tennis world tour ps4 tipps und tricks

Tennis World Tour 2 swings for strategy and success

For far too long it’s felt like tennis has been underrepresented in video games. Fond memories of Top Spin and Virtua Tennis are steadily becoming more and more rose tinted as each year goes by, and a promised renaissance in 2018 felt more like a player coming back from injury a few months too soon. 2020’s crop of tennis games have demonstrated much more promise so far.

The first Tennis World Tour was not particularly well received, with developer Breakpoint deciding to explore a number of new and intriguing ideas within the usual tennis formula, ultimately taking the game away from what tennis fans really wanted to see. It was like, after staggering through the desert for days and finding yourself in an oasis, being handed a bottle of thick and syrupy fruit juice. It left you just as thirsty, if not more-so.

So for the sequel, Nacon have kept some of the same intent, of trying to capture the more strategic elements of the game, but blended it with more of the traditional style of tennis game that gamers know and love. Gone is a lot of the predictive nature of the first game, the cards system has been retuned, and you’re given much more feedback on how you’re playing. To pull this off, they’ve turned to Big Ant Studios, the team behind their own homegrown AO Tennis series.

Without a tutorial in the preview build to lead us into the renewed gameplay, it was a struggle to get to grips with the game. The timing, the placement, the leeway that you have in shot selection; this is not a simple pick up and play arcade game like Virtua Tennis, and instead hews closer to the likes of AO Tennis 2 (quelle surprise) and Top Spin.

As you position yourself on the court, you power up your shot (whether flat, top spin, slice, lob or whatever0, letting go at hopefully just the right time to swing and send the ball flying back across the court. Get the timing wrong and your accuracy can be way off, either dropping the ball short without enough power, or flying long and losing you the point, but get the timing just right and you’ll hit the sweet spot, able to nail the white line and put your opponent under pressure. There’s a rhythm to it, and it’s this that I struggled to consistently get right, but there was always instant feedback from the game to say whether I was on time, too early or too late.

Simpler to grasp is the new serve system, with an initial gauge swinging from left to right above your player to time your toss and serving action. Get it your second button press just right, and the shot is straighter and with more power.

Tennis World Tour 2 retains some of those more strategic elements from the original, with player stamina having an impact through a match. You can see the stamina levels of both yourself and your opponent draining through longer rallies and service games, potentially giving you a lifeline as unforced errors creep into their game or pushing you to play more conservatively.

The cards system also returns, intending to add more variability to a match and capturing the way that a close game can swing back and forth, but has been reworked to be a more active part of gameplay instead of being more passive buffs. You can select five cards and trigger them them mid-match, letting you boost your player in Endurance, Power, Precision and Agility. Some cards, however, affect and diminish your opponent and it’s this that feels a bit too game-like about the system, in my opinion.

At the very least, all of the percentage-based buffs and debuffs mean that they’re relatively slight modifiers, and despite them being picked out of packs bought from a store on the main menu, you can only earn in-game currency from actually playing the game, not microtransactions.

The other thing I can’t shake is that, even with the promise of twice as many character animations in the game, there’s still a certain rigidity to the players and the actions they take on court. There can be snaps from one animation to another, I sometimes felt that the game didn’t want to let me change direction once I spotted that a drop shot was coming in, and it definitely felt like there was just a single animation for losing a point. Hopefully the final weeks of polish can help smooth out some of the rougher edges here.

The game launches with a decent selection of game modes, from exhibition matches to a career and online. A Tournament section will feature the as yet unannounced licensed tournaments, as well as a Tie Break Tens mode for ultra-fast quick-fire matches. One neat addition is the ability to save and resume a match, letting you line up a five set epic without also having to carve out a few hours of uninterrupted time in order to finish it.

There’s also doubles, which was conspicuous by its absence from the first game, and adds a very different style of tennis to the game, where lightning fast reactions are needed to win. This mode can also be taken online, with two players to a console, though strangely not with players spread across four consoles.

