whole extra area a completely different value. In addition, the library of more than 300 games is artificially inflated by a whole lot of meager filling material and the almost complete “Playstation Plus Collection” for PS5 customers. And some of the potential highlights such as Shadow Warrior 3 or Red Dead Redemption 2 will soon disappear again (on July 5th, 2022 and September 20th, 2022 respectively).
Big disappointment at Premium
I’m really disappointed with the most expensive PlayStation tariff, Premium, because Sony could have positioned itself clearly ahead of Microsoft here with the retro offer for the “old” PlayStation generations. There are some highlights like the God of War series, Red Dead Redemption, some parts of the Resident Evil series, Resistance 3, some retro adventures with Ratchet & Clank, Puppeteer or Infamous.
On the other hand, however, an incredible number of games that simply belong in this list are missing. Here are just a few examples from the PS3 era: Metal Gear Solid 4, Little Big Planet 1 and 2, Journey, Flower and Killzone 3. Or Wipeout HD, Heavenly Sword, Gran Turismo 5 and Sly Cooper: Time Chase. I would have loved to have played in Uncharted: Golden Abyss, but games from the PSP era are scarce anyway. With Echocrome, only one PSP game has made it into Premium’s library.
And the PSOne generation also looks poor: Where are Tekken 3, Soul Blade, Dead or Alive, Ambition, Grandia, Breath of Fire III + IV, Chrono Cross, Alundra, Final Fantasy Tactics, Vandal Hearts, Heart of Darkness , Twisted Metal, Road Rash 3D, Driver, Tony Hawk’s Skateboarding, Silent Hill, Parasite Eve, Dino Chrisis, Legacy of Kain, Soul Reaver, Nightmare Creatures, Tenchu, Tomb Raider, Metal Gear Solid, Colony Wars and G-Police?
Missing features, creepy usability
The retro fun is not only torpedoed by the large number of missing games. There is also a lot of room for improvement when it comes to the variety of options, for example when it comes to activating graphic filters or the selection of resolutions. In addition, the PAL versions of various games ensure that games with a refresh rate of 50 instead of 60 Hz flicker on the screen. It’s good that the few PSOne classics offer a rewind function, some have received trophy support and that they bring their own save points. Bad: Such extras are already missing in the games of the PS2 era, and all the PS3 games have to be played via stream anyway, with sometimes noticeable input lag and a poor resolution (720p). The PS Vita is completely missing as a platform.
If, like me, you also decide to go premium, you still have a really large number of games available, which have also been released on different platforms. After all: The catalogs for extra and the classic catalog can be accessed separately. Within the catalogues, however, you have no option to sort the list by platform.
In fact, you can’t even see at a glance which platforms the games were originally released for, because it only shows which current platform the respective game was optimized for. And the sorting from old to new or vice versa is just for the butt in the retro area, since the original release date is not relevant here, but the day on which the game came into the catalogue.
Conclusion: disappointment on an okay level
So to sum up, with the PlayStation Plus transition, Sony missed a great opportunity to put themselves with an exclamation mark as a strong Xbox Game Pass competitor at a time when Microsoft is making important, tightly scheduled releases like Redfall and Starfield had to push into the coming year.
The Sony service still has a lot of room for improvement in terms of the quality of the catalogues, but also in terms of usability and retro features. And for just “okay” 17 euros a month is actually too much. Especially in comparison with the Xbox Game Pass, where you can just try it out for a month or two for one euro.
The only advantage that Sony has here is that if you tie yourself to the Plus service for a long time, you can get huge discounts, and those who are already tied to PlayStation Plus for a long time can now upgrade for a small dollar. But do you want that if you never know exactly which games will end up in the catalogs in the next six months? Here, too, the Game Pass has the edge thanks to the Xbox/Bethesda Showcase – we know pretty well what games next year for Microsoft service are planned.
However, if you mostly gamble on the Playstation and you do not yet know enough games from the Extra catalogue, then the new service could actually be very interesting for you. Transferring 14 euros each to Sony for one or two months and catching up on several full-price games is always a good deal.
Reference-www.buffed.de