Playstation Classic Review – Is It Worth Getting?

It finally came, I got my PlayStation Classic!

If you like gaming then you’ll know that Sony were releasing a mini PlayStation in the run up to Christmas, and as soon as I heard, I had to order one. I loved my original PlayStation as did many others, and so it was obvious that I’d buy this.

It costs £89.99, but how does it play, and is it worth it? Here’s my full review.

If you don’t know anything about it, it’s a mini sized PlayStation with 20 built-in games, much like the NES Classic which I’ve got, and the SNES Classic which I’ve also got. That’s about all you need to know at this point.

Unboxing

In the box you get the console, which is tiny! I was surprised at how small this thing is, and it is really small, about the same width as a controller. Speaking of controllers, it comes with 2 original style controllers, which plug in to the front as before, but with a USB connection.

You get an HDMI cable and USB lead for the power, but no power adaptor. This is not unusual, as with the NES, SNES and a lot of devices, manufacturers now assume that people have USB power adaptors, and don’t include them. I expected this, so wasn’t disappointed with that.

Games

There’s 20 games, and the list surprises people with what’s on the system. The fact is that the PlayStation has a huge back catalogue of games, and tons of variation of games which suit different tastes, so it was never going to please everyone. There are some noticeable games overlooked, Gran Turismo being one, which was the best selling PlayStation game. This is possibly due to licencing, at least that’s what I and many others assume.

The games list:

• Battle Arena Toshinden
• Cool Boarders 2
• Destruction Derby
• Final Fantasy VII
• Grand Theft Auto
• Intelligent Cube
• Jumping Flash!
• Metal Gear Solid
• MR Driller
• Oddworld: Abe’s Oddysee
• Rayman
• Resident Evil: Directors Cut
• Revelations: Persona
• Ridge Racer Type 4
• Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo
• Syphon Filter
• Tekken 3
• Tom Clancy’s Rainbow 6
• Twisted Metal
• Wild Arms

I’ll be honest, out of all of those games, I have only previously played 10 of them, and only really like 7, so less than half. But how do these game actually play?

Playability

I’ve read some other reviews and also saw a couple of Vloggers complaining about the games, but that was after I personally tried them out. There seems to be an issue, which is the games are not in a consistent video system. Some games are in PAL, which is the standard for us the the UK and Europe, while some are in NTSC, the standard in the USA. Most the people complaining seem to be from the USA.

So, how do they play? I’ve tried out a couple of games, and this is what I thought.

Tekken 3

I love Tekken, and have played the original, 2 and then 3 which is perhaps the best one. It’s brilliant! It plays fine, looks good, but something which really impressed me was the sound. It sounds great!

It’s nice and fast, there’s no lag, everything looks as it should. It’s like playing it on the original machine. This was the first game I tried, and in my opinion was always going to be the best, as it’s so easy to just pick up and play.

Ridge Racer Type 4

From the good to the bad, I did not enjoy Ridge Racer Type 4 at all. I remember this as an arcade classic style of racing game, it’s not supposed to be a sim, just an all out arcade racing game. It wasn’t the best, and this game hasn’t aged well. The on-screen text was incredibly hard to read, the game didn’t seem to render very well.

Cool Boarders 2

This was kind of a disappointment, or was it? The problem is, I couldn’t remember the controllers. I was thinking that they were like Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater, but I couldn’t seem to be able to do any tricks. This was definitely better left in the memory.

Destruction Derby

I always remember this game as 5 minutes of fun, and then once you had a go in the bowl, it got boring, fast. It was kind of the same as that. The playability was fine, it looked OK and the sound was decent.

Metal Gear Solid

Possibly the biggest game on here, I ended my night by having a go at Metal Gear Solid. I always liked this game, and never completed it, but got far. In terms of how it played, it was as good as it was back then. Visually it was fine, but of course we live in a different time as far as graphics are concerned these days. I played it for around 30 minutes, and everything was good. It was just like playing on the original game.

I still have to play a few games I’m looking forward to, which are GTA and Syphon Filter.

There’s also the possibility of the machine being hackable, meaning you’ll be able to remove games you don’t like and add in your favourites which are missing. We’ll have to see what the future holds for that one.

3D Graphics Do Not Age Well!

The biggest problem with the PlayStation, and all the consoles of this era, is that 3D does not age well. This was a time when graphics were really starting to be pushed and take off, and we saw these amazing things called polygons. They were a big step up back then, but looking back in terms of the graphics, they don’t age well.

In comparison to the pixel style we saw in the 8-bit and 16-bit generation of MegaDrive, NES and SNES, those games seem to age perfectly fine. You can pick almost any of them up, and there’s no graphic issues at all.

This is something you really need to bear in mind when playing any console from this generation. Some games will just look and play better than others.

Is It Worth Getting?

The biggest question, is it worth getting? For me, yes. For £89.99 you are getting a cool little replica original PlayStation with 20 games, 2 controllers and you can plug this into your big screen TV. You can obviously get emulators and the like for free or less, but this is an official piece of retro nostalgia, and for that, it’s worth it.

If you’re thinking of buying this and you aren’t from the original generation, or you’re buying this for someone younger who didn’t get to enjoy the original, it may not be for you. As mentioned, 3D graphics do not age well. It might be better getting a SNES or NES which age much better, and for pure fun and enjoyment, are better.

You can buy it at Amazon Here, or if you want more info, check out the official Sony PlayStation page here.

Let me know if you’ve bought it, and what you think of it.