- When I first turned on the PlayStation Classic,
I was instantly teleported back more than two decades
thanks to this iconic splash screen
and sweeping synth sound.
(music synthesizer)
Unfortunately, this nostalgic wave soon subsided
once I started scrolling through the short menu
of just 20 included games.
As this adorable miniature version
of the most popular gaming console of the 90s,
lacks too many big names to
truly live up to the classic label.
(upbeat music)
The PlayStation Classic is a pint-sized recreation
of the original and arguably
most iconic PlayStation ever made.
It's preloaded library of games
does feature a handful of the greats,
but it's missing the likes of Gran Turismo,
Tomb Raider, Wipe-Out, and Crash Bandicoot,
making for a compilation that doesn't come close
to reflecting the platform at its' best.
The shrunken system itself looks spot on
and comes bundled with a pair of controllers
that recreate the look and feel
of the PlayStation's original joypads,
albeit with a 1.5 meter USB cord attached.
Unfortunately, this does mean they're missing
the analog sticks and vibration
that would later come via the Dual Shock,
and as a result many of these 3D games
feel pretty cumbersome to control by modern standards.
This clunkiness is felt most keenly
in the racing and shooting genres,
but while siphon filters stilted third person shooting
is mostly saved by its' lock-on targeting,
Rainbow Six's rigid button based reticule movement
makes it borderline unplayable to the extent
that it's baffling as to why the game was included at all.
(rapid gunfire)
The primitive controls create a slight barrier to the fun,
but it's the visuals that I found
to be the most off-putting.
The graphics of these games simply haven't aged well,
particularly when you stack up
their low polygon characters, textures, and environments
against the ultra-detailed high-definition
game worlds of today, or even the still superb
pixel art of the finest Super Nintendo games.
But what really magnifies the problem, quite literally,
is the fact that 3D games just don't seem to upscale
as well as the sprite based games from the 8 and 16-bit eras
when played on the large 1080p or 4k panels
found in most households in 2018,
to the point of being pretty uncomfortable
to look at for prolonged periods.
Many games that I remember as being cutting edge
now merely resemble a mess of cutting edges,
and menus can be particularly hard to read.
Is that even in English?
Perhaps the harshness of the upscaling
could have been mitigated had Sony included
any alternative visual filters,
such as a CRT simulation to soften the image
as found in Nintendo's rival Micro Machines.
But sadly, there are no visual settings
to adjust whatsoever, which is disappointing.
The 2D games hold up a lot better visually
and perhaps that's why I spent most of my time
with the PlayStation Classic
returning to beat my best scores in
Mr. Driller and Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo,
which both remain as wonderfully addictive today as ever.
(male grunting)
I was also delighted to return to the original Rayman
to find that it is still a fun platformer,
largely because its' main character and enemies
endure by being so endearing.
Then there are the headliners,
Final Fantasy VII and Metal Gear Solid.
Both are landmarks for their respective franchises
and comfortably among the best games of the era,
if not all-time, so not much else needs to be said.
Although, in terms of the latter, it is a shame
that the absence of controller rumble
means you're robbed of one of the greatest
fourth wall breaking moments in gaming history
during the Psycho Mantis boss fight.
- Now I will move your controller
by the power of my will alone.
(crickets chirping)
- Still, it's these top tier games that,
along with Tekken 3 and Resident Evil: Director's Cut,
perhaps best live up to the Classic moniker.
(characters fighting)
So it's just a shame that there aren't
more of their ilk included.
There may be a number of reasons as to why
the likes of Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2
or Castlevania: Symphony of the Night didn't make the grade,
but no matter what the behind the scenes
circumstances may be, the end result is that
the PlayStation Classic just doesn't feel as fully formed
as the NES Classic or the Super NES Classic.
And since there's no official support
for additional game downloads,
this system will ultimately go down
as something of a missed opportunity.
(dramatic music)
The PlayStation Classic feels more like
a half-hearted acknowledgement than a top-shelf tribute
to Sony's era defining console.
The list of 20 games seems to miss
more of the system's greatest hits
than it manages to include.
Furthermore, the progress of time and television technology
has not been kind to the look of
many of these early 3D titles.
And the inclusion of digital only controllers
makes many of them feel unwieldy by modern standards.
The PlayStation Classic is a neat collector's item
that will look great on a shelf in your games room,
but it's a much more attractive ornament
than it is viable gaming system.
For more PlayStation reviews, check out our verdicts
on Spiderman and Astro Bot VR.
(dramatic music)