Playstation 5: Holiday 2020

[Chris]

The two new Gears games play pretty much exactly like the old ones imo. I think it's just the formula is stale now. I feel the same about Halo. It didn't get worse so much as it didn't evolve at all to compete with the new games coming out. Eventually, you need to wrap shit up and change the franchise, kind of like how Assassin's Creed completely reinvented itself with Origins by leaning into the RPG aspects of the game and veering more toward a Witcher 3-esque experience than sticking with the tired and tedious gameplay from previous installments.

Gears is still Gears. It's just that hiding behind chest high walls and shooting wave after wave of enemies with the same ten weapons from the original trilogy isn't as exciting any more because other games are out that are better now. Adding a semi-open world and a couple of side quests didn't change the basic loop. It just made the game a little more tedious.

I'd also say that PS exclusives were generally better during the PS3 era too. Microsoft was more competitive in that regard (and had a vastly superior controller), but it was still Sony's show.

agreed overall. I’m enjoying Gears 5, but the way you described it is accurate.

 

[Jack Brickman]

agreed overall. I’m enjoying Gears 5, but the way you described it is accurate.

Yup. If you like the Gears formula it is a fun game. I do and am enjoying it.

But ultimately all Gears has ever been is walking into a room, hiding behind some waist high walls, killing a few waves of enemies, watching a cut-scene, and then moving on to the next kill room. They also occasionally sprinkle a set piece in for good measure.

That was super impressive back when no one was doing cover shooters. But now almost every third person shooter has a cover mechanic and most are a lot more dynamic than Gears' pretty bare bones gameplay loop that has never really been expanded upon.

 

[N7RobBob]

This too, and you didn't even mention The Show! Playstation exclusives are soooo much better than Xbox exclusives starting with the PS4/XB1 gen, in addition to just being a better system period. Gears & Halo were just completely ruined (though Infinite looks like it could be good).

Xbox is gonna have to step up with something or they will get completely smoked next gen.

Microsoft bought and created 5-8 studios to help with exclusives. Since Phils Spencer has taken over he's constantly talking about how games drive a console. We will see if these studios deliver good games or not.

Playground Games who have done their Forza Horizon series. Rumored to possibly working a new Fable game.

Compulsion Games creators of We Happy Few.

Double Fine- Psychonauts, Costume Quest, and Brutal Legend.

The Initiative-new studio with people from other major studios like Bioware, Respawn, Santa Monica Sony, and other major studios.

Ninja Theory- Hellblade, Heavenly Sword, Dmc, and Enslaved.

Obsidian- RPG Heavy Hitter. Star Wars: Knights of the Old Repeblic 2, Fallout New Vegas, Pillars of Eternity 1 &2, and Upcoming Outer Worlds which looks pretty cool.

Undead Labs and inXile are 2 other studios theyve aquired as well.

We will see if these acquisitions can help them catch up to Sony or not. Horizon Zero Dawn showed that a good studio in Guerilla Games stepping away from there Killzone series to make a phenomenal new series that these studios may be able to pull off the same. Hope that Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo continue to make aweaome games to help the industry thrive.

 

[bigfoot5415]

As a new father (6 months), how do you dads find time for gaming? I feel like PS4 is my last hoorah, but cant help but get excited when I get news of a new console.

 

[N7RobBob]

As a new father (6 months), how do you dads find time for gaming? I feel like PS4 is my last hoorah, but cant help but get excited when I get news of a new console.

9 month old here. games you can play during naps/ sleep or pause when necessary or games on a switch.

Work at Gamestop so im a bit biased when it comes to my ease of playing. also have a wife who is cool with it.

 

[Huber.]

Is this when video games finally look like real life? I was never amazed by this generations graphics

 

[N7RobBob]

Is this when video games finally look like real life? I was never amazed by this generations graphics

Probably not. Will still look better, but mostly load times and rendering consistently quicker and more stable framerates

 

[Surge]

Probably not. Will still look better, but mostly load times and rendering consistently quicker and more stable framerates

I would take that. I feel like there is a large room for improvement (I have a ps4 pro). Game menu's and online lag seems to be a constant issue depending on the game.

 

[N7RobBob]

I would take that. I feel like there is a large room for improvement (I have a ps4 pro). Game menu's and online lag seems to be a constant issue depending on the game.

Hopefully these idiot companies continue to improve their server qualities, especially since they want us to play online more and more. Sony and Microsoft did recently team up for cloud computing so another wait and see how it is utilized.

 

[bigfoot5415]

Hopefully these idiot companies continue to improve their server qualities, especially since they want us to play online more and more. Sony and Microsoft did recently team up for cloud computing so another wait and see how it is utilized.

Doesnt that typically fall on the publishers?

 

[Stark]

All I know is that Black Ops 4 has literally the worst menu lag (and menus in general, the UI is shit) of any game I've ever played in my entire life. Flat out embarrassing how long it takes to register a button press on a next gen console like PS4.

 

[N7RobBob]

Doesnt that typically fall on the publishers?

Yup, but who knows what makes sense for the consoles next gen with google coming out with stadia. Could change how publishers and console makers handle their servers.