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PreviousPlayStation Store Roundup Review
PlayStation 3 Review by Dan Whitehead
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With the addition of the first PS one titles to the European PlayStation Store all the pieces are finally in place for the secondary battlefront of the Next Gen war - online downloads. These impulse purchases have been the Holy Grail for the games industry for many years, enabling publishers to make use of their back catalogue and drive new formats at the same time. The Wii Virtual Console leads the pack as far as choice goes - with over 100 emulated console classics to choose from - but has disappointed many with its seemingly random choices and unhelpful interface. Xbox Live Arcade, on the other hand, has set a high benchmark for original content as well as offering updated versions of gaming classics.
So where does the PlayStation Store fit into this digital wonderland? The original content has been tentative at best and the choice is still rather sparse. However, it could be that the PS3 makes its stand on pricing. Not only do you get to see exactly how much your download costs in actual currency, but the prices for the first batch of original PlayStation classics are more than reasonable. Just GBP 3.49 (or around EUR 5) is a small price to pay for beloved 32bit titles, especially when compared to the cost of N64 games on the Wii. Even though the fact that the original PlayStation is now officially "retro" makes me feel very, very old, there's a huge list of titles I'm aching to revisit.
Of course, if you own a PS3 and PSP there's an added bonus. Update to the latest firmware, register the PSP with the PS3 and you can transfer your PS one downloads across to your handheld simply by connecting them with a USB cable and selecting "Copy". It's a remarkably simple process, and the transfer speeds are impressively fast - over 400Mb of Crash Bandicoot rattled down the wire in just a few minutes.
Given that PS one graphics look very chunky and blocky to our modern hi-def eyes, even when upscaled, this will probably be the preferred route for visual purists as the PSP screen is much more forgiving than a HD telly. You can even resize the image, from a stretched widescreen view to a smaller, but crisper, size comparable to the Nintendo DS. You can also move your save games from the PS3 to PSP. To do this, go to your PS1 memory card on the PS3, select the save and then select the "Copy" option and it will convert it to format the PSP can recognise [Thank you forumites - Ed].
So, the PS one downloads are finally here. Let's see if the PlayStation Network has what it takes to challenge the 360 and the Wii in the retro stakes, or if it's just (wait for it) PSN in the wind...
Crash Bandicoot
Price: GBP 3.49
Although he hasn't been seen in a proper platform outing since 2004's Crash Twinsanity (and, yes, we're purposefully forgetting Crash Boom Bang, last year's mini-game offering) only a fool would underestimate the appeal of that mute bandicoot. He's headlined thirteen titles, shifted literally squillions of games and even acquired the indisputable trophy of modern fame - his own toy line. But, for now, let's unga-bunga back in time to 1996, and his very first appearance.
Arriving at the same time as the free-roaming Mario 64 didn't do the orange-furred mascot many favours, trapped as he is in a series of tight corridors stuffed with boxes and mangoes, but taken as a pseudo-3D spin on the twitch platformers of yesteryear it still has the power to charm. It takes some time to get reacquainted with non-analogue controls in a polygon world, with some precision jumps proving a lot trickier than they did before modern joypads spoiled us, overall the experience has aged fairly well. It's still over reliant on one-hit kills and sudden death drops, but balances this out with generous extra lives and an unstoppable spin attack. So it's both annoyingly hard and incredibly easy at the same time which is more than a little weird, but evens out to something quite fun.
There's very little depth to worry about - you simply get Crash to the end of each stage, dodging or killing enemies, smashing as many boxes as you can find - but the relatively short levels and variety of twists on the formula make it a very easy game to become addicted to. Indy-style boulder chases, side-on sections and riding on the back of a rampaging boar are all used to mix things up, while staying close to the established tone. Of course, as save points only occur every other level (and then only if you complete a hidden bonus stage) the need to keep going isn't solely down to giddy immersion.
The wow factor of the cartoon visuals has obviously diminished but, for all its limitations, Crash's debut is still a well-designed and cheerfully uncomplicated little distraction that kick started Naughty Dog's unbroken decade of brilliance. Now if we can just get Crash Team Racing...
7/10
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Comments: 1-47 of 47 in total
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HarryPalmer
29/06/07 @ 10:32
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I remember the demo of Jumping Flash when i first got my playstation - loved it.
Cant decided between Wipeout or Crash. Hmmm |
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HarryPalmer
29/06/07 @ 10:34
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@ Les: i havnt bought anything off there in a while - what do you mean?
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@ HarryPalmer
It used to be that when you purchased something, it would check your wallet and if the amount stored in there wasn't sufficient, you could add the exact required additional amount so that after the purchase there'd be nothing left in your wallet. For some reason now it's only possible to add multiples of € 5 to it, resulting in a balance on your wallet. I understand that it's a cheap way for Sony to improve its working capital and that it still isn't as bad as those extortion points schemes of its competition but I liked it better the way it used to be. |
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"The only thing you can't seem to do is copy your virtual PS memory card saves along with the games, meaning that progress made on the move can't be transferred back to the PS3."
You can. It's a bit fiddly, but you can go in to the right section of the menus and find the data and choose Copy, like with the games. |
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"The only thing you can't seem to do is copy your virtual PS memory card saves along with the games, meaning that progress made on the move can't be transferred back to the PS3."
