The 9th Generation Is Here: Quick Impressions

The Xbox Series S|X and the PlayStation 5 were finally launched last week, and it's been an interesting experience to say the least. From the extraneous anticipation of learning when the things would even be released and what their prices would be to the preorder kerfuffle and retailers only selling launch day stock online due to COVID spikes all leading to outrageous eBay prices, this has not been an easy launch for any of us. Loads of people are still looking for either system, and I am extremely fortunate that I managed to get both a Series X and PS5. This also marks the first time I've ever had launch consoles shipped to me instead of going to the stores to pick them up. It felt so weird. So, I'd like to share some quick impressions of them with you. Also, please keep in mind these impressions are coming from someone who doesn't have a top of the line TV (it is 4K, though). Your experience may vary.

Xbox Series X 

If you'd like, here is my unboxing of the Xbox Series X.

So, I need to be completely honest here. I made no plans to buy a Series X because of the lack of exclusives. However, seeing how horrible it was for everyone to even get a PS5 into their shopping carts the day of September 16th, I decided to see if I could get a Series X just to hedge my bets in case my preorder for the PS5 fell through. After spending several days with it, I'm certain I'd have been fine without it. 

Now, that's not saying there's anything wrong with the Series X. It's clearly a powerhouse of a machine. Assassin's Creed: Valhalla and Watch Dogs: Legion both look great, and though Dirt 5 looks good, I don't think Codemasters did a thorough job optimizing it. But the major problem that exists for me with the Series X is the Smart Delivery. 

Smart Delivery gives the consumer the ability to upgrade an Xbox One game to the Series X version at no additional cost, but it comes with a catch. MS for now is only including the Xbox One versions of games to be shipped, which means you have to download the upgrade patch. I don't have very fast internet, so a massive upgrade for Dirt 5 that weighed in at 73 gigs took me all day to download. No exaggeration. This will dissuade me from buying Xbox Series X versions of cross-platform games, regardless if it runs them better. 

Another thing that's disappointed me about the Xbox Series X is the highly touted Quick Resume feature. In theory, it allows you to bounce between a handful of games without losing progress, but I've yet to get this to work. Supposedly, Dirt 5 and Watch Dogs: Legions flat out don't support it at this time, but it's supposed to work for AC:Valhalla and after testing it several times, it just doesn't work. 

As for the hardware itself, MS chose to go as simple as they could with the design. It's just a big fat rectangle in my gaming center, very unobtrusive. Many like this design, but I don't find much there to really like. I don't dislike it; I'm just very indifferent about it. I'm also a bit indifferent about the controller as well, as it's nearly identical to the Xbox One controller. The only major differences are a textured feel to the back and triggers, and a smoothed out d-pad. Unfortunately, not even a full two days of playing, my right trigger already began sticking on me. Instead of having to go through the waiting period of having it replaced, I decided to look up a YouTube video and the fix seemed very simple, so I attempted to fix it myself. There's a pad that prevents the trigger from coming into full contact with the rest of the housing, but that pad was glued sloppily and the trigger was picking up glue from every press until it started to stick. I started cleaning it up with alcohol-soaked q-tips and suddenly, the pad itself dislodged, so I removed it completely. When I put it back together, the trigger now makes a clack every time I press it, which is annoying, but at least it doesn't stick anymore. 

I am really impressed with how quiet the Xbox Series X is. I don't think I've yet to hear the fan spinning. If it does make noise, I can't hear it over the disc drive spinning. It does put out immense heat, though, and really warms up the wood of the shelf it's sitting on. That's a good thing, though. You want that heat out of the system. 

