Post by Reflecto on Mar 27, 2004 21:36:42 GMT -5
Bulletproof Video Game Reviews: Which Console is better?
by Thomas Greene
Welcome to the first edition of my <NEO-Whacked Production's> Video Game Review section: Bulletproof reviews. Why the title? Because it originally got its name from being my college's video game review section, and the fact they even allow me on that paper despite all the headaches I give them (including such things as pulling a Bret on my former editor-in-chief) proves beyond a shadow of a doubt I'm just more talented than any other person on that staff- or at least enough so they'll welcome me back with no problems. To suffice in that: I AM BULLETPROOF...but I digress. Every month (or less) I plan to give some views on the hottest games out in a respective month. However, I decided that for the first article of this, I would do something different, namely, comparing two of the predominant systems. The systems I chose for this were the Playstation 2 and the X-Box (sorry, Gamecube fans, but your system doesn't have the skills that these systems have.) However, rather than just test out them in "regular" items, I used some things that could only be done by each system's abilities.
Test 1: Karaoke Capabilities
Games used for this: Karaoke Revolution (PS2), X-Box Music Maker (X-Box)
In the last few months, karaoke games have become possible to use on each of the major systems. PS2 is banking on the name value of their Dance Dance Revolution series to sell their karaoke game, while X-Box's is more of a useful additional console application that also involves the ability to use karaoke on your console. I happened to have a karaoke machine myself, which led to the following test: I took a karaoke CD and saw how it would work on both systems with this.
Results:
Karaoke Revolution does not allow additional songs, only using a set of 30 to start with (however, it is likely that you will be able to purchase add-on song editions in the future.) X-Box Music Maker, on the other hand, does allow you to turn songs you've burned to your hard drive to karaoke songs by eliminating the lyrics to them. However, when I put an actual karaoke CD in, it did not add the lyrics to it.
Final tally: Both= Thumbs Down.
Test 2: DVD Player Capabilities
Games' DVDs used for this: Shenmue II (X-Box), .hack//Infection (PS2)
In both of the systems used, a strong selling point is the fact that they come with the capabilities to play DVDs as well as their games. This leads to a good value for the consumer, as well as allowing some games to give extra selling points by adding DVDs to it. Some good examples of this are the Shenmue II for the X-Box, which comes with the computer-animated Shenmue motion picture, and the games in the .hack series, which each come with an original anime DVD related to the games. It would be too easy to just use their own system's respective DVD, so I decided to use the PS2 .hack game's DVD in an X-Box and the Shenmue II DVD in the PS2 to really test their abilities...
Results:
The Playstation 2 played the Shenmue 2 DVD without any problems. However, the X-Box would not play the .hack DVD originally, needing a DVD remote control to play it back. (This is a weakness to the X-Box, as the PS2 does not require a DVD remote to play DVDs.) However, once a remote was located, the DVD played perfectly.
Final tally: Playstation 2= Thumbs Up, X-Box, Thumbs to the middle: Winner: PS2.
Test 3: DVD/Game Capabilities.
Game used: Amusement Park (DVD).
In the era of DVDs, and moreso since the Playstation 2 and X-Box came out, games designed to be played on a DVD player have gotten a small niche market. Classic arcade games like Dragon's Lair, Space Ace, Time Traveler, and Mad Dog McCree have gained new life on DVDs, for a small example. These games have an extra bonus in the fact that since they're actually DVDs, they can be played in an X-Box or a Playstation 2 (or a DVD-Rom drive for the computer, but we aren't comparing those...) In order to test these things out, I decided to take one of the newer games in this form, a recently imported love simulator (a very popular genre of game in Japan where the player's goal is to get one of a number of girls to fall in love with them) game called "Amusement Park", to test these two systems out.
Results:
The Playstation 2 played it perfectly well, with the only problem with it being how incredibly tedious the game was when watching it (I've been waiting for a good love sim to make its way to our shores. After playing this game, I'm still waiting). I did not have good theories on whether the X-Box could do this. However, after putting the game in the X-Box, it surprisingly played perfectly fine without a DVD remote.
Final Tally: Both- Thumbs Up.
