#4theplayers

I remember when the Xbox 360's original beige and lovelessly thrown together incarnation was revealed being convinced that it would surely undergo significant aesthetic revision before release. It didn't, and until the later Elite and Slim revisions, the console always looked and felt like a rushed to market prototype.

Launch PS4 hardware looks, by contrast, is maybe a touch over designed; black from the outset, rhombus-shaped in profile, with a sharp line of light constantly pulsing down the center that is as pretty as it is unnecessary. The power and eject buttons are tiny slivers on the unit's front with barely visible symbols on them denoting their functions. Turning the console on, you're greeted with the same friendly beep as the PS3 gives, but this is where the similarities between it and its successor end.

The interface is in line with the Windows 8-come-recent-iTunes-update philosophy of dominating the screen with few large boxes that lead to commonly used functions, but alas, such an approach frequently penalizes the tech savvy by hiding advanced options in illogical places. After inserting my game disc, I couldn't for the life of me figure out how to check the mandatory installation's progress, or if enough data had been moved over to actually start playing. In the end, I just had to press X on the game icon and see what happened.

I found establishing and maintaining a connection to the Playstation Network difficult for the first 48 hours. I was constantly getting generic network error codes, which I put down to launch window traffic, but was also getting some telling me that the Wi-Fi connection had been lost altogether, which was alarming as it implied the problem was with the PS4 connecting to my router at all rather than it communicating with PSN. My fears of faulty hardware turned out to be unfounded, thankfully, as errors of all types stopped rearing their ugly heads at all within a couple of days.

The Dual Shock 4 controller is beautiful, with exquisite rubberized handles and precise, satisfying control sticks. The only two criticisms you could really level at it are that the addition of the touchpad (which incidentally, I am yet to use) where the start and select buttons have been on previous Playstation pads mean you'll be pressing it by mistake a lot at first, and also that the triggers at the back often require a little more applied pressure than they should.

Now to the games. I ditched Killzone, largely off the back of middling reviews, in favour of Call of Duty: Ghosts, which I thought might offer a sounder long term investment should I find it as compelling as I did Black Ops II, but so far I've been disappointed. Single player really is Call of Duty by numbers; the usual mix of generic mission types backed up by a plot that is too banal to ever be as personal and emotional as it wants to be. Multiplayer undoes all of what made Black Ops II great; particularly annoying is the positively glacial rate at which squad points, the ingame currency used to purchase everything from weapons to perks, are accumulated, and the infuriatingly effective killstreak rewards that often make the user feel like a badass, but feel decidedly unfair to those on the receiving end.

Sony's insanely good value Playstation Plus is something I also punted for day one, partly because it's necessary for multiplayer on PS4, but also because the service's Instant Game Collection included Resogun, a side scrolling, score smashing, neon explosion-laden downloadable blast-fest that had been the darling of the launch lineup in the US despite it being free on Playstation Plus or just £12.49 to purchase outright. The gameplay is simple, though little is actually explained before you jump in. Your tiny spacecraft zips around a circular play area dragging periodically dropped humans into escape portals while dodging and shooting at reams of enemy craft and projectiles. Usual side scroller staples such as floating weapon and ship upgrades and a limited supply of screen clearing super weapons make an appearance, as do colourful explosions and gigantic bosses The game features only a few stages at the time of writing, but the scaling of the multiple difficulty levels is expertly crafted in such a way that the successful smashing of a high score or completion of a level against previously insurmountable odds gives a genuine rush that leaves you hungry for more, and more is never more than a mere button press away.  

I love the PS4 so far, despite some interface shortcomings, but ultimately, buying a console at or around launch isn't going to be everyone's bag. There's likely to only be a slow trickle of releases until the console hits its stride, and I've paid a pretty steep premium to be one of the first to get my hands on the console. This year, the only two releases on it I'm desperate for are Diablo III: Ultimate Evil Edition, mainly for the chance to play co-op with my Diablo loving partner, and Bungie's Destiny, neither of which are coming out anytime soon. I made the right move for me, as I was utterly bored with current generation systems and not in a situation to be able to play too many PC games at the moment. However, I think most gamers should probably consider holding off until the software pantry is a little more generously stocked.