JaapV

I have a PS Backbone that I love to use and used to work flawlessly - especially with the now dead iOS PS Play app, RIP and damn you Apple! - but with a PS system update at some point has turned really unreliable / stuttery / laggy. Not sure what’s happened there, but it turned an amazing experience into something very much not useable.

I’d buy a system like what’s rumoured IF if worked flawlessly via local WiFi and didn’t have to go through the net. I’m assuming that’s what’s been causing me big problems, and I have no idea why it needs to beam to an offshore server when I’m usually sitting about 6m to 10m from my console…

Love the series. Of all the episodes this far in however, I felt this was the weakest. A bridge episode.

Some of the best television I’ve seen in years. I liked the deviation from the game - it was well needed, I think. I’m looking forward to more.

The negativity re. part two was insane. I personally felt it unjustified and exceptionally toxic, and that pit me off playing it at all until late last year. When I did though, wow. Amazing.

I’m not usually one to comment on anything here, but thought I’d chime in and say I think it’s a great adaptation. I actually think the casting is spot on across the board - I wasn’t sold until I actually watched it, but the characters come alive on screen. I think Bella / Ellie was and will be great. She has the right energy and presence for the role, even if she looks different to the game character version. I’d take that over a facsimile look any day of the week.

@Uromastryx it depends on how much stock one puts into what is supposedly being held back with regards to core gameplay innovation and experience. Bleeding edge graphics and AI? Yes, I agree for sure, but maybe that doesn’t ultimately matter for some kinds of experiences? More isn’t always better - unless we’re talking about CyberPunk crowd density etc. yikes! I think the real issue is that these games have been in development for at least 4-5 years, sometimes more when you count pre-production. They’re massively expensive to make, with thousands of people working on them. This is unprecedented. The economic reality is that they need to recoup money, no matter the developer / owner. The PS5 will be pushed to its limits in due course, that much is obvious. In the meantime, games like GoW R will find ways to differentiate the experience for early owners. Maybe it won’t be as big a differentiation as you want, but I’ll bet the gameplay will be amazing.

There’s no pleasing some people, honestly. How many people are crying about Elden Ring releasing on and being ‘held back’ by PS4 / XB1 as well as PS5 / XBX/S? No one. They’re all too busy enjoying a great game, regardless of absolute bleeding edge graphics.

@Agramonte Yes, totally agree. This is why I got back into playing video games during the pandemic. I'm 42 years old and never touched a controller since selling my very well used SNES as a mid-teen. I was watching really crap Netflix and felt bored just passively receiving stories – mostly poorly written – and not feeling at all invested in the characters. Long story short, my mind started wondering to all the world's problems and I started searching for more active forms of entertainment. That got me watching YouTube videos of Death Stranding, as I'd read a news article about Kojima's knack of predicting the future – in this case the humble courier driver being the key person keeping the world connected. I was back in the PS fold from that moment.

There are a few comments above that I think are rather over the top, in more ways than one.

My take is that Part II is a vastly better game. It needs the emotional story punch of the first to work, but on balance I personally found it more engaging and the experience lingered far longer after playing than it did Part 1.

In essence, I agree with the points in the video whole heartedly.

As a final note, I loved Part 1 too, just not as much as others seem to. I think what irked me most when I played it was that I felt it predictable, and the last scene where Joel shoots the surgeon Fire Flys in the operating theatre lacked urgency in the moment (they don't attack you, just stand there for eternity begging you not to kill them. They could of at least had them lunge at Joel with scalpels to force his hand!) A small point in an otherwise superbly crafted experience. Just think Part II learnt from this and did these moments better.

Both games are 10/10 in my opinion.

1: The Last of Us 2
2: The Witcher 3
3: Uncharted 4
4: horizon Zero Dawn
5: The Last of Us Remastered
6: Dark Souls 3
7: Metal Hear Solid V: Phantom Pain
8: God of War

• Haven’t played so many that I suspect would easily make this list, like Death Stranding, Ghost of Tsushima, Bloodborne, Res Dead 2 and Nier Automata.

@KundaliniRising333 Why be so relentlessly negative? In every post! Plenty of great content to play and in the pipeline. Price rises are unfortunate, but it’s the world we live in. It’s not about being ani-loyal fans or anything, it’s just an economic reality.

Tried connecting a DualShock 4 to phone but input latency was too much via Bluetooth and it all felt cumbersome. I don’t use the Backbone app or care for recording gameplay, so don’t care about that - it’s not necessary to subscribe. For me, it’s working well and is money well spent when my PS4 would otherwise sit idle.