Putting all of this in practice, Tennis World Tour 2 plays a decent game of tennis once you get used to it. There’s a definite learning curve as you settle into the groove to find the right shot timing rally after rally, and from that point on the strategy of a point, game, set and match can start to come to the fore. Tennis World Tour 2 is certainly a safer take on the sport than the original was, but sometimes you’ve just got to land a shot in court to stay in the rally.

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Review: Tennis World Tour – PS4

BY JEREMY PETERSON

Jeremy Peterson

PUBLISHED 6 YEARS AGO

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PS4 Review - 'Tennis World Tour'

By joseph doyle on march 14, 2019 @ 12:00 a.m. pdt.

When I was teaching middle schoolers a few years back, I'd frequently ask them what they did the prior night. This would breed a host of responses, including watching their siblings to hanging out with friends. The most notable (and pertinent) would be, "playing the game." This flummoxed me when I first heard it. How could someone, even a child, be so vague while still using a direct article? After further inquiry, I figured out this could mean a few things: They were either playing a Call of Duty title, Madden or NBA 2K . One way or the other, sports games are action-packed, glitzy and prolific enough to be two out of the only three games the kids played. Tennis, on the other hand, doesn't get this same attention, and it's perhaps usually recognized in video game form through the Mario games or in Wii Sports . With no solid foundation (other than perhaps the Top Spin series), Breakpoint Studios sought to make a more realistic modern tennis game. While the attempt was a noble one, almost everything about Tennis World Tour falls flat, from clunky controls to uninspiring gameplay and lackluster audio and visuals.

The controls in Tennis World Tour are a challenge, to put it lightly. The tutorials explain the different hits and how to move around with relative clarity, but using the analog stick and face buttons is not necessarily a challenge to do or describe. Where the waters become murky is when you expect to use both at the same time. The game (through the voice of an anonymous coach, which is distressing in its own right, but I digress) shows you that you can affect where the ball lands by using the left analog stick while pressing whichever type of hit you'd like to use (drop shot, lob, normal, slice). This is straightforward enough in description, but it works poorly. During one of the trainings, you were expected to hit five balls into various parts of the court, which should be simple enough, but took over 10 minutes to complete.

The level of accuracy expected from the player in this scenario is ludicrous and incredibly frustrating. Because you're using the left analog stick to both run and direct the ball, you can miss very easily. Want to run one way and hit the ball another? Sorry, your player just stopped going for the ball altogether, and you lost a point, despite having pressed the face button close enough to return (a finicky distance). On top of this, your motion feels incredibly stilted, and your player jerks around from side to side like a Game & Watch character as you switch directions. You're also supposed to charge your shot (holding the face button) if you want it to be more powerful, which seemed to have no actual bearing on whether or not the opponent hit it. Overall, the controls in Tennis World Tour are poor and detract from the experience, even when you master their jankiness.

When you master the jankiness of the controls, it's interesting to see how the AI reacts. The AI players in Tennis World Tour are truly an annoying sort who feel like an anthropomorphic wall at times. They will return almost every single shot you throw at them, resulting in many points that end up with 30 shots between the both of you or getting as high as 80, like I did during one unfortunate bout. (The game then gave me an Achievement, rather than apologizing for being janky.) I appreciate the developer forgoing realism for more fun, continual gameplay, but this is ridiculous, especially when the majority of points in a typical tennis match are settled between 0 and 4 hits between the players . The answer for an effective and fun bout lies somewhere between 4 and 30 (God forbid you do 80 yourself) hits, which is long enough to feel fulfilling.

When you finally master the controls and learn about the AI's proclivities to hit the ball at all costs, you can trick it into giving you all the points with two strategies: a short hit followed by a lob, which sends the ball to a spot in the back where the AI will never hit it; or hitting the ball into opposing sides until the AI overextends and misses the next hit. Tennis World Tour 's AI goes from frustrating to laughable in a second, and that makes the game both aggravating and boring.

