A 2005 Holiday look at the PS2: Still the Console of Choice?
Written: Feb 23 '04 (Updated Dec 15 '05)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: huge collection of games, free online gaming, great controller, backwards compatibility, DVD functionality
Cons: hardware shortcomings, expensive accessories, lots of cheating online, no significant hard drive support
The Bottom Line: This console looks to coast to an easy sales victory in the console wars, but is it the best out now?
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| kjell1979's Full Review: Sony PlayStation 2 Slimline Console |
Great Sequel
After the runaway success of its predecessor, the PS2 was one of the most anticipated consoles in recent memory. Looking at the system today, PS2 can be called a smashing success and the sales figures proved it. Since its launch on October 26th 2000, the total sales of PS2s worldwide have been astronomical. This is due to some great design decisions and some great games released which early on were exclusive to the PS2, most of which contributed to my decision to get one. While sales have been booming even to this day, how will the PS2 fare as the video game world moves into the next era with the Xbox360, PS3, and Nintendo Revolution? The Xbox made some great strides in persuading gamers that Microsoft is capable of creating a great gaming console. I must admit that I play mostly Xbox games these days. Of course many gaming veterans still swear by Nintendo as well. Still, out of the three consoles, I would say this one is certainly worth owning.
Hardware
Contained within the black rectangle casing is all the hardware. The meat of the console is its processor. It's a 128-bit processor running at a speed of roughly 300 MHz. The PS2 also runs with 32 MB of RAM. Given how much RAM has lowered in price in recent years this seems like a rather small amount. The graphics card run on a 150 MHz processor. This card also has 4 MB of video RAM and also MPEG2 encoding. This translates to a maximum screen resolution of 1280 x 1024. This also seems a little bit skimpy since most PC games in recent years like the hardware light Warcraft III require at least an 8 MB video card. The sound card has 48 channels and 2 MB of RAM. This is good, but not spectacular.
The PS2's takes 8 inch CD or DVD media. The CD/DVD combo drive is 24x speed CD and a 4x speed DVD. The PS2 is the only modern console that has only 2 controller ports despite having the most 4+ player compatible games for the system. However, there are also 2 USB ports for many peripherals. There's also an iLink port and a port for surround sound. There is an expansion bay for a hard drive that was released in March of 2004, but I'll go into more detail on that in the accessories section. There is also a place to mount a network adapter, which is located right in front of the hard drive bay, but the hard drive isn't required to mount the network adapter.
The PS2 comes with the main unit that contains all of the above, a 2-pronged power cord and a 3-pronged RCA video cable. It also comes with one black dual shock2 controller. There is also a manual, warranty, and the usual junk advertisements you get with any new game or system.
Accessories
The most important accessory is the controller. The look of the PS2's dual shock2 controller is exactly the same as the dual shock controller that was released with the PSone. The major difference between this the newer version of the dual shock is that the buttons are pressure sensitive. That means that the harder you press down on them, the greater of a reaction you get from the system or game. On the left side of the controller there is a directional pad used for the typical 8 directional movements. There are also two analog sticks on the left and right side along the bottom of the controller. These are for more precise and sensitive directional movements. These analog sticks can also be pressed in and used as another button (L3, and R3 respectively). On the right side there are 4 more buttons shaped in the form of a diamond. A colored shape also represents them. Starting clockwise from the top there is a green triangle, orange circle, blue X, and red square. Along the front side or top of the controller there are 2 sets of stacked shoulder buttons: L1, L2, R1, and R2. This corresponds to the side and depth they are on that side. In the middle of the controller, there's a select and play button as well as a button to toggle the two analog sticks on and off. The controller is easy to grip and for many games you end up using three fingers on each hand for the different buttons and your ring and pinky fingers to hold the base grip of the controller. Inside the grips are motors that control the "rumble" function. To me this is the best-designed controller that was ever made. It's one step up from the Super Nintendo controller in size, feel, and overall comfort.
Besides the controller, there are many other accessories that you can get for the PS2. One required accessory is the memory card. It's typically 8 MB and fits one of two slots above each controller port. If you don't want to use your controller to play your DVDs, there's a DVD remote. There's a vertical stand that allows you to stand your Playstation up on its side. There's a network adapter that allows you to either use dialup access or a broadband connection to the Internet to play games and/or download updates for your games. There's a USB headset with a microphone that allows you to communicate via compressed VoIP in Internet games. You can also upgrade your cables to either an S-Video connection or a component cable connection. Finally, if you wish to play with more than 2 players on one machine there is a 4-player adapter. You can plug one into each of the two controller ports allowing you to play with up to 8 players total.
