• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

What Grade do you give Sony this generation? (PlayStation 4/Slim/Pro)

What grade do you give Sony this gen for PlayStation 4?


  • Total voters
    263
OK guys, the end of the generation is here, especially for Sony who will have a small year next year as they prepare to launch the PS4 successor. So it's time to give our end of gen grade to all three manufactures now ending with Sony (Playstation 4).

So we know the history of the PS4, we know how the reveal of the controller and no console gave some question marks, we know Sony bashed MS on used games, we know that the launch was good and while there was some controversy about 1st-party retail titles, eventually got up to speed. they had some great games, they put out two nice hardware divisions and recently they are expanding their events and preparing their first-parties for next gen..

Now based on the poll results, what grade do you give SPS4? Please post the reason why you chose your grade in the poll in a post below.

Here is the PlayStation 4 Retail line-up (not all games included but most bigger games):
IaSZ3JB.jpg
 

Clear

CliffyB's Cock Holster
The way I see it, the greatness of PS2 was largely predicated on the amount and quality of third-party content entering the market over its lifetime. As a result not only was there mountains of great stuff on PS2, there was also a huge amount not available on it.

This gen, overall supply is much lower across the board. As a result, while during the PS2 era I was also playing on Xbox, GameCube, and Dreamcast, this time around PS4 and PC basically covers everything that interests me.

Coupled with how strong Sony's first-party offerings have been, and a business approach/performance that I really cannot fault as an example of sure-footed stewardship of a platform, I have to award an A+.
 
Last edited:

EverydayBeast

thinks Halo Infinite is a new graphical benchmark
Sweet/10 Sony has had a lot of mustard this gen on their games but you can never not have enough mustard.
 

cryptoadam

Banned
PS4 is great. Slim is pretty good.

PRO is meh. No temptation to upgrade, and nothing really pulling to take it over a base PS4 and save a few bucks.
 

Woodchipper

Member
A+

The best gaming experiences I’ve ever had. Uncharted 4, Ratchet & Clank, Horizon: Zero Dawn and Spider-Man are my favorites so far. I think I might have to give God of War another go, as it didn’t click with me on the first try.
 

TGO

Hype Train conductor. Works harder than it steams.
B+
They definitely delivered this gen on all that matters but their complete lack of support for Legacy Software with mix playstation nostalgia really hurts their image and stops PS4 reaching Legendary status.
 
Last edited:

Azelover

Titanic was called the Ship of Dreams, and it was. It really was.
B+

A great system, but the PS2 was a little bit better at the time. I don't have time to sort out the details, it's just what it is to me..
 

ULTROS!

People seem to like me because I am polite and I am rarely late. I like to eat ice cream and I really enjoy a nice pair of slacks.
B+, it's definitely hard to top the PSone but I do love the content of the PS4.
 

Foxbat

Banned
I was hyped for the PS4 early this gen, but it's disappointed me a bit overall.

I was hyped about the DS4 controller. The lights ended up be annoying, the TouchPad wasn't utilized, the battery life is awful, the overall quality was bad, etc...

The games largely didn't interest me either. At this point in my life, I game in spurts. An hour here, 30 mins there, a couple of hours here. The days of me having 5+ hour sessions are long gone. I also find that NPC AI in games has stagnated. As such, I tend to prefer online games. The focus of Sony's single player cinematic games really kinda turned me off of the PS4. Over the last couple of years, they've really went all in on those types of games. I just don't have the time anymore to play those games. I think games is a rather poor format to tell intriguing stories anyway, so there's that.

The final thing was Sony's services as a whole. They released PSNow, but it hasn't progressed the way I had hoped. It's actually regressed outside of the ability to download games.(Thanks to MS.) It's available on less devices now than before, and it hasn't expanded to any other countries. The PS store is still subpar, and they just haven't advanced their overall online segment the way their competitors have.

When you add in that the switch offers portability, and the X offering power... The PS4 doesn't really offer anything if you're not sold on their very specific type of exclusives.
 

dottme

Member
I put a B+ too. It has good games. The console is a great compromise between power and price.
The only main I would like is on the noise level. Else it is really good.
 