@Blofse it’s mostly for the social services, like recording gameplay on the phone and sharing, friends lists etc, but also all the different gaming apps can be accessed via the hub. It’s not necessary for me, I’d I never use it - just go straight to the Remote Play or PSPlay apps.

I love mine. Other than lack of physical touchpad button - not sure how they’d implement one anyway on a device like this - and slightly clicky buttons, it’s perfect. I never use the official app, just go straight to remote play. PSPlay app is also in Beta, which is another option. Performance on that side of things has been awesome for me with my PS4 hard wired. A few blips here and there, but nothing that’s hindered my enjoyment. I played the entire of The Last of Us II for the first time on it and it was one of the best gaming experiences of my life. I wont be subscribing to the official Backbone App moving forward, just not worth it for me.

Well balanced review, thanks! It looks and sounds awesome, all be it while probably staying a bit too true to the original. In that sense I get the feeling ‘fans’ would moan if they changed any more, but newcomers and those taking the improvements as they come would feel more immersed in gameplay. It’s a hard line to balance with such a beloved game! Either way, it looks great. I might not pay full price for it personally - I rarely pay full price for anything - but I’ll certainly get it when / if ever getting a PS5.

Can’t understand the hate heaped on this. I think it looks amazing and a massive improvement over the PS4 version graphically. YMMV.

@zupertramp I don’t want them to change anything about the story, I just mean that in the last scene it was annoying that no one retaliates at or tries to protect themselves. I would have thought they’d at least attempt to attack you in order to try stop what Joel needs to do, thereby making it feel more urgent in the moment. It would have been good to have risk present in the scenario rather than it feeling like a scripted and forgone conclusion. I think Part 2 does these scenarios better.

In addition to what I said above, I hope PushSquare do a version of a review full of so called spoilers that analyses some of the kinds of things I mentioned above, that outlines where there are differences that make a difference to player agency and immersion and where they don’t.

I played the remaster some years ago and loved the story but felt it showed it’s age a bit in certain areas like enemy and NPC AI and interactivity of the world. Im now playing Part 2 for the first time and am about 2/3 through, so we’ll into the second half - no spoilers please as I’m going in mostly blind. I think it’s a far better game overall. Don’t really know what all the fuss was about on launch and not interested in debating anything, except to say people are entitled to their own opinions - but please don’t force them on others!

Anyway, I don’t have a PS5 but think this looks amazing. I guess the proof will be in the pudding, and I hope they “fix” my pet peeve about the original that made a lasting impression on me, that being the final ‘decision’ to ‘save the day’ was not forced; that you can simply stand there for eternity with people begging you for mercy and not retaliating in any way to force your hand or forcing a ‘you die’ moment. Man, that was a big let down for me as before that I was totally invested and fully immersed in the action. Maybe it’s a small complaint, but it’s something that really irritated me at the time.

Otherwise, if had a PS5 I’d get it - but not until I’d played Demon Souls!

I think this looks like an amazing graphical upgrade. I’m playing Part 2 now for the first time and am loving it, and this remake really looks the part - seems to be much more immersive than the remaster. Looking forward to some day playing it.

@solidox thanks again! I have a mesh system in my home, so should be ok I hope… PS4 is hard wired to router. 5Ghz, which should be ample… weird that the PS4 shows such crappy upload speed of 8Mbps though. My connection is way higher so must be limited by the server / console.

@solidox Thanks for the reply! I think I'll get one... Only issue is I have a PS4, not PS5 – seems people think PS4 Remote Play is less reliable than PS5? Hard to get up to date information on that front. I'm dying to play Last of Us Part 2, Dark Souls III, Death Stranding portable. I just can't get the time on the TV these days to play them otherwise. Hoping the Backbone is a good solution for my current entertainment blues.

@solidox out of interest, and as I’m gunning to buy one of these things, what do you do to access the joypad instead? Is it a on screen kinda button push instead?

@XinGViruS Thanks for the update! Are you using it with a PS4 or PS5? I ask because it's hard to get clear, up to date information regarding Remote Play performance with PS4. I don't want to but a backbone and find the PS4 is not up to giving a good experience. Thanks again for your reply.

@XinGViruS I'd love to know your thoughts on this, and how you find using it with PS Remote Play. I never have time to play my PS4 on the TV but use the Switch handheld a lot. I prefer Playstation games however, so am keen to seen if this might be a good purchase.