All of these issues compound the strange gameplay mechanics in Tennis World Tour. One of the more interesting and intriguing choices the developer made was including light RPG mechanics in the career mode. For example, you gain points that you can spend on attack, defense, or serving when you level up your character. You can likewise unlock different coaches who will boost these skills in different ways as you level up with them. Furthermore, as you play and progress, you unlock cards that give you perks in different scenarios, such as gaining accuracy when you have low stamina, or having a +10 stamina boost during decisive points, etc. While these are really cool and interesting ways to keep a relatively repetitive game like tennis fresh, this aspect of the title doesn't shine due to the AI and control woes. You lose the ability to detect a boost to accuracy when the whole system of aiming is difficult to master. Likewise, stamina boosts are lost when you have long point rallies that result in both you and your opponent losing all stamina due to sprinting and power-hitting for 80 straight hits. The interesting gameplay mechanics lose out to the title's larger issues.

There is very little to say about the visuals and audio of Tennis World Tour . The graphics are passable; they're nothing to write home about but nothing egregious, either. The character designer is fun but lackluster. It reminds me of the one found in Oblivion , a game that came out over 10 years ago. The grunts of the players and smacks of the racket against a racing ball are also fine, and they help create more realism in the game, which is appreciated. The music, on the other hand, feels outdated and boring. The light electronic house music is reminiscent of the intros to the original Jason Bourne movie trilogy — a little slow and mundane for a sports game. Overall, the audio and visuals are innocuous in that they don't detract from the experience but don't improve it, either.

Tennis World Tour simply doesn't deliver on the experience it wants to give us. While it offers some interesting and innovative gameplay aspects, it's either irksome or overly simple. The most redeeming quality of the game is that it shows potential for future releases if Breakpoint has the opportunity. With some fine-tuning, Tennis World Tour could easily work its way up to passable — and perhaps even more. According to BigBen Interactive, the game's publisher,  the game was shipped only being "20% finished." While this choice is not too alien to those of us steeped in the gaming world, this detail is evident in every aspect of the game. Maybe one day the developer will have the opportunity to show us a completed idea, but based on the current build, Tennis World Tour is disappointing.

Score: 3.5/10

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Tennis World Tour

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• Federer, Monfils, Zverev, Kyrgios... The game includes the main stars of the professional circuit. Whether in singles or doubles, players can use their own style of play to try and become no. 1 in the online world rankings. Among the people working at Breakpoint are the main developers of Top Spin 4, considered the best tennis video game ever made, with several million copies sold worldwide. FEATURES: * 30 of the best players from the official circuits, including Roger Federer, Angelique Kerber and many legendary players. * Perfect reproduction of players and their movements, using motion capture and photogrammetry. * All of the game modes: exhibition, World Tour, in singles and doubles, local and online. * A complete career mode: practice, tournaments, staff management, equipment purchasing... Each player can experience the career of a real professional. * Tactical dimension never before seen in a tennis game. Players can set the key skills they will use during match play. * A game designed for competition. In addition to a permanent world ranking system, there are new online challenges available each week.

User Ratings

Tennis World Tour 2

• PS Plus required for online play
• Supports up to 4 online players with PS Plus
• Online play optional
• 1 - 4 players
• Remote Play supported

Play as the world's top players or create your own player to try and dominate the world rankings. Faster paced, with more animations and more realism: experience the true sensations of tennis, in singles or doubles games, and challenge your friends locally or online. Tennis World Tour 2 - Complete Edition includes all content available for Tennis World Tour 2 and hits new heights in terms of technical and graphical performance. The edition includes: - The base game - 48 official players - The signature moves of the biggest stars - Roland-Garros and the Philippe-Chatrier, Suzanne-Lenglen and Simonne-Mathieu courts - The ATP Cup - Tie Break Tens - The Madrid Open and the Estadio Manolo Santana - The Halle Open and the OWL ARENA - A wide range of official equipment and outfits - 4K/60FPS gaming with ray tracing, smoother gameplay and faster loading times