So, which system do I suggest? Well, that's all up to you...I'll just try and get good ones for either system.
by Thomas Greene
Welcome to the first edition of my <NEO-Whacked Production's> Video Game Review section: Bulletproof reviews. Why the title? Because it originally got its name from being my college's video game review section, and the fact they even allow me on that paper despite all the headaches I give them (including such things as pulling a Bret on my former editor-in-chief) proves beyond a shadow of a doubt I'm just more talented than any other person on that staff- or at least enough so they'll welcome me back with no problems. To suffice in that: I AM BULLETPROOF...but I digress. Every month (or less) I plan to give some views on the hottest games out in a respective month. However, I decided that for the first article of this, I would do something different, namely, comparing two of the predominant systems. The systems I chose for this were the Playstation 2 and the X-Box (sorry, Gamecube fans, but your system doesn't have the skills that these systems have.) However, rather than just test out them in "regular" items, I used some things that could only be done by each system's abilities.
Test 1: Karaoke Capabilities
Games used for this: Karaoke Revolution (PS2), X-Box Music Maker (X-Box)
In the last few months, karaoke games have become possible to use on each of the major systems. PS2 is banking on the name value of their Dance Dance Revolution series to sell their karaoke game, while X-Box's is more of a useful additional console application that also involves the ability to use karaoke on your console. I happened to have a karaoke machine myself, which led to the following test: I took a karaoke CD and saw how it would work on both systems with this.
Results:
Karaoke Revolution does not allow additional songs, only using a set of 30 to start with (however, it is likely that you will be able to purchase add-on song editions in the future.) X-Box Music Maker, on the other hand, does allow you to turn songs you've burned to your hard drive to karaoke songs by eliminating the lyrics to them. However, when I put an actual karaoke CD in, it did not add the lyrics to it.
Final tally: Both= Thumbs Down.
Test 2: DVD Player Capabilities
Games' DVDs used for this: Shenmue II (X-Box), .hack//Infection (PS2)
In both of the systems used, a strong selling point is the fact that they come with the capabilities to play DVDs as well as their games. This leads to a good value for the consumer, as well as allowing some games to give extra selling points by adding DVDs to it. Some good examples of this are the Shenmue II for the X-Box, which comes with the computer-animated Shenmue motion picture, and the games in the .hack series, which each come with an original anime DVD related to the games. It would be too easy to just use their own system's respective DVD, so I decided to use the PS2 .hack game's DVD in an X-Box and the Shenmue II DVD in the PS2 to really test their abilities...
Results:
The Playstation 2 played the Shenmue 2 DVD without any problems. However, the X-Box would not play the .hack DVD originally, needing a DVD remote control to play it back. (This is a weakness to the X-Box, as the PS2 does not require a DVD remote to play DVDs.) However, once a remote was located, the DVD played perfectly.
Final tally: Playstation 2= Thumbs Up, X-Box, Thumbs to the middle: Winner: PS2.
Test 3: DVD/Game Capabilities.
Game used: Amusement Park (DVD).
In the era of DVDs, and moreso since the Playstation 2 and X-Box came out, games designed to be played on a DVD player have gotten a small niche market. Classic arcade games like Dragon's Lair, Space Ace, Time Traveler, and Mad Dog McCree have gained new life on DVDs, for a small example. These games have an extra bonus in the fact that since they're actually DVDs, they can be played in an X-Box or a Playstation 2 (or a DVD-Rom drive for the computer, but we aren't comparing those...) In order to test these things out, I decided to take one of the newer games in this form, a recently imported love simulator (a very popular genre of game in Japan where the player's goal is to get one of a number of girls to fall in love with them) game called "Amusement Park", to test these two systems out.
Results:
The Playstation 2 played it perfectly well, with the only problem with it being how incredibly tedious the game was when watching it (I've been waiting for a good love sim to make its way to our shores. After playing this game, I'm still waiting). I did not have good theories on whether the X-Box could do this. However, after putting the game in the X-Box, it surprisingly played perfectly fine without a DVD remote.
Final Tally: Both- Thumbs Up.
So, which system do I suggest? Well, that's all up to you...I'll just try and get good ones for either system.
