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Sony had, in passing, endured some business deals with Nintendo that ended badly. So, in 1995, they unveiled their own Playstation system, and wreaked a vengeance most foul! Like the Sega CD, the Playstation used disks instead of traditional game cartridges for its games. But unlike the Sega CD, the Playstation was not overpriced, was easily graphically superior to the Sega Genesis, was well placed within the gaming market, and was warmly received by the gaming public.
To this day, the Playstation remains a very impressive system; a memorable debut for Sony game systems!
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System: Playstation |
Developer: Sony |
Year Made: 1995 |
Raw Score: 10/10 |
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Hardware |
The Playstation console is very compact, meaning that you can easily carry it around with you, and it will not take up to much room on your shelf (unlike some other systems - *cough*X-Box*cough* - which take up almost an entire shelf...). Despite its unimposing size, however, the Playstation was far ahead of its time in terms of graphics and processing power (it took a long time for them to start looking outdated; even after the Playstation 2 was released it was still popular for a while).
Like the Sega CD, the Playstation runs off CDs instead of gaming cartridges. CDs are, generally, graphically superior to cartridges, but they have longer loading times. Luckily, The Playstation has enough processing power to handle them, and long loading times are generally not an issue. |
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10/10 |
Software |
Hands down, the Playstation had the best (and widest variety of) games in it's day. The Grand Turismo series dominated the racing market, and Sony also introduced other classics such as Worms and Tekken.
And then, shortly after its release in 1995, Final Fantasy VII was released, and forever crowed the Playstation as "king of RPG games." To date, Sony's systems always have best RPG libraries (although Nintendo has some great ones as well, like the Legend of Zelda series). Sega is traditionally good at producing RPGs, but, sadly, the Dreamcast had such a short life-span, that we never got to see any developed for it. And then there's the X-Box, which doesn't even try to have an RPG library...
Needless to say, Final Fantasy VII was a big deal. Even today, many herald it as the RPG of all time. Not only was this game extremely popular, but its usage of CG cut-scenes (a first for this time period) dazzled audiences with the full force of the Playstation's graphical abilities, and it's superb musical score made its audio abilities all the more impressive. To this day, Sony has kept the ball rolling with its phenomenally large number of excellent RPGs. The Final Fantasy series, the Shadow Hearts series, the Xenosaga trilogy, the Kingdom Hearts series - I could go on, but I think you get the idea - are constantly raising the bar fro RPG greatness, and keeping Sony's reputation as "RPG king" alive and well. |
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10/10 |
Controller |
Four buttons, d-pad (though some have analogue), four buttons on the front, four up top. Pretty standard. The controller is not incredibly flashy, but it doesn't really need to be. Simple, easy to use, get's the job done.
Now, it is a tad disappointing that you have to purchase a hardware upgrade (multi-tap) in order to plug in more than four controllers (that's one of the two disadvantages it has against the Nintendo 64, and some of the later systems), but we'll let that slide since it wasn't common for systems to have four controllers at this time. |
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10/10 |
Graphics |
Excellent; best of its day.
The Playstaion was ahead of its generation in its processing power and graphical abilities (and remaind as such until the Nintendo 64 came out). Games like Final Fantasy VII and Chrono Cross spellbound gamers with vivid scenery, amazing CG cut-scenes, and low loading times. Well done! |
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10/10 |
Sound |
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The system has excellent audio capabilities (which is good, becasuse otherwise the CD-player wouldn't be too useful...). These audio abilities are complemented nicely by the excellent music that many of the games feature. Good stuff. . |
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10/10 |
Range of Games |
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Unmatched in its era. The Playstation has an extremely wide variety of games, and does well in every genre. In both quality and quantity of games, the Playstation is an excellent console. |
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10/10 |
Extras |
As an extra feature, the Playstation also doubles as CD-player for music. This feature was also ahead of its time, and pretty much every system since then (except for Nintendo's) has copied it. You can find it anywhere nowadays, but you've got to credit them for the original idea.
And today, of course, we now have the Playstation 2, Playstation 3, X-Box, X-Box 360, and Dreamcast doubling as DVD players, the X-Box 360 doubling as an HD DVD-player, and the Playstation 3 doubling as a blu ray player. The Playstation is the system that started it all... |
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10/10 |
Cost |
The Playstation was the most expensive system of its era (until the Dreamcast came out), but you got quite a bit for the money. Even when comparing it with the systems of today, the Playstation's wide variety, and extensive library, of games is remarkable. It's graphical and processing power are (although topped by the Nintendo 64) very impressive. It also had a very long life-span, which made it, in the long run, a very wise investment.
...And, that built in CD-player is nice if you intend to use it. |
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10/10 |
Overall |
The Playstaion has, for its time, excellent graphics and processing power. Its audio capabilities are excellent. It was the first system to double as a music player. It has a extraordinary wide variety of high quality games. It's compact, portable, and powerful.
But, if all that's not enough, it's also the system that birthed Final Fantasy VII! What more could you possibly want? |
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10/10 |
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