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Tennis World Tour Cheats for Playstation 4

• Developer: Breakpoint
• Publisher: Bigben Interactive
• Genre: Sports
• Release: May 22, 2018
• Platform: Playstation 4
• ESRB: Everyone

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Tennis World Tour Review PS4

• Local multiplayer for 2 players
• Estimated platinum difficulty: 7/10
• Total time to platinum: 302h

Review Score

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Critic Reviews

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„Finding enjoyment is hard when even a long, dramatic rally ends in a true unforced error committed by the gameplay.“

Critical Hit

„Those hoping for an engaging, exciting Tennis game are bound to be disappointed.“

COGconnected

„A well-done mode doesn't make up for the rest of the shoddy work.“

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Tennis world tour review -- a poorly served return of pro tennis video games.

Tennis World Tour falters in just about every aspect bringing players a disappointing, unsatisfying and monotonous experience.

It has been a few years since we've been graced with a proper professional tennis video game. Not an arcade-esque, cartoonish styling but an accurate representation of the sport. Bigben Interactive and Breakpoint Studio changed that with the release of Tennis World Tour . With a development team comprised of people who worked on the well-received Top Spin series, surely we'd get a game worth your time. Unfortunately, Breakpoint sets us up with an attempt that fails in every facet.

Right at the start, as I loaded into Tennis World Tour ’s menu, I ran into what I would consider one of the more problematic issues with the game. It doesn’t have online multiplayer at launch. The spot the mode occupies states that it is “coming soon.” As of this writing, it has been a few weeks since launch, and it has yet to be implemented.

[pullquote]"If the game's single player options were varied and entertaining, this wouldn't be as much of a problem; that is not the case."[/pullquote]

In general, sports games rely heavily on their online modes to keep players invested until the next title releases the following year. This may be a special case considering it is the first entry but the lack of multiplayer still is disheartening. If the game’s single player options were varied and entertaining, this wouldn’t be as much of a problem; that is not the case.

Local multiplayer is available in the Exhibition mode but only includes singles competition. I understand that Tennis World Tour is attempting to take a more realistic approach; I’m not expecting a bunch of mini-games or goofy takes on the sport. An option to play doubles would have sufficed, giving the game some variety. Instead, the monotony of singles competition takes over Tennis World Tour , not only in its Exhibition mode but also in Career mode.

Career mode is where Tennis World Tour shines, even if it is for just a short moment. You begin by creating a character, man or woman, and customize them to your liking. However, the choices are incredibly limited, letting you only choose between select preset faces, serving styles, and other limited options.

Hilariously, the most customizable feature is how your character groans. Out of all the customizable features, the groan not only has the most options available but allows you to choose how frequently they groan. By the end of the character creation process, no matter how much you try to create something unique, your character will look generic.

After you create your non-descript tennis star, the game takes you to the Career mode hub where you’ll choose to train, rest, play an exhibition match, or partake in a tournament to become the number one tennis player in the world. Doing one of these activities will decrease how rested you are which is indicated by a meter at the top of the screen; to replenish the meter, you’ll need to rest. On paper, this is a great concept but was executed poorly as there doesn’t seem to be any consequences for resting.

As you train and play some matches, your character will level up, in turn giving you attribute points to add to one of three categories: defense, attack, and serve & volley. This will increase your stats and your overall rating. Additionally, you’ll also earn skill cards – which are split into four categories including stamina, power, control, and agility – that will augment certain facets of your game. For example, the power skill “rocket serve” will grant you a 5% power bonus for serving. You can also appoint an agent and coach that give you cash and leveling bonuses respectively.

[pullquote]"However, when I compared the two pieces of gear, the differences between them seem minuscule. In some ways, the tiers are more based on look rather than statistical benefits."[/pullquote]

You will also earn some cash that you can spend on gear. Like Destiny or World of Warcraft , Tennis World Tour has tiered gear indicated by color. As such, you would assume that high tier gear – in this case, purple colored gear – would be better than low or mid-tier gear. However, when I compared the two pieces of equipment, the differences between them seem minuscule. In some ways, the tiers are more based on look rather than statistical benefits.

