Sony PlayStation 2 (PS2) > Reviews (393)

Welcome to my review of the Original Playstation 2 Console, I'm going to start with a bit on the history of Sony, then their story of PS2 and how it playas part of my life. Then onto the features and my opinions. Finally finishing off with some helpful prices for the console and accessories.
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HISTORY

Sony first started out as a radio repair shop in Tokyo, Japan of 1945, owned by Masaru Ibuka and Akio Morita. As the years went on they started to made radios, recorders and other things. Then into other products we mostly know them from which were walkmans, personal computers, cd players, television and many other things as well. Then came 1994 when they released their first video gaming machine known as the Playstation that using cds. Which titles by the names of Tekken, Gran Turismo, Tomb Raider, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater, Resident Evil, Silent Hill and many more games that the series is still going on now and some even announced for the next generation. The Playstation was very popular console that lasted about 10/11 years strong. While the Playstation was still going strong Sony released their second console by the name of Playstation 2 in the year 2000.

STORY

Sony toke many of their fans into the current generation as we call it now with many to follow as well as gamers that's been with other consoles. The PS2 has become the fastest selling gaming console in history, beating the previous record holder, the PlayStation, by three years and nine months with over 100 million units shipped by November 2005. Along with me moving on the Playstation 2 but until 2002 were I had saved most of the money up to buy one so thought I take my current Playstation to Cash Generators to sell. Although they did not offer me much for it, I toke it as I had to have a Playstation 2. With out a console to play on for a week while I waited for my PS2 to arrive by post as I ordered if by phone which cost me £200 with just the cables and one pad.

When it arrived I was so excited and overjoyed: I running up the stairs to my room (lucky not fall and dropping it), quickly unpacked and I found I was so amazed by the look of which was a nice shiny black box. Although I could only afford the PS2 with a game I was not totally loss as I borrowed some games a few days before I had it from a mate in collage. If I remember correctly there were Kesson, Smackdown: Just Bring It, the first Ridge Racer game and also a hockey. Being a great console and very good games at that time me and my other m8 use to take a 10-15min walk home in my collage dinner times just to play on it and if I'm honest my course performance went down a little.

After a month of saving up again I bought myself my very first PS2 game by the name of Baldur's Gate and also a memory card. Although the card was out of stock or something I had to start a new game every time I turned of the console and dieing was very annoying with out a save to back you up. Ones I had the memory card and lucky enough I broke up to holidays in collage, me and my mate stayed up till early every morning until about 3am playing Baldur's Gate.

From that date of when I bought it and still you to now I play on my Playstation a lot now with 48 games bought in 3 years and 3 months, spending over £1000 on with a few more other games I'm planning on buying before I get the next Sony Console, moving into the next generation again by getting the Playstation 3 that is set to be released for the 17th of November 2006.
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Hope that did not drag but now onto Playstation 2 it self and what it like to use.

The Playstation 2 hads two memory card ports at the front so you don't have to swap them about but also to copy data from one and another. Right under the ports are where you plug in the controller pads, although you can only have 2 plugged in you can buy a multi-tap which you can then plug in extra pads for games that has the feature for multiplayers. There is a power switch button on the back and a button on for front for reset and one below it to open the disc draw that slides out. Te contention to the TV is a scart lead which will content to any new TV but for very old TV's you can still you the AV cable from the old Playstation or buy one though it don't have to same quantity in picture of the scart lead.

What Can You Do With It? Well of course play games on it but as well as PS2 games; you can also play PS1 games on it as it's also most 100% backwards compatibility. It also doubles up as a DvD player as its run by a DvD Rom, so it will play any region 2 DvDs or the region of the country of where you bought the console from. There is also the possibility of taking it online. The main thing is to have broadband in your house as dial up will not work with it. The other thing is you need a network adaptor but depends on which version PS2 you have got as the new slimline version has a built in adapter so all you have to do it plug the cable into your pc's modem and set up the PS2 network but if you own the older version which is the one I'm reviewing then you will need to buy one that you must attach to the back of the console. The only problem is that they done make them anymore because all new Slimline PS2 have them built in but if you are lucky you can search the internet and find one for about £17 were as there were original about £25-£30.