One accessory that excited many PS2 owners was the Hard Drive, released in March of 2004. The Xbox's hard drive was used in so many different ways like a giant memory card, to a device that allows games to be patched, to a way of storing downloadable content. Unfortunately, the PS2's hard drive was really supported for really just one game: Final Fantasy XI. While it was a good game in and of itself, other games just didn't utilize the hard drive because it wasn't standard in all PS2s. Therefore game developers assumed it wasn't there and didn't make any special accommodations for the few gamers who did have a PS2 hard drive. While the hard drive's flop isn't a reason not to own a PS2, its flop might be a reason why the Xbox might appeal to more gamers instead.
The one problem with these accessories is that they are very expensive, ranging from $15 to $30 for each accessory. There is an option to buy many 3rd party accessories however; I would only recommend ones that come required with a game like a dancing pad, microphone, or light gun. Controllers and memory cards from 3rd party sources are very unreliable and you end up wasting your money in the end.
Titles
What usually makes or breaks a system is its library of games. This is the PS2's strength and it's probably the reason why its sales figures are so high. The biggest reason why its library is so big is because it's backwards compatible with the original Playstation games. This allows you to play many older titles for a cheap price. While they aren't superior graphically, they can provide hours of enjoyment. This is the primary reason I got this console because I didn't have to sell all my old Playstation games that I still like to play. It also helped to ease a lackluster launch back in 2000.
Besides, being able to play older Playstation titles, the PS2 boasts many exclusive and non-exclusive titles that have broken sales records. The Grand Theft Auto series has been the most kind to the PS2. They have sold millions of copies despite being so controversial. Grand Theft Auto III and its two sequels Vice City and San Andreas were for a long time exclusive to the console. This was probably one of the main reasons it sold so well. Sales records were shattered for these two games and its popularity among adults in America is likened to that of Starcraft in South Korea.
In addition to Grand Theft Auto, some of Square Enix best recent developments have been for the PS2. Final Fantasy X and its sequel Final Fantasy X-2 were huge hits. Also, Final Fantasy XI is the first massively multiplayer game released by Square Enix. Also poised on the horizon is Final Fantasy XII, which looks like it will be a huge hit. Even younger kids have titles exclusive to the PS2 in Kingdom Hearts and its upcoming sequel Kingdom Hearts 2. All of these games are exclusive to the PS2 and are some of the best work from Square Enix of the past 3 years.
In general fans of RPGs should seriously consider getting a PS2 if they already haven't. Besides the titles I mentioned above, there were many great RPGs released for the PS1, which are playable on the PS2 including Lunar Silver Star, Dragon Warrior VII, Final Fantasy Tactics, Chrono Cross, and countless others. In addition there are many great RPGs exclusive to the PS2 including Dragon Quest VIII, Star Ocean Till the End of Time, as well as Xenosaga I and II.
The PS2 library is so huge that you can satisfy your interest with many different titles. The PS2's response to Mario, Zelda, and Metroid come in the form of Jak and Daxter, Ratchet and Clank, and Crash Bandicoot. While they aren't as time-tested as the Nintendo trio, they are very fun games. If you're into horror games, there's the Silent Hill Series as well as many different Resident Evil titles including the highly acclaimed Resident Evil 4. If you're into extreme sports, there are all the Tony Hawk games, SSX games, and various others. If you're into racing games there's Gran Turismo 3 and Gran Turismo 4 are very solid. The PS2 has just about all the different sports games you can imagine from EA Sports' Madden, NHL, NBA Live, and MVP Baseball series to Sega's latest ESPN franchise. Sony even have their own published craptacular sports franchise like Gameday and Shootout. Even if you exclude all the PS1 titles, there really is no weakness to the sheer size of this library.
PS2 vs. Xbox
The PS2 is very similar to the Xbox in many respects. While it depends on what you're looking for in features and what type of games you like, either machine might come out on top.
The game situation is one of the PS2's strengths in some aspects but not in others. The PS2 has a much larger library of games than the Xbox, and that doesn't count the countless great PS1 titles as well. The Xbox doesn't have backwards compatibility, as there was no predecessor to it. Between the two systems there aren't many games exclusive, and the titles that are exclusive tend to have a similar counterpart. They share just about all the same sports titles with the exception of Sony's sports franchise and Microsoft's XSN franchise. The PS2 has all but a few of the recent Square Enix games, where as the Xbox doesn't have any. However, there are some great titles like Halo 1 and 2, Fable, Ninja Gaiden, and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic that are stellar hits exclusively for the Xbox. Also the Xbox has some great 3rd party support because of their superior hardware. The quality of games is slightly higher on the Xbox becase of its hardware. When I see a title for both PS2 and Xbox, I tend to get the Xbox version because it looks slightly better and I have more room to save my games on the hard drive.