Danjin44

The nicest person on this forum
B+
It give me nice amounts of single player games and Japanese games and that’s all I ever need from my consoles.
 

Leonidas

Member
C+
Lack of BC, loudness of machines, loss of performance crown and the fact that PC now gets a vast majority of third party (and even Japanese) games make the PS4 not all that compelling to me.

To me the only thing PS4 has going for it is the Sony exclusives(as those aren't on PC).
 
Last edited:

NahaNago

Member
I think it still a little to early considering how many big hitters we still have in this gen. Based off what we have so far this gen I'd give it a "D". Games are taking a lot longer to make and Sony didn't expand enough to catch up with it. We mostly only got one game from a series this gen from Sony. Don't get me wrong the games were great I just really wanted more games period. They had a weak start but great sales due to Microsoft's mess ups. In my opinion they mishandled both driving games and they should have made some type of way to finish the story of 1886 even if they had to use a cartoon. Knack is terrible mascot like character since he is just floating blocks put together. Infamous Second Son left quite a few question about the world unanswered. We had like 4 ratchet and clank games last gen but only one for this gen. I really wanted to give a score of "C" but I think that Sony is mishandling their studios and a lot of their exclusives weren't actually exclusive since they came to pc.
 
D

Deleted member 471617

Unconfirmed Member
A+ for me personally as once this generation officially ends, PlayStation 4 will be my second all time best and favorite gaming console which will drop PlayStation One to third place. My number one all time best and favorite gaming console is Super Nintendo for anyone who may wonder.

PS4 has given me a whopping 16 exclusives including 3 that are in my backlog but the number does not include 2019 and beyond titles. A few good, some great and a few others excellent and 2 game of the year winners in Horizon Zero Dawn and God of War.

Absolutely love the dashboard and user interface. It's fast, easy, simple and not cluttered whatsoever. If I could only put the "what's new" icon into a folder, it would be perfect for me.

Also became interested in Japanese games for the first time since PS One. Add in some good Indies, PSN games as well as third party multi-platform games and well, it's destined to be my number two gaming console of all time. Simply can't go wrong.
 
Definitely the best console next to the ps2...didn’t have as many great first party exclusives as that generation however and it relied too much on indie titles and remasters to pad the gaps in the first party but was a huge improvement on ps3 and took a big shit on Xbox on launch..looking forward to ps5
 

Chiggs

Member
B+

A really good effort from Sony this time around; Microsoft didn't stand a chance. Not even close to PS2 levels of awesomeness, but still a damn fine system.
 

ethomaz

Banned
Overall it is the best console aí ever had.

In terms of game it lacks compared to others PS consoles but the friendly UI, perfect controller and whole experience put it ahead.
 
Last edited:

Heimdall_Xtreme

Jim Ryan Fanclub's #1 Member
I Can give easy a A++ Because bring the game of my life... Gravity rush remastered and Gravity rush 2, But the fact that i will never forget is the awful mode to marketing Gravity rush 2 and The servers close... it's a very deep wound that they made to my soul . And the new censored versions of visual novels and games, so bad move.

I Am between C and B. only for this desicion.
 
Last edited:

slade

Member
B+. I like the PS4 but Sony did drop the ball on backwards compatibility. That said, most of the games I loved in prior gens ended up getting remasters so it isn't as bad barring the odd title here and there.
 

Bolivar687

Banned
C+

The games aren't that good, and they haven't pushed the boundaries of the medium. That said, it's a solid gaming machine and I've gotten some good mileage out of it.
 

xwez

Banned
Can a mod please ban OP, as this is like the 8th thread he's made that is pretty much just a carbon copy of other threads.
 

kunonabi

Member
Gave it a D+

Sony's 1st party stuff continues to be trash as far as I'm concerned so it all came down to third party stuff for me. In that department it fared better than the PS3 and it had more support and better performance, pre-X, than the Xbone but there still isn't anything on there I consider to be an amazing platform defining title other than MGSV which of course is a multiplat. If it weren't for the crazy PSN discounts I honestly wouldn't own all that much on it.

It was a decent enough machine to take over as my primary console once the Wii U faded away but the lack of real killer releases, meh hardware, and Sony's BS censorship in its later years prevent me from rating it all that highly.
 

