The lower floor of the Georgian Terrace hotel was transformed from a dull, empty place into an entirely new environment — a small, cozy room featuring some of Sony’s newest games and consoles on Nov. 27.
Sony has taken on new challenges in making its recent products. Along with enticing plots and graphics for games like “Days Gone,” “Marvel’s Spider-Man” and its new virtual reality (VR) game “Beat Saber,” Sony’s recent dive into the cable television market with its Playstation Vue and a remake of the Playstation Classic are both exceptional additions to Sony’s recent product line. The Emory Wheel reviewed Sony’s various products, which is broken down below.
Playstation Virtual Reality
The Playstation Virtual Reality (PSVR), released in 2016, allows players to jump into different worlds by immersing them in games through a headset and headphones. This feature is especially true for Sony’s latest release, “Beat Saber.” In the game, players use two controllers that light up into sabers once they put on the VR headset. From there, players enter a virtual reality room where blocks are thrown at players. Gamers must slice them with the sabers in the direction indicated by the arrow. The game is so vivid and engaging that I didn’t want to take off the headset. The graphics were realistic and the controllers were easy to use, despite the complexity of the virtual reality set. In addition, each round of the game had a song playing while players chopped down on the blocks. In the one I played, it was very upbeat and got me more involved in the world they’d created.
“Days Gone”
“Days Gone” for the Playstation 4 (PS4), scheduled to come out in April, starts in a post-apocalyptic world populated by murderous Freakers, feral creatures that are no longer human, yet have not morphed into zombies. The game follows protagonist Deacon St. John as he motorcycles through the dead world with his partner, Boozer, and tries to survive. The open-world gameplay is intriguing, as the character has a lot more freedom to roam around. At the same time, wherever Deacon is, he can easily be attacked by Freakers or other enemies, so there is no real safe zone from these creatures. This definitely made the game a little scarier, because I’d often get attacked from behind without warning.
Moving around in the game was smooth and easy. The only downside was that some of the instructions weren’t clearly explained. After the first five minutes or so, though, I got the hang of it and was invested in the game’s storyline. The graphics were beautiful, as seen in the extraordinary detail of each of the characters. For example, the tattoos on both Boozer and Deacon St. John were impressive, and the injuries Boozer sustained appeared quite realistic. Although I only played the demo, I could have continued playing for hours.
Other New Products
Along with these new games, Sony has recently released a few novel products, such as colored controllers in berry blue, sunset orange, copper and blue camo. Each of these add a fun cosmetic touch to gaming. I also got the chance to use both the new Playstation Classic and the Playstation Vue. The former is a remake of Sony’s first ever Playstation from 1994 and the latter a cable alternative. At nearly half the size of the original, the Classic has about 20 of the original Playstation games on it, which briefly thrusts players into Playstation’s past. The Vue has plenty of channels to choose from and compared to other television services like DirecTV, the Vue is easier to use and understand.
“Marvel’s Spider-Man”
PS4’s “Marvel’s Spider-Man,” developed by Insomniac Games, was captivating to play. The goal of its creation, unlike other superhero based games, was to create an original Spider-Man story. Rather than starting with Peter Parker getting bitten by a spider like other Spider-Man games, this one thrusts the player straight into the action by starting years past this legendary scene. With a multitude of different attack moves, playing as Spider-Man and taking down enemies is engrossing. I couldn’t help but marvel at the incredibly detailed graphics of each character and cutscene. The game was entertaining to play, and I would recommend it to anyone.
Conclusion
While “Beat Saber” made me feel like I’d jumped into a world straight out of a science fiction novel, “Marvel’s Spider-Man” had ensnaring combat that keep me playing. With its recent lineup, there’s no doubt Sony has stepped up its product game.
