PS5 Pro - The Console Assessment
We’ve seen this all before. In September of 2016, PlayStation announced the PS4 Pro, a suped up version of the PS4. Few, including yours truly, took it overly seriously to begin with, but, being unmarried, and without kids as I was at the time, my income was a bit more disposable, and so, by the time the console then launched two months later, I’d picked up an upgraded PS4. While the PS4 Pro did, on paper, pack some notable improvements, the launch line-up was lacklustre, with few of the 40+ launch titles packing improvements that were especially notable. As time went on, and as the base PS4 started to get pushed to its limits, the perks of the Pro became more and more apparent, but Sony seems more eager to start strong this time around as its launched the PS5 Pro. Thanks to PlayStation, I was kindly provided a console to facilitate reviews of 20 upgraded games, as well as the console itself. Having spent considerable time checking out what the console can do, I’m pleased to report that the Pro is an upgrade that will appeal to more players, for more reasons, and is more likely to be considered a necessity than PlayStation’s last attempt.
Outside of some PSVR games which certainly reaped the benefits of some additional console horsepower, the PS4 Pro didn’t really provide upgrades of substance back in 2016, not to mention the fact that 4K televisions were not even close to as prolific as they are in 2024. The Pro also launches in an era where players have been longing for a console platform where they don’t have to make the dreaded choice between visual fidelity and game performance. While for many of us, choosing performance was the obvious right call, and most of the time we’d be perfectly satisfied, this decision would sometimes lead to games like 2024’s Final Fantasy VII Rebirth that would run buttery smooth but would distractingly unpleasant. The PS5 Pro does what the PS4 couldn’t do. The PS4 Pro (like the Xbox One X which would launch a year later) introduced the need to choose between Performance and Fidelity, the PS5 Pro gives you the choice to have the best of both again. Those who pick up this console are going to be eating well for months and years to come.
As I went through the myriad of PS5 Pro Day 1 launch upgraded titles, I noticed that many were including PS5 Pro modes, an option that would essentially give you crystal clear visuals, with a solid 60FPS. This is already a brilliant starting point because it adds incredible value to the likes of Final Fantasy VII Rebirth where the compromises for the decision you made were much greater than most. For other games like Star Wars Outlaws, I noticed that the ability to choose was taken away altogether when playing on the Pro, you just get both, so why would you choose anything else? Other games signal what is likely to come for us in the future, and this could be perceived in either a good or bad way for the console. Some titles, such as Resident Evil 4 Remake included enormous upgrades to Pro Performance, pushing beyond 100FPS, and others went ballistic with the ray-tracing in Pro Fidelity, meaning that a choice was still to be made, but the benefits were even more substantial based on whatever decision you made. It’s inevitable that future games are going to push the Pro harder than those available now, so to see the ways that developers are willing to stretch and push the console in different directions to give players what they want is certainly intriguing to me.
What was honestly the most impressive to me was the experience of playing some of the many thousands of PS4 and PS5 games that have not received a dedicated PS5 Pro update, and yet, they run better than ever simply due to the console packing additional power, meaning that load-times are faster, rendering of environments is cleaner and some other technical stumbles that came from games potentially over-reaching in the past, are a faint memory now. Make sure to go check out your favourite games from yesteryear, because they may well be better than ever before, despite no dedicated work being put into them for the Pro console’s launch.
The PS5 Pro employs PSSR technology to AI upscale the output of your games, and like industry parallel technologies like NVidia’s DLSS tech, it does a lot of the heavy lifting to make the game’s shine on the screen. It’s a major reason why the launch of the PS5 Pro sees so many games providing the perks of the various Fidelity Modes with the fluidity of a 60FPS Peformance Mode experience. Beyond the various upgrades that boost performance, the PS5 Pro also includes other additions that will also please prospective owners, from the increase in base console storage with the pro packing a whopping 2TB right out the box which has comfortably handled everything I’ve thrown at it so far. The console also is fitted with wifi 7.0 capacity which may not mean much to some now, but as the various technologies around your PS5 Pro continue to improve, the gains will get bigger for the user.
The PS5’s visual design has long been a point of contention with its very futuristic aesthetic upsetting some and inspiring others. I don’t sense many hearts or minds will be changed with the Pro given it just has a couple additional slices down the side, a visual cue that the console is different to last year’s PS5 Slim, but that it’s all still a part of the same family. The PS5 Pro is a digital-only console out of the box which will be disappointing for some as much as the unboxing experience is.
Though certainly still for a subset of the PS5 audience, the Pro console is certainly going to be more useful, and more appealing to more players than PlayStation’s last foray into the upgraded console realm. As the years pass, this console will also only grow in its value, but for those getting in now, and if you can overcome the financial hurdle, you’ll be far more impressed by the launch experience
