Gaming Buying Guide: PS3

By Sam Coles:

The PS3 was the dark horse of the 7^th generation of consoles where it didn’t start off too well, but then rose from the ashes and pushed back against Microsoft’s Xbox 360 with a great selection of exclusive games. I’m going to go through the different models, accessories and games that I would recommend for the system.

Hardware:

PS3 Fat

When Sony releases a console they have a habit of making them bulky and expensive and this is no exception for the PS3 fat. The good thing about the original PS3 is that it is backwards compatible with PS2 games, but they’re not all backwards compatible with PS2 games and how you recognise the ones that can play PS2 games is that they have 4 USB ports on the front. These models have a habit of overheating and they are very bulky so I would not recommend getting this model if you want something that is reliable and if you’re saving space.

PS3 Slim

This is a more compact PS3 and is very quiet compared the to the fat, but they took away the ability to play PS2 games on it, the reason why they did this is because with the original PS3 they pretty much put a PS2 in the PS3 that’s why it’s bulky. However all models of the PS3 can play PS1 discs so you have a whole different library to collect for. This model has a nice mat finish with a smooth and slick design and this model can be bought with a 120 GB hard drives but you can upgrade further.

PS3 Super Slim

Then you finally have the super slim which is the smallest one you can get and the one I have which you can buy with a 500GB which I would recommend for the Hard Drive alone. They have gotten rid of the disc slot but instead have a hatch that opens on the top, however it does feel like it has been cheaply made because the plastic they used feels a bit unstable.

Accessories:

Controllers

You have to take into consideration what controller you get because Sony thought they were being geniuses by getting rid of rumble in their controllers. How you identify the controllers that don’t have rumble is that they will be called Six Axis and not the Dualshock 3 so go for the Dualshock 3.

Hard Drives

You can put any PC hard drives into the PS3 like the PS4 so if you really want a lot of space slap a 2 TB drive in there and to be honest in my opinion the 500 GB hard drive will do because save games and updates etc. don’t take up that much room on the PS3.

Longer USB charging cable

Now this seems like a no brainer right? However a lot of people never really think about and I would highly recommend getting a longer USB cable especially when you have the console in a living room space so you can play and charge at the same time. Sony for some reason ship a teeny tiny cable that is laughably short so get a long cable they cost pennies.

Recommended Games

The Uncharted Trilogy

Yes I know you can get these games on the PS4, but the collector in me says get it on PS3 because it’s nice to have each individual disc. The Uncharted games are fantastic action adventures with great action, puzzles and stories that don’t take themselves seriously. Think of it as a mixture of Indiana Jones, Nation Treasure and Tomb Raider.

Killzone Trilogy

Before you say anything I know the first Killzone is on PS2, but if you get the trilogy pack you get the first game remastered in HD to give it sharper textures and it just looks better compared to the PS2 version because PS2 games don’t look great on HD televisions. This was Sony’s answers to the Microsoft’s Halo and they did succeed to a certain extent, it does take a while to get use to its controls because it has unconvention first person shooter control scheme but you’ll get the hang of it. These games have heart pounding action with brutal close quarter’s combat where you can poke enemy’s eyes out to blowing their heads off with a shotgun.

Yakuza 4

This is a game that caught by absolute surprise thanks to a friend of mine I’m really getting into Japanese games whether they’re RPGs etc. Yakuza 4 is a fantastic game as it’s a mix of a J-RPG and a brawling beat em up action it’s an odd mix but it works. The story is a gritty crime thriller where different factions of the Yakuza fight each other in a brutal fashion and as you would expect this game is very violent. It is all in Japanese with English subtitles so if you don’t like reading subtitles you won’t like this game, but the gameplay is fast and visceral.

Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots

I’ll keep this brief because otherwise I’ll be repeating what I said in my review. Metal Gear Solid 4 is a great game if you’re already a fan invested in the series but if you’re a first time player I would not recommend starting with this game because you’ll be absolutely lost with what is going and who the characters are. This game is very verbose but I really enjoyed because in my opinion it concluded the series perfectly compared to Metal Gear Solid V.

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

I know what you’re thinking what’s so special about this version of Oblivion? Well it wasn’t developed by Bethesda because they had no clue how to develop for the PS3 so they handed it to a third part developer called 4J Studios who recently did the console versions of Minecraft. This is the best console version of Oblivion because it blows the 360 version out of the water with better graphics, draw distance and frame rate, this really shows what a talented group of people can do with the cell processor when they know what they’re doing. This game has faster loading times and in general it looks nicer than the 360 version.

So there you go the PS3, a fantastic system that is fairly cheap to pick up these days and the games that I’ve listed aren’t expensive either so go get a PS3 and enjoy a great selection of both PS1 and PS3 games so you have a wide selection of gaming to choose from.