Similarly to the general concept of Career mode, this is an excellent idea on paper but fails to feel imperative to the game’s loop. There were matches where I saw myself against AI players two or three levels above me and still had no problem defeating them. The skill cards effects never felt like they turned the tide of the game in any significant way. The leveling system seemed more like a façade for its lack of depth by just putting a bunch of arbitrary numbers in front of your face and making them look important.

The lack of features and depth Tennis World Tour has would have been fine if the gameplay was solid. I can get over the simplicity of the game if the actual act of playing was enjoyable. Unfortunately, it is the opposite.

The gameplay isn’t unlike any other tennis game. There are four shot types -- normal, topspin, slice, and lob -- each represented by one of the face buttons. The longer you hold the button, the more powerful the hit is; the harder you hit the ball, the more your stamina will decrease. Stamina affects how fast you run and your accuracy, so theoretically, you don’t want to hit each ball as hard as you can. However, like everything else in this game, stamina doesn’t seem to be an issue. Every match I played, I drained my stamina by the first game and still managed to win with ease.

If anything, you will be held back by the game’s bad animations. Since Tennis World Tour is striving for an authentic tennis experience, the character animations attempt to capture a true-to-life tennis match. As such, your button inputs aren’t immediate; instead of them triggering the shot you want to take, it triggers the animation which is then followed by the shot.

It reminds me of the problem old NBA 2K games had; it favors looks rather than tight mechanics which leads to a frustrating experience. There were multiple occasions where I would move to the area where the ball was going to land, perfectly set up for a shot only for my character to stand there motionless. There were also plenty of times where I hit a ball that I had no chance of hitting. In fact, the ball wouldn’t even hit the racket and make its way to the other side of the court. For a game that is trying to emulate a sport that requires so much precision, it lacks so much of it in its gameplay.

[pullquote]" Tennis World Tour is a disappointment, plain and simple."[/pullquote]

Tennis World Tour ’s presentation is just as monotonous and uninteresting as the rest of the game. The announcers don’t have a lot of dialogue, repeating themselves every single match you play. The various courts you’ll visit are bland, lacking any variety save for its looks; I would assume playing on a clay court would be different than grass, but it all feels the same here. If the plan here was to capture tennis as the most repetitive and boring sport in the world, I’d say this is a very accurate representation.

Tennis World Tour is a disappointment, plain and simple. It's one thing to not have key features at launch, but the absence of solid gameplay puts the final nail in the coffin. It's not only dull with its weak and monotonous presentation but frustrating as you watch your generic created character not swing at a ball they could easily hit across the court. There is something to some of the RPG elements within the career mode, but my progression or "gear" doesn't feel like it affects my character's ability to perform well. Tennis World Tour had the opportunity to become the video game series players go on to play a professional tennis simulation. Instead, we are given a joyless and empty experience.

Tennis World Tour

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Home / Features / 21 awesome PS4 tips, tricks and hidden features

21 awesome PS4 tips, tricks and hidden features

Even hardcore PlayStation 4 buccaneers will pick up something new in our video guide

Of course you know everything there is to know about using your PS4 . There’s no way there’s a sneaky little feature hiding somewhere that could improve your gaming life immeasurably.  Is there?

You might be surprised, especially by some of the changes and additions that Sony has smuggled through with its recent firmware updates, so why not indulge us and check out our video above or take a look at the list of tips below.

We guarantee* there’s at least one tip, trick or feature here that you aren’t already aware of, and you can jump into our video at precisely that point if that’s the case.

* not an actual guarantee

1) Appear offline (and appear offline even better)

After all these years there’s now finally a way to hide yourself from your boss/co-workers/friends when you’re playing PlayStation 4. In fact, there are two ways.

First up – from the PS4’s homescreen click on the Profile icon, then click on Online Status and select Appear Offline from the pop-up menu.

