PLAYSTATION 3 Hands On

Tristan and Sam L sit down with the PS3.

Sam: The first thing we all noticed about the PlayStation 3 was how light the controller was. Seriously, I thought I had to keep a firm hold of the thing to keep it from floating out of my hands! This is of course because Sony removed the rumble feature from the six-axis controller. I didn’t get to try the six-axis features, but I did like the analogue R2 and L2 buttons, which work great for racing games, but I’m not sure how well they will work for other genres.

The actual system interface was attractive and straight forward and the movie playback was amazingly clear, although possible because we were sitting a couple of feet away from a Sony Bravia 50” monster TV!

Tristan: Yeah, the controller felt lighter than a Wii remote, and those things are already pretty lightweight. I was somewhat impressed by the whole presentation of the PS3, from the look of the console to the menus etc – it’s exactly what I expected from the latest iteration of Sony’s products. Basically, if you like the interface on your PSP, you’ll like it on the PS3 – it’s almost identical.

Like Sam, I enjoyed the trailers we saw – they were extremely clear and crisp (although that’s probably more due to the TV rather than the PS3). But trailers aren’t as important as games, so here are our impressions on what we played:

MotorStorm

Sam: For a game that is new and not a sequel, MotorStorm was hyped up to the max and quickly became the flagship title for the PS3. After playing the game, it’s obvious why: this game is pretty. If you want a game to show off your pricey new toy, then pick up MotorStorm.

Looks aren’t everything, though: how does the game actually play? Well it’s actually a bit harder to pick up and play than we anticipated. At first I thought I was just unco, but Tritsan and Mayur crashed as much as I did. But once you get a feel for the game there is much fun to be had, and the different vehicles will add depth. It just wasn’t as ‘balls to the wall’ as I was expecting.

Tristan: As soon as I learned you could use the SIXAXIS tilt controls with MotorStorm, I paused the game and switched them on, hoping for an Excite Truck-like experience with better graphics. Unfortunately, the controls felt a bit unresponsive – either they were added in at the last minute, or I just needed more time to get used to them. In any case, I soon switched them off and went back to the analog stick. I still crashed a lot, but at least I didn’t get lapped like Sam did…

Oh, and when you’re on a bike, you can punch to either side, just like in Road Rash. Now that’s a game they should remake for the latest set of consoles.

Gran Turismo HD

Sam: If there’s one game that’s going to sell PlayStation 3’s, it’s Gran Turismo. Because it’s such a big game, it’s only sensible to have a teaser available on launch. And a teaser this is indeed. The demo plays pretty much like any GT game, only much, much prettier. The usual game rules are still here: you can’t drive through thin tape barriers or anything like that, but for car nuts such as myself, choosing a virtual version of your own car and/or your dream cars and having it all look so real is worth the admission fee.

Watching the intro:

Sam: ‘It’s game graphics now.’
Tristan: ‘I’d be pretty surprised if they are.’
Sam: ‘I assure you that they are; here, look, I’ll press start!’
Tristan: ‘Well I’ll be damned.’

Resistance: Fall of Man

Sam: Every new console needs a first person shooter in the launch line-up to really show what the system is capable of. From what we saw of Resistance, it looks to be a very capable FPS. It looks great and there was a lot going on, making the action quite dramatic. It will require a much longer play though to see if Resistance delivers the game play goods.

Tristan: To tell you the truth, I wasn’t that impressed with what I saw. The graphics were good, but having already been spoiled by Gears of War, I wasn’t blown away. The action itself was frantic and intense, but maybe I’m just feeling a bit burnt out by countless other FPS games. I agree with Sam, though – I’d require a much longer play of Resistance before making a proper assessment.

Ridge Racer

Sam: With each PlayStation launch, there has been a Ridge Racer game to show off the power of each system. Aside from the resolution, though, this game has already been done on the Xbox 360, completely removing any wow factor. There was no sense of speed and less track detail than we were expecting.

That said, if you like Ridge Racer games, this is more of the same and won’t disappoint you in this regard; it’s just a pity Namco haven’t stepped it up a notch for the next generation systems.

Tristan: Yeah, after playing MotorStorm, which did a good job of getting the frantic sense of speed across to the player, Ridge Racer just seemed so slow and lifeless. The graphics are pretty unimpressive, so unless you’re a fan of the series, you might want to steer clear of this one.

Overall, I wasn’t hugely impressed with what the PlayStation 3 is currently offering. Having said that, I said exactly the same thing when the Xbox 360 came out – and now there are actually a lot of fun games on that system. So maybe by this time next year, the PS3 will actually be worth the huge price tag – but for now, all you’re buying is potential at a premium.