My Xbox Series X Games

We'll start off with Assassin's Creed: Valhalla. Ubisoft has doubled down on the RPG elements further distancing itself from what I really loved about the older Assassin's Creed games: straight forward stealth action. Ever since Odyssey, I always groan when I come across a higher level enemy that I'm not supposed to kill. Anyway, I am enjoying it, and the snow is just amazing. It should be, as it's everywhere. You can actually feel the cold. I surprisingly haven't come across any bugs yet. If I did, I didn't notice them. The combat has been reworked and is almost Souls-like as there's parrying and stamina now. I'm also very thankful for the removal of the millions of pieces of equipment you pick up in the game. The upgrade processes for gear and abilities have been revamped as well. I'm looking forward to playing some more. 

Dirt 5 I picked up because I was looking for a racer to show off my Series X with, and I guess I should have just stuck with Forza Horizon 4, because honestly Dirt 5 isn't very impressive. There is a lot of detail in the game, and it runs buttery smooth, but I'm not really convinced this is something that can't be done on current hardware. I also am a bit perplexed that the least impressive of the three games I got had the largest upgrade patch. The game itself is a lot of fun with some good variety of racing. Unfortunately, there's sprint car events that I'm just not good at all with, so I'm holding off on it for now. 

Oh Ubisoft... Watch Dogs: Legion has a major, MAJOR problem right now. Autosave doesn't work most of the time. I found this out the hard way when I played for about four hours and came back to it later and most of what I did was undone. This is most likely due to the fact that for some reason, the game needs to be connected to Ubisoft Connect to upload saves to the cloud in case you want to play the game on a different platform. The game doesn't even let you save manually, which is a serious mistake. As of this writing, there's a 24 page thread at Ubisoft's forum full of people affected by this. It sucks, because the game really is fun. I'm not that into the recruitment mechanic, though, because I find it pretty generic. At least two people I've come across have the exact same recruiting missions, and most everyone I've played with just don't seem believable from an acting standpoint. I also love the game's ray tracing, and I REALLY want to play more of it but I'm not going to until Ubisoft releases a much-needed patch. 

PlayStation 5

Here's my unboxing video if you'd like.

My PS5 didn't arrive until Saturday evening. Although I was starting to get frustrated, I kept reminding myself how lucky I was that I got one. As for the form factor, the PS5 really is something else. It's alien and elegant at the same time and while the Series X prefers to blend in with its nondescript silhouette, the PS5 stands out as an attention grabber. It wants to be noticed with the clear message that the PS5 isn't simply an upgraded machine like the Series X is to the Xbox One X.  At the risk of sounding biased, the PS5 is truly a next-gen machine. 

Yes, both machines are monsters capable of 8K, 120 FPS, and ray tracing, so disputing power (and the PS5 is just as quiet as the XSX) really all comes down to how well the developers work with the machine. We are seeing diminishing returns when it comes to graphical advancements, so it all boils down to the experience thanks to SSDs for greatly reduced loading times, UIs (the XSX doesn't seem that much different from the Xbone) and most importantly, the controller. The Dual Sense is where the PS5 really pulls ahead of the XSX. 

For the first three generations of the PlayStation, they've pretty much kept the same controller layout, but they started evolving it with the PlayStation 4, and they've continued to evolve it so much more with the PlayStation 5. The Dual Sense is literally a game changer. You really do need to feel this controller for yourself to understand just how amazing it is. There's haptic rumble all over the device, and it's so varied in its intensity to a degree I've never felt before. Then, there's the speaker which emits sound effects in conjunction to the vibrations that somehow make them feel even more real. Finally, there's the adaptive triggers which can increase tension to make you feel like you're actually pulling a trigger. My only concern is that I saw how this works, and I'm afraid the parts could be damaged over time by excited use of the controller. We'll just have to see how long they last. 

I only have a couple minor gripes with the user experience. One, I really wish the PS5 had a Quick Resume feature for multiple games like the XSX has, but considering it doesn't work for me on the XSX yet, I'm not giving MS a one-up over Sony for that. Two, Sony for some reason changed the way you sleep/turn off the system. You used to just be able to hold down the PS button and the power options would show up, but now you have to tap the PS button, scroll down to the scroll bar and move the cursor over to the power options that way. It's just a weird, nonsensical change that I hope Sony patches. 