ToadMan

Member
I gave it A+ - but in fairness that isn’t quite the whole story.

MS didn’t turn up this gen, so it was easy to skip the Xb which has meant more time with PS games and so that means all my console experiences this gen have been on PS.

The switch is great too but I don’t really see the PS and switch as competing, just complimentary so I didn’t compare those two.


In terms of Sony, considering they’ve had an easy win this cycle (in terms of sales) they actually have been quite good to their customers. They’ve kept their promise of giving games away with online subs (although the quality may be dropping towards the end of this gen) and they have still tried to get more mindshare and market share in the “right” way - proper in-house exclusives through first and second parties and not straight money-hatting as dogged last gen.

The test for Sony will be next gen but I’m happy enough with how I’ve been treated as a customer and I think they’ve done enough to recover from the PS3 mid-steps.
 

Three

Member
No offense OP but wtf is that image you are using. Where did you get it from?
 
Last edited:

Aenima

Member
B+ cuz its very hard for a console to beat the PS2. The amount of exclusives in that console was insane, and many of the exclusive 3rd party franchises are now multiplatform. Sony work this gen has been a A+ though. Aside from the 1st year, they have been putting alot of quality exclusives every year for the console to the point i still have many games left to purchase, like Spider Man.
 

Fbh

Member
Based on those rankings I'd have to go with B+.
You just can't compete with the PS2 and its army of third party Devs making exclusives for it

Anyway. I've been happy with my PS4. It works well, has gotten some great exclusives and at this point is offering all the features I need.
Paid online sucks, the ps+ offerings took quite some time to get decent , the Pro is a half assed upgrade and the first year or so was bad in terms of games but IMO they don't keep it from being a great system and I'm glad I went with it as my main platform for this gen
 

Nymphae

Banned
Interesting choice to leave Spider-man off of that biggest games graphic, but include 3 baseball games lol
 

Three

Member
Interesting choice to leave Spider-man off of that biggest games graphic, but include 3 baseball games lol

Not only that but I'm trying to figure out why the image for the baseball game is from 2014 and not the 2018 or even 2017 version (which are both excluded) . At first I thought maybe OP pulled an old image from somewhere but then saw God of War is on there.
 
Last edited:

TLZ

Banned
I'll give it a B+, and could've got an A, only because I'd love more turn based JRPGs. The rest is all good. Great first party games, love the simple and quick UI, excellent controller, games don't suffer from screen tearing; just an excellent experience overall.

I don't play online so I don't care about that part.
 

kraspkibble

Permabanned.
A+ for me.

i've played on every playstation console and i love the PS1/2 but i didn't enjoy them as much as my PS4.
 

EDMIX

Member
Going to have to go with that A+

They did what they came to do.
Fair price, made a quality console that focused on games foremost, supported established IP, supported loads of new IP.

Its all I can ever really ask of a console maker tbh.

Consider this....we are giving a grade to a publisher that isn't even done yet with their massive line up.

The Last Of Us 2
Days Gone
Death Stranding
Ghost Of Tsushima
Dreams
WiLd (if it ever releases lol)

Could be missing something (that alone is why I can't give it below an A, they still have LOTS of AAA content coming where its all not just the same stuff over and over)
 
Last edited:

Graciaus

Member
Outside of bloodborne I don't care about any of their first party games. The recent censorship crusade is awful. Almost every game comes to pc now also. No point in owning a ps4.

Hopefully Ms blows them out next Gen so they go back to the drawing board.
 

Jigsaah

Gold Member
I give it a B+ but I think they really need to work on the community, backwards compat and their less than consumer friendly practices
 

DonJimbo

Member
9/10
Should i get a pro know its 297 euros for a limited time and i have an og ps4 but im tempted for this price :(
 

Orpheum

Member
I love my PS4. For me it's a solid B+. BC would have made it an A, however i didn't miss my PS3 all that much tbh. It's just a shame that i don't have that much time to play at the moment. So looking forward to my Christmas time off -> more Warframe and finally RDR2
 

TFGB

Member
A+

PS4 + Vita + PSVR + PSTV x best exclusives = The best gaming ecosystem bar none.
 
Last edited:
Top Bottom