PS Plus Extra/Premium in the test: Only one variant is worthwhile

The new PS Plus has finally started in Europe. Now that many regions around the world have access to Sony’s revamped subscription service, we too can use the new categories extra and Premium enjoy. But can fans expect a real explosion of fun here? Well, at least in our test we can recommend one of the new PS Plus variants.

New PS Plus in the test: Can Extra and Premium convince?

The well-known PS Plus with its three monthly free games, cloud storage and access to online multiplayer will be under the new name PS Plus Essential continued without other changes. However, the two tiers are new under the PS Plus banner extra and Premium added, in turn, with large collections old and current PlayStation titles wait – and thus quasi PSNow detach.

And while I should be very excited about the offer as a long-time PlayStation lover, I’m still not completely convinced.

To be more precise, I am currently only convinced of one of the two new variants: namely PS Plus Extra.

PS Plus Premium & Extra: List of all games in the new PlayStation service

PS Plus Extra

But what is included with PS Plus Extra? With Extra there are all the known advantages of the standard subscription and a collection of around 400 selected PS4 and even PS5 titles on top, which can be downloaded as normal. The fun would cost you 14 euros a month or 100 euros for a whole year.

Really good selection: The games on offer include a whole range of current first-party hits such as Marvel’s Spider-Man (such as Miles Morales), Demon’s Souls and Ghost of Tsushima Director’s Cut. From the Thirds can above all Death Stranding Director’s Cut, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla and Red Dead Redemption 2 shine.

No question, they are fantastic games that every PlayStation owner should have played, but especially in the first-party sector I still miss a few pearls to see real knock-down arguments – how Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, The Last of Us: Part 2 or Horizon Forbidden West for example. The latter is at least available as a play version with Premium.

Otherwise, I have hardly anything to complain about in terms of the offered selection of PS4 and PS5 titles. There are a lot of great titles. Besides, there are PS Plus Collection already in the standard subscription that you God of War, Days Gone and the first The Last of Us as a remaster.

Of course, Sony never claimed to offer all of its big first-party hits for free in the subscription service, but for many fans these are the biggest incentive for a PlayStation. Otherwise, the publisher will miss out on a real one with the new PS Plus Build competition with Xbox Game Pass. Also, it doesn’t appear to be the case to offer “Day One” games in the new PS Plus.

Happy exception: The cat adventure Stray will be available for free on PS Plus Extra and Premium right at release.

So I can recommend PS Plus Extra

For an additional 40 euros per year compared to the standard subscription, you have access to 400 PS4 and PS5 games, where there are real highlights. That’s half of a new PS5 game. If you can already play “Ghost of Tsushima” or “Demon’s Souls” for PS5 with it, the surcharge was worth it.

Most likely, PS Plus Extra is worth it for quite new PlayStation fanswhich means a wealth of (partly) current highlights for a fair price can gamble. Long-established PS subscribers, on the other hand, could already have included a wealth of the games offered in their library as free titles, which is why an upgrade might no longer be so profitable. Unless you are a lot of gamers: even I, as a long-term member, have found enough titles on offer that I would like to play – and will.

PS Plus Premium

As mentioned at the beginning, I can only recommend one of the two new variants and that is PS Plus Extra. So what about PS Plus Premium and why can’t it convince me as a big PlayStation fan when it has many more games to choose from?

It boils down to two issues: the lack of titles and performance.

But first, let’s clarify what PS Plus Premium actually offers: For 17 euros a month or 120 euros for a year you get all bonuses from Essential and Extra. The icing on the cake is about 300 selected classics from the PS1, PS2, PS3 and PSP era Offer. Become additional Game trials offered, so demos for big hits like “Horizon Forbidden West” or Cyberpunk 2077.

Many classics are missing

There are only very few real classics in the selection and therefore leaves a lot to be desired. On the PS1 front, there aren’t any game-changing greats like Metal Gear Solid, or Silent Hill, or Tomb Raider that just HAVE to be part of a collection like this.

After all, “Ape Escape” and the first “Resident Evil” are offered. Things look even bleaker for PS2 games. Of the approximately 20 titles, there is only one first-party series, “Jak and Daxter”. And the fact that the rather unknown puzzler “Echochrome” is the only PSP title offered could almost be taken as a joke. PS Vita? Missing entirely.

Performance problems

The PS1 titles are with us only in the PAL version before. This has the advantage of the language versions commonly used in Europe, but the games only run in 50 Hertz instead of 60 Hertz. As a result, “Ape Escape” runs at 25 FPS instead of the smoother 30 FPS. This results in a slight jerking, but I don’t think it disturbs the flow of the game.

Sony has already announced that it will optionally submit an NTSC version later. But the PS1 titles have nice bonuses like the first time trophies (for some), Save States or one rewind function.

PS Plus: Upgrade to Extra & Premium – Can I switch my current subscription?

Problem child PS3: All games of the consoles mentioned so far can be downloaded, only at the PS3 it looks different. The first HD console from Sony primarily mimics the representation for PS Now – and a little the problem child.

The PS3 titles can only be streamed. This leads to a whole range of problems:

• The resolution is capped at 720p, so it’ll look a little blurrier than directly on a PS3 console.
• Graphic pearls lose their shine due to compression artifacts.
• If something is going on on the screen, the performance fluctuates greatly. In clashes with zombies Red Dead Redemption Undead Nightmare the stream crapped off a few times despite the actually very good internet speed. Also the carnage of God of War: Ascension the stream sometimes didn’t hold up.
• Slight input lag, which is not bad but noticeable.

So with the PS3 games, like the PS1 titles, there are many Performance problems noticeable, which can spoil the fun of the game. Unfortunately, the overall impression is disappointing, especially in view of the fact that these games make up the largest part of the premium line-up.

There is room for improvement with PS Plus Premium

All in all is PlayStation Plus premium so for those interesting, especially those old classic want to get to know and are ready Performance problems to take into account. Unfortunately but many highlights are missing especially in the PS1 and PS2 segment which would just be a must have.

In any case, Sony still has to deliver here so that PS Plus Premium is more worthwhile. It shouldn’t be about quantity, it’s about quality. In addition, PS3 streaming still causes too many problems that have not improved even after the rather unpopular PS Now.