My PS5 Games 

Sorry for the sloppy formatting. It's late and I'm not trying to mess with this anymore.

To start off, let me just give a huge nod to Sony for bringing back the return of the pack-in launch game with Astro's Playroom. It came preinstalled on the PS5 as a tech demo (which can be debated to be more of an actual game) to show off the Dual Sense controller and let me just say, I am in love with this game! It does a phenomenal job demonstrating the haptic feedback by changing frequencies and intensities as you walk over different surfaces. You can actually feel the difference between walking on sand and mud, and even jumping on clouds. It makes awesome use of the adaptive triggers as well, having you pull on a slot machine arm to get a prize. You need to keep pulling down on the trigger until it finally lets go and you pull it all the way. Controller stuff aside, the game's also a nostalgia overload for any PlayStation fan. You'll see different robots dressed up in all sorts of Sony costumes and you'll find collectibles based on PlayStation hardware over the years. I can't wait to play more of it.

Spider-Man: Miles Morales was a no-brainer. I absolutely loved 2018's Spider-Man. Miles Morales feels very similar to that game, but everything from the action to the locomotion has really been refined. I've been playing it in Fidelity mode so I can experience the ray tracing and it really looks nice. To be honest, though, I'm starting to think that ray tracing is really just a "let me stand and look around for a minute" feature. I honestly don't pay attention to reflections when I'm in the heat of the moment. I also love all of the new abilities Miles has and as like most people have said, it really feels like Miles is stronger than Peter. I haven't played much of the story yet. I went right after the challenges the moment they opened up. I need to try to savor this game, though, because I know it's only about 12 hours. But hey, I'm fine with that. For one, it's a 50 dollar game, 20 less than the now standard 70 dollar price tag. For two, I've heard it's more story-focused with less filler, which is always a good thing. I have enough open-world games to keep me busy on the XSX.

As for Demon's Souls, that was an impulse. I loved the original Demon's Souls on the PS3, but I got to be honest. I almost quit that game for good. It took a friend to really convince me to keep going, and I'm glad I did. Again, being honest, I wasn't really looking forward to going through all the hardships again on the PS5, which is why I wasn't going to buy it, but every time I saw a video of it, it just looks so good! And wow, it really is! As can be expected, though, I already got fed up with it, so I'm taking a break, but this stands out to be the PS5's most visually impressive game. Bluepoint is remarkable at remaking games having done a phenomenal job on Shadow of the Colossus, which I actually want to play again on the PS5 to see if there's any improvement. Just as with everything they do, Demon's Souls has been completely rebuilt from the ground up. There is so much attention to detail. Every stone, vine, pool of water, table you smash, lighting and particle effect, it's all very realistic and the game performs silky smooth. I'm really hoping for a Bloodbourne 2 on the PS5, because then we'd really get to see some amazing things. Now... I just need to build back up the gumption to return to it....

Sackboy: A Big Adventure was a game that caught my eye when it was shown at the PS5 reveal back in June. To be honest, I was never a fan of Media Molecule's LittleBigPlanet games, but the thing about Sackboy was that it was a single-player focused 3D platformer, and I always love those. It looked really cute, too, so I decided to buy it. So far, I'm not having much fun with it. It's obviously taking inspiration from Yoshi's Crafted World, but it's been pretty bland. Granted, I'm only a couple levels in, so I'm sure it'll pick up, but it just hasn't been making a strong first impression. 

Bugsnax is an exception to the rule of only playing games that I own. I'm not a fan of paying for subscriptions just to keep access to "free" games that I download, but the curiosity of this game got the better of me. It's actually rather fun! When I first saw the Bugsnax trailer, the first game that came to mind was Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath where you use critters to capture other critters. It was also a first-person game. Although a completely different game than Stranger's Wrath, Bugsnax does have you using critters to catch other critters. Each bugsnack has its own behavior and you have to figure them out in order to capture them. Most are pretty straightforward so far, as I'm still early in, but I'm sure some will be really puzzling. I also like the game's whimsical charm and goofy bugsnax voices that emit from my controller. If you have PS+, give it a shot. 

