![500GB PlayStation 4 Console - Batman Arkham Knight Bundle[Discontinued]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/4189JwzTywL._SY300_SX300_QL70_ML2_.jpg)
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I've been playing for 2 weeks now, and just got to 98% on Arkham Knight, which was a fun game even if I disliked the game's ending.
But this is about the PS4 itself. All I can say is wow!
I bought this bundle because I got it on a day where Amazon gave me $20 in credit on top of me using a bunch of saved up bonus points making it almost free. Really, the only reason I was getting a PS4 was to play Fallout 4 and Star Wars Battlefront, but they don't come out till November. The deal made me bite early. I'm glad I did!
Close to the first thing I did was swap out the hard drive for a SSHD 1 TB drive as I knew the space on 500 GB would run out fast (trust me, Arkham Knight itself, even playing off a disk, requires a 50 GB install - so, 8 games and the drive would be full). The swap out was so painless and easy I couldn't believe it. granted, I have some experience with such things, but honestly, it was so easy anyone could do it.
The drive came 1 day after the system, and I couldn't resist, so I spent the first day playing games on the stock hard drive. There were updates that needed installed, and then there were my save files. Transferring these to the new hard drive was effortless as well. On a USB 3.0 thumbstick (128 GB) it took me 35 minutes to copy 75 GB off the stock drive, and then after the new drive was installed and initialized, about 45 minutes to copy it back onto the system. I did it in between mowing the lawn and doing laundry and it was click and forget it for each step. set up the process, go mow the lawn, come back and it was done. perfect.
Next, I transferred over my PSN account with my PS Plus subscription, and I added in my info for Twitch, Facebook and Twitter. I'm not a huge social media person, but the ability to stream game play, create share parties and the like is really cool. I'll broadcst my play with the press of a couple buttons, and I go on and watch others play a game to really get a sense as to if I want to buy it or not. Sort of me paying back the community for being able to watch them I guess. But also, my friends and I can swap strategy on solving a tricky part in a game, and it's pretty neat being able to do that in the system.
The graphics are, of course, fantastic. But that will be game dependent. Arkham Knight is great looking, so was Bloodborne. The Witcher will be next up for me, and I hear that's beautiful as well.
Load times can be a bit rough. The SSHD helps with that some, but still in Arkham Knight, the load time after I die and respawn is around 15 seconds. It was about 25 seconds with the stock drive before I changed them out. the big thing about the system for me, however, is the Rest Mode. I don't ever quit a game, I just go out of it and put the system to "rest". It wakes up in about 2 - 5 seconds on the SSHD drive and I'm right into the game. litterally, I sit on the couch, push the button on the remote and turn on the TV and sound system, and I'm playing, just that quick. It's hard to explain how cool that is until you experience it. Plus, I can use the MLB.TV app (I love watching baseball) and while I'm watching, the game is still running (Paused) in the background. so when the game is over I can still switch right back to Arkham in seconds. This is awesome to me.
The controller is much improved from the PS3 version. I was always more a fan of the XBox 360 controller, but I have to say that the PS4 controller is rally good now and at least as comfortable as the 360 controller, IMO. The touch screen pad on the front is a little gimmicky, as is the accelerometer, but it's up to games to make use of them, and the games I've played seem to not make you rely on using the gimmicky controls, so I'm fine with them being there.
One really nice feature of the controller is the headset jack. It's located on the underside of the controller, facing you when you hold the controller, and accepts any standard 3.5mm headphone jack with or without a mic input line. You can set the system to output only chat audio or all system audio to the headphone jack. If you set it to play all system audio, then whenever you plug in headphones into the jack (I use Bose QuietComfort headphones, with inline mic) the system audio will go through the headphones and not your soundsystem/TV. Then when you unplug the headphones, sound goes back to coming out of the soundsystem/TV. Great for late night gaming.
Remote Play: My awesome soon-to-be wife bought me a PSP Vita (SCH-2000 model) for my birthday a few months before I got this system. I loved using it on the few games I had, but no that I have PS4, well why not try out the Remote Play feature. When I first tried it out it had trouble keeping a steady connection. The PS4 was linked to the internet via WiFi. The PS4 in the basement game room and the WiFi router being upstairs in the living room. The signal strength probably wasn't the best. It turns out that even when you allow the remote connection to the Vita to take place "without WiFi" that is only for the "second screen" feature (which seems useless so far). Remote Play requires use of WiFi. My solution was to buy a 30ft ethernet cable, drill a hole in the living room floor, and hard wire the PS4 into the router. Internet test on the system showed and increase in download/upload speed from 3.1Mbps/1.1Mbps to 29.7Mbps/2.3Mbps. Once this was done, remote play worked throughout the house, no problem. So it wasn't the Vita, it was the PS4 - so if you're going to use Remote Play, consider the need to plug directly into the router.
As to how remote play works with the games, well, it takes some getting used to. The Vita firmware allows for buttons to be remapped, but this requires support from the software/game. Arkham Knight doesn't allow it. This means that the R2/L2 buttons are mapped to the rear touch pad and there's no way to change it. This made for some getting used to and wasn't terribly intuitive. It works, but the more complex the control scheme for the game, the more difficult it might be.
I absolutely recommend this system. I don't know if I would have paid $399 for it, but if you can find ways to get the price down to around $200 or less somehow, like I did, totally worth it. You'll have a blast.
I can't compare it with the XBox One, as I've never played it. I just made a choice and can say I have no regrets. I doubt you would either.
There is a newer version of this item:
![PlayStation 4 Slim 1TB Console - Star Wars Battlefront II Bundle [Discontinued]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/71WCETReMdL._SR75,75_.jpg)
PlayStation 4 Slim 1TB Console - Star Wars Battlefront II Bundle [Discontinued]
$399.96
(1,345)
Only 1 left in stock - order soon.
$399.96
(1,345)
Only 1 left in stock - order soon.
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Great job at packing and shipping the item. But failed to deliver the item described on post.
Reviewed in the United States on December 21, 2020
The console is in great conditions, just as described. It works perfect. The only thing I didn’t like is that it said it included a physical copy of the Arkham knight, which I didn’t receive, instead I got a Disney game in a madden box. And two other games I don’t care for. Also it was supposed to include a headset, wasn’t there. Other than that it was delivered faster then expected.
Reviewed in the United States on December 21, 2020
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