GRAPHICS

The graphics all Varity from genre to game to companies. You will probably find that the younger kids games are not fanatic in the graphically department as this is not what gets them interested but as you move onto other games for the older games like action, racing and anything, the graphics does look very good and real on the Playstation 2. As companies over the years make money from great games and series there fund increases which means games from the bigger companies can put more money, time, people and so on into there games which then ends up have stunning games that look ever so real like Gran Turismo, Metal Gear Solid, Shadow Of The Colossus, Black and many more that have amazing lighting and reflections to realistic textures, explosions plus so much more.

SOUND/MUSIC

With the increase amount of data you can now put on dvds, you will find lots of great games with music that gives you that extra experience and atmosphere plus you will get games with a load of different tracks from popular arties of all genre and years.

As with the music the sound is much improved comparing to older generations with developers recording real sounds in studios and outside all over the world will add to the game and give it the extra realistic feel.

As Video Games is a very popular industry, actors lend there voices to characters in games which can only improve games if done right.

The Playstation has 48 hardware channels to release its sound upon you and it supports Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround sound, DTS meaning you can connect it to a hi-fi and have much better sound.

CONTROLS

Near the release of the first Gran Turismo on the Playstation 1 in 1998 they also released a new pad that was basically the same layout apart from that it now has 2 new analogue sticks which gives you better controls as its more precise and smoother to use. Also the pas featured a rumple to add to the gameplay when say a car hits something or when you get shoot in a shooting game. As this pad were so easy to use and pleased users that they kept the design as standard for the PS2. The pad has to grip sections to it so you can grip it tight with ease and comfortable. It features 4 main buttons to the right with the symbols of an X, O, triangle and a square. Another 4 bigger square buttons on top shoulders buttons by the name of L1, L2, R1 and R2. Then the select and start buttons in the middle of the pad plus the d-pad to the left. After not that long with using the pad you could easily find which button is were with out looking at it which I found not like other pads on consoles by other makes.

GAMEPLAY

With technology improving all the time and the great minds of game developers there are all ways new features and gameplay to get into with new original releases and ideas. Lots of games now have many genres rolled into one game, for example there's Shooters where you can drive cars and fly places. Driving games where you can get out fight use guns or just jump into another car and many more examples. But what I thing that the Playstation 2 has the best gameplay than other consoles is that excusive games are so well designed that I and many others would not like to leave behind by going to another console. This games by which I mean are games they only release on a particular console, this can be because the company thinks that the game will get better fans and audience and any game developed or published by Sony will of course only be played on there Sony consoles as if it were to be released say on the Xbox then the customer would not have to buy a ps2 to play and there for Sony would not make as much. Some of the stunning excusive games that you will only find on Sony consoles is series and games of Gran Turimso, Shadow of the colossus, God of War, Metal Gear Solid (although there have been other excusive titles just for other consoles) and many other titles.

REPLAY-VALUE

Although you get about the same replay value with games on there consoles, I think the console it self adds value. As I said before it can play almost any PS1 game so anyone like me who has sold there original PS1 then they still can enjoying the collection with the backwards compatibility, also Dvds can be played, online games is free to use. Even at this stage were the PS3 is not long off to be released the PS2 still has great life in it yet with games like the latest FPS Black with some of the best looking graphics we have every seen and future titles, name one Just Cause that looks so beautiful and gorgeous with ravishing, spectacular new ideals and features in the game. So as you can see the life in the PS2 is still there and will last even into the days of Playstation 3 and the next-gen.

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==BUY OR NOT TO BUY==
This console has loads of great games and amazing big catalogue of games to be played; it's still a great buy for a new slimline console for about £95 new or about £130 with a game or two plus some extras. If you are looking for users then there are great deals to be had on eBay and other shops and seller for under £80 with many top games.
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Prices

Amazon.co.uk = £96.99 or £114.99 with Buzz
Play.com = £119.99 with Call of Duty 2: Big Red One
Original price in 2000 was about £300 on its own.
I Paid £200 New on 18 February 2002
Control Pads and Memory Cards are now about £15, original about £25-£30
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Thanks for reading.