After spending days playing with PS5 we tell you 5 new aspects of the Dualsense controller that make the difference compared to the Dualshock 4. This is how the PlayStation 5 controller aims to change the way we play.
We have already spent several days with PS5, preparing our review of the console. A few days ago we offered you the PS5 unboxing and our first impressions of Astro’s Playroom , the game that is pre-installed on the hard drive of the new generation machine. Now it’s time to give you our impressions of the DualSense remote .
The control pad is one of the main novelties of PlayStation 5, and its characteristics “on paper” have already been shown previously. For this reason, in this report we have wanted to focus on 5 aspects that we have discovered when manipulating it. We make it clear that we mean playing with it, and that we have not opened it to investigate its components.
In case you are curious about what the machine offers, which will go on sale on November 19 at a price of 499.99 euros (with disk drive) and 399 euros (the digital edition), we have highlighted 5 aspects that had not been clear previously. The control knob will also go on sale separately at a price of 69.99 euros and the charging station will be priced at 29.99 euros.
These are 5 aspects of PS5 DualSense controller that have surprised us when playing with PS5 .
3 lights on the front
The DualSense control knob has three different lights on the front. On the one hand, we find the “ambient” light that inherits from the Dualshock 4 and that in this case is in a subtle line that surrounds the touch panel. This light can change color, depending on the game, and can be used for camera tracking in PSVR games (we need an adapter that can be ordered completely free of charge).
The second light, under the touch panel, indicates which player is holding the controller. When it comes to player one, as you can see in the image, it is a point of light in the center, which changes depending on the number of player that is synchronized with the console. The third light appears when we press the “mute” button on the microphone. It is a transparent button that is off by default, but lights up if it is active, in orange.
Haptic vibration also works with backward compatible PS4 games
We’ve had the chance to play some backwards compatible PS4 titles. Those games can be played with our Dualshock in a traditional way, but if we play with the DualSense controller we will also benefit from some specific hardware improvements. We have been struck by how haptic vibration works in a game like The Last of Us Part II. Not only do the sensations adapt when riding, as soon as we start the game, but we even feel the vibration with some chords of the guitar that sounds as a soundtrack.
This is because the DualSense controller uses the audio tracks as the source to trigger the vibration. But do not panic, this does not mean that every time music plays our remote vibrates, but that it is activated at relevant moments of the game, in which music plays an important role. As we have said above, the case of guitar chords (in a soundtrack composed by Gustavo Santaolalla).
How Adaptive Triggers Work
We have discussed the adaptive trigger functions of the PS5 DualSense controller on numerous occasions . Here we leave you a video in which you can see how the variable resistance works. In this case, imagine that we are drawing a bow or pressing the string of a guitar. The first part of the route has increasing resistance. Afterwards, we reach a point of maximum resistance and once it is exceeded (when releasing the bow or guitar string) the resistance disappears. This effect can be changed in each game, depending on the needs of the developer.
The sound from the built-in speaker is very clear
While in the Dualshock 4 there were already games that used the controller’s speaker (in particular horror games that simulated mysterious sounds or telephone conversations) at the moment we have only enjoyed sound effects on the DualSense controller . However, these effects are heard with crystal clarity, much more faithful than in the previous control. If it were a more relevant conversation or effect, there would be no risk of “missing” what it sounds like.
The battery life
With all the functions that have been added to the DualSense (wireless controller that works with a rechargeable battery) it was logical to think that the battery life would have been reduced compared to the Dualshock 4 – and this was one of its weak points. We cannot enter into precise measurements, which is something that you will see in our analysis of the console, but we can give you some approximate impressions.
It depends on the game that we are testing at each moment, but the 50% increase in battery (now we have a capacity of 1560 mAh) is noticeable, and allows us to play comfortably for longer than on PS4. This is one of the improvements we most demanded in the PS5 controller, and fortunately – at least in the first games – it seems that our expectations are met.