The new “PS Plus” experience. Good points and bad points that I felt after actually using it | CoRRiENTE.top

Sony Interactive Entertainment (hereinafter, SIE) carried out a major renewal of its subscription service “PlayStation Plus (hereinafter, PS Plus)” in June 2022.

With this renewal, PS Plus will be offered three types of plans, and depending on the plan, in addition to the services that were previously available, it has become possible to play titles such as the original PS, PS2, PS3.

This time, the author was given the opportunity to experience the top-level plan “PS Plus Premium” among these three types from SIE. We will deliver a review about the new PS Plus, including impressions of actually experiencing the service.

What is the difference between the new “PS Plus” and the old service?

PS Plus is a subscription service that SIE has been providing since 2010. By purchasing membership from the PS Store and subscribing to the service, you can use online multiplayer and “free play” where you can get multiple titles for free every month.

Until now, PS Plus has not been developed with only one type of plan, but with the renewal in June 2022, three types of plans will be offered. The plan names are “Premium”, “Extra”, and “Essential” from the top. The higher the plan, the more content that can be used.

The entry plan “Essential” is basically the same as the conventional PS Plus, and you can use online multiplayer, monthly free play, save data storage, and discount benefits for PS Plus subscribers.

When it comes to “Extras,” you can play hundreds of PS4 / PS5 titles as much as you want, in addition to the content available in “Essentials.” Ubisoft’s PS Plus subscription service “Ubisoft + Classic” is also available.

And in the top plan “Premium”, as with “Extra”, hundreds of PS4 / PS5 titles can be played as much as you want, and the original PS / PS2 / PS3 / PSP titles (240) can also be played as much as you want. In addition, a “game trial” function that allows you to try out the game before purchasing is also available.

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Below is a table summarizing the differences for each plan.

Of these, the one I experienced this time was the highest-level “premium” plan. In addition to the PS4 / PS5 titles, you can also play the nostalgic original PS / PS2 / PS3 / PSP titles, so it can be said to be a recommended plan for users who are attracted to retro games such as PS fans for many years.

I tried “PS Plus Premium”.

I immediately tried the benefits of the “Premium” plan. Since multiplayer and free play were also available on the previous PS Plus, this time I would like to focus on the all-you-can-play titles that are newly available on the new PS Plus.

First, check out the all-you-can-play titles for PS4 / PS5 that can be played on both “Extra” and “Premium” plans. Various titles can be played, including popular titles such as “DEATH STRANDING DIRECTOR’S CUT”, “Horizon Zero Dawn Complete Edition” and “Bloodborne”.

This time, I played the PS4 titles “FINAL FANTASY X / X-2 HD Remaster” and “Trials Fusion”.

『FINAL FANTASY X/X-2 HD Remaster』

『FINAL FANTASY X/X-2 HD Remaster』

“Trials Fusion”

“Trials Fusion”

Since both titles were released for PS4, there were almost no noticeable problems, audio delays, or difficulty in playing, and the game could be played smoothly overall. Since it is an installation format rather than streaming, I was able to play it as if I were playing a general PS4 / PS5 download software.

From here, we will introduce the functions only for “PS Plus Premium”.

In “PS Plus Premium”, it is possible to play some titles of the original PS / PS2 / PS3 / PSP.

PS3 titles are exclusively for cloud streaming and can be played without downloading game data to the main unit. Since it does not overwhelm the capacity of the main unit storage, it can be said that it is easy to play easily.

However, because it is cloud streaming, whether you can play comfortably depends on the internet line speed at home, and you can not shoot screenshots or movies, so you can play all-you-can-play titles on PS4 / PS5 and the first PS / PS2 described later. / I felt a little difficult to play compared to the PSP title.

However, being able to play without pulling out the hardware suddenly will be a nice point for PS users of the past who have been playing from the old hardware.

Users who use the “Premium” plan are most expected to be able to play the original PS / PS2 / PSP titles.

Looking at the lineup, there are nostalgic titles such as “Ape Escape”, “Jak and Daxter Old World Heritage”, and “WILD ARMS”. However, all of these titles have been converted for PS4 / PS5, and they may behave differently from the original version.

“Jak and Daxter Old World Heritage”

When I actually play it, the controller is different, but it feels like the feeling at that time has returned. I tried playing for a few days using my work time, but I was able to play without any problems from beginning to end without encountering any problems.

“Ape Escape”

In addition, some titles such as “Ape Escape” are also characterized by the addition of convenient functions such as a rewind function and a quick save function.

Although the lineup of the original PS / PS2 / PSP titles is still small, we are looking forward to the future as new titles will be added from time to time.

By the way, you can check the list of game titles that can be played with the “Premium” and “Extra” plans from this page. They are arranged in alphabetical order, so you should be able to check at a glance whether the desired title is being delivered.

summary

By experiencing “PS Plus Premium” this time, in addition to the relatively new titles of PS4 / PS5, you can play nostalgic titles of old hardware such as the original PS and PS2, which is a nice service for PS fans. I was able to confirm that.

Each title can be played without problems, and there are not many bug reports such as inability to proceed, so I think you can play each title with confidence.

However, the point I was concerned about is that there are few new titles that can be played. The Xbox Game Pass, which is often cited as a counter-service, can often be played at the same time as the new title is released, but SIE has expressed the view that it will not be delivered at the same time as the release. Users who want to play new titles hard may not be very compatible with the “Premium” and “Extra” plans.

Also, it’s a bit disappointing that you can’t take screenshots of PS3 titles because they are played by cloud streaming. I think there are people who want to post game screens on SNS and get excited with their friends, but it seems that PS3 titles can only be enjoyed by themselves.

Since the service is still in its infancy, there are few titles distributed overall, and at the moment it is not a service that can be recommended to everyone, but what kind of people can it be recommended for?

It’s my personal story, but when I was drinking with a friend and talked about an old game, I sometimes suddenly pulled out the old PS hardware and started playing the game. .. Some people who have played games on PS hardware for a long time may have had the same experience as the author, or may have felt itchy that they could not play because there was no old hardware.

In such a case, if you can play directly from the latest PS5, it will be very convenient to start the game smoothly without having to prepare the old hardware. If you’re fascinated by being able to play all the games on your PS5, from new titles to classic titles from the past, then the “Premium” plan should be well worth it.

If the title you want to play at the moment has not been added to the lineup, you can join it when the title you remember is delivered. Make sure to keep an antenna on the announcement of additional distribution titles.

(Image: Sony Interactive Entertainment)