I’ve got something a bit different for this review, whilst I add my finishing touches to the Final Fantasy 7 Remake review I’m doing. Hopefully I’ll get that done in time for the release of rebirth which is imminent and brings me a considerable amount of joy.
Anyhow onto the task at hand a quick review on the newest handheld device in Sony’s repertoire. I say a quick review namely because there isn’t a fat lot to talk about, not due to it being bad but rather due to the lack of features.
This for me came in at £199.99 and at the core of it, it’s just a glorified handheld streaming device Which you can already use your phone with a backbone controller attachment or use an Ipad or any other newish tablet to the same effect. However they don’t come with the dual sense controller in built. Now the dual sense in my humble opinion is the greatest achievement that came out of the PS5 cycle thus far. The haptics and feedbacks do add to the gaming experience more than you’d think. So having this in the palm of your hands where a standard controller has been firmly sliced in twain with a fancy full HD LCD touchscreen in between makes for a nice pairing. Now it’s a good looking screen to be fair to it, it’s not quiet as crisp as my OLED on my Switch which I highly rate for quality. That does cost over a hundred pound more and has the added function of being a full console as well. I do think the touchscreen is also a nice touch, but with the lack of features it’s a bit pointless. Outside of having to double tap the screen to activate the touchpad functions in game it ultimately serves no purpose.
Now unlike my beloved PSP and PS Vita’s the Portal doesn’t come with any specific tailor made games. It only directly streams the disc inserted or if you have any games installed on your SSD. So in order to play you do also need to have your PS5 in rest mode to activate at the very least. Whilst on though it does allow you to play wherever you are as long as you have any internet connection. Now I have seen people going abroad and travelling miles away and it still working. This is pretty neat but I don’t fancy much fucking off for weeks on end leaving my PS5 in rest mode to wake up no matter how much I want to play something. Also if you accidentally hit power down it’s game over.
You do also get the full functions of the dual sense so inbuilt mic and light bars come integrated as well as the option for wired or bluetooth headsets. Along with the 6/7 hours of charge which isn’t too dissimilar to what I get out of my actual controller. Taking around 2 hours to fully charge which I don’t thinks too egregious. In comparisons to the Nintendo Switch as well it definitely carries more of a heft to it. Now it’s nothing too major but after playing for a while you can tell there is more of weight to it especially if you hold it one hand. I can’t say this is really that detrimental but if your main mode of gaming is handheld it’s worth considering.
Now I wouldn’t say this is an essential bit of gaming hardware to have and at my guess around £30 more then it should be sold at considering it’s just a controller and screen. I love it, in fact I’d argue I’ve gamed more than before I had it, which at any rate is a big fucking yes in my book. Having recently become a dad having the ability to play my Playstation 5 anywhere in my house is such a massive boon to my life and for many others in my same position would benefit from it no matter how casual or serious a gamer you are. I have also seen some reports of lag or image quality not being great, even connectivity issues. I’ve not ran into any such issue.
Something I would be more worried about in the long run is a broken button or if one of the analogue sticks gain stick drift. This though would be something to get to if it becomes an issue. As I’m sure you’d be able to remedy it yourself if it after strenuous hours of play it wore down.
Overall I’d rate this bit of tech a, Highly Tasty 8/10.
If you just need the extra option to play your games that runs smoother than streaming to your phone and you’ve got a bit of extra money lying around, then this is definitely worth your time.
Released by Sony November 15th 2023.
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