Sony Playstation 2 Review

After opening the package, I took the PS2 to the theater room, set it vertically in the cabinet, hooked it to the TV via the S-Video cable, and switched it on.
The start up menu screen was a graphical show of cubes and flashing lights. A nice ocean wave sound effect stays in the background while you explore the system's options. Even though I had scoffed at Sony's idea of turning this system into a "computer entertainment center", after seeing the robust setup of the PS2, I had changed my mind completely. It became clear and logical that Sony has many plans for expanding the system to include hard drives, broadband Internet and digital cameras. When the system prompted me, I set the date and time and formatted the memory card.






I had a collection of games to choose from: SSX, DOA2, Ridge Racer V, and Timesplitters. I was also eager to try older Playstation games on the PS2 to see how much of an improvement there would be. I put DOA2 in the drive and started the game.

DOA2 loaded up, and the intro began. WOW! Unbelievable! I could not believe that this was the actual game's real-time rendering. Kasumi, Hayabusa, Jan Lee and the other DOA2 characters were portrayed in cinematic glory. The image quality of the PS2 is *clean*. There is no other word to describe the digital purity. It does not have that slightly blurred effect of a Dreamcast or N64 game. No movies or screenshots do these games justice. You must witness the games running on a real PS2 to see their awesome pure beauty.

Ridge Racer V had impressive visuals including the model of the Ridge Racer girl. Impressive reflections of the race track are noticeable on the paint of the cars. Realistic lighting effects and immersive music help absorb the player into the race. The game is not a realistic racer by any means, but provides a satisfying mix of reality and arcade racing action.

Next was Timesplitters, a terrific party game. Playing fast-paced bot matches was a fun experience. The controls take some getting used to because you use both analog sticks, but I became comfortable after about 10 minutes of adjusting my reflexes. Pretty soon I could jump off ledges and change aim direction at enemies. The gameplay is fast and furious but still plays like Perfect Dark and Goldeneye for the Nintendo 64. The smooth 60 fps framerate provides a convincing suspension of disbelief. Playing Timesplitters with friends is bound to be an excellent multiplayer experience.

The last Playstation 2 game was SSX. The loading times were long, but the game is *beautiful*. The gameplay movies are nothing like the real game. SSX is another must-see game. I took the tutorial and performed a few tricks to get the hang of the game. I was defeated in the races, placing in 6 out of 6, so I decided to practice some by going on the free-play course by myself. Soon I was performing wild spinning, flipping grabs and landing perfectly. The controls are dead-on and highly responsive. You never feel like the game has more control than you do.

Test #1: Memory card speed: It takes a while to create a new save for a game, but after that is over, subsequent saves take about half of a second.

Test #2: Playstation games. I was a little disappointed at this feature. The texture smoothing option eliminates the blocky squares in close-up graphics. The framerate of the games however, has not changed at all. Slowdown that occurred on my Playstation happened on my PS2 (for example: The Super Titan, final boss of Colony Wars). It is likely that the games were programmed to run at a specific framerate, however. I loaded Final Fantasy VI to see if the game would be improved. The battle controls were still sluggish, but the loading time was improved. Ogre Battle's load times were significantly improved! They only lasted a couple of seconds compared to the several seconds it takes on the Playstation. Chrono Cross received a huge benefit from the PS2. Battles load *instantly*. After the initial fade-in screen there is no black waiting screen: it goes directly into battle. The PS2's texture smoothing made Xenogears look ten times better than its original incarnation. All of the blocky sprites and textures were smoothed out and looked great.

Test #3: DVD movies. I have owned a Toshiba DVD player for a year and was interested in seeing how the PS2's DVD playback held up to it. The PS2 exceeded my expectations: it looked equally good as my Toshiba's picture quality. I put in Tarzan, and the quality was crisp with vibrant colors. Same with all the other films such as The Matrix and Independence Day. The PS2 does a fantastic job of reproducing deep, rich colors. Fast forward and rewind were not very smooth, but neither was my Toshiba's. (The expensive DVD players have smooth scanning)

Overall I think this is a terrific game system. The games are fun, the DVD playback is great and the PS2 has a lot of room for expandability. Keep watching BestStuff for reviews of individual PS2 games.

Highs: Fun games, good DVD playback, compatible with Playstation 1 games, excellent system design.

Lows: Playstation games are not improved as much as they could have been.