So Which One Is For Me?

 If should be clear to you after reading this where my preference lies. Obviously, I'm enjoying the PS5 far more than the Series X, but that doesn't mean you will. If you can only afford - or only want - one system, how should you decide which one to get? As I said before, the difference in power really is minimal, even though MS swears by its "12 MEGAFLOPS WE ARE THE MOSTEST POWERFULLY CONSOLE EVERY MADEDED!!!!!!" Both systems run their games well regardless of specs. Both load really fast. Both are super quiet. So here's how you decide. 

Q: Do I care about exclusives?
A: If you answered yes, then it's the PS5 all the way. Sony already has the wonderfully fantastic Astro's Playroom and Demon's Souls remake to enjoy. Yes, Spider-Man: Miles Morales is also on the PS4, but every single game on the XSX is also on the Xbone. MS will eventually start pumping out their own exclusives, but in my opinion, Sony's own exclusives have always been of much higher quality. If you also never owned a PS4, then you have an absolutely amazing catalogue to catch up with including the recent Last of Us 2 and Ghost of Tsushima. 

Q: Do I care about new experiences?
A: If you answered yes, again, PS5 all the way. The Series X is so plainly designed that it's almost an omen of what to experience with the machine overall. The PS5, as controversial as its design may be, lets you know that you're about to experience something entirely new. The UI, although not yet perfect, is actually a refreshing reinvention, while XSX's UI is just a touched up version of Xbone's. Sony may not have multiple game quick resume (again, XSX didn't work for me, so it's a moot point), but it also has a really cool feature with live game help. I used it on Sackboy to find a collectible and if used right, this feature will be a literal game changer. Speaking of game changers, again, it's all about that controller. The XSX's controller is too similar to the previous generation's with no new features. The Dual Sense isn't just a completely redesigned controller aesthetically, but also functionally. You really need to experience the haptic feedback and adaptive triggers. It's that big of a deal. 

Q: Do I care about value?
A: Before I get into this, I just realized I didn't talk about the Series S. With that said, I need to strongly advise not to get a Series S, even though it's 200 dollars cheaper. Unlike the PS5's cheaper digital-only version, the Series S is actually considerably weaker than its 500 dollar big brother. You'll still get up to 120 FPS and ray tracing, but you won't get 4K output. If you can afford it, I strongly recommend you future proof your console and go with the Series X.

As for the Series X, this is where I give MS the nod. I'm not a subscription person, because I don't play that many games at once to warrant paying for a service that gives you access to so many games. I also like to own the games that I play, but if you're not like me, that won't matter and Xbox Game Pass is a fantastic deal. MS also has been getting in the habit of putting some titles on Game Pass the moment they release and if you can't afford new games, then this is the perfect way to play them. The Series S|X's backwards compatibility is also far better than the PS5, which can only play PS4 games, but MS still has a lot of work left to do when it comes to the OG Xbox catalogue. Also, Smart Delivery is a great convenience, but whether or not you get the upgrade for free really comes down to the publisher, so keep that in mind.

So it really boils down to those three questions. Do you want a first-party or third-party machine? Do you care about controllers and UIs? Do you enjoy subscription services and BC games? This next-generation has been a very weird one. To me, the graphics have taken a backseat to everything else the consoles are doing. I still think the PS5 is going to have the better generation, because MS is always struggling in the first-party department, but that could change. They did pay seven billion dollars for Bethesda, though. I just hope it pays off, but hey, if Elder Scrolls 6 is an Xbox exclusive, I'll be playing my Series X for a long time. 

I hope you got lucky and got the system you wanted. If not, I hope you get one really soon. As always, thanks for reading!