Our BreakmanX.com ninjas have finally come through for us. The rest of the BMX team and myself have been pretty adamant about our disdain for the PSP for quite sometime, and you guys know it. Hell, I'll be the first one to admit that I thought the idea of a Sony handheld was the worst idea ever. Well, I still don't like the idea of where it might be headed, but goddamn, the PSP is a sexy beast.
Our ninjas managed to infiltrate Sony HQ and get us an American PSP a few days before launch date. And, let me just go ahead and own up right now, I was wrong. Now I don't agree with about half of their launch titles being EA games, but the system does look like it will have a strong launch with titles like Ridge Racers, Metal Gear Ac!d, Wipeout Pure, and my personal favorite that I cannot stop raving about, Lumines.
So I guess your first question is: "So how does it play?" Well, I'll tell you this much: the system is very balanced, meaning it doesn't really feel as heavy as it seems, especially when you're playing a DS with just one hand. The screen is amazingly large, I still can't believe how big it actually is every time I look at it. The controls feel very responsive, and very familiar, and the analog "nub" works well, but takes a little getting used to.
Everything that comes with the system oozes cool, it's almost like an iPod with all the accessories. The little earbuds are incredibly nice, and if you want to get the true sound out of all of your games on the PSP, you're going to need to use them because the speaker on the PSP itself is just a bit quiet and you miss out on all of the bass, even if you have the volume turned up all the way….
…And yes, there's more. The carrying case is actually pretty cool, and very soft. The little remote control for it is pretty worthless, unless you're planning on using the PSP as an MP3 player, in which case, it ain't half bad.
"So what about the games?" You're now asking, right? Well, I'll tell you this: Don't expect a game with the PSP or even demos of games with the value pack. That sampler disc just has some movie trailers (including a trailer for Kung Fu Hustle :D ) and music, and some movies for some of the launch games that are coming out for the system, but nothing playable, sadly.
With that being said, our ninjas also managed to sneak away Sam Fisher-style with a copy of Wipeout Pure. I have always been a fan of the Wipeout series, up until the dark hole the series entered into when it failed miserably on PS2. However, this is a great return for the series, and it looks just as good as ever. The game is stylish, just as the series has always been, and the drum n' bass and electro soundtrack is just as cool as it ever was. The gameplay too, for the most part hasn't been changed at all, and works very well for the handheld. I definitely think that this is going to be one of the games that a lot of people pick up for the PSP at launch.
The Spiderman 2 movie on UMD that comes with it too, is quite cool. It has a little menu for it when you pop it in, just like a DVD, but there aren't any extras or anything like that for it. What it does have, is amazing sound and picture clarity. I really didn't find any visible compression on the movie while I was watching bits and pieces of it, even the dark ones. I was quite impressed.
Finally, the big question everyone here has: "How long does the battery last?" Well, I'm happy to say that it's definitely not 2 hours or less, as I and my fellow BMX personalities have ranted and raved about. After playing Wipeout with sound out of the speakers and out of the headphones for a little more than 2 hours, I checked out the battery life signal on the PSP's main menu (which itself is also very sexy), and found that I still had about 78% battery life left, which amounted to about 4 hours worth. So we're looking at around 6 hours playing like that, which, in all honesty is a bit disappointing, but it's a lot better than what we here were saying.
So what do I think? I think it's very hot. I think the PSP looks cool, and I think it has a decent launch line-up of games coming out for it. Am I going to buy movies on UMD? Probably not. Am I going to buy a big Memory Stick Duo so I can put my own movies on the PSP to watch? Maybe…depending on how complicated the procedure is. But do I think this system is good? Yes. I think it is a system that not only looks cool, but has the games to back it up.
-Jack
