I’ve always been a console gamer. When I was born, my family had a Sega Mega Drive, and shortly after, a PSOne. I then went on to get my hands on an original Xbox, a PS2, a PS3, an Xbox 360, and so on. I’ve never been exclusive to consoles, of course, as the family computer was a great way to play The Sims 2 when I was growing up, and a laptop allowed me to experience the earliest days of Minecraft and the beginnings of Skyrim mods. However, I’ve always played most things primarily on consoles.
Surprisingly, the biggest change for me has been trying out PS5 games on PC, and just how much ultrawide can change the game. Literally.
The PS5’s Cinematic Games Just Got A Lot More Cinematic
Don’t worry, I’m not petty enough to try to spur on any ‘console wars’ because, well, I haven’t been a child for a while. Similarly, I’m not going to turn around now and tell you that PC is the ultimate place to play games, because it’s not true. Games are entertainment, and should be enjoyed wherever you want to enjoy them. Anyone who even utters the words “PC master race” needs to take a long, hard look at themselves, or at least recognise the judgmental look of disgust coming from me and many others.
It’s been a few years since Sony started bringing PlayStation games over to PC, and I have access to quite a few of them, so it seemed like a good time to try them out on a different platform, despite having played them all before.
It’s not every game, of course; I played Death Stranding 2 earlier this year, but that was exclusively on PS5 for the time being.
The titles I’ve tried so far are The Last of Us Part 2, Spider-Man Remastered, Spider-Man 2, and Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart. My PC is able to place these games in a new light that I’ve never seen them in before, with The Last of Us looking so good that it overheated my GPU at one point, but the real star is the 21:9 1440p display.
I’ve had this monitor for a while, so I’m no stranger to the effect ultrawide can have on the gaming experience. I’ve spent a lot of time comparing Starfield on Xbox Series X to ultrawide PC alone, and have recently started experiencing Baldur’s Gate 3 in this new way compared to my original illithid-infested adventure on PS5.
But to see the streets of Manhattan in such a wide FOV, web-swinging past buildings at 120fps with beautifully ray-traced reflections, is an incredible experience for my inner child, making the momentum of skyscrapers flying past you feel so much more intense.
Similarly, the opening moments of Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, as the dimensions are torn apart and chaos ensues across the city, feel like they pull you into the rifts so much more when you have a wider view of everything, unsure where to look as portals are opening at every angle. The Last of Us Part 2’s most intense moments are only more so, when you try to keep clickers in your field of view, while those peaceful moments in the beautifully ruined areas of Seattle are only more scenic.
It seems like such a simple thing. Ultrawide is basically just a bit of an expanded view, and not every game supports it. But those that do instantly feel a lot more cinematic, reminiscent of the classic letterbox aspect ratio of movies. For first-party PlayStation games, which are commonly some of the most cinematic games out there, this works hand in hand to enhance that experience in a simple but dramatically effective way.
- Brand
- Sony
- Original Release Date
- November 12, 2020
- Original MSRP (USD)
- Disc Edition: $499.99; Digital Edition: $399.99
- Processor
- AMD Zen 2, 8-core / 16 threads, 3.5GHz
