If Only Sony Knew Better/ The Time is Now
Written: Nov 11 '01 (Updated Nov 23 '01)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Backwards compatible, huge game library, hot releases winter 2001
Cons: no anti-alias, pricey peripherals, where's the online support already??
The Bottom Line: 2001 - System of the year, not because of the hardware, but because it has all the games!
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| t13monkeys's Full Review: Sony PlayStation 2 Slimline Console |
Playstation 2 was undoubtedly one of the most hyped up launches ever. Hot of the heels of the original Playstation with its endless library of hits, gamers didn’t even bother to think about the PS2’s games. They just went in and picked up the system before the good games came out. Well they were right! The PS2 is currently the hottest system having the most next-generation gaming hits available and set to come out with a ton of new ones. However before we get to that, let me vent about the EVILS of this system, and then I’ll happily, lovingly, write a mini-twine about the wonderful joys of Devil May Cry, Grand Theft Auto III, Metal Gear Solid 2, Final Fantasy X, and the billions of RPGs and action games to come.
Problem #1 - The People Look Crispy!
Okay first horrible annoying thing that Sony must pay for, and may very well pay for is for having a graphics chip with no anti-alias support. I’ve been playing Devil May Cry for a week now and while this without a doubt one of the prettiest games ever, the beautiful textures, amazing lighting effects, and character models are ruined by the sheer fact that Dante has a bunch of jagged lines running through his hair and all around his body. If they had fixed this little error, Sony would hands down have one of the best systems ever. Sony knows how to make polygon machines and the Sony can output a good 25 million which is enough to be somewhat competitive even against the Xbox and the Gamecube. But let’s not dabble on the numbers since its completely useless comparing new next-gen systems with a one year-old machine.
Problem #2 - Sony’s Fake DVD Player
For a company that makes hi-end DVD players, the Sony Playstation 2 sure had a lousy piece of junk. While for $299 the DVD feature was completely meant as a bonus feature, the lack of features is simply inexcusable. The Sony DVD player cannot seek past 2X, so you can’t exactly find your favorite movie scenes without having to hold down that “fast-forward” button for a while. The quality of the playback also suffers, and the DVD player is the absolute low-end of whatever Sony outputs. With Xbox having a built in progressive-scan DVD player, one wonders what Sony was thinking when they shelled out this hunk of junk. Still with the drivers capable of being upgraded, the Sony PS2’s DVD player may have hope yet, but it’s a shame it started out that bad.
What’s Up With the $35 Sony Peripherals???
Sony sucks in a ton of cash by charging exorbitant prices on memory cards and controllers as well as the vertical stand and video cables. All the peripherals are pretty much must-own products for a PS2 owner, so what you have is really some sort of unspoken extortion scheme going here. Sure you can buy 3rd Party peripherals by Mad Catz, Interact and so on for a cheaper price, but for some unknown reason they aren’t guaranteed to work or be reliable as the official Sony products are. This especially goes for the controllers. Certain games are very picky about the controllers that the machine is attached too. For example, Resident Evil – Code Veronica does not run on any other controller but a Sony Dual Shock 2, although the game does not make use of the pressure-sensitive buttons. You can try plugging in your Mad Catz Dual Force and discover that the game won’t run without the proper controller inserted. (Believe me, I tried.)
The problem however isn’t really with the peripherals themselves, it’s with the price. A vertical stand allows you to stand up that PS2 in its cool vertical glory but at $14.95 retail its never worth it. And as for paying $34.95 for an 8MB memory card??? NEVER worth it considering you can get a 64MB memory stick for about the same price. Sony started out this system with a bunch of ideas of making the PS2 an entertainment console, with USB ports, hard drive and Ethernet. All those peripherals if you choose to get them will cost you a bundle. Worst of all the system is not compatible with the memory stick that Sony makes that should be compatible with everything. It’s all one big ugly mess.
My suggestion is to buy 3rd party memory cards and peripherals (since they rarely fail you), but stick to the official Sony PS2 controller. 3rd party controllers are often glitchy even if they claim to have pressurized buttons and analog mode and break easily. However if you choose to, get one off ebay at least, where they sell for dirt-cheap since everyone is busy getting the official controllers.
Now if you can live with the fact that you’ll be forced to shell out a lot of cash for peripherals, and the ugly jaggies, then you can own this system, and the good parts make it all so worthy.
Bonus #1 - THE GOOD GAMES ARE OUT ALREADY
Sure the PS2 had practically nil games for an entire year. But now after a good year to develop them, the games are practically endless. You have the recent release of Devil May Cry, an action 3d-scroller that makes Castlevania look like childsplay. Grand Theft Auto III provides the most realistic city mayhem simulator to boot. You won’t see that on Xbox or GameCube.
Plus for added diversity, if you’re a racing freak you can pick up Gran Turismo 3, a game that picked up 10s consistently on the Internet. If that’s not your style, you can grab either Tony Hawk Pro Skater 3 or SSX Tricky which will be released this winter.
If RPGs are your thing, then you can grab Xenosaga, the highly anticipated Final Fantasy X, Star Ocean 3, Grandia 2 and Grandia Xtreme, Wild Arms 3rd Ignition and Suikoden 3 all highly anticipated sequels to their PS predecessors.
Action games coming up include James Bond: Agent Under Fire, Jax and Daxter by Naughty Dog, and of course Metal Gear Solid 2.
Forgive me if I sound like some Sony propaganda machine, but these are all real top-notch A++ games coming at you. Theses are not games that people say, hmmm maybe it’ll be good as they are doing with Pikmin, Luigi’s Mansion, Dead or Alive 3 and Halo. These are games that have received consistent 10s across the web boards. Games like this generally take a good year of production, so Gamecube and Xbox will see their hits come out next year, but until then, Playstation 2 seems to be in the lead.
Bonus #2 - Backwards Compatible
It’s not a big deal really since if you own a PS2 likely you’ll be playing PS2 games not original Playstation ones. However I really loved this feature since there are still plenty of great games on the PS to revisit especially if you have a tight budget. Games like Tales of Destiny 2, Dragon Quest VII and Arc the Lad Collection are all recent RPG releases for the PSX and it’s great having that backwards compatibility. Having the entire Greatest Hits collection at hand allows a gamer to get some cheap copies of Metal Gear Solid, Resident Evil and so forth. It’s one of the best ideas ever. The only problem is that there aren’t real graphical treats. Bleemcast does a better job emulating and enhancing Playstation games then the PS2.
Bottom Line -
To buy or not to buy? It’s a tough choice since the Xbox and the GameCube are both coming out this Christmas, and the general feeling is to pick up the newest machine. However as a gamer you’ll be missing out greatly. Sure you can play Waverace and Star Wars on your GC or DOA3 and Halo on the Xbox. They aren’t bad games. But you will miss out on the best stuff the PS2 has to offer including Final Fantasy X to be released just next January, a true next-gen title. Currently there are no actual next-gen titles to be released on the GC or Xbox (mainly rehashed N64 games and “game betas”), so I would recommend getting the PS2 this winter via Ebay for around $250 and picking up another system next year if you really want.
In about a year, yes the PS2 is looking to be obsolete soon in competition with the ultra-beefy graphics chips of the GC and the Xbox. However until the two consoles get the cool games, the PS2 has quite a bit of life in it and should keep a gamer happy for at least one brilliant year.
Recommended:
Yes
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t13monkeys
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Location: New York City, NY
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Reviewing god-awful movies. One at a time.
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