Sony PlayStation - Console Review

The Sony Playstation has become one of the most popular game systems of all time and it's easy to see why. The original Playstation, believe it or not, was suppose to be the 32-bit Super Nintendo CD add on, then Nintendo didn't want it anymore after the falling sales of the rival Sega CD and left their partner Sony holding the bag. Of course they didn't like that too much and Sony just released the Playstation by themselves in 1994 over in Japan; marketing it as a powerful 3D system. As the Playstation grew so did the support. Big companies like Capcom, Konami, and of course Namco were already on board and they only released their best games like the stunning one on one brawler Tekken. Sony released the Playstation here on September 9, 1995 and with big titles like Mortal Kombat 3, Toshinden, and Ridge Racer at launch the new system was off to a very good start.

Sony was fairly strict about its games too because they learned from their past mistakes (anybody remember those crappy games from Sony Imagesoft?). Sony would not approve a game of poor quality or a game that lacked Polygon hardware support (like most 2D games) so the Playstation wouldn't have the same problems that the 3DO and Atari Jaguar did (remember Air Cars and Plumbers Don't wear Ties? Of course you don't!). After Square released the highly anticipated Final Fantasy 7 in September 1997 there was no stopping the Playstation, not even Nintendo could hold them off. The Playstation was here to stay.

If you want to spend your money on actually games and not power (like its sequel; the PS2) then the original PSone is still a good investment but I don't know anybody who really wants that especially since the PS2 can play most PSone titles already. There are still some really excellent games still in the discount bins like Castlevania, Metal Gear Solid, Tekken 3, The Raiden Project, and tons more though so there is no shortage of amazing titles. But on the same note beware of all the questionable games out there too like Cyberia, Descent, Hexen, Twisted Metal 3, and Final Fantasy 8 (I'm not a big fan of #8 by the way).

The PSone is a great system with a lot of award winning games available but it is pretty much dead now as well. Despite all the great games for this system you're better off going for the more powerful PS2 because that's the complete package (it plays DVD's, CD's, PSone games, and most importantly the all new PS2 games all in one). If you can get it cheap though around 30 bucks then go for it and see why the PSone was one of the greatest game machines of all time.

Sony Playstation overall rating: 77/100

-StarSoldier1 2007
(Ryan Genno)