I've certainly been able to copy my saves from the PS3 to the PSP. Haven't tried it the other way yet, but I'd imagine it would be possible. To copy from the PS3 to the PSP, you need to go to your PS1 memory card, select the save and then select the "Copy" option (if I remember rightly). It then converts the save into a PSP-compatible format. Presumably, with the PSP connected you could accomplish the reverse by selecting the save from the PSP's memory card and copying it back to the virtual memory card on the PS3, but as I say, I haven't tried this yet. "It used to be that when you purchased something, it would check your wallet and if the amount stored in there wasn't sufficient, you could add the exact required additional amount so that after the purchase there'd be nothing left in your wallet. For some reason now it's only possible to add multiples of € 5 to it, resulting in a balance on your wallet." Unless something has changed recently, it only lets you add the exact amount if you are transferring more than £5, so just buy several shop items at the same time and you should be able to add the exact amount. Lots of places don't let you use Switch/Maestro for small transactions, I think this is due to bank charges on the transactions which start to seriously eat into profit margins on small transactions. |
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hp_on_toast
29/06/07 @ 10:53
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Were the Jumping Flash sequels any good?
JUMPING FLASH PLATFORMING > METROID PRIME PLATFORMING even if Metroid does everything else better. Now I need some tea! |
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DanWhitehead
29/06/07 @ 10:59
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I shall give the save file swapping a try. I suspect the problem may be that I was trying to copy the whole "virtual memory card" rather than individual save files.
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Moonprince
29/06/07 @ 10:59
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Bit of a joke that you can get these games for about the same price as 3 songs on GH 360.
Goodone for PS3 owners... |
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I downloaded all three PSone games and think they all look fine upscaled to 1080p with smoothing on my 32" HDTV, obviously not graphically stunning or anything like that but far better than I expected. All of them to seem to be lacking in the texture seaming and warping department too - I'm sure all PSone games had those - maybe the software emulator "fixes" them! Crash Bandicoot is the best game of the lot though and the least dated but WipEout and Jumping Flash still have their charms. I was shocked that WipEout is only a 92 MB download though... I mean it came on a 650 MB CD!!! LOL
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djcool3005
29/06/07 @ 11:04
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erm....... Dark_Alex custom firmare. Honestly why not just get the custom firmware for your psp and download the ps1 games or convert your own ps1 games in to eboots. I have Final Fantasy 7, Crash Team Racing and Tekken 3 on my psp and I still have over 1GB worth of space left on my 2GB memory stick.
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fiery_jackass
29/06/07 @ 11:06
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I loved Jumping Flash, 3Deeee! Gave me acrophobia.
Wipeout is no slouch on rapier mode, remains my favourite of the series, tracks a deal more consistent than 2097, hit the walls and you're frigged. |
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fiery_jackass
29/06/07 @ 11:07
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oh and re the 650MB cd for wipeout - my copy came with full sound files for the tracks, .WAVs or whatever, could quite cheerfully play them on a cd player, that probably explains the size I'd have thought
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"You can pay the exact purchase price of any cart over five pounds. But the minimum spend is five pounds, so if you've not got five quid's worth of stuff in your cart then you have to pay a fiver."
Makes is a little less of a problem but more difficult to understand. "Les: Super Stardust HD is out today ;)" That's why I added the "probably" in my first post. And with buying in bulk it appears I can at least for now overcome the 'new and improved' pay mechanism. ;) |
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theres nothing stopping sony releasing 20 ps1 games at a time.
why the drip feed? It would be bad business. If you release so many games at once, it will impact each others sales. It is the same reason why console manufacturers have tried to manipulate the release schedule since the dawn of time. And then there are only so many games you can test at once. As for it being cheap: It kinda depends on how you look at it doesn't it? Which is cheaper? A game that took a year to build and costs 8 quid or one that is run through emulation and costs 3 quid. Depends on how you look at it. CB & Wipeout for 3 quid is a bargain anyway. Heres hoping that it's a kickoff for the next wipeout announcement. |
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afghan_jones
29/06/07 @ 11:19
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WHy cant they let us non-PS3 owners get these straight to the PSP?
Its ridiculous. So many PSP owners starved of games , this would make Sony a fair wedge and get a lot of gamers dusting off the PSP. |
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"Makes is a little less of a problem but more difficult to understand. "
Actually is makes perfectly sense ;) Sony pays a fee for credit card transactions and they want to avoid paying for a fee for small transactions in the PS Store. Both Nintendo and MS does not allow for exact-amount-payment at all - they only disguise this with a stupid point-system. |
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SeesThroughAll
29/06/07 @ 15:23
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" WHy cant they let us non-PS3 owners get these straight to the PSP? "
Seconded, although there is an obvious answer to this question... So you have a good reason to install custom firmware. Fixed :) |
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In addition to these PS1 ports you can get retro titles Joust, Rampage World Tour, Rampart, Gauntlet II and Championship Sprint. Incidentally I already have all of those on PS2 retro compilations that run fine on the PS3 but hey.
Of course you should spend your cash on Asteroids on (A)steriods instead. Or as they call it, Super Stardust HD. Which I only put down because my palms and fingers were getting so sweaty my thumbs were slipping off the sticks. Or get the Resistance: FOM map pack. Or download the 1 GB Ninja Gaiden Sigma demo. Or trailers for BR releases of Superman Returns and Full Metal Jacket. Call that a roundup? Pah! |
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SeesThroughAll
29/06/07 @ 16:16
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I guess more people should be saying this: THANK YOU, Eurogamer, for making these "small-games" roundups.
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DanWhitehead
29/06/07 @ 17:50
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All the original PSN games - Calling All Cars, Super Rub-A-Dub, flOw, etc - get full reviews, just like XBLA releases. This is a roundup of emulated retro releases.
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Number1Laing
03/07/07 @ 03:20
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I popped in WipeOut a few months ago and was blown away by how good it was. The control was absolutely perfect, I imagine a few guys at Psygnosis went insane tweaking it. The graphics are rough but they give the game a sort of lo-fi look that weirdly works quite well. Before I played it I would've said any early 3D PSX game was not worth it.
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Comments: 1-47 of 47 in total
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