|1-SONY PLAYSTATION Reviewed by Panead of The Data Division On the 29th of september 1995 saw the release of one of the finest 'next generation' consoles around , I am, as the title suggests, talking about the Sony Playstation (known to us gamers as the 'PSX'). Right what do u get for your £299.99, £289.99, £287.99 or £279.99 (as seen in some console mags), well what ever u paid u can be sure it was well worth it (I, Panead should know coz I own one all to myself hehehe), on the box itself is as tasteful photo of the said machine with the words believe it or not are 'Sony' and 'Playstation'. Well I never and a nice sticky label saying 'Free inside DEMO 1' but more about that a bit later on. Inside the box u get the machine, a perfectly styled joypad, RFcable (which gives a miles better picture than amiga or CD32 modulater which I was quite surprised at), power supply, a demo CD and the instructions in 9, yes 9 different languages (they could have saved a bit of money there don't u think?). The 'Demo 1 cd' includes :- Playable level of :- -------------------- Wipeout - Future type racing thingy. Destruction Derby - Smash as many cars as u can (sounds a bit familiar). Loaded - Sortta like 'Doom', but looking from above. Battle arena Toshinden - Like 'Tekken' with fireballs n' swords. |1-Full Motion Video (FMV) - non playable clips :- Ridge Racer - shouldn't need any introduction. Warhawk - flight simulator cum shoot'em'up. Twisted metal - similar to Destruction Derby but in city streets etc. Jumping flash - platform type but in glorious 3D. Rapid Reload - average looking platform n shoot'em'up 16bit style. Starblade - arcade conversion but everything is texture-mapped unlike the arcade (still the dull gameplay though). Tekken - THE 3D fighting game that knocks that 'virtua shit' OUT totally Non playable :- --------------- Total NBA 96 - Ace looking basketball sim with motion capture 3D players seeing is believing. 3D models to play with (oo-er) :- --------------------------------- T-rex - a fully textured-mapped dinosaur that u can open it's mouth,make it grin, look left/right and scroll round it 360° (wouldn't look out of place in Jurassic Park.... almost, just a bit glitchy in places). Mantaray - Nice and calming music sets the scene for this ocean dwelling creature, similar functions to the T-rex. V-CD :- ------- Click on this than insert any audio CD and watch has the music is transformed into swirling colourful patterns in time with the music, rave time here we come. and thats about it really.... If u switch on the machine without putting a disc in a options screen appears letting u fiddle about with a memory card (if fitted) copying and deleting files or play audio CD's , in here u can use it just like a normal Hifi fast forward , skip a track etc etc but it's got a few more features like dome, hall, church, studio and direct which alter the way they sound depending which button u press (clever stuff, they really sound like u are in the places, all echoy). The next few months see the release of some 'state of art' software like Mortal Kombat III - a perfect conversion, it should be coz the people that did the arcade version also did this one! Tekken - Yet another perfect conversion coz the arcade is a Playstation board just with a few extra megs of memory (a most buy). Alien trilogy - Doom style run n shoot'em'up.... Descent - A big hit on the PC but with improved graphixs. Road Rash - old-ish 3DO game but still a big hit. Alone in the dark - Yet another PC port over of another classic although with texture-mapped people (PSX improves yet again). Extreme games - similar to roadrash and skitchin (megadrive). 3D lemmings - Yep those purple haired fuzzballs are back AGAIN. WWF Wrestlemania - another arcade conversion from the same people that (brand new) did MK3, not the old crappy versions (check out your local arcade dudes). I've just heard that a few playstation games are being ported over to the PC like Ridge Racer, Wipeout and Destruction Derby but what's the point in having a lower resolution and less colours and paying more money for the pleasure, just buy a PSX and get all the full enjoyment from them. These are just a few of the games that I'm looking forward to buying and/or renting. Yep renting check out the 'Blockbuster video store' for more info..... Thank u for taking the time to read this brief discription of the 'PSX', buy one today and be amazed for a long time to come....... Don't be tempted into buying a 'Sega Saturn' now that they have had a price cut coz it's still not worth it ?!?!?! when compared to the mighty PLAYSTATION........must go now and have another go on Wipeout (bought it with me psx) coz track 6 (silverstream) is a right bar steward, where as the other tracks are piss easy (first place every time)..........bye bye |1-PANEAD/T.D.D End