Oh boy, I’ve enjoyed laughing and laughing at Sony over the past year for their total fiasco launching the Playstation 3. Partly because I own a 360, but mainly because it’s so much fun watching the fanboys trying to make desperate excuses about the console, it’s price and how Sony has acted. hohohoho.
However I did always admit I would love one – and was pleased to be surprised with a shinyshiny console last week with three games, Ridge Racer 7, Motorstorm and Resistance : Fall of Man.
The console is pretty damned gorgeous and so so quiet compared to the 360, it’s simple things like that which make so much difference, I’ve *had* to keep a DVD player in my lounge because the 360 is just far too noisy to watch films on, now the PS3 has already made me happy by allowing me to get rid of one more device under my TV. Admittedly the price of that is that I now have a console the size of the space shuttle that I have to find a home for.
The interface itself is gorgeous, very sexy and professional, surprisingly the 360 GUI is kind of naff, I’ve always thought so… too many primary colours and whooshing noises.
As for the games, well Resistance was good fun, not anywhere near as good as Gears of War but at least it had amazing weapons, a great story and went on and on and on. I never understand why game makers don’t simply make each bit of the game *slightly longer*, just throw some more enemy in, overall it’ll make the game at least 10-20% longer. Resistance was like that – sometimes you’d clear a level just to have a load more badguys come attack you. Ridge Racer is rubbish, so so rubbish… but Motorstorm is the pick of the bunch, graphically stunning even on my SD TV, amazing physics which really add to the game and such good fun. The only downside is the really heavy rock soundtrack. Remember these are launch games, I whimper to think what games will be like in a year or two (shame we have to wait ages for any new decent titles though).
Two things stand out to make me really rave about the console… the 360 had Geometry Wars but that is *utter rubbish* compared to fl0w. I can’t tell you how amazingly gorgeous and great a game it is – although very short and easy. Secondly, there is a photo slideshow option which makes your photos fall from the sky onto a constantly scrolling white background as if they were real photos being dropped… OK so my description is rubbish, but the effect is so beautiful.
And most, most importantly. The startup animation and music is perfect, and the font for “Playstation 3” on the case is brilliant!
Ooh, nearly forgot… I’ve owned most of the major consoles of the past decade or so, and one of the things I’ve always spoken with friends about is “When will the graphics look real?”. Well, the free download of Grand Tourismo HD pretty much gets there, but only in replay mode. If you sit back from the TV there are moments in the replay where it looks like real film of a real car.