Ghost of Tsushima" and "Assassin's Creed" can be played! Play report on the "New PS Plus" service that started on June 2!

New PS Plus offers multiplayer, free play, and streaming

Prior to June 1, PS Plus focused on services such as "Free Play," which allows users to play a specific title selected for the month for free, and "Online Multiplayer," which allows users to play online against other players from around the world and enjoy cooperative play. PS Now, on the other hand, is a cloud-based service that allows users to play games online for free.

PS Now, on the other hand, is a cloud gaming service that allows users to pay a fixed monthly fee for unlimited play of numerous titles available in the cloud. With this renewal, the free-to-play and online multiplayer services of the old PS Plus and the streaming service of PS Now are now integrated into the new PS Plus.

The new PS Plus has three subscription plans. The first is "Essentials," which costs 850 yen per month (tax included). In addition to free play and online multiplayer, the plan also includes "cloud storage," which stores saved data online, and the "Share Play" feature, which allows users to share their play screens with others. Simply put, it is the same as the old PS Plus.

The second plan is "Extra," which costs 1,300 yen per month (tax included). In addition to the Essential features described above, it also allows users to play some PS4 and PS5 titles available on the cloud for free.

The third is "Premium," which includes not only the Essential and Extra features, but also access to some PlayStation®, PlayStation®2, PlayStation®3, and PlayStation®Portable titles available on the cloud, as well as time-limited trials of popular titles, Cloud streaming and other services are available. To give a rough explanation of each plan, Essentials focuses on expanded functionality, while Extras and Premiums feature the freedom to play many titles in the cloud.

Even with Essentials, monthly free play is available, so you can play some titles for free. However, it is not enough for those who play hard every day, so such people should consider an Extra or higher plan.

What is troubling is that the difference between Extra and Premium is 250 yen. If you are going to join the Extra plan, which has limited free play, you might as well pay 250 yen more for the Premium plan, which allows you to use a wide range of retro games and cloud services.

The key to choosing between Extra and Premium will be whether recent games are enough or whether you want to enjoy retro games as well. Light gamers who play moderately or those who play titles for online multiplayer may want to start with the Essential plan.

The game catalog includes both major titles and past classics.

For my new PS Plus experience, I opted for the Premium plan. As already mentioned, the Premium plan offers a catalog feature that allows you to play not only PS4 and PS5 titles, but also titles released on past hardware.

There are two catalogs, with PS5 + PS4 titles being treated as the "Game Catalog" and the rest as the "Classic Catalog. The game catalog includes "Ghost of Tsushima Director's Cut," which is based on "Ghost of Tsushima," which has sold 8 million copies worldwide and includes additional elements, as well as "Red Dead Redemption 2," "Bloodborne," and "Final Fantasy XV Royal Edition. and other major domestic and international titles.

The classic catalog is divided into PS1 + PS2 + PSP, PS3, and Remastered. PS1 + PS2 + PSP includes nostalgic classics such as "Tekken 2," "Infinity Corridor," and "Ape Escape," while PS3 includes "Demon's Souls," Resident Evil 4" and "NINJA GAIDEN," while remastered titles such as "Uncharted Collection," "The Last of Us Remastered" and "Heavy Rain" were seen.

Overall, the impression is that many of the hottest and biggest titles are being offered. Resident Evil 4" has just recently been announced as a remake, and "Demon's Souls" is the source of From Software's latest title, "The Elden Ring. This will be a good opportunity for light users in particular to enjoy the game more deeply.

Resident Evil 4

Including those picked up above, there are quite a few games that can be played with the new PS Plus. There are 22 titles in the game catalog (as of June 7, 2022) and 239 titles in the classic catalog (as of June 7, 2022). Note that the breakdown of the lineup in the Classic Catalog shows that the PS3 has the largest number of titles (185), with 37 remastered titles; PS1 + PS2 + PSP have a smaller number (17).

According to the article on the official website, the titles will be added in the middle of each month. The number of titles is quite large at this point, but we can expect to see even more titles added in the future. Since it is highly likely that old games such as the original PS will become increasingly difficult to play in the future due to differences in playing environments, I personally hope that the lineup of these retro games will be expanded.

Incidentally, there will be two ways to play games: downloading and streaming. Downloading, as the name suggests, stores the entire title on the gaming device. Streaming, on the other hand, is an ad hoc distribution, so the amount of storage space is saved by not downloading, but the smoothness of the video may vary depending on the Internet connection environment. Some titles, such as "Resident Evil 4" and "Demon's Souls," can only be streamed.

Demon's Souls.

We played both titles for a few minutes and experienced almost no delay during play. However, when playing titles with a large number of enemies, such as the "Sengoku Musou" series, the screen may become choppy, as if there is a processing drop. Those who mainly play streaming games should set up a high-speed communication environment in advance.

PS1 + PS2 + PSP games can use the rewind function.

PS1, PS2, and PSP titles have been converted for PS4 and PS5, and additional functions have been added. One of these features is rewinding, which allows you to go back to a specific point in time whenever you want during play. The content is simple, but there are many uses, such as when you come in contact with an enemy in an action game or fall into a hole. This kind of mechanism would be appreciated by today's gamers, especially since old games are often very difficult to play. The quick-save feature allows players to create save data whenever they want.

Mr. Driller."

Another feature of the game is its support for trophy functions. Trophies are an element that began with the PS3, so naturally, they did not originally exist for PlayStation titles prior to the PS2 and PSP. It will be interesting to see what trophies have been implemented in the titles of the past. For players who like to collect trophies, this can be a motivating factor.

The picture quality of some titles in the classic catalog has been improved by adjusting them for the current consoles, making them look like remastered versions. The screen is "Ape Escape.

The new PS Plus is well suited for both heavy gamers and light users, with support for retro games such as the PS1, while keeping the best-known and biggest titles in mind. However, it is also true that Microsoft's Xbox Game Pass, a similar subscription service, has advantages in terms of lower subscription fees and free-to-play access to new games.

In addition to Xbox Game Pass, Nintendo's "Nintendo Switch Online" and other subscription services are also heating up the competition in the video game industry. What kind of titles and services will the new PS Plus surprise users with in the future? At the end of this article, we have included an excerpt from the PS Plus catalog, so if you are interested in what the service has to offer, please take a look at it for yourself.

(Text by Yoshiyoshi Natsumuuchi)

PS Plus" ##

Titles included in the PS Plus catalog (partial list)

Game Catalog (PS4/PS5)

Ghost of Tsushima Director's Cut

Red Dead Redemption 2

Bloodborne

Final Fantasy XV Royal Edition

Assassin's Creed Valhalla

For Honor

God of War

Classic Catalog (PS1/PS2/PS3/PSP/Remastered)

PS1/PS2/PSP

Ape Escape (PS1)

Tekken 2 (PS1)

I.Q Intelligent Cube (PS1)

Jack x Daxter: Legacy of the Old World (PS2)

Jack x Daxter 2 (PS2)

Jak3 (PS2)

Infinity Corridor (PSP)

PS3

Demon's Souls (PS3)

Resident Evil4

Resident Evil5

Resident Evil6

ICO

Sengoku Musou 3 Empire

Taisenryaku Perfect - Senjo no Hasha

New Rorona's Atelier: Hajimari no Monogatari -The Alchemist of Arland

Steins;Gate

The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky FC: Kai HD EDITION

Remaster

Uncharted Collection

The Last of Us Remastered

Heavy Rain

Mafia II Complete Edition

Resident Evil HD Remastered

Patapon 2 Don Chaka ♪

BioShock Infinite Complete Edition