AND THE WINNER OF THIS BATTLE OF THE TITANS IS ...
Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales (PlayStation, £49.99) Verdict: King of the swingers ★★★★✩ Demon’s Souls (PlayStation, £69.99) Verdict: Delicious, dark fantasy ★★★★✩ Astro’s Playroom (PlayStation, free) Verdict: Cheap thrills ★★★★✩
YOU could call it a clash of the Titans but, honestly, the Titans weren’t this big. Now that Sony’s PlayStation 5 has been released, a couple of weeks after Microsoft’s new Xbox, we can see just how huge this console really is. It may not be quite as wide as the spacekilling Xbox Series X — but it is far taller, its shoulders flaring outwards in a way that seems to say: you’re my living room now.
There are ways to reclaim some of your real estate. The PS5 (pictured) has been released in two forms, virtually identical, except that one allows for discs and is larger (in size and price, £449.99), while the other does downloads only, and is slightly smaller (£359.99).
At this time of strained supply chains, both sold out in moments, and are currently difficult to find.
If you do manage to get your hands on one, though, you’ll realise that it is big for a reason: there is a lot of power beneath that garish plastic exterior. There’s so much power, in fact, that it can load up a snowy reconstruction of New York’s Manhattan Island within seconds — and allow you to swing almost as speedily from one end to the other. Marvel’s Spider- Man: Miles Morales is one of the launch games for the PS5. It is a half-sequel, in length and ambition, to its 2018 predecessor, except this time, your Spider-Man is the cooler Morales rather than the usual, buttoned- down Peter Parker — and he has electric powers, too! The joys of Miles Morales are the joys of the original game: that webswinging mechanic, the detailed city, the propulsive comic-book plot. But here they have been refined, and the PS5 must take some of the credit. Its controller, called the DualSense, is certainly a sensation. It buzzes and bleeps impressively as SpiderMan whips from street to skyscraper. Miles Morales i s exclusive to Sony’s consoles (it’s also on the PlayStation 4), which i s the company’s established strategy: triumph by releasing better games. This is a fine start, even if there’s no longer any space in my house.
DEMON’S SOULS is another PlayStation exclusive and another knockout. It is actually a remake of an influential game released in 2009, made stunning again for 2020. In the intervening years, much has been said about the masochistically difficult combat in the original. More attention should be paid to its setting: a mournful, stately world that is one of gaming’s most evocative creations.
ASTRO’S PLAYROOM is a type of tech demonstration: a j aunty l i ttle game installed on every PS5 to show off the possibilities of the new DualSense controller.
But when those possibilities are this impressive — the feeling of rain tapping at your palms, of buttons tensing to resist your fingers — it should not be dismissed out of hand. Just press play.