Easy, except this method requires that you’ve already logged on to your PS4, which means someone may have already noticed that you’ve come online.

That’s where method 2 comes in: at the profile screen that appears when you first switch on your PS4, rather than log in by pressing X, highlight your profile and press the Options button on your controller. From the pop-up window select Log In With Online Status [Appear Offline] and you’ll be taken to your homescreen and connected to the internet without anyone being alerted. Sweet, sweet secrecy.

2) Change your controller’s Light Bar brightness

The DualShock 4 – to give the PS4 controller its full, fancy name – has a Light Bar on its rear. This is a fancy term for the glowing light strip which is used in various games and by the PlayStation Camera, and you can tweak its brightness or turn it off completely, if you wish.

To do so, long-press the PlayStation button on the controller, hit up Sound and Devices, and tweak the brightness settings to whatever you wish (or turn it off completely).

3) Change the controller speaker volume

It’s very likely that you know that the DualShock 4 has a built-in speaker. You probably know this because you’ve been quietly playing away at 4am and it’s rudely blasted out some completely unnecessary nonsense sound.

Thankfully you can turn off this feature quite easily. Again, hold down the PlayStation button, and head to the first option – Volume Control (Speaker for Controller). You know what to do from here.

4) Say hello to your little friend

Some people are more likeable than others. If you have a mate which you share particularly top quality banter with, you can tweak the settings to ensure you’re notified when they – and only they – come online.

Hit up Settings, then Notifications, then go down to When Friends Go Online. Select your favourite people, and never miss those #topbants again.

5) Customise your home screen

Did you know that 9/10 PS4 owners have trouble sleeping because they’re bored of the default look of their console’s menu?

To rectify this, go to Settings, Themes, and select a brand new look for your PS4. If you haven’t got any loaded up, select Find in PlayStation Store and find one that speaks to you. Boom – a perfect night’s sleep is now yours.

Read More › 5 minute hack: how to use the Xbox One Elite controller with your PS4

6) Get PS Plus games without downloading them

This does exactly what it says on the tin, but it’s bloomin’ useful. There was a time when PS Plus members would have to download an entire free game each month from Sony’s monthly selection, but those days are long gone.

This time, instead of filling up your hard drive with games you’ll never get around to playing, you can simply select Add to Library instead of Download on any monthly free game you fancy. As long as you keep your PlayStation Plus subscription going, you can come back and download any game you’ve added to your library, whenever you like. Result.

Read More › Sony PlayStation 4K (Neo) preview

7) Take quicker screenshots

We all know that tapping the Share button on the controller lets you save a screenshot, but there is a pro way to make this process a lot snappier.

You can either hold the Share button down in a game to take one or, to make the process even quicker, you can tweak the settings to ensure that simply tapping the Share button once will take a screenshot.

To do this tap press the Share button, press options, Sharing and Broadcast settings, Share Button Control Type, then select Easy Screenshots.

8) Resume where you left off

Time is precious, so why waste it firing up a game each time you start your PS4?

Go to Settings, Power Saving Settings, and Set Features Available in Rest Mode. Select Keep Application Suspended, and each time you fire up your PS4 after putting it in Rest Mode, you’ll be right where you left yourself last – whether that’s mid-way through a FIFA match or a game of Rocket League.

It won’t quite work for online games like Destiny though – you’ll find yourself back at the login screen – but even then, you’ll be saving a bit of time.

9/10) Make it work while sleeping

You can tell your PS4 to do a couple of handy things when it’s in Rest Mode – namely allow it to charge your controllers when you’re not using them, and automatically download updates – a handy feature which saves you from waiting ages to play a game while you wait for updates and patches to download.

To make your PS4 more useful when it’s sleeping, go to Settings, Power Saving Settings, and once again, go to Set Features Available in Rest Mode. Select Supply Power to USB Ports and Stay Connected to the Internet, and you’re sorted.