Speaking of hardware, it's no contest that the Xbox is better. All the way around from the processor, to the memory, to the graphics card, to the sound card, to double the PS2's media capacity, the Xbox is just a superior machine. In addition, the Xbox comes with a built in hard drive, whereas the PS2's hard drive is an optional accessory which is under-utilized by its library of games. This means that the peripheral is essentially useless and you'll need to purchase memory cards to save your data. The Xbox also has 4 controller ports to the PS2's 2. I prefer the PS2's controller to the Xbox's. The Xbox one is big and clunky, and doesn't have the symmetry of the 4 shoulder buttons the PS2's has. However the Xbox has 6 face buttons, which is optimal for fighting games. The PS2 can play DVDs right out of the box with the controller plugged in, whereas the Xbox needs a DVD kit that comes with a remote. This is kind of a wash if you really desire a remote to watch DVDs.
The online capability is slightly to the advantage of the Xbox with one major drawback. Both systems have online capability. The PS2 leaves it up to the game publishers to determine how to get online, whereas the Xbox requires all online games to go through its online service "Xbox Live". The biggest difference here is that most online PS2 games are free to play online, whereas you have to pay a monthly subscription fee of $6/month to play on Xbox Live. The good part is that your subscription fee counts for all of Xbox's games, but the bad part is that you're essentially shelling out money after you bought your games if you wish to play online. This adds up to $120/year unless you buy a prepaid 3 or 12 month subscription card which can run from $20-$60 for unlimited online play. However, the advantage goes to the Xbox here not because of Xbox Live, but because they have the much better library and diversity of online games. In addition, the creation of a central paid user account goes a long way in preventing cheating online. While there will still be hackers and cheaters online, there are significantly less cheaters than on PS2 online games because of the threat to ban their Xbox Live account, something they might have already paid for.
There are some great reasons to choose an Xbox over the PS2. While the units cost the same amount new, you'll have a tough choice. Most adults, now that Grand Theft Auto is available on both systems, will see more value in the Xbox. Whereas role-playing game fans will probably side with the PS2. One final note about the Xbox is that the library won't be supported very well now that the Xbox 360 is out. So if you're looking to get an Xbox right now, the library of games might not increase very much between now and next Christmas. However, there are still tons of games out there which are worth playing. Since the Xbox 360 only has limited backwards compatibility, many of these games can be bought at a lower price.
PS2 vs. GameCube
The GameCube does match up well with the PS2, except when you factor in the games.
The hardware is where the GameCube edges out the PS2. As far as it's processor speed, RAM, video and sound card goes, the GameCube is slightly better. It also has 4 controller ports built in it. However, the GameCube doesn't have a DVD drive, it's media can hold only half as much as the PS2, and given the support of the PS2's hard drive both will require memory cards to store saved data. While this is highly subjective, I also prefer the PS2 controller to the GameCube's. If you want to play games online, you're out of luck with the GameCube for now. While it has an online adapter similar to the PS2's, there aren't any online games out there for the GameCube. Finally, there is no backwards compatibility to the early Nintendo cartridge games. The only exception is that there is a Gameboy Advance Player accessory that allows you to play any Gameboy game. However it costs an additional $50, which is roughly $10 to $20 less than having a portable Gameboy Advance unit.
As far as the games go the PS2 just is much better. The library for the PS2 is just massive compared the GameCube's paltry library. Even worse is that the GameCube is beginning to lose 3rd party publishers like Sega due to slumping game sales. That doesn't mean that the GameCube is completely sunk when it comes to its games. Super Mario Sunshine, Metroid Prime, Zelda The Wind Waker, Super Smash Bros. Melee, and Resident Evil are all great games that can carry a platform. In addition, Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles looks to revive the Nintendo-Square Enix relationship. Also Tales of Symphonia is a very solid RPG. In addition, if you have young kids, you'll be pleased to know that the GameCube has a smallest percentage of rated M games out of the 3 major consoles. These games also have great graphics and finely tuned gameplay so even adults and experienced gamers appreciate their worth. Unfortunately it's just too little to help the system. Just about the only reason why you'd get this system over the PS2 is if you have a small child, and even then the PS2 has games like Kingdom Hearts that feature Disney characters.
If you're looking for a cheap system, at $99 the GameCube is definitely worth the price. This is more appropriate if you don't mind owning two consoles. If you can only have one of the three major consoles, this might not be an option for even a casual gamer.
Value
So how would I value such a system? The library is clearly its best asset. However its base of exclusive games what it once was as more developers are beginning to take the Xbox and the Xbox 360 more seriously. With a few exceptions like Massively Mulitplayer Online Games, chances are you won't have to pay for your online gaming, you might be paying all that much more for accessories for the machine. All in all I would say the PS2 is a worthy gaming console. As the PS3 launch the price will likely dip down even farther than its current $150 price tag. Also you can probably expect that the PS3 will be able to play PS2 and possibly even PS1 games as well. Even some of your accessories might be transferable too. The PS2 is a great investment for all sorts of gamers. However, for some it might not be the best.
Recommended:
Yes
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