The big one. You have worked/stole/gambled your way to a large amount of money, and you can finally afford to move on from your Playstation 2 onto the so called next-gen of gaming. But what of the big consoles do you choose? The Wii, Playstation 3 or the Xbox 360? I've got all 3, and before I go on, just to say im completely unbiased. Unfortunately, no company has offered me large amounts of money to be otherwise, which is a shame really, as I would have been easily swayed. Below is an honest review of all 3.
Ok, ill start with the 'revolutionary' one. The Wii
The Wii, originally called that because of 'we' as in.. we, is by and large, the single greatest party piece/party game/drinking game system you will probably ever own.
It seems Nintendo had got bored of the ‘brick with 2 controllers attached by string’ model, and ventured out to the ‘pretty little white box with controllers connected by magic’ one. However, you still do get the feeling, similar to the N64 or NES days, that the random button mashing has been replaced with the more healthy random stick waggling.
The games, mostly, are easier to get into than a night club in Stoke, and are easier to pick up than.. well a Stokey girl in a night club in Stoke. With the console you get 5 games in Wii sports. These games will be played over, and over, and over until you actually hate having a Wii as people will never leave your room and you end up spending more money on batteries every month than Ashley Cole is spending on Cheryl Tweedy at the minute, in a valiant but futile attempt to persuade everyone he’s not gay.
You create your own mini person on the game, and your ‘mii’ is then able to be your actual controlled player in Wii Sports, and of course, a few games aside from this. Be warned, you will get addicted to random celebrities or people. Your Mii’s can also wander over to your friends Wii. Which brings me to the online capabilities. Yes, they are there, are free and yes, some games are able to be played online. But not many.
Great games are far and few between. The amazing Super Mario Galaxy, Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games and Super Smash Bros Brawl are dispersed with short, awful, over-rated crapfests like No More Heroes, My Sims and Avatar : Legend Of Aang, where your brain gets bored and you actually start looking around the TV for entertainment. The graphics aren’t fantastic, but as I said, it’s not a typical gamers gaming console. It really is just great fun.
In contrast to the small little white, fun, giggly machine that is the Wii, I move onto
The Playstation 3
The Playstation 3 is a huge black colossus of a machine the size of a small country, that could easily be mistaken for an advanced porta-potty. Don’t get me wrong though, the Playstation 3 is a very, very good looking machine, its just you have to give serious consideration to where exactly you are going to put it. Downsize the TV? No.. Kill the dog and put it in its basket? No.. Ah, just sell the DVD player, its got one in anyway! The wireless controllers (that recharge straight from the console and have no need for batteries) are motion sensitive and are used in many games to orientate or aim items – basketballs, arrows etc.
The PS3 is called the most powerful gaming machine to ever be produced. The graphics are amazing in truth. But however, these amazing graphics and inventive ways of playing games have left the machine with an over sensitive disk reader and have meant that the games coming out are being rushed, and in particular the action/adventure/story games, despite having amazing graphics, last about as long as a pot of brylcream in a semi-professional youth football teams changing room. For example, Uncharted : Drakes Fortune is a flagship game for PS3, which I completed in 7 hours on hard difficulty. I must admit, it was 7 hours of thinking how good the graphics were, but it was still only 7 hours.
Fifa 08 on the PS3 is a masterpiece, and the familiar controller layout will ensure plenty of multiplayer action on it. Plus, if you are 12, have turned emo and have no friends as ‘friends’ are what’s wrong with the world’, most games have an online function, and its all free and very easy to access. There are other great games out that are best on the Playstation 3 – motorstorm is an addictive, fun, original racer, and Heavenly Sword really is brilliant, until the last boss.. who is harder than learning the art of sky diving without a parachute.
It is fair to say that the Playstation 3 is currently heavily selling on future potential, with Gran Turismo 5 and Metal Gear Solid 3 set for release in the not too distant future.
Finally
The Xbox 360
It would appear, in the pitch to the heads of Microsoft the designers said “we want to create the average gamers perfect machine”, which was followed by a resounding “yes” from the heads of Microsoft. The 360 combines brilliant gameplay, with smooth, head turning graphics and some of the best ideas for a game console around. The 360 is a great looking machine, that knows its own orientation, and adjusts its controller display accordingly. The standard cable for the 360 has a switch, which allows you to go between SD and HD, and a digital audio output directly from the Xbox 360. It is these little things that makes a huge difference.
Unfortunately, the single biggest pain in the arse for 360 owners is the ‘Ring of Death’, or, in a slightly less dramatic and colourful way of putting it by Microsoft, the ‘Ring of Light’. 3 Red Lights on the Xbox 360 means ‘General Hardware Failure’. This is apparently experienced by around 34% of all Xbox 360 owners, although the new series have displayed a much lower figure.
The fault is mainly caused by over heating, solder melting, getting into the motherboard and cracking it. In turn, this means getting your Xbox 360 machine sent away to Microsoft and waiting anything up to 3 months to get one back. Mine is currently poised in computer console purgatory, moving between bricked and unbricked. And its doing my head in.
But the best bit of the Xbox 360 is when you connect it to the internet. Even if you don’t want to play for the subscription, a Live Silver account allows you to access the online shop. From here you can buy retro games like streets of rage or sonic.
As for games on the 360, there is a huge choice. There isn’t a lot of Xbox exclusive games, aside from the Halo series which has more unjustified hype surrounding it than the Sex and the City film. However, games like BioShock is by far one of the best games ever released. Great story lines that last longer than a few hours and easy game play are a regular in Xbox games, and the controllers are more comfier than a week in a Hilton. The games graphics are visually stunning, and replay-ability is reinforced by gamerpoints, which point out hidden areas of the game.
In Summary
A Wii will set you back £180, and for this money you will also gain new friends, as people to pester you to have a go. Unfortunately, single player games on it are less than amazing, although Super Mario Galaxy really is a game that just carries on giving. The broad range of Xbox 360 consoles range from £149.99 - £249.99, all of which are adequate, and all of which will result in you losing track of time and playing for longer than you really should. The games are great, and the online world is in a class of its own. Finally, the Playstation 3 will cost you between £289 and £399, and with the more expensive 60gb version you are able to play around 75% of your Playstation 2 games. Your PS2 gamer friends will also love you for the reason they know the controls and it feels familiar.
I would heavily recommend if you are going to get a new console, you go for the Xbox 360, as it is by far the best out of the 3. It has great multiplayer games, great single player games, great looks, great online capabilities.. its just a great machine. The Playstation 3 is still far too expensive, and there still isn’t enough games for it, whilst the Wii, whilst being revolutionary, will mean you have to have friends around to really enjoy it.
The Wii – 8/10
The Playstation 3 – 8/10
The Xbox 360 – 9/10
Come on then, slag away.