11) Use your remote to turn it on (and off)

Pretty self explanatory this one. Go to Settings, System, and Enable HDMI Device Link. Check this, then head over to your TV settings and turn on the correct settings.

Handily all manufacturers have different names for this particular setting, and they’re all listed in the video above.

12) Share your exploits

Ever played so well you think the whole world can benefit from watching your exploits, live? Yeah, us too.

To do that, hit the Share button (big shocker there), then Broadcast Gameplay. Sign into your your streaming service of choice, and, well that’s pretty much it.

You can also swap between a standard view or a view with comments and number of viewers on the right (for Twitch, at least). Oh, and don’t forget to give a shoutout to your mother.

13) Create groups

If you’ve got a special circle of friends who you game with and/or message regularly you can add them into one group, making joint messages and party invites a mere button press (or two) away.

Go to Friends, Add Favourite Group, select those special lucky few, and you’re all set to interact with them in various ways from the Favourite Groups tab in the Friends menu.

14) Double tap for efficiency

If you double tap the PlayStation button you can swap between your two most recent screens.

This comes in very handy in situations like, for example, gaming while messaging friends. Once you’ve opened up messages while in a game, double tapping the PlayStation button will flick you between the messages and game screen. A single press will still take you to the main home screen, as always.

15) Measure up to your mates

Competition is built into our genes, and there’s nothing quite better than knowing you’ve earned more fake digital points in games than your mates.

To compare trophies and achievements with people on your friends list, go to Trophies, click on Compare Trophies, scroll down to whoever you want to measure up against and cry/whoop with joy as required.

16) Use an ethernet cable

There is no way to make this sound interesting, but you really should use a wired ethernet cable connection if possible if you want the smoothest online experience and faster downloads.

Plug it in, go to Settings, Network, Setup Internet Connection, then cover your PS4 in maple syrup and do a jig. Oh wait, we meant select Use a LAN Cable. Silly us.

17) Hook up your headphones

One of our favourite PlayStation 4 features is the ability to plug your headphones directly into the controller, letting you game in silence without worrying about sitting close to the TV or console itself.

If your headphone has a mic too, then you can, you know, use it to talk and stuff.

18) Use your voice

Voice commands – a forgettable but sometimes useful feature that you might as well try out because, hey, why not?

As long as you’re set with some form of mic, you’re good to go. Just say “PlayStation”, and “All Commands” and you’ll be presented with a list of all the voice commands at your disposal. Buttons are for losers.

19) Download the PlayStation app

Downloading the PlayStation app on your Android or iPhone lets you see who’s online, as well as handily letting you buy games while you’re out and about, allowing them to download automatically, ready for you when you get back home.

20) Message like a pro

The PlayStation Messages app is another handy tool you should definitely install on your phone if you’re forever nattering away to your mates.

It’s essentially like WhatsApp for your PS4, letting you send messages to people using your phone’s on-screen keyboard, which is a much more pleasant typing experience than using the controller to peck at letters on your telly.

21) Use Spotify

Still got your phone in your hand? Good. If you’re a Spotify user then you can quickly and easily pump your tunes to your PS4 while playing games – a great way to reduce your frustrations or motivate you in times of need.

Once your phone is connected to the same network as the PS4, simply open up the Spotify app, play a song, and tap the Connected Devices button at the bottom. Select the PS4 and enjoy.

Tom is a nerd. A gaming nerd, a home cinema nerd, a hi-fi nerd and a car nerd. And a bit of a bike nerd, and phone nerd, and computer nerd. Let's call the whole thing off and just go with all-round nerd. In the past he's been an audio book actor, a games tester, a chocolate salesman and a teacher in Japan. Then he joined What Hi-Fi? as a reviewer back in 2007 and moved to Stuff as Reviews Editor in 2011. After a five-year stint on Stuff he rejoined the What Hi-Fi? team where he currently rules the reviews team with a candy floss fist.

Areas of expertise

All things AV and hi-fi, gaming, cars, craft beer, wine, loading a dishwasher

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