Whilst carrying the box on the Underground system in London, I was surprised to feel how heavy the blasted thing was. But that's just an aesthetic thing really, the reason for the hype wasn't because of it's looks now is it? The hype was for the power it contains and the power it shows on screen.

Let's start with the DVD quality. I have a separate DVD player (a gift) and so I am used to some shockingly good DVD playback (I have a shockingly amazing home system!!) so I wasn't expecting much. I just wanted to test it out. The Matrix played quite well considering the bad reviews I've read about the playback. The sound was crisp and the picture, perfect. Granted I'm no expert, and I'm sure if I looked closely I could have found a few defects, but to be honest, who can be bothered? I have a keen interest in electronics but not how bad things are. So I was quite impressed.

Onto the most important thing: the games! I bought only one game with the PS2, Tekken Tag (look at my review of that) and the graphics were smooth and the controllers pretty easy to get the hang of. The dual shock is a fun thing to have, but it gets annoying and frustrating after a while, but the controller is comfortable and the buttons satisfying to tap.

I have looked at the PS2 demo disc included in the pack, and have to admit that the upcoming games look fantastic, and as soon as I have enough money I'll buy a few games. I have looked at some PS1 games on the PS2 and they don't run any faster or better (as far as I could tell), but they look exactly the same as they should do (I played Smackdown 2). The backwards compatibility is also a bonus, because I have some PS1 games as well.

About people saying that there are other consoles which should be bought, then all I have to say is that that is what was said about the PS2, that everyone should wait to buy that. After months of waiting and reading eagerly anticipated news stories about the Cube etc. I would suggest that if you don't have a PS1 then buy it, due to the hundreds of games available. With the new consoles (and I'm not 100% sure) they have no back log of games to fall back on.

Recommended: Yes