Great system, with endless selection of software
By Yahoo! Shopping User Mar 1, 2003 | 10 out of 11 found this PlayStation 2 Console review helpful
Purchased a PS2 a little over a year ago for the family and I, and it is without a doubt, a lovely little system. Its really a system that both young and old can enjoy, has something for everybody. My two kids love it, it has many games that are gear...ed toward their age group (7 & 14 years old) and it also has older oriented games that I often enjoy and even my wife enjoys on occasion. An endless selection of software to choose from in every genre, such as platformers, RPGs, Racers, Shooters, Puzzles, Fighters, Sports, etc.. Just to name off some software weve enjoyed on the system, includes Gran Turismo 3, Dark Cloud 2 , The Getaway, SOCOM(also online), Ratchet and Clank, Jak and Daxter, Grand Theft Auto Vice, Ico, Hot Shots Golf 3, Kingdom Hearts, Twisted Metal: Black, Tekken Tag, Sly Cooper, Need for Speed, Suikoden III, Madden 2003(online as well), Tony Hawk 4(online) Medal of Honor, Metalgear Solid 2 and many others. The graphics and sound in many of these games are quite stunning, amazing what technology can do these days. Some games even have 5.1 and DTS as well as Pro-Logic 2 support, making these game sound stunning on a good setup. Many games also support progressive-scan output for all you HDTV owners. Another clever thing it does is play DVD movies as well as music CDs. It plays movies right out of the package, no need for any perphrials. Unless you want to buy the Sony remote seperately for a few bucks more. Connected via component, or even S-video, PS2 outputs a beautiful picture, suprising considering the relatively low price. Composite output looks good as well, but component is even better. The console also has an optical out for all your 5.1, 6.1, and DTS needs, and like the picture quality, everything sounds superb. So far out of maybe 100 DVD movies weve watched on the system to date,we had maybe 1 or 2 skip in a certain chapter, so it seems to handle most movies well most of the time.What else is clever is that the system also plays all of the original Playstation games as well. Its compatible with all PSX/PS1 games so if you still have your selection of PSX games sitting around and want to enjoy those from time to time, the PS2 plays all of those and alsoenhances PSX titles graphics by smoothing out the image. There is also an option to speed up load times for PSX games but Im not privy to what a difference this really makes.The control pad is also nice. It fits very comfortably into young hands, as well as adults. Its not too small but not oversized either so it works well. The buttons Ive noticed are pressure sensitive as well. For instance, if playing a racer, if you pres the button slightly, the car will move slow, but press it hard and the car will burn rubber. Thought that was a nice touch. But whats better, and didnt know until my son informed me, is that the console also has USB ports to connect accessories such as modems, printers, keyboards, a mouse, scanners and even a steering wheel thats compatible with almost all the racing games available for the machine. Italso has an i.LINK input but we havent used this feature as of yet.As for memory cards, it has to slots that hold 8mb each, whch is quite a bit for game saves. You can also use your memory card save and bring it to a fiends house and use it in their machine, something my older son often does. For online play, the console currently has a network adaptor available to play games online, sold seperately, so if online gaming is your thing, then youll be happy with this feature. You connect the modem back of the system, and the adaptor includes both a 56k and Cable input. My son convinced me in buying the adaptor and were enjoying alot actually. I was suprised to see that playing games online for PS2 is free, for some reason I figured there would be a monthly fee or something but there is not. Overall, this is the system to own in my view. Unlike other systems on the market, PS2 has something for everyone. Read more Less
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